Have His Carcase

IF EITHER Harriet Vane or Lord Peter Wimsey felt any embarrassment at meeting again after their burst of free speech, they did not show it. Both had a story to tell, and were thus spared the awkwardness of being gravelled for lack of matter.

‘Cipher letters? Is it possible that Mrs Weldon is all right and that we are all wrong? It makes, it look more like murder, anyhow, which is one up to us. I don’t think much of Mrs Lefranc’s suggestion about speculations, but it’s perfectly obvious that Alexis had some scheme in hand, and it may be that the scheme went wrong. I don’t know…. I don’t know…. Were there, perhaps, two different sets of circumstances? Is it an accident that Alexis should have been killed just as his plans were maturing? He seems to have been surrounded by a bunch of curiously unpleasant people — liars and half-wits and prostitutes and dagoes.’

‘Yes I can’t say we’re moving in very exalted circles. Antoine is the decentest of them — but probably you don’t approve of Antoine.’

‘Is that meant for a challenge? I know all about Antoine. Vetted him last night’’

‘To see if he was nice for me to know?’

‘Not altogether. Part of the process of exploring the ground. He seems a modest, sensible fellow. It’s not his fault that he suffers from lack of vitality and incipient melancholia. He’s supporting a mother in an asylum and looks after an imbecile brother at home.’

‘Does he?”

‘Apparently; but that doesn’t mean that his own wits are not quite reliable at the moment. He was a little more frank about Alexis’ love-affairs than he could be to you. Alexis seems to have taken a fairly robust view of his association with Mrs Weldon, and to have got rid of Leila with more than ordinary tact and ability. Da Soto is a bad egg — of course, but good enough for Leila, and he is probably vain enough to believe quite sincerely that he took her from Alexis vi et armis. But why all this? Well, never mind; let’s have our tea.: Hullo! Great activity out at sea! Two boats stationed off the Grinders.’

‘Fishermen?’

‘Fishers of men, I fancy,’ replied Wimsey, grimly. ‘It’s Umpelty and his merry men. Pass me the field-glasses, Bunter. Yes.’ They look very busy. They’ve got the drags out. Have a squint.’

He passed the glasses to Harriet, who exclaimed:

‘They’re hauling something up. It must be pretty heavy. The Inspector’s lending a hand and one of the men is hanging on, at the other end for dear life to trim the boat. Oh, oh! you didn’t see that. What a pity’! Something gave way suddenly, and Inspector Umpelty has, gone head over heels backwards into the boat. Now he’s sitting up and rubbing himself.’

‘Dear Umpelty!’, Wimsey helped himself to a sandwich.

‘They’re dragging again he’s left it to the fishermen this time…. They’ve got it — they’re hauling — it’s coming up.’

‘Sit down and have your tea.’

‘Don’t be silly. They’re pulling away like anything.

There’s something black just showing-’ ‘Here! Let’s have a look.’

Harriet surrendered the glasses. They were Wimsey’s, after all, though if he thought that she would be upset by a distant view of what she had once seen so unpleasantly close

Wimsey looked and began to laugh.

‘Here, take them, quick! It’s a bit of old iron. It looks like a boiler or something. Don’t miss Umpelty’s face, it’s worth seeing.’

‘Yes; that’s what it is — a sort of cylinder. I wonder how that got there. They’re examining it very carefully. Perhaps they think they’ll find the body inside it. No go. They’ve dropped, it back again.’

What a disappointment!

‘Poor Umpelty! I say, these are lovely, sandwiches. Did —’

Bunter make them? He’s a genius.’

‘Yes. Hurry up. I want to have another look at that cleft in the rock before we start.’

The cleft, however, remained an enigma. Wimsey’s attention was concentrated on the ring-bolt.

‘I’ll swear,’ he said, ‘that this hasn’t been here more than a fortnight. It looks perfectly new, and the ring isn’t worn anywhere. What the devil he can have wanted that for Well, let us be going. I’ll take the high road and you take the low road; that is, I’ll scramble among the loose stuff at high-water mark, and you walk along by the sea’s edge, and we’ll work to-and-fro between the two. Anybody who finds anything shouts and we compare notes.’

‘Right-ho’