Murder of a Lady (19 page)

Eoghan's manner was very grave. He added:

“I've tried to think what my own attitude would be if I sat on the jury that will try the case. I'm afraid I should be compelled to take the view that you were in a dangerous position.”

His voice challenged. He had come to make demands, the righteousness of which shone in his eyes. Dr. McDonald seemed to shrink from him.

“What do you want me to do?” he asked in the tone of a man who speaks under strong compulsion. Eoghan frowned; a moment later, however, his face cleared.

“I'm afraid,” he said, “that I want you to die.”

Chapter XXVIII

“Ready?”

Dr. Hailey strained forward to catch McDonald's reply. He saw the doctor square his shoulders.

“Very well.”

“The position is that, if you and I are out of the way, they'll drop the case against Oonagh. You can't try a dead man and no man is guilty till he's been convicted. Lacking a conviction against you, they could scarcely hope to succeed against her.”

McDonald nodded.

“Yes.” He threw back his head in a gesture of defiance. “Why do you say,” he demanded, “‘if you and I are out of the way'? What difference can it make whether you are out of the way or not?”

“I've accused myself, remember.”

“Since they don't believe you, that counts for nothing.”

Eoghan shrugged his shoulders.

“Possibly not. Still, my death will give substance to my confession. In face of it, and with your death added, Oonagh should be safe.”

He took his cigarette-case from his pocket and opened it. He began to tap a cigarette on the side of the case.

“I've got the motor-boat in the harbour,” he added. “I propose that we go sailing.”

He put the cigarette in his mouth and lit it. His coolness was admirable; but there was a quiet strength in McDonald's face that was not less striking. Dr. Hailey felt regret that Barley was not with him to see how the man he called murderer behaved in face of death.

He left his place at the window and hurried down the path to the road. The motor-boat was lying at the jetty. He reached it and stepped aboard. The bow was decked to make a fo'c'sle. He opened the door of this and entered, closing the door behind him, except for a small aperture. He struck a match. The fo'c'sle contained only a few coils of rope and a canvas bucket. It was unlikely that the two men would have occasion to enter it.

They came after the lapse of a few minutes. Dr. Hailey noticed that neither spoke a word as they cast off. The noise of the engine soon made it difficult to hear any speech. The little craft was lively and rushed out of the harbour in a few minutes. Through the small opening in the door he could see the lights of Ardmore receding behind the tops of the pine trees on Garvel point. What was Eoghan Gregor's game? Every now and then he caught a glimpse of the young man's face. The moonlight had blanched it; but it had lost nothing of its resolution. McDonald's expression was far less determined and he looked up, sometimes, at the sky in a way that was rather pitiful. After the lapse of about half an hour, Eoghan stopped the engine. The rush of water on the boat's sides and the gurgle under her stern mingled pleasantly; little by little the wide, lively silence swallowed them up.

“We must leave them guessing,” Eoghan said. “This isn't necessarily suicide, or murder; it may be just an accident. Loch Fyne is so deep out here that it holds its secrets for ever.”

“Yes.”

“Are you a swimmer?”

The question came sharply, like an order to fire.

“I can swim, but I tire very easily.”

“So do I.”

The moonbeams were reflected on a long, dull barrel. Dr. Hailey saw Eoghan raise a shot-gun, of the heavy type used for duck, to his shoulder.

“I'm going to blow the bottom out of her,” he said, and then pronounced the word “Ready?”

“There's just one thing, Gregor. I'd like you to know that, though your wife has never cared for anybody but you, I cared for her.” McDonald's voice broke. But a moment later he added: “She never knew, of course.”

“Thanks, old man…Ready?…”

Dr. Hailey flung open the door of the fo'c'sle.

“Put that gun down, Gregor,” he ordered in stern tones.

Chapter XXIX

Painful Hearing

Eoghan obeyed him so far as to lay the shot-gun across his knees.

“What the devil are you doing in my boat?” he demanded.

Dr. Hailey did not answer. He left the fo'c'sle and came aft where the two men were seated.

“This is madness,” he declared. “Nothing has been proved.” He addressed himself to Eoghan: “Oonagh guessed your plan. She accompanied me to Ardmore. She's waiting now for news of you.”

“Barley has a warrant for her arrest.” The young man's voice was cold and hard.

“What does that matter? A warrant is not a verdict.”

“I believe they'll get their verdict.”

“I don't.”

Dr. Hailey's voice rang out with an assurance which surprised himself and which astonished his companions.

“What!” Eoghan exclaimed. “In face of those footprints on the flower-bed?”

“Which your father covered up the next morning.”

“Well?”

