The Floating Admiral - Agatha Christie [73]
Rudge wondered if he had given enough attention to Mount. Sitting down in his room, he ran through his notes, transcribing anything he had learned about him.
In the first place, Mount was evidently already on intimate terms with the Rundel Croft people. Then it was in his, Mount’s, boat that the dead man had been found, and more significant still, Mount’s hat had been in the boat. Then there had been Mount’s sudden journey to London; there had been his watering of the garden, and now there was this deep anxiety about the case. The more Rudge thought over it, the more he felt impelled to the conclusion that Mount must somehow be implicated.
Rudge considered the above points in turn, but the only one from which he thought fresh light might be obtained was the man’s visit to London. He recalled the details.
It was between twelve and one o’clock that Mount had sent his note saying that he was anxious to go up that afternoon to town on an urgent matter connected with his clerical duties. Now that must have been a very sudden decision. He, Rudge, had been speaking to Mount earlier in the morning, and the man had said nothing about this visit then. Rudge did not know much about ecclesiastical matters, but he doubted that business was done at that rate. Most professional visits to London would mean for clergymen meetings arranged a considerable time earlier, or interviews with dignitaries, also arranged some time beforehand. He was inclined to doubt that the clerical duties in question had much to do with the church.
Rudge wondered what he should do. Mount bore a high reputation for probity, and if the matter were put directly to him, he might give the required explanation. Then Rudge saw that he would probably do nothing of the kind. He, Rudge, had nothing to put which would demand an answer.
Mount had hurried up to town. But so had Elma, so had Holland, so had Denny. Was it possible to believe that there was no connection between all these visits? Suddenly it seemed to Rudge that his best plan would be to try to trace Mount’s movements in town. It shouldn’t take long and it might lead to something vital.
Rudge went in and put his views before Superintendent Hawkesworth. Hawkesworth was impressed, and agreed to release Rudge for a couple of days.
“You’d better advise them at the Yard what you propose to do,” said Hawkesworth. “I’ll ring them up that you’ll call.”
The first question was: How had Mount made the journey? Mount had a car, but most persons of moderate income went by train, rail being so much cheaper for the long distance. Mount had been at the Vicarage at one o’clock, and he had rung up Rudge from the Charing Cross Hotel at nine. There were two, and only two, trains he could have used, the 2.5 from Whynmouth, which reached Waterloo at 5.45, and the 4.25 from Whynmouth, arriving at 8.35.
Rudge began by calling at the office of the local newspaper and getting a photograph of Mount. Then he went to the station and began his enquiries. He learned at once that Mount had been seen on the day in question. He had been noticed particularly by both the booking-clerk and the ticket-collector, and for the same reason. He had, it appeared, bought a London ticket, but he had not travelled by a London train. He had gone by the 1.30 which connected at Passfield Junction with the 11.0 a.m. express from “Waterloo to the west. He had explained that he wished to break his journey and would go on to London by a later train.
As Rudge jogged along in the next train to Passfield Junction, he reminded himself of the lie of the land. The main line of the Western Division of the Southern Railway ran from Waterloo to Devon, past