Mr. Zero

XXIV

Algy Somers came into the room, and found it hostile. Colonel Anstruther, grey of hair and red of face, was standing with his back to the fire. Inspector Boyce sat stiffly at the writing-table. Mr. Brook, whom he knew by sight, looked up from a notebook and then down again. It was borne in upon Algy that he was here not only to be questioned, but also to show good reason why the suspicions of the occasion should not be focussed upon his person. It was a very disquieting impression. Colonel Anstruther’s cold stare and Mr. Brook’s detachment did nothing to modify it. He could hardly sit while Colonel Anstruther remained standing, yet this position intensified the suggestion that he was in some sort a prisoner at the bar.

The Chief Constable opened the proceedings.

“I should be glad if you would repeat your account of what happened last night, Mr. Somers.”

“I have made a statement in writing, sir.” Algy’s tone was quiet and pleasant.

“You wish to adhere to that in every respect? Nothing you’d like to add to it?”

“Nothing that I can think of, but if there are any questions you would like to ask-”

Colonel Anstruther looked past him.

“Mr. Somers’ statement, Boyce.”

The Inspector brought it over and went back to his seat. Colonel Anstruther frowned at the typewritten page.

“You say, Mr. Somers, that Miss Hardwicke asked you to drive her down to Cole Lester. When was this?”

“Well, I was having a bath when she rang up-I suppose it was about seven o’clock. By the way, she didn’t ask me to drive her to Cole Lester, she asked me to lend her my car. I wouldn’t do that, but I offered to drive her, and she stipulated that I shouldn’t ask where we were going.”

“And when did you find out?” There was a sneering tone in Colonel Anstruther’s voice.

A young man with political aspirations must learn to keep his temper. Algy kept his. He said,

“When Miss Hardwicke told me to make for a village called Colebrook, I guessed at once that she was going to Cole Lester to see her cousin.”

“And you want us to believe that you asked no questions?”

“I had promised not to, sir.”

“Perhaps you were going down to Cole Lester in any case?”

Algy allowed himself to be surprised.

“Oh, no, sir. My acquaintance with Lady Colesborough is very slight.”

“Have you ever talked to her on the telephone?”

“Certainly not.”

Mr. Brook looked up.

“Did Miss Hardwicke give you any explanation of why she was going down to see her cousin in the middle of the night?”

“No, she didn’t tell me anything.”

“But you had your own ideas on the subject. Do you mind telling us what they were?”

Algy hesitated.

“It’s rather difficult to say. I was a good deal concerned about Miss Hardwicke. She is very young, her people are abroad, and I had an idea that she was letting herself get mixed up in something that might-involve her in some unpleasantness. As soon as I guessed we were going to Cole Lester I thought it was something to do with Lady Colesborough. I had to let her go off into the grounds by herself, but I didn’t feel at all happy about it, and as soon as 1 thought it was safe I followed her.”

Colonel Anstruther returned to the statement.

“You say you followed Miss Hardwicke up the drive, and afterwards along the path that skirts the house. Did you know the place? Had you ever been there before?”

“No.”

“Then how did you find your way?”

The question came at him sharply, but Algy took it with a smile.

“I had a torch, sir. I didn’t use it more than I could help, because I didn’t want Miss Hardwicke to know that I was following her.”

“And you maintain that you followed Miss Hardwicke all the way?”

“Oh, yes-definitely.”

Mr. Brook spoke in his quiet voice.

“Taking into account the time that passed before you followed Miss Hardwicke, would it have been possible for you to reach the far side of the yew hedge by the time the shot was fired?”

“Oh, no-certainly not.”

“But if a shorter time had elapsed-if you had followed Miss Hardwicke immediately, then it would have been possible?”

“No. I should still have been behind Miss Hardwicke, and she was certainly not more than half way down the tunnel when she heard the shot.”

“Mr. Somers, are you aware that the path which skirts the house divides at a point level with the terrace?”

“I know it now, but I knew nothing about it last night.”

“Miss Hardwicke took the right fork and came out upon the lawn. If you had taken the left fork you would have passed the end of the yew hedge and come out upon the strip of grass behind the rose garden. You know that now, don’t you?”