“A murderer asking for punishment.”

“It's easy to make a slip.”

“Would you have made that particular kind of slip yourself?”

Eoghan considered a moment.

“Perhaps not.”

“That, in McDonald's case, means certainly not.”

“Why?”

“Because he has a wooden leg. People with artificial limbs are more aware of their footsteps than ordinary people and they seldom jump.”

Eoghan did not answer. He bent suddenly and laid his gun on the bottom of the boat. His hands reached out to the starting-handle on the engine.

‘‘Wait a minute,” McDonald exclaimed. He turned to Dr. Hailey:

‘‘My reason for coming here,” he said, “was that Barley's case seemed to me so well buttressed by circumstantial evidence that a conviction was certain. So far as I can see you are in no position to disprove that evidence. If we go ashore with you, therefore, Mrs. Gregor and I will be arrested to-morrow, taken to Edinburgh, convicted and hanged. I prefer to drown.”

He spoke with deliberation, solemnly, as a man speaks who has paid a price for his words.

“You say that, knowing that you are innocent?” Dr. Hailey asked.

“What does that signify?”

“Everything.”

The Highlander moved his wooden leg to a more comfortable position.

“In actual practice innocence that cannot be substantiated,” he declared, “is no better than guilt. I don't deceive myself. In Barley's place I should think and act as he has done. After all, what alternative has he got? He can prove that Gregor here didn't commit these murders; he can prove that Mrs. Gregor and I were friends; that we had reason to fear Miss Gregor; that we had access to her bedroom. If I didn't know that I hadn't killed the poor lady, I swear I would be convinced that I must have killed her.”

Dr. Hailey shook his head.

“Did you fear Miss Gregor?” he asked.

“No.”

“Then why do you say ‘we had reason to fear Miss Gregor?'”

“I meant, that's what the jury will think.”

“You know as well as I know that there was never, at any time, any question of divorce. That can be proved.”

“How?”

“By reference to Captain Gregor here and to his father.” Dr. Hailey turned to Eoghan:

“Did you threaten your wife with a divorce?” he asked.

“Of course not. But I'm afraid I agree with McDonald that that doesn't matter. Barley is entitled to assume that the threat of divorce existed; the jury will make the same assumption.”

“I don't think the jury will do anything of the kind. Even juries have to take cognizance of human character. Is it likely that your aunt would have wished a divorce? Or your father? Divorce is still looked on by old-fashioned people as a disgrace. Any Scottish jury will understand that, I can assure you. Besides, you can go into the box and state that at no time did the idea of divorce enter your mind. You never spoke about it to your wife. You threatened nobody. What a fool McDonald must be if he committed murder in order to escape from a danger which had no existence.”

“My dear sir,” McDonald interposed, “the prosecution will counter that by saying that a guilty mind loses its judgement. ‘The wicked flee when no man pursueth.'”

“No. My point is that this idea of divorce can be shown to have originated in Barley's mind. His whole case is founded on it. No jury, let me repeat, is going to believe that these murders were committed by a doctor who had nothing to gain by committing them and nothing to lose if they were not committed. Again, why kill Miss Gregor since Duchlan lived, since Mrs. Gregor's husband lived.” Dr. Hailey found his eyeglass and put it in his eye. “That's the weak spot in Barley's case. Miss Gregor was no more dangerous to you, McDonald, than her brother, and both she and her brother were less dangerous than her nephew, who had already been informed about what was happening. Far from being a murder with a strong motive this was a wholly senseless murder if its object was to prevent a divorce. I feel sure these arguments will make a strong appeal to any jury.”

Eoghan nodded; he started the engine.

“There's no doubt you're right,” he declared. “We've got a fighting chance.”

The boat began to move. He pulled the tiller over and set her course for Duchlan. The lights in the castle winked at them. Nearer, to the left, they saw the flares of a herring-boat which had secured a catch and was calling the buyers. Red and green lights announced the approach of the steamers of these merchants, which everywhere follow the fishing fleet. Oonagh was standing on the jetty awaiting them. She bent and caught the gunwhale, holding it till Dr. Hailey and Dr. McDonald had stepped ashore. Then she jumped into the boat. They saw her throw her arms round her husband's neck.

“I think I had better see Barley,” McDonald said in hurried tones.

They found the detective in the smoking-room with Duchlan who seemed to be on good terms with him. Dr. Hailey waited till Eoghan and Oonagh came to the room and then expounded his objections to Barley's theory.

“It boils down to this,” he declared. “McDonald knew that Miss Gregor had written to her nephew. The mischief was done. Murder in the circumstances was senseless.”

