1

ARREST

 

Chief inspector Roger West, of New Scotland Yard, stepped into the large room, and Detective Sergeant Peel followed him. They left the door open, and Detective Officer Burnaby placed his big frame half in and half out of the room.

A pale-faced man looked up from his desk, which was slantwise across one corner. Behind his grey head, wine-red curtains hung in deep folds. It was a lovely room, quiet – but not peaceful, then.

A middle-aged woman, still beautiful, sat in a winged armchair in front of the blazing log fire; and shivered. Her eyes were huge, there were dark patches beneath them, and her cheeks were chalk white. Lipstick slashed the pallor, scarlet varnish tipped the nails of long, white hands.

Roger West stepped to the desk.

The woman cried: “No!” in a strangled voice.

“You are James Mortimer Liddel?” West said.

The man’s voice was deep and firm.

“Yes.”

“It is my duty to charge you with the murder of Lancelot Hay,” West said, “and I must warn you that anything you say may be used in evidence.” He moved round the desk and rested his hand lightly on the older man’s shoulder. “I have to ask you to come with me, Mr Liddel.”

Liddel made no move.

“It isn’t true,” gasped the woman; “it isn’t true!” She sprang to her feet. “I tell you it isn’t true; you’re crazy to arrest him! You must be mad!” She took two quick steps towards West, and Peel moved nearer her. Her eyes blazed, but she could hardly get the words out. “You mustn’t take him away!”

“I’m sorry, Mrs Liddel.” West sounded as if he meant that, it wasn’t just a formality.

“I won’t let you take him!”

“Don’t, Mary,” Liddel said. “The Inspector is only doing his job. You’re making it worse for all of us.”

“How can you be so calm? Anyone would think it didn’t matter, but they’re going to try you for murder. They might hang you! You might be going off to your death, and you sit there as if you were going—” The woman broke off, with a stifled cry.

“I didn’t kill Lancelot, and so they cannot prove that I did,” Liddel said. “Mary, will you go? I want a word with the Inspector before we leave.”

“They mustn’t take you!” Mary Liddel cried.

“Francesca will be here tonight,” Liddel said; “she will help you, my dear. Please don’t make it worse.”

His wife caught her breath, turned as if she were going, then swung round, pushed West aside, and clutched her husband’s hands. She flung herself on her knees beside him and buried her face against his coat; sobs wracked her body. The wide, loose sleeves of a dark blue dress billowed, as if in the wind, the skirt spread over the wine-red carpet, a wide circle serrated with narrow pleats. Liddel stared straight in front of him, not at West or at anyone. He looked very tired.

Peel blew his nose.

“Come away, Mrs Liddel,” West said, and took her arm.

She didn’t resist, but let him help her up; she was still crying. He took her towards the door. Behind the bulky Burnaby, a young, scared girl dressed in a maid’s cap and apron, stood uncertainly.

“Look after Mrs Liddel,” West said to her.

The maid put out a hand, unsteadily, and led the woman away. Burnaby now stepped inside and closed the door, as if he wanted to shut out the sound of crying.

“We’d better talk at the police station,” West told Liddel.

“Yes.” Liddel stood up. He was a tall man with broad shoulders, his hair was thick, he was handsome in an impressive way. “I wanted my wife out of the room, Inspector. All I wish to say here is that you have been very kind. No one could have handled a distasteful task with more consideration. You advised me to be alone, but my wife insisted on staying.” He paused, looked away from Roger, and then added: “All her life she has been refusing to believe that anything could go wrong. All her life—”

He broke off abruptly.

“We shall help Mrs Liddel in every way we can,” West said.

“I’m sure. I’m not worried about that.” Liddel’s lips curved in a slight, sad smile. “When one gets knowledge of the police only at second hand it is very misleading.”

He looked down at three photographs on his desk – of his wife, a young woman and a young man. He picked up his wife’s photograph, then put it down. His voice was strained.

“She took that herself – a self-portrait. And the others—”

He broke off abruptly. “Shall we go?”

