The tall pale Mrs Bodmin appeared pleased to see Carolus, though she was incapable of being effusive, but when Carolus introduced Detective Sergeant Grimsby her manner changed at once. ‘What do you want to see me for?’ she asked, more of Grimsby than of Carolus. ‘Is Liz in?’ asked Carolus ignorin...
SPORLOTT’S HOUSE AND SURGERY IN THE centre of the new town. Cotswold stone had been cemented (a crime in itself) to make low walls round a piece of modern sculpture called Resurrection which looked like a tree struck by lightning. A square from which traffic was banned was called The Piazza, and ...
Though reported by Miss Trudge to be remaining in bed ‘seriously ill’ she succeeded in disturbing the routine of the Fleur-de-Lys and no one, from Antoine to Gloria Gee, was allowed to forget that there was a Very Important Invalid in number four. Miss Trudge was everywhere. Because it disturbed ...
He must call on Grazia Vaillant. He found the Old Vicarage a well-kept house, vaguely Georgian in architecture, with additions probably made by the fathers of large families in the last century. But as soon as he drew near he saw that no opportunity had been missed for antique embellishment. Wrou...
Driving for several miles across the marshy wasteland and shallow waters that divide the city from the seaside groups of villas, with names that recalled old battles and human sacrifices, he felt there was something sinister about the whole region, something that recalled Salammbo and the cruel a...
AS SOON as the new tober had been reached next morning, and the tents set up, Beef and I strolled round to attempt to see Gypsy Margot. We found her sitting in her little tent laying out the peculiar paraphernalia of her trade, mumbling indistinctly to herself all the time. “Good morning,” said B...
“This is no longer a nice cosy case in which I can allow you to play around,” he said. “I’m convinced now that there’s very real danger here and not merely for lonely women going home at night. I’m not going into it all, but you’ve got to go.” Priggley protested. “Don’t start getting earnest, sir...
“What’s this mean?” she snapped at Stute. Mrs. Walker came forward. “My dear, I’m so thankful to see you. I never for a moment thought but what that young rotter had done you in. I knew….” “Oh it’s you, is it?” said the girl furiously. “You’ve brought them here have you? You dirty old swine, you!...
I said, “I think you’d better go down to Sydenham alone this time. I really don’t think I could face that suburb again tonight.” “Now then, none of that,” Beef returned, though quite good-humouredly. “You know very well I can’t go trapezing down there in buses. Besides, if things turn out as I th...
He went down himself to Larkin’s cabin to examine the note which the missing passenger had left. This had been typed on the little portable which Larkin kept on his cabin table and said simply—“I killed Gregory Willick and am killing myself.” Bidlake read this without comment. He realized that it...
‘But as I told you, we’ve been working from another angle. Motive is what we looked for, and we’ve found it. Or more precisely, we’ve found someone here in the district who seems to have had a very strong motive for killing Shoulter. And that’s something to start on. ‘I need not go into all the i...
We assembled as yesterday in the lounge. The drinks consumed at this hour are discreetly charged for by Jerrison, but that does not make the nightly occasion any less like that of a small provincial cocktail-party. For some time everything seemed normal. The bishop and Phiz had been playing golf ...
“Could you tell me,” he began ponderously, “which of the ladies and gentlemen staying in the house lit their fires last night?” But Williams came to the rescue. “Really, Beef,” he said, “while these gentlemen have important questions to ask, I think we want to waste as little time as possible.” O...
Asprey’s School Chapter Fourteen Carolus, coming somewhat late to breakfast next morning, noticed an air of tension among the boys and an empty chair where Matron usually sat. “Please, sir, Chavanne’s going to get the stick after breakfast,” Lipscomb informed him. “Most suitable,” said Carolus st...
The ladies were asked to show the contents of their bags to a policewoman and allowed to leave when they had given their names and addresses to one of the plain-clothes men. The men also gave their names, and after asking the permission of each—in no case refused—one of the CID men quickly friske...
It was a large room, but there was little empty floor space and the few tables and many chairs left almost no room in which customers could move about. There were not many women in the bar and the few there seemed to keep as far from Miss Shapely as possible. “It doesn’t do,” she confided in Caro...