Mr. Zero

XXX

Algy Somers came into the room somewhat heartened by the fact that Monty had just clapped him on the shoulder and bidden him brace up. There had been real warmth in voice and manner. And he had always thought Monty rather a cold fish. It only showed that you never could tell.

He took the chair which Mr. Brewster had vacated, but experienced none of his desire to be helpful. He felt an extraordinary distaste for the whole thing, an extraordinary mental fatigue. Through this fatigue came the conviction that the hostility he had encountered before had sensibly increased, and that they were all watching him as if they expected something to happen. He didn’t know what.

Colonel Anstruther led off with the same question as before.

“You left the drawing-room with Mr. Brewster. Did you notice the time?”

“Brewster did,” said Algy. “He said it was twenty past five.”

“Mr. Brook corroborates that. He went in as you came out, and he looked at the clock in the hall. Now, Mr. Somers, will you tell us just what happened after you left the room?”

“Yes,” said Algy. “Sturrock came through the baize door beyond the dining-room and said I was wanted on the telephone. He said it was a trunk call and would I mind taking it in the pantry.”

“Yes?” said Mr. Brook.

“I went through and took off the receiver. There was no one on the line. I tried to get the exchange, but they seemed to be asleep. When I did get them they said they didn’t know anything about a trunk call. I hung up and came back into the hall.”

“One minute, Mr. Somers-how long did this take?”

“I can’t say-two minutes-three-it always seems a long time when you’re trying to get the exchange.”

“And you say you returned to the hall?”

“Yes, I came back into the hall.”

“Meeting Sturrock on the way?”

“No, I didn’t see him again.”

“You’re sure he didn’t come back into the pantry while you were at the telephone?”

“Oh, quite sure.”

“And he wasn’t in the hall when you got back there?”

“Not a sign of him.”

“What did you do next, Mr. Somers?”

“I went upstairs,” said Algy. Like a cold wind the thought went over him that no one had seen him go.

Mr. Brook’s voice echoed the thought, inverting it, putting it to him as a question.

“Did anyone see you go upstairs? Did you meet anyone?”

“Not a soul, I’m afraid.”

“What did you do when you got up there?”

“I went to my room.”

“Yes?”

“I stayed there until I heard a commotion in the house. Then I came down, and someone, one of the footmen, told me Sturrock had shot himself.”

“How long were you in your room?” said Colonel Anstruther.

“I couldn’t say exactly, sir-about ten minutes.”

There was a pause. Then the Chief Constable said,

“Listen to me, Mr. Somers. The theory that this man Sturrock committed suicide is not borne out by the medical evidence. It is a very convenient theory, but it won’t hold water. Very disappointing for the person who shot him, but there it is. It is our business to find out who did shoot him. Now here are the facts. Sir Francis Colesborough owned a pair of pistols. He kept one of them in that drawer-second on the right, wasn’t it, Boyce?-and there is no evidence as to where he kept the other. Sturrock thought he kept them both there. Pity we didn’t press the point at the time, but it wasn’t of any special importance then-now of course it is. Sir Francis was shot with one of the pair, and Sturrock with the other. Now, supposing the second pistol to have been in that drawer, who had access to it before the police arrived last night?”

“A good many people, I should say, sir.”

“Yourself among them. You agree to that?”

“Oh, certainly.”

Colonel Anstruther frowned in a judicial manner.

“You had access to the weapon?”

“Oh, no, sir-that is going too far. I, in common with the entire household, had access to a drawer in which you suppose the second pistol may have been. There is no proof that it was there. I certainly never set eyes on it myself.”

Colonel Anstruther said, “Tcha! Since Sturrock was shot with this pistol, it is obvious that it was on the premises, and if it was on the premises, you had access to it.”

Algy shook his head.

“I don’t admit any of that,” he said.

Colonel Anstruther’s colour deepened.

