After The Funeral Part 4

For a moment or two she sat dreaming. Dreaming of tho future unfolding before her She smiled like a happy child.

She was really going to enjoy herself at last... She went out to the small branch line train busily making plans ....

CHAPTER IV I IR. EZTWmSTLE pa.s.sed a very restless night. He felt so tired and so unwell in the morning that he did not get up.

His sister who kept house for him, brought up his breakfast on a tray and explained to him severely how wrong he had been to go gadding off to the North of England at his age and in his frail state of health.

Mr. Entwhistle contented himself with saying that Richard Abernethie had been a very old friend.

"Funerals!" said his sister with deep disapproval. "Funerals are absolutely fatal for a man of your age I You'll be taken off as suddenly as your precious Mr. Abernethie was if you don't take more care of yourself."

The word "suddenly" made Mr. Entwhistle wince. It also silenced him. He did not argue.

He was well aware of what had made him flinch at the word suddenly.

Cora Lansquenet I What she had suggested was definitely quite impossible, but all the same he would like to find out exactly why she had suggested it. Yes, he would go down to Lytchett St. Mary and see her. He could pretend that it was business connected with probate, that he needed her signature.

No need to let her guess that he had paid any attention to her silly remark. But he would go down and see her--and he would do it soon.

He finished his breakfast and lay back on his pillows and read The Times. He found The Times very soothing.

It was about a quarter to six that evening when his telephone rang.

He picked it up. The voice at the other end of the wire 22

was that of Mr. James Parrott, the present second partner of Bollard, Entwkistle, Entwhistle and Bollard.

"Look here, Entwhistle," said Mr. Parrott, "I've just been rung up by the police from a place called Lytchett St.

Mary."

"Lytchett St. Mary I,"

"Yes. It seems Mr. Parrott paused a moment. Ho seemed embarra.s.sed. "It's about a Mrs. Cora Lansquenet.

Wasn't she one of the heirs of the Aberuethie estate ?"

"Yes, of course. I saw her at the funeral yesterday."

"Oh ? She was at the funeral, was she ?"

"Yes. What about her ?"

"Well," Mr. Parrot sounded apologetic. "She's---it's really most extraordinary--she's been well--murdered."

Mr. Parrott said the last word with the uttermost deprecation.

It was not the sort of word, he suggested, that ought to mean anything to the firm of Bollard, Entwhistle, Entwhistle and Bollard.

"Murdered ?" "Yes--yes--I'm afraid so. Well, I mean, there's no doubt about it."

"How did the police get on to us ?"

"Her companion, or housekeeper, or whatever she is--a Miss Gilchrist. The police asked for the name of her nearest relative or of her solicitors. And this Miss Gilchrist seemed rather doubtful about relatives and their addresses, but she knew about us. So they got through at once."

"What makes them think she was murdered ? "demanded Mr. Entwhistle.

Mr. Parrott sounded apologetic again.

"Oh well, it seems there can't be any doubt about that--I mean it was a hatchet or something of that kind--a very violent sort of crime."

"Robbery ?"

"That's the idea. A window was smashed and there are some trinkets missing and drawers pulled out and all that, but the police seem to think there might be something--well--phony about it."

"What time did it happen ?"

"Sometime between two and four-thirty this afternoon."

"Where was the housekeeper ?"

"Changing library books in Reading. She got back about five o'clock and found Mrs. Lansquenet dead. The police want to know if we've any idea of who could have been likely to attack her. I said," Mr. Parrott's voice sounded 23

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n.o.body local is concerned, we're pretty sure of that. The

locals are all accounted for satisfactorily. Most people are at

work at that time of day. Of course her cottage is up a lane outside the village proper., Anyone could get there easily

without being seen. There s a maze of lanes all round the

village. It was a fine morning and there has been no rain for

some days, so there aren't any distinctive car tracks to go

by--in case anyone came by car."

"You think someone came by car ?" Mr. Entwhistle asked

sharply.

The Inspector shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know.

All I'm saying is there are curious features about the case.

These, for instance--" He shoved across his desk a handful

of things--a trefoil-shaped brooch with small pearls, a brooch

set with amethysts, a small string of seed pearls, and a garnet bracelet.

"Those are the things that were taken from her jewel box.

They were found just outside the house shoved into a bush."

"Yes--yes, that is rather curious. Perhaps if her a.s.sailant

was frightened at what he had done--"

"Quite. But he would probably then have left them

upstairs in her room Of course a panic may have come over him between the bedroom and the front gate."

Mr.

Entwhistle said quietly: "Or they may, as you are suggesting, have only been taken as a blind."

"Yes, several possibilities... Of course this Gilchrist woman may have done it. Two women living alone together --you never know what quarrels or resentments or pa.s.sions rn y have been aroused. Oh yes, we're taking that possibility into consideration as well. But it doesn't seem very likely.