The Death-Cap Dancers

Chapter 12: YELLOW ARCHANGEL

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‘So what is all the brouhaha?’ enquired Dame Beatrice, who had driven straight to the cabin on Sunday and had arrived at the time of siesta which followed the young women’s Sunday lunch. ‘Parlez lentement, doucement, en anglais and, if possible, one at a time.’

‘The floor is yours, Hermy One,’ said Isobel. Hermione told the story of their troubles and told it well.

‘But I think we’ve brought you here on a fool’s errand, great-aunt,’ she concluded. ‘Something else has happened — we don’t know all the details, but it’s pretty bad and it’s something the inspector knows we couldn’t have done. We’ve discussed it, and it seems another one in that folk-dance party has been badly injured and another killed. One of them — one of the girls — ran off to find one of the boys after the show. The other girl was supposed to be staying the night here with us and some of what happened seems to have happened to her brother. He was the boy, she told us, who was thought to have gone off with the girl. She knew all about that before she left the hall. What she didn’t understand, she said — she seems a simple, naive sort of bod — is why he went off in girl’s clothes, but the inspector came and told her what really happened.’

‘I mentioned transvestites,’ said Isobel, ‘but she sounded genuinely convinced when she said there was nothing of that sort about him. He had simply filled in for that girl who was killed so that the show could be presented more or less as they had rehearsed it. She told us that the other girl — Peggy she called her — had had her hooks in the brother for months and they thought she must have persuaded him to run off with her. It seems to have been a sort of Daisy Bell in reverse, because, although they were supposed to have taken the tandem on which brother Mick was usually the back-seat operator with another man in front, Pippa was sure her brother would not have been the instigator of the move, but, of course, it wasn’t like that at all. Anyway, the inspector insisted — it amounted to that — on taking Pippa in his car to join her friends, so she didn’t spend the night here after all, and that’s all we know.’

‘Oh, well,’ said Dame Beatrice, ‘you had better get your car and lead mine to the hotel I hope you have booked for me.’

‘We booked you in at the Ewe and Lamb pub in the village. It’s highly spoken of and has four bedrooms only, so we thought you would find it nice and quiet and it only takes about ten minutes in a car from here. Have you had any lunch? They only do snacks at lunch-time but we are told that Sunday dinner there is quite something. This is a holiday place, you see, and lots of the cabin people go there, so it flourishes.’

‘I had lunch on the way up here, so perhaps you would all care to join me for dinner tonight, then.’

‘Would we!’ exclaimed Tamsin.

‘She looks ethereal,’ said her sister, ‘but she’s the prototype of the human boa-constrictor, and so I warn you.’

‘Oh, come, now’ said Hermione, ‘be fair to the girl. The worst that can be said of her is that, like Bingo Little, she is apt to get a bit rough when in the society of a sandwich.’

‘I’m not sure we ought to be joking,’ said Erica very seriously. ‘Two murders and very nearly a third don’t make me feel exactly lighthearted and I’ve got to attend that inquest tomorrow and speak my piece about finding the body on the moor.’

‘If the police are still conducting an investigation, the inquest will be adjourned as soon as the identity of the corpse has been formally established and the medical evidence given,’ said Dame Beatrice. ‘Almost nothing will be required of you. If you so desire, I will accompany you. In any case I shall be interested to hear what the doctors have to say.’

Ribble came to the cabin at half past three and was introduced to Dame Beatrice.

‘Our Superintendent has notified the Chief Constable of your arrival, ma’am,’ he said, ‘and they will be glad and honoured to meet you. May we take it that you will be willing, now you are on the spot, to put your great experience at our disposal?’

‘What I have heard from these children,’ replied Dame Beatrice, leering benevolently at the four young women, ‘has aroused my interest, Inspector. I shall be delighted to put in my thumb.’

‘Then, perhaps’ — he, too, looked at the girls — ‘I might have a word in private with you.’

‘We can take any hint which is reinforced with the aid of a sledger-hammer,’ said Isobel. ‘Come along, children. We are being turned out into the snow.’

‘If you ladies are going out, go in a car, keep together all the time, and on no account give anybody, male or female, a lift,’ said Ribble impressively.

He waited until they were out of the cabin and even stood at the french doors to watch their departure towards the carpark, before he turned to Dame Beatrice and said, ‘We can do with your help, ma’am. May I put my own version of the case before you? I expect the young ladies have told you something, but there are features in the case that they don’t yet know about. There is a disordered mind at work. That’s where we should welcome your cooperation. Somebody seems to have got it in for the young people who put on that song-and-dance show at Gledge End. The girl who was killed belonged to them and now one more of them has been murdered. Another is lucky to have escaped death, and this time there is no question of a hit-and-run car.’

‘Then I can take it that you really have exonerated my great-niece and her friends?’

