nothing whatever and Yateley frowned.
‘He can’t have been struck by any sort of missile, or it would be still in the room,’ he said. ‘All right, Linton, you stay here and have another search. Look through all those coats on the pegs, in the dead man’s clothing and everywhere. I’m going to get statements from everybody on the premises. Where’s the doctor, to begin with?’
‘In the dining-room, sir, with Mrs Thornborough and another lady.’
Yateley left the cloakroom, walked across the hall and opened the dining-room door. Dr Thornborough looked up as he did so, and the superintendent beckoned to him. With an anxious glance at his wife, who was sitting bowed in a chair with an older woman bending over her, the doctor stepped out into the hall.
‘Bad business, this, doctor,’ said Yateley sympathetically. ‘I’d like to hear what you can tell me about it, if you don’t mind. Where can we have a quiet talk?’
‘Better come into the consulting-room,’ Dr Thornborough replied, absently running his fingers through his hair. ‘But I can’t tell you anything about it, I’m afraid. It’s as much as I can do to bring myself to realise that it has happened.’
Yateley made no reply until they were both in the consulting-room with the door shut behind them. ‘This must have been a terrible shock to you, doctor,’ he said then. ‘The dead man was your wife’s uncle, I understand?’
Dr Thornborough nodded. ‘Yes, that’s right,’ he replied. ‘My wife is naturally terribly upset. She has always been very fond of him.’
‘You told Mr Linton that Mr Fransham lived in London. He drove down here at your invitation, I presume?’
‘That’s just what I can’t understand. He told my wife when he arrived that he had a letter from me asking him to come down to lunch today. But I assure you that I had never written him any such letter. In fact, his coming here this week might have been very awkward.’
‘Why was that, doctor?’
‘Because my wife’s mother happens to be staying with us. Fransham was her brother-in-law, but they never managed to hit it off and they’ve avoided one another for years.’
‘What was the reason for this mutual dislike?’
‘I don’t think there was any real reason. Fransham didn’t approve of his brother Tom’s choice when he married, and that didn’t tend to amicable relations. Then Tom got killed in the war while Robert, my wife’s uncle, stayed at home and made a lot of money in munitions. Robert Fransham didn’t take much interest in his brother’s widow and it was a grievance on her part that he didn’t make her a handsome allowance. Add a certain amount of mutual antipathy to all this and you’ll get some idea of the situation. I may say that my mother-in-law is a woman of decided views and doesn’t mince matters if anything upsets her.’
‘Was Mr Robert Fransham married?’
‘No, he had never been. He was what is known as a confirmed bachelor. Before and during the war he was a partner in Fransham and Innes, Brass Founders, of Birmingham. The firm was always fairly prosperous, I believe, and after war broke out it did extremely well on government contracts. In 1920 Fransham sold the business and retired. He then took over the remainder of the lease of No. 4, Cheveley Street and settled down to live there.’
‘What establishment did he keep up?’
‘He had a married couple, Mr and Mrs Stowell, and a chauffeur, Coates. Coates is here now with the car.’
‘Mr Fransham was in affluent circumstances, of course?’
‘Judging by appearances, he was. But I haven’t the slightest idea what he was actually worth. He never spoke about his money and I’m bound to say that he hated parting with it.’
‘You were not in the house when he arrived, were you, doctor?’
‘No, I hadn’t come back from my rounds. The first I knew of anybody being here was when I saw his car in the garage. I didn’t recognise it, for he had bought a new car within the past few weeks and I hadn’t seen him since. But I recognised Coates, his chauffeur, as soon as I set eyes on him, and I knew that the visitor must be Uncle Bob.’
‘You were surprised to find him here?’
‘I was, very much surprised. Uncle Bob has driven down here often enough, of course, but never without letting us know that he was coming. I asked Coates if Uncle Bob had brought anybody down with him and he said no. Then I came straight into the house where I met my wife. She told me that she had seen Uncle Bob who was then in the cloakroom.’
‘What did you do next, doctor?’
‘I came in here. My wife told me that Linton was waiting to see me. He began telling me something about Alfie Prince. But I’m afraid I hardly listened to him. I was worried about Uncle Bob.’
‘Why were you worried, doctor?’
‘For two reasons. First because my mother-in-law was here. As I told you, she and Uncle Bob have avoided one another for years. I was afraid that if they met unexpectedly in this house neither of them would believe that it was accidental. They’d think that my wife and I had arranged it between us. Family reconciliation and all that. You know what I mean. And both of them would have bitterly resented anything of the kind.’
‘They didn’t meet, as it happened, did they, doctor?’
‘No, my mother-in-law was upstairs when Uncle Bob arrived. My idea was to see Uncle Bob before they met and explain the situation to him. I couldn’t very well turn my mother-in-law out, but Uncle Bob could have gone down to the Red Lion and had his lunch there if he didn’t want to see her. So I went to the cloakroom door and asked Uncle Bob to let me in.’
‘You got no reply, I understand?’
‘I couldn’t hear a sound inside the cloakroom. And that was the second reason for my being worried. I’m not Uncle Bob’s regular medical attendant, but I have looked over him once or twice when he’s been staying here. His heart wasn’t any too sound, though there was no reason why he shouldn’t have lived for years. But I was afraid that the heat might have been too much for him and that he’d fainted. That’s why I got Linton to break the door down for me.’
‘You described the nature of the wound to Linton. Can you suggest what could have caused it?’
‘Only a heavy blow. That blow might have been inflicted by the impact of some missile such as a stone. Or by the stroke of a weapon such as a hammer.’
‘As you drove down the carriage-way towards the garage you passed the cloakroom window. Did you happen to notice whether it was open or not?’
‘I didn’t. By that time I had seen the car standing in the garage and my attention was concentrated upon that, wondering whose it could be.’
‘Where was Coates the chauffeur when you first saw this car?’
‘I saw somebody standing beside the car but I didn’t recognise him at once. The garage is dark and my eyes were accustomed to the bright sunshine. It wasn’t until I got close up to the man that I saw it was Coates.’
‘When Linton