“Yes, I know it now.”

“But you didn’t know it last night?”

Algy’s eyebrows went up.

“How could I know it? The place was utterly strange to me.”

“You had never been there before?” The sneer was still in Colonel Anstruther’s voice.

“No, I had never been there before.”

Mr. Brook took up the question.

“You had never met Lady Colesborough in these grounds?”

Algy smiled.

“I had met Lady Colesborough exactly three times before last night-twice at a night-club, the Ducks and Drakes, where she was with a party and I was with Miss Hardwicke, and once at the flat of some cousins of mine, the Westgates, where we dined at the same table and I afterwards talked to her for about ten minutes in the midst of a crowd of people. She told me that she adored London and hated the country. I can’t remember anything else about the conversation.”

“You haven’t answered my question, Mr. Somers.”

“I thought I had. I had certainly never met Lady Colesborough either here or anywhere else, if by that you mean a clandestine meeting.”

“And you have never been to Cole Lester before?”

“I have said so quite a number of times.”

“But if you had been here before-if you were familiar with these grounds-you will agree that you could have reached the strip of grass beyond the yew hedge before the shot was fired?”

Algy smiled.

“I am not inclined to agree to a purely hypothetical case.”

“Will you agree that a man who took the left fork would naturally outstrip anyone who, taking the right-hand turn, would have to find their way across the lawn to the entrance of the yew walk?”

“No, I don’t agree at all. I should think that the distance would be about equal.”

“But if the man who took the left-hand fork had a torch and used it, and if he ran, I think you will have to admit that he could have reached the place where the shot was fired in plenty of time to meet Sir Francis, snatch his pistol, and fire that shot.”

“Well, I don’t know that I’m admitting that either,” said Algy. “Lady Colesborough says the man she went to meet was at the window in the yew hedge when she got there. She doesn’t say anything about his coming up at a run and snatching the pistol. From what she told me, she and Mr. Zero were talking through the window and she was handing over a packet of letters, when she heard someone running and Sir Francis arrived on the scene. Isn’t that what she says in her statement?”

Mr. Brook nodded.

“Sir Francis came from the right. He must have turned right at the path and skirted the rose garden in that direction. Anyone who followed the path which you and Miss Hardwicke took would have skirted the rose garden on the left and come out on to the grass on that side. Mr. Zero would almost certainly have come that way, because it was the shortest and most direct route between the meeting-place and the road, where he would naturally have left a car. You did not observe any other car?”

Algy shook his head.

“There was no other car within range of my headlights. There may have been half a dozen farther up the road. I wasn’t out looking for cars.”

“Mr. Somers, did you hear a car at any time either before the shot was fired or afterwards-especially afterwards? If Mr. Zero did not remain at Cole Lester he must have got away-probably by car. Did you hear any car?”

Algy said, “Yes, I did,” and thought how convenient a lie it must sound-‘If Mr. Zero left Cole Lester, he must have left by car. Did you hear a car?-Yes, I did…’ It happened to be the truth, but there were times when you couldn’t expect the truth to impose upon a child of five. He gave a short laugh and added, “You won’t believe it, but it’s perfectly true-I did hear a car, thought I didn’t take any notice at the time. It was just before we met Sturrock and the servants. Miss Hardwicke may have heard it too.”

Inspector Boyce turned in his chair. He addressed the Chief Constable.

“I put the question to her myself, sir, and she said she hadn’t noticed anything. And the servants, they didn’t notice anything either.”

“They had plenty to think about,” said Algy. “I didn’t remember it myself until you asked me, but I’m quite prepared to swear to it now. I did hear a car, and it was going back the way we came.”

“Suggesting that Mr. Zero had run his car on a bit and left it turned all ready to go back to town again?” said Mr. Brook.

Algy admitted a faint tone of sarcasm to his voice.

“I won’t go so far as that-but then I haven’t your imagination.”

Mr. Brook smiled faintly.

“Imagination may be very useful,” he said. “Now I want to ask whether you noticed what time it was when Miss Hardwicke left you to find her way up the drive last night.”