‘Oh, yes, indeed. Apart from the fact that they could have had no hand in Saturday’s nasty business—’

‘Why not? They attended the performance.’

‘They must have left the premises before the murderer did his job. A whole convoy of the cabin holidaymakers’ cars left the carpark at the end of the show and I have evidence that theirs was among them and was sandwiched in, so to speak. I have witnesses who can swear to the number plates. Needless to say, my chaps have made a very careful check. There is only one direct road from Gledge End to the two-mile drive into the forest to get back to the cabins, and nobody deviated from it.’

‘What about the car which brought up the rear of the procession? Couldn’t that have slipped away without anyone being the wiser?’

‘It was driven by an elderly lady who had a disabled passenger. I can’t see how either of them, or both of them together, could have attacked two strong and healthy young people.’

‘It seems unlikely, I admit.’

‘There is another argument, anyway, regarding the first death, and one which a layman can’t gainsay. The pathologist’s report makes it clear that the girl was not knocked down by a hit-and-run car. Her injuries were only to the back of the head and were caused by repeated blows, probably from a heavy stone. We haven’t found the stone but there are boulders on that part of the moor where the body was found, and we have found blood on the roadside near where her buckled bicycle was seen by the young ladies. We are going on the assumption that that was where she was killed. Then, as you may have heard, the murderer tried to conceal the body in a dip on the moor where two of the young ladies found it. The murders seem motiveless, so far as we can make out. If they are, it must follow that nobody is safe while this joker is at large. Of course the likely thing is that he is a member of the troupe. These last two attacks don’t point anywhere else. My trouble is that one of my chief suspects was this second murdered girl. She, at least, seems to have had some sort of a motive, but, with her out of the way, there doesn’t seem anything much to choose between the rest of them, although I have a leaning towards one of the men.’

‘You stated that two more had been attacked. Who was the other one? My great-niece mentioned a brother of the girl who came here on Saturday evening.’

‘A young fellow who did female impersonations for them, yes, the brother of this girl Pippa Marton. He was dressed as a girl, ready to have his photograph taken with the rest of the dancers, when he was set upon.’

‘A fact which may be of the greatest importance, don’t you think?’

‘Oh, yes, I do. That’s why we want your help. Our killer seems to have a Jack the Ripper personality, except that he doesn’t mutilate the bodies. He leaves his trade-mark in the form of a poisonous toadstool pressed into the headwounds. Wouldn’t you call that the act of a psycho, ma’am?’

‘I shall know better when I have seen the dancers who are left. Meanwhile, since you are convinced of my own young people’s innocence, I shall suggest to my great-niece and her friends that they return to their homes. You would have no objection to that, I take it?’

‘Not so long as they leave me their home addresses, just in case. I may let the last girl in the concert party go home, too, for her own safety. The female impersonator who was attacked was her brother, as I said, and I have a theory that he may have been attacked in mistake for her. I hope not, because, if that is so, then I have to exonerate the rest of the group. The brother and sister are remarkably alike to look at, it is true, but none of their companions would have mistaken one for the other, so I’m inclined to think that the murderer made a mistake and that the sister was an intended victim, but that is only a hunch.’

‘That is interesting. You prefer it to the other theory you outlined?’

‘Yes, I do, ma’am, but there’s a nigger in the woodpile in the person of the young fellow who used to ride tandem with the injured boy. Mind you, I’m not saying that their relationship was anything but what it ought to be, but there’s a lot of that sort of thing about in these days, especially since the law was changed. The murdered girl — the first one — was sweet on the wounded boy and the second dead girl was, by all accounts, her rival. That part seemed straightforward enough, but to remove both of them would leave the way clear for this tandem partner, if you see what I mean, and that’s a point I have to consider.’

‘But why attack the beloved object as well as the predatory girls, Inspector?’

‘Goodness knows, ma’am. Jealousy is as cruel as the grave, they say. That could be one answer, I suppose. He may have had his suspicions that his friend had paired off with one of the girls and left him flat.’

‘I think I shall enjoy a chat with your dancers, Inspector.’

‘You’ll have a look at the young people, ma’am?’

‘Oh, yes. It seems a pity to come all this way for nothing, does it not? I imagine you have questioned them closely about the first death?’

‘Yes, I have. The only one of them who seemed to have an alibi was this girl Pippa. I know what is thought about alibis, ma’am, but this one seems unbreakable. I thought at first that I could eliminate two of the boys, but then I found I couldn’t. They had spent most of the day in Gledge End getting the hall ready for Saturday’s show, but I was unable to discover at what time they left, and the medical evidence hasn’t been of much help, because the doctors can’t say, within a couple of hours, when the first girl died. Now that we have eliminated your young ladies it has helped a bit, because there is no doubt the girl was dead when they found her. However, they weren’t all that sure of the time they saw the damaged bicycle and when they had made their report and we had got the police surgeon along to look at the body, the best part of another hour had elapsed, which didn’t help much. You see, my trouble is that I neither know when those two fellows left the church hall last Thursday nor at what rate they pedalled back. The death-spot wasn’t all that far from Gledge End. At twelve mph they could have reached it in half an hour, I reckon, so I can’t dismiss them from my calculations.’