As they left the room, two more detectives, from the Division which covered Kensington, where the Liddels lived, came up the stairs. West stayed with them to search the lovely room and the rest of the house. Peel and Burnaby went out with Liddel, into the cold March night. The last sound they heard inside the house was that of the woman, crying.

The house was large, and every room showed excellent taste and hinted at wealth. Liddel, besides his pension as a retired senior Civil Servant, had private means. Roger West went in room after room, but had no time to search each thoroughly; it was little more than a formality, for the evidence against Liddel was already strong.

He made notes of places he would search more thoroughly, if necessary.

On the half-landing was a door he hadn’t yet opened. He went in, and switched on the light. This was a box room, which had been turned into a darkroom. Two cameras, slides, films, all the equipment to gladden an expert’s heart, were here.

“Go and get one of the servants,” he said to the man with him.

The maid who had gone off with Mrs Liddel came along, dwarfed by the Yard man; timid, nervous.

“How’s your mistress?” asked Roger.

“She’s—she’s terribly upset, sir. I’ve sent for the doctor.”

“That’s right.” So timidity did not conceal a lack of common sense. The girl had intelligent, grey eyes, which were candid and clear. “Who uses this darkroom?”

“Oh, it’s Madame’s, sir; she’s wonderful at photography, she does all her own developing and printing.”

“Does anyone else use it?”

“No, sir, not really. Miss Francesca used to, now and then.

Mr Liddel—” She broke off, moistening her lips. “He isn’t interested, except in the results, sir. He always says he can’t take a snap without moving the camera.”

Roger smiled.

“I see, thanks. All right, you look after Mrs Liddel.”

 

Two hours later, Roger West walked along the nearly deserted corridors of Scotland Yard. He turned into his own office, which overlooked the Thames Embankment, and switched on the light. It was cold in here. He went to his desk, at one end of the room, and sat down heavily. He lit a cigarette and stared at a Manila folder on the desk. It was marked Liddel-Hay and contained all the records of the investigation of the murder of Lancelot Hay, whose body had been exhumed ten days before, and found to contain arsenic. He flipped open the file, and the first document was a note, printed by hand in block capitals, and not signed. It read: LANCELOT HAY WAS MURDERED

 

There was a rubber-stamped date on it: February 13. That was the day on which it had been received at the Yard. Attached to it was the envelope, made of the same cream-laid paper as that of the note itself. The postmark was London, and didn’t help. There were smears of grey powder on both; but on neither had the police found a trace of a fingerprint they could identify. Beneath it were several other identical anonymous letters, beneath those, reports of interviews with the doctor who had signed the death certificate, all the little things which had indicated the possibility of poison. Finally, the police had obtained an exhumation order. Now . . .

A man who was greatly respected by everyone who knew him; who had been a Permanent Under-Secretary at the Foreign Office until his recent retirement; a prominent worker in the Church; a man known to be kindly and humane and generous, was waiting to go into the dock, next morning. And a highly-strung, almost neurotic woman was virtually alone in a great house, apparently near despair.

It wasn’t only that West felt sorry for them both; there was something he couldn’t explain but which made him doubt whether the evidence, which he himself had found, was foolproof. Anyone to whom he confessed that would scoff at him.

He heard footsteps, familiar and heavy. He wasn’t surprised when the door was thrust open, and Inspector Eddie Day put his head inside the room. Eddie had a prominent nose, slightly protruding teeth, and a backward slanting forehead; and nature had been mean with his chin. He grinned.

“Up late, Handsome?” Because he often had difficulty with them, he usually emphasised his aspirates.

“I wouldn’t call it late,” Roger said.

“It’s nearly eleven. You know—” Eddie insinuated himself into the room, as if he wasn’t sure of a welcome. He didn’t close the door. “You seem to smell the right time to be burning the midnight oil, Handsome.”

“Do I?”

“Anyone would think you had a private line to Chatty’s flat, and know when he’s roaming around. He’s just come in.”

