Dead Man's Folly - Agatha Christie [54]
Chapter 14
I
Inspector Bland sat in Helmmouth Police Station. Superintendent Baldwin, a large comfortable-looking man, sat on the other side of the table. Between the two men, on the table, was a black sodden mass. Inspector Bland poked at it with a cautious forefinger.
‘That’s her hat all right,’ he said. ‘I’m sure of it, though I don’t suppose I could swear to it. She fancied that shape, it seems. So her maid told me. She’d got one or two of them. A pale pink and a sort of puce colour, but yesterday she was wearing the black one. Yes, this is it. And you fished it out of the river? That makes it look as though it’s the way we think it is.’
‘No certainty yet,’ said Baldwin. ‘After all,’ he added, ‘anyone could throw a hat into the river.’
‘Yes,’ said Bland, ‘they could throw it in from the boathouse, or they could throw it in off a yacht.’
‘The yacht’s sewed up, all right,’ said Baldwin. ‘If she’s there, alive or dead, she’s still there.’
‘He hasn’t been ashore today?’
‘Not so far. He’s on board. He’s been sitting out in a deck-chair smoking a cigar.’
Inspector Bland glanced at the clock.
‘Almost time to go aboard,’ he said.
‘Think you’ll find her?’ asked Baldwin.
‘I wouldn’t bank on it,’ said Bland. ‘I’ve got the feeling, you know, that he’s a clever devil.’ He was lost in thought for a moment, poking again at the hat. Then he said, ‘What about the body – if there was a body? Any ideas about that?’
‘Yes,’ said Baldwin, ‘I talked to Otterweight this morning. Ex-coastguard man. I always consult him in anything to do with tides and currents. About the time the lady went into the Helm, if she did go into the Helm, the tide was just on the ebb. There is a full moon now and it would be flowing swiftly. Reckon she’d be carried out to sea and the current would take her towards the Cornish coast. There’s no certainty where the body would fetch up or if it would fetch up at all. One or two drownings we’ve had here, we’ve never recovered the body. It gets broken up, too, on the rocks. Here, by Start Point. On the other hand, it might fetch up any day.’
‘If it doesn’t, it’s going to be difficult,’ said Bland.
‘You’re certain in your own mind that she did go into the river?’
‘I don’t see what else it can be,’ said Inspector Bland sombrely. ‘We’ve checked up, you know, on the buses and the trains. This place is a cul-de-sac. She was wearing conspicuous clothes and she didn’t take any others with her. So I should say she never left Nasse. Either her body’s in the sea or else it’s hidden somewhere on the property. What I want now,’ he went on heavily, ‘is motive. And the body of course,’ he added, as an afterthought. ‘Can’t get anywhere until I find the body.’
‘What about the other girl?’
‘She saw it – or she saw something. We’ll get at the facts in the end, but it won’t be easy.’
Baldwin in his turn looked up at the clock.
‘Time to go,’ he said.
The two police officers were received on board the Espérance with all De Sousa’s charming courtesy. He offered them drinks which they refused, and went on to express a kindly interest in their activities.
‘You are farther forward with your inquiries regarding the death of this young girl?’
‘We’re progressing,’ Inspector Bland told him.
The superintendent took up the running and expressed very delicately the object of their visit.
‘You would like to search the Espérance?’ De Sousa did not seem annoyed. Instead he seemed rather amused. ‘But why? You think I conceal the murderer or do you think perhaps that I am the murderer myself ?’
‘It’s necessary, Mr De Sousa, as I’m sure you’ll understand. A search warrant…’
De Sousa raised his hands.
‘But I am anxious to co-operate – eager! Let this be all among friends. You are welcome to search where you will in my boat. Ah, perhaps you think that I have here my cousin, Lady Stubbs? You think, perhaps, she has run away from her husband and taken shelter with me? But search, gentlemen, by all means search.’
The search was duly undertaken. It was a thorough one. In the end, striving