“Perhaps you will allow me to continue. Sturrock was shot between twenty-one or twenty-two minutes past five, when you and Mr. Brewster encountered him in the hall, and five-and-twenty to six, when William found him dead and gave the alarm. During that time Mr. Brook was with the Home Secretary in the drawing-room. Mr. Patterson, myself, and the Inspector were in here. Mr. Brewster was in the Parlour, Lady Colesborough in her own room with Miss Hardwicke, who says she left her to go to her bedroom a little before the half hour, but she was not away more than a minute or two. The staff were all in the servants’ hall with the exception of the cook and the second housemaid, who were out, and Sturrock, whom none of them had seen from the time he had taken tea into the drawing-room at five o’clock. The wireless was switched on and a programme of military band music was coming through. This would account for the fact that nobody heard the shot. The servants were all together till just after the half hour, when William tried the pantry door and found it locked. There is a passage between the servant’s hall and the pantry, and the doors are some distance apart. As William could get no reply, he became alarmed and, going round by the dining room, found the butler dead on the pantry floor with the pistol close to his hand. Now, Mr. Somers, who shot him? He didn’t shoot himself, you know-Dr. Hammond is quite clear about that. He was shot by Mr. Zero whom he was blackmailing.”

Mr. Brook, watching closely, saw Algy Somers start. A man may start when he is surprised, or when he is alarmed. Mr. Brook went on watching closely, and Colonel Anstruther went on talking.

“Blackmailing,” he said in a tone which dared anyone to, contradict him. “Does that surprise you?”

“Very much,” said Algy.

Colonel Anstruther said “Tcha!” and continued, “There is evidence to show that Sturrock had been in possession of the letters which Lady Colesborough was about to hand over to Mr. Zero when Sir Francis interrupted them. She must have dropped them, and Sturrock must have picked them up-he had ample opportunity before the police arrived. Anyhow he had them. The handkerchief in which they were wrapped was found on him.”

“And the letters?”

“Mr. Zero’s got them. He did murder for them, and he got away with them. But he hasn’t got clear, Mr. Somers, and I don’t think he will.”

“I hope he won’t,” said Algy in rather an odd tone. Absent-minded, almost as if he was thinking of something else, was what Mr. Brook thought. Then his head came up with a jerk, and he said in quite a different voice and manner, “Colonel Anstruther, may I tell you something?”

The Inspector looked up quickly. Colonel Anstruther stared.

“If you’ve anything to say-any information to give-”

“Well, I have, sir. I don’t know what you’ll think of it, but it seems to me that it might be important.”

“Tell us what it is, Mr. Somers,” said Mr. Brook.

“It’s this,” said Algy. “I expect you know that I took my car out this afternoon.” His eye had a challenging sparkle. “Well, just beyond the gate I passed Sturrock ploughing along in the mud in his store clothes, and I offered him a lift. He said Railing would suit him, and I didn’t care where I went, so I dropped him there in the Market Square, and as I was driving off I saw him go into a pub called the Hand and Flower.” He stopped and Colonel Anstruther said,

“Is that all?”

Algy looked at him seriously.

“It doesn’t sound very much, sir, but when you said Sturrock had been blackmailing Mr. Zero, this is what struck me-if he had the letters, he must have found them last night. I told you we met him on the lawn and sent him down to where Sir Francis was lying, with orders to stay there until the police arrived. If he had the letters, that’s when he got them, and if he used them to blackmail Mr. Zero, the letters must have told him who Mr. Zero was.”

“Quite so,” said Mr. Brook drily.

“Well then, he would have to get into touch with him. If he was shot because he was blackmailing Mr. Zero, it was because he did get into touch with him. Well, how did he do it? Would he risk using the telephone here, or would he think Railing safer? Why did he go to Railing anyhow? He was back again in time to bring in tea, you know. He told me he would be catching a bus at something after four. Don’t you think there must have been something special to take him in to Railing if he was only going to be there for a little over half an hour? Wouldn’t it be worth while to find out what he was doing in the Hand and Flower, and, if possible, whether he put through any telephone call whilst he was there? Someone may have noticed him.”

Inspector Boyce looked up.

“That’s a good idea, sir. I could send Collins. He’s smart.”

Colonel Anstruther sanctioned the sending of Collins with a grunt and a jerk of the head.

Algy got up.

“I’ve told you all I know, sir. Is there anything else?”

If they were going to arrest him, it would be now. He wondered what they had found in Francis Colesborough’s safe. He wondered whether his red herring was going to give him a respite. He wondered what Gay was doing. Everything seemed to hang in the balance. Then Colonel Anstruther said stiffly,

“Nothing more at present, thank you, Mr. Somers.”