“If the Assistant Commissioner hears you calling him Chatty, you’ll get a flea in your ear,” said Roger, making a deliberate effort to be amiable. “I didn’t know he was on the prowl.”

“Some people would believe you,” sniffed Eddie. His eyes were also slightly protuberant, and he blinked frequently. “You’ve got Liddel tied up all right, I see. I ‘and—hand it to you, Roger, you did a good job on that. Very good job. How did Liddel behave?”

“He didn’t throw a fit of hysteria, if that’s what you mean.”

“Wouldn’t expect him to, too much of a gentleman,” said Eddie, and sniffed. “Tell you what – you’d better slip out a side way. The news hawks are clustering round tonight. They’re not giving the Back Room Inspector any peace at all. Big show, for them, the Liddel case. You know”—Eddie came a little farther into the room—”it wouldn’t surprise me if they don’t get awkward. Got some powerful friends in Fleet Street, Liddel has.”

“Supposing we jump that fence when we get to it?” Roger suggested.

“I’m only warning you,” said Eddie. “I—I think he’s coming.” He paused for a second, his head raised, then winked and went out quickly, closing the door without a sound.

Eddie had ears as sharp as his eyes. He was the Yard’s expert on forgery, and on his subject, shrewd and occasionally brilliant. In every other respect, he made Roger marvel that he had ever reached his present rank. But his ears hadn’t betrayed him, and another man walked along the passage, with heavy, deliberate footsteps which stopped outside the door.

Roger lit another cigarette.

The door opened, and Sir Guy Chatworth, the Assistant Commissioner, came in, closed it, and stood looking down at Roger, blank-faced. He was a large, portly man, dressed that night in light brown tweeds, which increased his bulk. He had grizzled hair which hung in ringlets to his head, except a patch in the middle, which was bald and brown. His complexion was ruddy and veiny; there were many who said that he looked a perfect farmer type. His grey-blue eyes had a gimlet quality.

“Good evening, sir,” said Roger.

“Evening,” grunted Chatworth, and moved to a chair and sat down. “What are you worried about?”

“I like some jobs less than others,” Roger said. “Care to smoke, sir?”

“That doesn’t answer my question, young Roger.” Chatworth helped himself to a cigarette. “I’ve known you long enough to know when you’re not happy. Liddel?”

“The evidence seems cast iron.”

“That doesn’t answer the question, either.”

“Well, sir—”

“Listen,” said Chatworth, “it’s late, we’re alone, you needn’t be formal.”

Roger smiled. “Thanks! Mrs Liddel was hysterical, and the whole business upset me.”

“I don’t believe it,” said Chatworth. “You’ve had plenty of unpleasant jobs, and you don’t let sentiment get in your way. Think there’s any weakness in the case?”

“It stands up to every test I can give it,” Roger replied. “Hay was a nasty piece of work, and it’s been proved conclusively that he was blackmailing his uncle, who had a love child nearly thirty years ago. We can’t find out where the illegitimate son is—we’ve no trace, and Liddel says he doesn’t know. The blackmailing had been going on for five years. Add to that, dislike between the pair of them and several recent quarrels. Add Liddel refused to pay any more hush-money. Add the note we found from the nephew, telling Liddel that unless he paid up at once, documentary proof would be sent to the press—that made action urgent, from Liddel’s point of view. Add also that Liddel bought arsenic, several weeks ago, that he met Lancelot Hay in a quiet country pub, and went there using an alias, and also add the fact that death came soon after that dinner. There isn’t much weakness about the case, is there? Motive, opportunity of his own making, and the poison that was used. To make it worse, Liddel first denied having met his nephew at the country pub, and put up a false alibi. There’s absolutely nothing wrong, as far as I can see.”

“And you still don’t like it.”

Roger said: “I don’t see Liddel as a murderer, and that’s a laugh in itself. Half the murderers I’ve helped to hang seemed incapable of committing that or any other crime. You don’t have to be a criminal to commit a murder; citizens, exemplary in all other respects, seem to fall for it. I’m uneasy without cause.”

“But you’re uneasy.”

