feel her quivering like a puppy. ‘Daddy,’ she said, ‘I’ve thought of something.’
‘What is it?’ asked her father wearily.
‘You’ll be able to get rid of the bum.’
‘Be quiet, Patch,’ said Henry. ‘You’re not to talk about the bum.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because I tell you.’
Patch looked impertinently at Henry. ‘Okay, Rune,’ she said.
‘What!’ cried Roberta.
‘It’s quite right,’ said Patch. ‘Henry’s to be called the Earl of Rune now. Isn’t he, Daddy?’
‘Good God!’ said Henry slowly, ‘so I am.’
‘Yes,’ said Patch with a certain complacency, ‘you are. And I, for instance, am now the Lady Patricia Lamprey. Aren’t I, Daddy?’
‘Shut up, Patch,’ said Colin.
‘Yes, yes,’ said Lord Charles hurriedly. ‘Never mind about it now, Patch.’
‘And Daddy,’ Patch persisted stubbornly, ‘you’re now –’
The drawing-room door opened. Alleyn stood on the threshold with Fox behind him.
‘May I come in, Lord Wutherwood?’ asked Alleyn.
IV
Afterwards, when Roberta had time to review the events of that incredible day, she remembered that until Alleyn appeared, an image of a fictitious detective had hung about at the back of all her thoughts; an image of a man coldly attentive with coarse hands and a large soapy-shining face. Alleyn was so little like this image that for a moment she thought he must be some visitor, fantastically de trop, who had dropped in to see the Lampreys. The sight of Fox disabused her of this idea. There was no mistake about Fox.
The new Lord Wutherwood put his glass in his waistcoat pocket and, with his usual air of punctilious courtesy, hurried forward. He shook hands, bending his elbow sharply and holding his hand out at right-angles to his forearm, a modish, diplomatic handshake.
‘Do come in,’ he said. ‘We have left you very much to yourselves out there but I hoped if there was anything we could do you would let us know.’
‘There was nothing, thank you so much,’ said Alleyn, ‘until now. I felt I should go over the information Fox had already got before I bothered all of you. But now –’
‘Yes, yes, of course. My wife and my small son are not here at the moment but this is the rest of the family … My eldest son you have already met. My daughter …’
The introductions were solemnly performed. Alleyn bowed to each of the Lampreys. Roberta on her footstool was so much in shadow that Lord Charles forgot her, but Alleyn’s dark eyes turned gravely to the small figure.
‘I beg your pardon, Robin, my dear,’ said Lord Charles. ‘Miss Grey is a New Zealand friend of ours, Mr Alleyn.’
‘How do you do,’ said Roberta.
‘New Zealand?’ said Alleyn.
‘Yes. I only got here yesterday,’ said Roberta and wondered why he looked so gently at her before he turned to Lord Charles.
‘This is a dreadful thing, Alleyn,’ Lord Charles was saying. ‘We are quite bewildered and – and of course rather shaken. I hope you will forgive us if we are not very intelligent about remembering everything.’
‘We know that it must have been a very grave shock,’ agreed Alleyn. ‘I shall try to be as quick as possible but I’m afraid that at the best it will be a long and unavoidably distressing business.’
‘What happens?’ asked Henry.
‘First of all I want to get a coherent account of the events that preceded the moment when Lord and Lady Wutherwood entered the lift. I think I should tell you that Fox has seen the commissionaire downstairs. He was on duty in the hall all the afternoon and although he does not work the lift he can account for everybody who used it after Lord and Lady Wutherwood arrived. He also states very positively that no strangers used it earlier in the afternoon. There is of course the outside stairway, the iron fire-escape. To get into this flat by its aid you must pass through the kitchen. Your cook is prepared to make a definite statement that during the afternoon nobody came in by that entrance. Of course the commissionaire and the cook may be mistaken but on the face of it, it appears that no strangers have been up here since lunch.’
‘I see.’
‘We shall, of course, make much more exhaustive inquiries on this point. But you will see that under the circumstances –’
‘It m-must have been someone in the flat,’ said Stephen loudly.
‘Yes,’ said Alleyn, ‘it looks like that. I only stress this point to make it clear to you that we must have a very accurate picture of everybody’s movements.’
The Lampreys all murmured ‘yes’. Alleyn placed his hands palm down on the arms of his chair and looked round the circle of faces. Patch, huddled in her woollen dressing-gown, still sat by Roberta. The twins, long-legged and blond, were collapsed as usual on the sofa, Henry sat in a deep chair, his hands driven into his trouser pockets, his shoulders hunched, his head dipped a little to one side. Henry, thought Roberta, looks like a watchful bird. Lord Charles sat elegantly on a thin chair and swung his glass like a pendulum above his crossed knees. Frid still leant against the mantelpiece in an attitude that was faintly histrionic.
‘Before all this business starts,’ Alleyn began, ‘there is just one thing I would like to say. It is not very much use my pretending to avoid the implications in this case. It is scarcely possible that it can be a case of suicide or of accident. The word that must be in all your minds is one that, unfortunately, calls up all sorts of extravagant images. Detective fiction has made so much of homicide investigations that I’m afraid to most people they suggest official misunderstandings, dozens of innocent persons in jeopardy, red herrings by the barrow load, and surprise arrests. Actually, of course, the investigation in a case of homicide is a dull-enough business and it is extremely seldom that any innocent person is in the smallest degree likely to suffer anything but the inconvenience of routine.’
He was sitting with his back to the hall door. His face was strongly lit and the attention of the Lampreys was fixed upon it. Roberta, watching them, wondered if his assurances brought them any sense of relief. The quiet voice went on, clearly and without emphasis.
‘– so, if I may, I would just like to ask you all to remember that, apart from the distress and sorrow that are the consequences of this crime, innocent people have nothing to fear beyond an exacting and wearisome series of questions. Presently I shall ask to see each of you separately. At the moment I think we shall get along a little quicker if we discuss things together. If Lady Wutherwood and –’ Alleyn hesitated, confronted by the embarrassment of twin titles.
‘And Lady Wutherwood. Trap for young players,’ said Frid in a sprightly manner.
‘Frid!’
