Danger Point

Chapter 20

I SHOULD like to see Lady Steyne,” said the Inspector. He got up and went towards the bell.

Dale Jerningham stopped him.

“You needn’t bother to ring – I’ll fetch her. I expect she’s on the terrace.”

He got a shrewd, straight glance.

“I was going to ask you to wait here till she came.” A firm thumb pressed the bell.

Dale said, “Oh, just as you like.” He strolled over to the window and stood there looking out.

William came, and went.

Presently the door opened again and Alicia Steyne came in. She glanced first at the Inspector, who had remained standing, and then at Dale, who came to meet her. The Inspector thought her a very pretty woman and much younger than he had expected. Her neck and arms were bare and brown. Her white linen dress showed a slim and pretty figure.

There was a carnation colour in her cheeks and her eyes sparkled. He noticed that they dwelt upon her cousin. He said,

“I needn’t keep you now, Mr. Jerningham. Will you sit down, Lady Steyne?”

Dale got half way to the door. Then he turned and said,

“I had to tell him about seeing Pell on the track. I put it at well before ten. Is that what you would say?”

Alicia sat down composedly. She seemed to consider the question.

“I don’t know – I suppose so. Does it matter?”

“It might.” said the Inspector. “If you don’t mind, Mr. Jerningham, I would rather Lady Steyne made quite an independent statement.”

Dale said, “Oh, all right,” hesitated a moment, and then went out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

The Inspector sat down and took up his pen.

Alicia was lighting a cigarette. When she had got it going she tossed the spent match into the waste-paper basket with an accurate, vigorous aim, and said in her sweet, high voice,

“This is a damnable business, isn’t it? Dale’s horribly upset about it.”

“In what way, Lady Steyne?”

She sketched a gesture with her cigarette.

“Oh, well, you know – the whole thing – this wretched man Pell being in his employment. And Dale swore by him – said he was the best mechanic he had ever had. You know he’s mad on flying, and he was going to have his own plane and keep Pell for the ground work. He really was awfully good. I hear he’s bolted. Have you got him yet?”

“No, not yet. Did you know this girl Cissie Cole?”

Alicia drew at the cigarette and blew out a cloud of smoke.

“I knew her when she was a child. This was my home till I married. I was brought up here with my cousins, so of course I know everyone in the village. Dale’s very feudal, you know. That’s why he went off the deep end about Pell. The Coles belong to Tanfield, they’ve belonged for about three hundred years, and Tanfield belongs to him. Touch one of my people and you touch me. Pell might have committed bigamy in any other village in England, but not in Tanfield. You see?”

March nodded.

“Yes. You say you knew Cissie Cole as a child. Had you not seen her since?”

“Oh, yes – at intervals – as one does, you know. I’ve bought stamps from her in the post office when her aunt was busy, and said good-morning when I passed her in the village – that sort of thing.”

“Did she talk to you about this affair with Pell?”

“Oh, Lord, no!” She paused, and added, “I believe she talked to Lisle – Mrs. Jerningham. I don’t live here now, you know – I’m only on a visit.”

“I see. Now, Lady Steyne, perhaps you would just tell me what you were doing between nine and eleven o’clock last night.”

Alicia sat back. She held her cigarette away and said in a considering tone,

“Nine to eleven – oh, certainly. Dale rang up the aerodrome and arranged to do some night flying – that was just before nine, I think – and then I got out my car and we drove a bit and went up on to the cliffs-”

“At Tane Head?”

“Yes.”

“How long were you there?”

“Well we got to the aerodrome at eleven. I don’t know how long we were up on the moor.” She laughed suddenly. “You know, Inspector, this is all damnably compromising- or at least that’s what it’s going to look like by the time it gets into the papers. Honestly, it’s rather hard luck. We go for a harmless evening stroll and before we know where we are we’re let in for an inquest, and everybody thinking the worst about us. Dale’s fed to the teeth.”

The Inspector thought that as far as Lady Steyne was concerned she appeared to be in very good spirits. He reflected that she was a widow and that Jerningham was married, and he speculated for a moment on Mrs. Jerninghams’ attitude towards cousinly strolls on Tane Head. He asked her about the meeting with Pell, and found her answers vague. It was quite light enough to recognise him. It had been a particularly fine evening and the light stayed late on the cliffs. He came running down the track and got on his motor-bicycle and rode away. She couldn’t say whether he saw them or not – he might have – they were not on the track, but they were not far away. She agreed that it could not have been much later than a quarter to ten. No, she hadn’t heard any cry, and she had never been near enough to the edge of the cliff to look over. No, she hadn’t seen anyone else up there. There were some children in Berry Lane.

“And you were up on the headland till about a quarter to eleven?”

“Yes. It would take about a quarter of an hour to drive to the aerodrome.”

“If Cissie Cole had been on the headland when you got there, would you have seen her?”

“We might have. We didn’t.”

“Let me put it this way – could she have been there without you seeing her?”

“Oh, easily. Haven’t you seen the place? It’s all up and down, with blackberry thickets and gorse – plenty of cover.”

“And the light was good enough for you to have recognised her?”

She drew at her cigarette and blew out the smoke.

“That depends on what you mean by recognise. We should have seen if there had been anyone there. We saw Pell – oh, a long way off – but I didn’t recognise him until he passed us.”

March said, “I see-” And then, “Were you and Mr. Jerningham together?”

Alicia laughed.

“You’re quite determined to compromise me – aren’t you?”

“You were together all the time?”

She laughed again.

“Now what did Dale say when you asked him that? Are you trying to catch me? I believe you are, so I’m going to be on the safe side. We weren’t actually holding hands, and I’m not going to swear I never took my eyes off him – you can’t expect me to give myself away to that extent, can you? – but – well, I suppose you can guess that we didn’t go up there to sit under separate gorse bushes about a quarter of a mile apart. And when you have guessed, I hope you won’t think it necessary to tell.”

She threw the stub of her cigarette after the match, and with just as good an aim. Then she smiled enchantingly.

“Dale really is frightfully upset,” she said. “There’s nothing in it, but his wife’s that sort of person, and he’s got visions of headlines in the papers, and scenes about it with her, and the village simply buzzing. I told you he was feudal, and I do believe it’s the village talk he really minds about most.” She pushed back her chair and got up. “Is that all? Who do you want to see next – Lisle? She really did talk to Cissie last night, you know.”

Inspector Marsh said, “Yes. Perhaps you would ask her to come in.”