Roger shrugged.

“Any other line you can follow?” asked Chatworth.

“None I can see. I’ve checked as far as it’s humanly possible to check, and we’ve just no trace of the illegitimate son. Liddel has two children of his marriage. Anthony, aged twenty-seven, is a bit of a libertine, hasn’t lived at home for years, was on amiable but not devoted terms with his family. He’s a young rake, adored by the servants. He stood to gain nothing from the murder, has no great affection for his father, and in any case, hasn’t seen his cousin Lancelot for two years. On the night of the murder, he says he was in his own flat, and we can’t disprove it.”

“No doubt about that?”

“None we can find. Then there’s the daughter, Francesca.” Roger frowned. “She’s been in the United States for the past three months, and before that had her own flat—the elder Liddels lived alone. Francesca’s on the way home now, she left New York by air, yesterday. There are no other close relatives. Lancelot Hay hadn’t any money, so that couldn’t be the motive; so, Liddel has the only known motive.”

“Well, it all seems to add up,” said Chatworth. “The Public Prosecutor had a good go at the evidence before the warrant for the arrest was sworn, and he’s quite confident. I should try to get the thing out of your system.”

Roger didn’t speak.

“Not nursing any idea you don’t want to talk about yet, are you?” asked Chatworth, knowingly.

“I haven’t a glimmering of any alternative,” said Roger, “the only thing that really justifies wondering – if it does – is the spate of anonymous letters. All were carefully cleaned of fingerprints; we haven’t a clue as to who sent them. Yet it means that someone else knew where Liddel was on the night of the murder.”

“Sure?”

“It’s a pretty strong indication, anyhow. It also means that someone else hates Liddel’s guts.”

“So what you really think is that Liddel might have been framed,” Chatworth said abruptly.

“It’s the only likely reason for having doubts,” Roger said. “But I haven’t found indications of anyone who would hate Liddel enough for that, except in the anonymous letters. The love child’s a possibility, but we just can’t find him. No one in the family and no friends of the family appear to have any reason for wanting Liddel to be hanged.” He stood up, with a short laugh. “Anyhow, that’s not my job, it’s the job of the defence.”

“Who’s handling it?”

“Potter”

“Couldn’t have a better solicitor,” Chatworth said. “I wonder who they’ll brief for the trial. You go home, Roger, and don’t worry.”

 

At half-past twelve, Roger West put his car into the garage by the side of his house at Bell Street, Chelsea, and stood for a few minutes by the front gate. The stars were clear and the cold wind had a knife edge; but he stayed there. The house was in darkness, which meant that Janet, his wife, had gone to bed. This wasn’t a case which caused her any anxiety. He glanced up at the window of their bedroom, and smiled a little.

“This won’t do!” he said aloud.

He walked smartly to the front door, let himself in with a key, then closed the door quietly. He turned into the room on the right of the small, square hall, and switched on the light. This was a friendly room, comfortably furnished, showing some signs of wear and tear. On the table by his armchair, which backed on to the window, were two drawings, bright with coloured crayons. He picked them up, and his smile became more free. One had ‘Scoopy’ scrawled across the top in faint but neat block capitals; the other was signed ‘Richard’, the letters uneven. His two sons were the rival artists. Scoopy, now nearly seven, seemed to show a natural bent for drawing. Richard, nearly six, had more hope than ability.

Roger poured himself out a whisky and soda, and sat down to drink it at his leisure. It wasn’t long before he’d forgotten the drawings and was thinking about the Liddel case. He wished it hadn’t got under his skin, it might make him moody at home.

He was halfway through the drink when a car turned into the street. He didn’t really notice that, until it stopped outside. A car door banged, then someone walked quickly and lightly up the narrow path to the front door. He reached the front door before the bell rang, waited a moment, then opened it.

The light shone on a tall, well-dressed young woman.

“Good evening,” said Roger.

“Are you Mr West?”

“Yes.”

“I hope you will spare me a few minutes,” the girl said. “My name is Liddel—Francesca Liddel.”