Barley had accorded his habitual courtesy to the criticism. He bowed his head in silent acknowledgment of its weight. Then, with a gesture, he swept it aside.

“This gathering, as you know,” he stated, “is not of my summoning. If what I say makes painful hearing, you cannot charge that to my account. My case does not, as you appear to think, rest primarily on motive; it rests on ascertained facts and on observations, each of which has been carefully checked.” He rose and stood in front of the fireplace. “There are three separate methods of approach to this case,” he declared. “The first of these is the method of observation. It can be shown that Dr. McDonald jumped on to the flower-bed under Miss Gregor's window. Again, marks which suggest the use of a rope can be shown on the iron spike above that window. You can suggest that Dr. McDonald left the house by the window of the study, which is situated under that of Miss Gregor's room. That suggestion does not explain the marks on the spike, whereas my suggestion, that these marks were made by a rope used as a means of descent from Miss Gregor's window, explains both marks and footprints. Any actuary will tell you that the odds in favour of my theory are, consequently, very long. But that is not all.”

He leaned forward. The habitual good-humour of his expression had faded. He looked, Dr. Hailey thought, like an actor who has, suddenly, thrown off his mask.

“The method of deduction must also be used. Miss Gregor's death followed immediately a violent quarrel between her and Mrs. Eoghan Gregor, which quarrel was about secret meetings with Dr. McDonald. Miss Gregor had written to her nephew about his wife's behaviour; had she written about these secret meetings?”

The question was addressed to Eoghan. He flushed as he answered it in the negative.

“You see. The worst, or at any rate, what looked like the worst, had not been told. Again, the murder took place before Captain Eoghan Gregor reached home.”

“How do you know that?” Dr. Hailey asked.

“I know that Captain Eoghan Gregor went to his aunt's room as soon as he landed. He was not admitted. The proof that he was not admitted is that the door was locked on the inside. The carpenter's testimony on that point is clear and final.”

“Yes.”

“So that the murder occurred within a few hours of the discovery and reproof of a young wife and a few minutes before the return of her husband. Who can say what secret Miss Gregor will carry with her to her grave?”

He gazed at Eoghan as he spoke. The young man's face had grown grave, but he continued to hold his wife's hand. He drew her closer to him. McDonald bent and moved his wooden leg.

“The third method is that of elimination, admittedly the least satisfactory of the three. If Dr. McDonald did not commit this murder who did? Not Captain Eoghan Gregor. Not Duchlan. Not Angus…”

Dr. Hailey interrupted: “On what grounds do you exclude Angus?”

“If, as Mrs. Gregor has told me, she and Dr. McDonald, while they were in this room, heard the windows of Miss Gregor's room being shut, then they must immediately afterwards have seen the murderer drop to the ground. Look for yourself. These windows were open then as they're open now; you can see the whole extent of the flower-bed. Do you suppose that if they had seen Angus drop from Miss Gregor's room they would not have reported the fact?”

“You're assuming that the murderer must have left the room by way of the window?”

“We know that he cannot have left by the door.” He waved his hand. “You can't have it both ways. In my humble judgement if Dr. McDonald and Mrs. Gregor are speaking the truth, they must have seen the murderer making his escape. That, it appears to me, was a consideration overlooked by them when framing their story. Their story fails therefore on two separate counts: It doesn't explain the marks on the spike and it ignores completely the descent of the murderer from the window he had just closed. I reject their story, and in rejecting it, exclude Angus from the case. Somebody closed the windows; somebody descended from them. There is only one person who can have accomplished these acts. As it happens, he is also the only person who can possibly have killed Inspector Dundas, seeing that there is ample evidence that nobody entered or descended from Dundas's window.”

Barley's voice had fallen to a low pitch. When he ceased to speak a chill fell on the room.

“Had Dundas not been murdered,” he added, “the case against Dr. McDonald would have been overwhelmingly strong; as things are, it is irresistible.”

They heard a car approaching the house, a moment later it reached the door. Everyone in the room knew what this coming portended and even Duchlan shrank in horror. He put his skinny old hand on his son's arm but Eoghan remained indifferent to him. Eoghan had his arms about his wife. A dull glare burned in his eyes. Dr. Hailey turned away; the spectacle of McDonald's distress made him avert his eyes a second time. Angus's heavy, shuffling steps crossed the hall to the front door. Then they returned, at the same pace, to the door of the room. The door opened. A policeman in uniform entered.

“Inspector Barley?” he asked.

“Yes.”

The man saluted. He presented a long blue envelope.

“I'm Sergeant Jackson, sir, and these are the warrants for the arrest of Mrs. Gregor and Dr. McDonald.”