Algy had a sudden conviction that the answer to this question was going to matter a great deal. If he hadn’t known the answer, it wouldn’t have mattered. But he did know it, and it came home to him that if he gave it he might be landing himself in trouble, and if he hesitated it was bound to make a very bad impression. He said without any perceptible pause,

“I looked at the clock when Miss Hardwicke got out of the car, and it was just on twelve.”

Colonel Anstruther said explosively, “What do you mean just on twelve, sir? Can’t you be accurate?”

Algy looked in his direction. The old boy was hostile, definitely hostile. He made his voice as deferential as he could and apologized.

“I’m sorry, sir. It was between one and two minutes to twelve.”

“Yes,” said Mr. Brook-“that is Miss Hardwicke’s recollection also. How long did you wait before you followed her?”

“I gave her a couple of minutes.”

“So you left the car at twelve o’clock. How long do you suppose it would take you to reach the strip of grass beyond the yew hedge?”

“I haven’t timed it,” said Algy. “I suppose you have.”

Mr. Brook nodded.

“It took me four and a half minutes this morning. I might take anything from five to seven or eight minutes in the dark. It might take no more than four for a man who had a torch-and knew his way-and was in a hurry to get there.”

Algy laughed.

“In other words, you mean Mr. Zero might have done it in four minutes. But then why should Mr. Zero have been in a hurry?”

“We should be interested to know that,” said Mr. Brook. “Perhaps you will answer your own question.”

Algy smiled.

“I’m afraid only Mr. Zero could do that.”

There was a momentary silence-rather a concentrated sort of silence. It said, with no need of words, “Well, here you are-the game’s up. Why not make a clean breast of it?”

It would have given Algy the most extraordinary pleasure to take the Inspector by the scruff of his neck and bang his face on the table, chuck little Brook through the window, and let fly with the inkpot at old Anstruther. Instead he maintained an admirable self-control and waited for somebody else to speak.

The silence was broken by Mr. Brook.

“Lady Colesborough says she heard the clock strike twelve just before she left her room. I have ascertained that this clock is five minutes fast. It was therefore six or seven minutes past twelve before she left the house. That would allow Mr. Zero six or seven minutes to arrive at the rendezvous before she got there.”

“But you don’t know when Mr. Zero started, or where he was coming from-do you?” said Algy.

“Don’t we?” said Mr. Brook. “I wonder. But we know when you started, Mr. Somers. You could easily have reached the rendezvous before Lady Colesborough got there.”

Algy contemplated him with amusement.

“I’m afraid that doesn’t help you very much.”

“No? Well, we shall see. Meanwhile here is a provisional timetable. 11.58, Miss Hardwicke enters the drive. 12 o’clock, Mr. Somers enters the drive; Lady Colesborough prepares to leave her room. 12 to 12.05, Lady Colesborough leaves the house by the parlour door; Sir Francis follows her. 12.05, Mr. Zero arrives at the rendezvous. 12.07, Lady Colesborough arrives at the rendezvous. 12.08 to 12.09, Sir Francis gets there after skirting the rose garden. 12.10, Sir Francis is shot. 12.11, Miss Hardwicke arrives and finds Lady Colesborough holding the pistol. The butler Sturrock says it was just after a quarter past twelve when the alarm-bell rang and aroused the servants’ wing.”

“Quite so,” said Algy. “May I point out, however, that your timetable rests chiefly on guesswork? Miss Hardwicke and I can corroborate each other as to the time she left the car, and Sturrock’s evidence as to the time the alarm-bell rang probably has the support of the rest of the staff, but between 12 and 12.15 you’re just guessing, and you know it. It’s no use asking anyone who has ever met Lady Colesborough to expect her to be accurate about time. If she said she heard a clock strike just before she left her room, it might have been one minute before or it might have been ten-I don’t suppose she’d notice the difference.” He turned to Colonel Anstruther. “You’ve been talking to her, sir. Would you expect her to be accurate-well, about anything?”

“Woman’s a half-wit,” said Colonel Anstruther. “Waste of time talking to her-waste of time asking her anything. Hasn’t got a mind, and doesn’t try to use whatever it is she’s got instead. I’ll give you that if it’s any use to you, Mr. Somers-you’ll want all you can get. Any more questions, Mr. Brook?”

Mr. Brook shook his head.