The Silent Pool

Chapter Forty

Mary Lenton came through the hall to let her in. Nothing could possibly have been more inconvenient, but then Edna was one of those people who always did time her visits at the most inconvenient moment. She had a shopping-bag on her arm and was extracting from it three small account-books which she held out in a complaining manner.

‘I really ought not to have undertaken anything to do with accounts. I remember I told you so at the time. I have no head for figures.’

‘But you offered-’

‘I am too kind-hearted,’ said Edna in a fretful voice. ‘When I heard that Miss Smithson was ill, I know I said that I would carry on, but I really can’t make head or tail of her writing. So I thought I would come down and tell you it’s no use. Unless, of course, we can just go through them together-’

Mary Lenton struggled with an acute feeling of irritation. She never had been able to like Edna Ford, though she had sometimes felt sorry for her. And to come at this moment, with Superintendent Martin in the house, Ellie upstairs looking as if she was going to faint again, and lunch to see to! Now she came to look at her, Edna didn’t seem any too well herself. Such a bad colour – and that dreadful old black coat and skirt! It ought to have been on the scrap-heap years ago. She really oughtn’t to go about looking like that. And that steel buckle would be off her shoe any minute now. She said,

‘I’m afraid, Edna, I’m very busy just now. Ellie isn’t well.’

‘She gives way,’ said Edna Ford. ‘I’ve always said so. She should rouse herself. I’m sure no one can tell me anything about bad health, but it shouldn’t be made an excuse for neglecting one’s duties. Now if we can just come into the dining-room and go through the entries for July. I see Miss Smithson has put down six yards of pink flannelette, and I really can’t think what it was for.’

Mary Lenton was just going to say ‘night-gowns’, when the study door opened and Miss Silver came to her rescue.

‘Mrs Ford, I wonder if you would mind coming in here for a moment.’

Edna looked surprised. She could not imagine why Miss Silver should be inviting her into the Vicar’s study – she could not imagine why Miss Silver should be there at all. She walked into the room with the shopping-bag on her arm and the three account-books in her hand, and was still further surprised to see that it was Superintendent Martin who was sitting in the Vicar’s chair. The door closed behind her. He said,

‘Ah, Mrs Ford – won’t you sit down?’

She took the chair on the other side of the table and put the bag down on the ground. Miss Silver seated herself. Edna said,

‘What is it?’

‘We think you may be able to help us.’

‘I can’t see – I really don’t think-’

He leaned towards her with a hand on the edge of the table.

‘It has been found necessary to detain your husband for questioning.’

She went on looking surprised.

‘I don’t see how you can think of any more questions to ask. I don’t suppose he can tell you anything he hasn’t told you already.’

‘That is as may be. At the moment, I’ve asked you to come in here because Miss Silver would like to speak to you.’

‘Miss Silver?’ The surprise deepened.

He got up and walked away to the window. Miss Silver said,

‘Superintendent Martin does not wish to be involved in this, but I think you ought to know that your husband is under a good deal of suspicion in regard to the deaths of Miss Preston and Miss Meriel Ford.’

Edna said, ‘Geoffrey?’

‘There is quite a strong case against him. In fact up to a point it is a very strong case indeed. I think you know that he went to the Lodge to see Mrs Trent on the night of the murder, and a witness has now come forward to prove that Miss Meriel followed him there. This witness overheard the violent quarrel which ensued. She heard Miss Meriel say to your husband that she would tell the police she had seen him push Miss Preston into the pool under the impression that the person wearing Adriana Ford’s coat was in fact Adriana Ford herself. Miss Meriel then left, and after being adjured by Mrs Trent to follow her Mr Geoffrey Ford did so.’

Superintendent Martin looked over his shoulder and saw Edna Ford sitting stiffly upright. She was clutching the three account-books, and there was a perfectly blank expression on her face. As he looked round, she said,

‘I don’t know why you are telling me all this. I don’t approve of Geoffrey going to see Mrs Trent – you have heard me say so before. She is an immoral woman – I don’t approve of her at all.’

Miss Silver said firmly,

‘There is a witness to the fact that Miss Meriel Ford threatened your husband, and that he followed her when she left the Lodge. Within a very short time of that she was struck down by a murderous blow and her body left in the pool.’

Edna had a gleam of animation.

‘I can’t think what she was doing there. So damp – and such unpleasant associations.’

‘Mrs Ford, your husband was seen to follow her. Do you not realize that that could be very serious for him? She threatened him. He followed her. She was found dead.’

The trace of animation became stronger.

‘Well, he had to get home. I hope you do not suppose he would have stayed at the Lodge all night.’

Miss Silver sighed. She looked round at the Superintendent, and he came back to his place at the writing-table.

‘Well, Mrs Ford, it is not part of my job to make you anxious about your husband, but the evidence of this witness whom Miss Silver has mentioned extends beyond his case.’

‘Really, you know, I came here to do these accounts with Mrs Lenton.’

‘Just a moment, if you please. This witness states that she followed Miss Meriel and Mr Geoffrey all the way to Ford House. She says Mr Geoffrey went in, but that someone else came up from behind her after she had reached the farther corner of the house and followed Miss Meriel across the lawn and into the enclosed garden which contains the pool. She states that it was a woman, and that after a little time this woman returned and went into Ford House by way of the study window. But Meriel Ford did not return.’

Edna fidgeted with the account-books.

‘How very strange.’

‘You realize that this witness was seeing the murderer?’

She nodded.

‘Then it would have been Esmé Trent.’

‘You think so?’

‘Oh, yes. She is a bad woman – I have always said so.’

‘But she would not have gone into Ford House.’

‘Oh, yes – she was always running after Geoffrey.’ She put a hand on the edge of the table and got up. ‘I really mustn’t keep Mrs Lenton waiting.’

And just at that moment the handle moved, the door opened, and Ellie Page came a half step into the room. She wore a dark blue jumper and skirt, and she looked like a ghost. When she saw Edna she said ‘Oh!’ and stopped where she was.

‘There was something I had forgotten. I thought perhaps – I ought to say-’

Edna began to move towards the door. As she did so, the loose steel buckle on her left-hand shoe fell sideways and almost tripped her. Ellie stared at it, and at her. Then she came right into the room, shut the door, and went back against it.

‘That was the thing I remembered,’ she said.

The Superintendent got to his feet and came round the table.

He saw Ellie’s eyes fixed and staring, and he wanted to see what they were staring at.

Edna Ford stooped down and pulled at the buckle. The loose threads broke and pulled away. She stood up with it in her hand.

‘Dear me – it nearly tripped me!’

Ellie’s eyes followed the buckle. She said,

‘That’s what I remembered. I saw it when she was crossing the lawn after she put the light on. The torch hung down in her left hand and shone on the buckle. It moved because it was loose, and the light shone down on it. I remembered, and I thought I ought to tell you.’ She looked from the buckle to Edna’s face and shrank back against the door. ‘Oh, you killed them! You killed them both!’

Edna Ford had a small complacent smile. She tilted the buckle on the palm of her hand and said,

‘It was very clever of me, wasn’t it?’