into the drive gates. You can’t mistake that old army greatcoat that Alfie always wears. I don’t believe there’s another one so ragged in the whole county.’
‘Where was he when you saw him?’
‘I had come from Mark Farm. Before I turned in at the drive gate, Alfie crossed the road about two or three hundred yards in front of me. He must have come through a gap in the hedge out of that building land that lies on the other side of my wall.’
‘Did you notice where he went to?’
‘I can’t say that I did. I wasn’t at the moment particularly interested in Alfie’s movements.’
‘Thanks very much, doctor. That’s all I want to ask you for the moment. There’s just one suggestion I should like to make. Under the circumstances, wouldn’t it be as well to have another opinion upon the wound? It would serve to confirm your evidence.’
‘That’s a very good idea,’ replied Dr Thornborough readily. ‘I’ll ring up my partner, Dorrington. He’ll come along and tell us what he thinks about it.’
‘I’d be glad if you’d do that, doctor. And now, do you think Mrs Thornborough is in a fit state for me to see her?’
‘I’ll ask her,’ replied Dr Thornborough doubtfully. ‘But you’ll understand that if she doesn’t feel up to it, it might be better to wait.’
He went out, and a minute or two later Mrs Thornborough entered the consulting-room. She was obviously very much upset but she made a brave attempt to smile at the superintendent. ‘I’m ready to answer any questions you like to ask me, Mr Yateley,’ she said.
‘That’s extremely kind of you, Mrs Thornborough,’ the superintendent replied. ‘I can imagine your feelings and I won’t keep you more than a minute or two. To begin with, where were you when Mr Fransham arrived?’
‘In the drawing-room, waiting for my husband to come back. And when Lucy showed Uncle Bob in, I was utterly flabbergasted. He’s never come down here unexpectedly like that and I was afraid that something must be wrong. And that’s the first thing I asked him.’
‘What was his reply, Mrs Thornborough?’
‘He seemed very much surprised. He asked me why I should think anything was wrong when he’d driven down to lunch on Cyril’s express invitation. This puzzled me more than ever, for Cyril had said nothing to me about it. And then Uncle Bob went on to say that he’d had a letter from Cyril this morning asking him to drive down to lunch today for he had something very particular to ask him about.
‘I couldn’t begin to understand this, for Cyril wouldn’t do a thing like that without telling me about it. And I was afraid that mother, who’d gone up a few minutes before to get ready for lunch, would come down any moment. So I told Uncle Bob that if he wanted to wash his hands he knew where to go, and then when I’d seen Lucy I went upstairs to tell mother that Uncle Bob was here. I said that if she didn’t care to meet him she could have a tray sent up to her, but she wouldn’t hear of that. She said that she wasn’t afraid of Uncle Bob or anyone else, and if he chose to make himself unpleasant, two could play at that game. She and Uncle Bob never got on very well, you know.’
‘So the doctor has told me, Mrs Thornborough. What did you do next?’
‘I came downstairs and waited for my husband. When he came in I told him about Uncle Bob and then went into the drawing-room. A minute or two later I heard him calling Uncle Bob through the cloakroom door. Then there was a crash and I wondered if I’d better go and see what was the matter. But before I’d made up my mind mother came downstairs and at the same time Mary sounded the lunch gong. So mother and I went into the dining-room, where we’ve been ever since. And after we’d waited for a few minutes Cyril came in and told us what had happened.’
At this moment Dr Thornborough entered the consulting-room. He went up to his wife and laid his hand on her shoulder. ‘Feeling all right, Betty?’ he asked.
‘Not too bad,’ she replied. ‘I’ve just been telling Mr Yateley what happened.’
‘Mrs Thornborough has been most kind,’ said the superintendent. ‘I’ll leave her in your care now, doctor. I wonder if you’d mind asking Coates the chauffeur to come and see me?’
Dr and Mrs Thornborough left the room and a few minutes later Coates appeared. He was a man of about forty-five, with a hoarse voice and a rather surly expression. In reply to the superintendent’s questions he said that he had been with Mr Fransham for five years, during which time he had lived in the house. Mr Fransham had always been a good master to him and very considerate. Mr Fransham never drove the car himself, but liked to go out most afternoons, either to visit friends or for a run in the country. He had very often driven Mr Fransham to Adderminster. Perhaps half a dozen times or more a year. Mrs Thornborough had frequently visited her uncle at No. 4, Cheveley Street, but Coates could not remember that Dr Thornborough had ever done so. It was fifty-three miles by mileage indicator from Cheveley Street to Epidaurus.
‘When did Mr Fransham tell you that he wanted you to drive him down here today?’ the superintendent asked.
‘Just after he had his breakfast this morning, sir,’ Coates replied. ‘He sent for me and told me that he’d have to cancel the orders given me yesterday, for he’d had a letter from the doctor asking him to drive down to lunch very specially.’
‘What orders had he given you yesterday, Coates?’
‘Well, sir, I’d told him that since the new car had done nearly a thousand miles, it was time that the makers looked over her to see that everything was right. So Mr Fransham had told me to take the car round to the Armstrong-Siddeley place in Cricklewood and leave her there over the weekend. But this morning he told me that would have to wait till Monday and said that a hundred miles one way or the other wouldn’t make much difference. So we started away at a quarter past eleven and were here sharp at one o’clock. Mr Fransham doesn’t like being driven too fast.’
‘You’ve heard that Mr Fransham has been killed, of course?’
‘The doctor told me so just now when he sent me in here, sir. And I’m bound to say that it sounds very queer to me.’
‘It is, very queer, Coates. You say that you got here at one o’clock sharp? Tell me exactly what you did when you arrived?’
‘I drove in at the gates, sir, stopped outside the front door, and rang the bell. Lucy opened the door and Mr Fransham went into the house. Then I drove the car round to the garage at the back. I looked round the car, then lit a cigarette. Then I waited where I was, knowing that somebody would come out and ask me into the house. I didn’t like to go in until I was invited, you understand, sir. And while I was waiting the doctor came along and spoke to me.’
‘Were you in the garage the whole time that you were waiting?’
‘Yes, sir, I was expecting somebody to come and call me into the house at any moment.’
‘Did anyone enter the carriage-way leading to the garage during that time?’
Coates shook his head with an air of decision. ‘No, sir, I’m quite sure that they didn’t,’ he replied.
‘How can you be so sure of that? You can’t have been looking down the carriage-way all the time? You told me yourself that