‘But your problem, I imagine, is not only that you cannot find out at what time they left the hall, or, presumably, whether they remained together when they had done so. What else?’

‘There’s another thing, yes. According to the rest of them, this Mrs Judy Tyne left the Youth Hostel, which is about twenty-five miles from where her body was found (if she followed the moorland road, as we think she did) at around nine in the morning. It could not have taken her six or seven hours to cycle that distance. This lot went everywhere on their bikes, so she must have been an experienced cyclist.’

‘A puncture?’

‘We don’t think so. In fact, we’re sure not. The tyres were quite tight. One of my chaps tested them. They were nearly new and there was no sign of a mend. The only damage was to the front wheel.’

‘An assignation with somebody — with whoever killed her?’

‘Must have been with one of the dancers, then, and it could have been with any one of them, including this second dead girl, but, of course, she’s out of it now.’

‘What was the alibi of the girl they call Pippa?’

‘She was at Ramsgill’s farm all day, sworn to by Mrs Ramsgill before she knew anything about the murder. I don’t think it’s any good trying to climb that tree, ma’am.’

‘At what time did she leave the farm?’

‘Round about tea-time, roughly speaking. Anyway, far too late for her to have got to where the body was found. Besides, she’s a slip of a thing. Mind you, the doctors are going on the assumption that Mrs Tyne was struck from behind and probably taken by surprise, but, really ma’am, I can’t see that Pippa Marton could have anything to do with it. Besides, there is this second death and also the vicious attack on her brother.’

‘Come, now, Inspector! It is not unknown for sisters to attack their brothers.’

‘I grant you he was attacked from behind, like the girl on the moor, but the second dead girl was face to face with the murderer and she would make two of Miss Pippa.’

‘What about the other young men? Could they be connected with the first death, the death on the moor?’

‘No real alibis at all. Two of ’em went to a swimming pool where nobody can swear to them, and the two on the tandem declare they went to the pictures, but again there is no real proof that they couldn’t have slipped out, met the girl and killed her. But, there again, one of them is this boy who is now in hospital. Of course, the attack on him and the murder of the second girl need not have been by the same person that killed Mrs Tyne, or for the same reason. Against that, a death-cap toadstool was found pushed into all the three youngsters’ headwounds.’

‘Do you mean an extremely poisonous fungus which the botanists call Amanita phalloides?’

‘I don’t know what the botanists call it, ma’am, but I’m told it’s pretty deadly. Anyway, it’s convinced us that the murderer is a psycho and, if I may repeat myself, that is where we hope you will come in.’

‘I am free as soon as I have registered at the Ewe and Lamb, where a room has been booked for me. I should like to begin work on the case at once. Can you pick me up there in half an hour’s time? I am told it is quite near here.’

‘I can drive you there, ma’am, and wait until you are ready to go.’

‘Then I will leave a note here for my great-niece and we can be off at once. Is the death-cap toadstool readily obtainable in these parts?’

‘Oh, yes, ma’am. I’ve had a word with the forest warden and he tells me that it grows under trees and that his foresters, who take the cabin holidaymakers around when they first come, are told to warn people about it and show them the difference between it and the mushroom which it somewhat resembles.’

‘The death-cap, so named, seems reminiscent of the days when the judge in a case of murder was passing sentence, don’t you think, and wore a black square on his august wig?’

‘Yes, ma’am, that had occurred to me. Seems as though our fellow thought he was awarding the death penalty to those girls for some crime he thought they had committed. Wonder what was in his mind?’

‘Murderers are as egoistic as the Roman emperors, Inspector. That is the answer here, I think, but speculation along those or any other lines is unprofitable at present. ’

She scribbled in her small notebook, tore out the leaf and left it in the centre of the table for Hermione to find when the girls returned. At the Ewe and Lamb she registered at the desk and booked a table for five at dinner.

‘Where first, ma’am, when we leave your hotel? For tonight I’m leaving the dancers at the Lostrigg Youth Hostel with a police-guard. The warden there wasn’t any too pleased, as they were only booked in for last night, but he had to stretch a point for once and I promised to take them out of his care tomorrow. They will attend the inquest at Gledge End and then I shall escort them to the forest cabin I’ve been given.’

‘Then I think I will wait to question them until after the inquest. Let us make first for the hostel at which they stayed previously. I should like a word with the warden.’

‘That’s at Long Cove Bay, ma’am, and only about half the distance to the Lostrigg place.’

‘Good. I have to get back in time to dress for dinner and welcome my guests.’

On the way to the Youth Hostel Ribble detailed a conversation he had had with his Chief Constable when they had known that Dame Beatrice was to visit her great-niece. It had run: ‘This is a very nasty business, Ribble.’

‘Yes, indeed, sir. Not what I’m used to on our manor.’

‘No, indeed. So what are you doing about those dancers?’

‘I’ve commandeered an empty forest cabin for a couple of days to house them. I’ve no evidence against any of them except that all the boys’ alibis for the first murder are suspect, but nothing points to one of them more than to the others. As for the girl, I want to get her right out of it, but I can’t. On the evidence of Mrs Ramsgill, the farmer’s wife, Miss Pippa Marton is in the clear so far as the death of Mrs Tyne is concerned, but there isn’t an alibi in sight for this business at the church hall. None of them can produce one.’

‘How’s that, then?’

‘Not one of them can swear to what any of the others were up to once the show was over. They were all lending a hand at clearing the platform and the body of the hall, removing their props, and so on and so forth, and some of the stuff was taken out of the hall and nobody can say who did what and who went where. Besides that, they’re all scared stiff and are most unwilling to commit themselves to any definite statements in case they might incriminate themselves or one another. I was a bit doubtful about leaving Miss Marton with them, but I’ve got to keep them all rounded up until Dame Beatrice can take a look at them, and I thought my best plan would be to get them along to her as soon as I could.’

‘Yes, I take your point about not leaving them on the loose. In any case, we couldn’t expect Dame Beatrice to chase them all up when they got to their homes. You might be justified in holding them in custody for a couple of days, I suppose, but I think we shall get far more out of them if we don’t frighten them further, or aggravate them too much. They are a pretty intelligent lot, I daresay, and probably know their rights and will exercise them, once they get over the shock.’

‘I believe Dame Beatrice is expecting her secretary to join her. What about the other young women, sir, those who found the first body? We don’t need them any more, do we?’

‘If Dame Beatrice wants to send them home and it doesn’t look as though they can help you any further, let them go.’

‘I see the Newcastle chaps have picked up our man, sir.’

‘Oh, yes, he’s out of it all right. He’d still got the rucksack he stole from the Youth Hostel and he was wearing the anorak. Both have been identified and the lorry-driver who gave him a lift outside Durham has come forward. Our man couldn’t have had anything to do with these last attacks and you never really considered him for the first one, did you?’

‘Not after we were told about the toadstool. The thing is called the death-cap and seems to be this joker’s trademark. We’re up against a psycho all right, sir. That’s why we can do with Dame Beatrice, as you say.’

‘What about the young fellow who swears he saw the girl’s car skid and hit a tree?’

‘The girls don’t know about that, sir, and I shan’t tell them. Swore he saw the skid when he was on his way back from the forest carpark last Thursday and very cleverly identified the tree for us. Seems to be a bit of a woodman, not to say more than a bit of a naturalist. Name of Trent. Had one of the cabins and got to know the girls.’

‘So you didn’t believe his story?’

‘No, sir, but we’d given up suspecting the girls before he told it. I reckon he’s sweet on one of them and told the lie about seeing the skid just to keep them out of trouble.’

‘As my old schoolmaster, who was mad on Chaucer, would have said, “he was a verray parfit gentil knight”.’

‘And could have been a damned nuisance, sir, but no harm done on this occasion, as I had already made up my mind that those girls were out of it.’

‘A bit of a naturalist, you say? Wonder what he knows about death-cap toadstools?’

‘I’d never thought of that, sir. Well, the forest warden will have his address, so I can keep the tabs on him. Lies, even in what the liar thinks is a good cause—’

‘Are not items to inspire confidence in the liar? I agree. Yes, keep your eye on him. Meanwhile, it will be interesting to see what Dame Beatrice makes of this business.’

‘I shall give her some notes, sir, of visits I made in connection with the first murder and the outcome of same. I shall make my own enquiries with regard to the church hall affair and shall leave her to take her own course. We can compare our findings and discuss them later, if that is her wish. With her vast experience she may hit on something which I’ve missed. I hope she can. Unless one of those dancers is our man, or this young fellow who told me that unnecessary tarrididdle about Miss Lestrange’s skid in the woods when she went to park the car, I haven’t any line which looks like a useful follow-up.’

‘Have you thought about that caretaker at the church hall?’

‘In connection with the murder there, yes, sir, but I haven’t questioned him yet from that angle. I’ve only taken his statement about finding the injured lad and the dead girl. I can see he might be implicated there, but it’s difficult to see how he could have been involved in the death of that girl on the moor.’

‘I would press him, all the same. Keep strictly within the rules, of course, and be sure to tell him that he is entitled to have his solicitor present — that should scare him a bit! — and see what he will come up with. After all, the part of the moor where the first body was found isn’t all those many miles from Gledge End.’