The Riddle at Gipsy's Mile (An Angela Marchmont Mystery 4) (25 page)

Angela sighed and turned away from the window. She had no desire to spend the rest of the afternoon cooped up at home in company with h
er own reflections. Perhaps a turn in the fresh air would do her good. Accordingly, she went out and set off for the Park, intending to shake off her grim mood and guilty feelings with a brisk walk. It was chilly, so she walked quickly to warm up, and the
n
slowed down so that she could observe what was going on around her. The place was busy with its usual complement of nursemaids, children, servants on their day out, flirting sweethearts and delivery-boys taking short-cuts, and Angela found some entertain
m
ent in watching their activities as she passed. Soon enough, she reached the Serpentine, and here her pace faltered, for to her surprise she spotted a figure she recognized: a large man with a bald head and a moustache, who was standing by the edge of the
lake and gazing absently into the water.

After a moment
’
s thought, she approached him.

‘
Why, Herbert,
’
she said,
‘
whatever are you doing here?
’

Herbert Pilkington-Soames jumped when he heard her voice, but then turned and recovered when he saw her.

‘
Hallo,
Angela,
’
he said, in something like his usual jocular manner.
‘
Have you recovered from the scrimmage down in Littlechurch yet? I hear there was quite a to-do.
’

‘
Yes,
’
said Angela, but that was not what she wanted to talk about, and she went on quickly,
‘
H
erbert, did you know that Gil has gone missing?
’

His smile faded and a look of surprise passed briefly across his face, to be replaced by an expression that Angela could not read.

‘
Gone missing? What do you mean?
’
he said.

‘
Just what I say. He ran off on S
unday, leaving a note.
’

‘
Oh? And what did the note say?
’
said Herbert warily.

‘
It said that he felt he wasn
’
t good enough for Lucy, and that he wanted to go and think about things for a while, and that nobody should go and look for him.
’

Herbert let out a
breath.

‘
Really? Just that?
’
he said.

‘
You sound surprised. What else did you expect?
’
said Angela, regarding him closely.

‘
Oh, nothing,
’
he said.
‘
I just meant
—
I thought
—
it
’
s just a shock, that
’
s all.
’

‘
You weren
’
t expecting a confession, perhaps?
’

Again
the look of surprise passed fleetingly across his face, but then he turned away.

‘
A confession? Of what?
’
he said.

‘
Murder,
’
said Angela.

He turned back towards her and his face was white, but he said nothing and only gazed at her questioningly.

‘
How much
do you know, Herbert?
’
said Angela.

‘
I hope you don
’
t think I
’
m happy about all this,
’
said Herbert at last.
‘
It
’
s a rotten business. Rotten, I tell you. But
—
well
—
Gil saved my life once, and it doesn
’
t do to let a fellow down when he
’
s done th
at for you. So you know it all, do you? I suppose you
’
ve told the police.
’

‘
I had to, Herbert,
’
said Angela.
‘
You must see that.
’

‘
Oh, quite, quite,
’
he said.
‘
You
’
re not to blame. You know your duty. I only wish I knew
mine
.
’

Angela regarded him sympathet
ically.

‘
I suppose the police will be out combing the country for him now,
’
he went on.

‘
I imagine so,
’
said Angela.

‘
And then they
’
ll catch him and hang him like a dog. A fine end for him.
’

‘
Don
’
t!
’
cried Angela. A wave of horror flooded over her. What ha
d she done?

He saw her face and hastened to apologize.

‘
I
’
m sorry, old girl. Please don
’
t suppose I blame you. Gil must face up to what he has done
—
and besides, it wouldn
’
t have been right of him to let that Chinese chappie hang in his place. Damn
’
bad sho
w, what?
’

Angela pulled herself together.

‘
Suppose you tell me the whole story,
’
she said.
‘
Perhaps there are circumstances that will cause the judge to look upon him sympathetically.
’

‘
I hope so,
’
he said soberly.
‘
Very well, what do you want to know?
’

‘
D
id you know he was already married before he got engaged to Lucy?
’

‘
No!
’
he said emphatically.
‘
I swear I knew nothing about it.
’

‘
But you had met Lita?
’

He nodded.

‘
If it
’
s the girl I think it is, then yes.
’

Little by little, Angela drew the tale out of h
im. In the spring of 1918 he, Miles and Gil had managed to wangle a few days
’
leave from the Front and had decided to spend them in London. Herbert was the only one of the three who was married then, but Cynthia and Freddy were staying with her parents in
the North of England, since her father was gravely ill, so it was not possible for him to see them in the time available, and he had therefore remained with his friends. Things had been pretty grim in Belgium up until then, and so they were determined to
c
elebrate their brief time of freedom. They had a riotous time of it, all told, and did one or two things which
—
here he coughed
—
it was not strictly necessary for Angela to know about. During the course of those few days, however, they had gone to the theat
r
e to see a musical production, and went around to wait by the stage door afterwards. As a result of that, Gil took up with a girl who danced in the chorus and called herself Lita. At a certain point, Gil had abandoned them and disappeared with Lita, and t
h
ey had not seen him again until they returned to duty. He had said nothing about the girl, and they assumed that things had finished there and then.

‘
But they hadn
’
t,
’
said Angela.

‘
No,
’
said Herbert.

‘
When did you find out about the marriage?
’

‘
Not until
the other week, when we were all down at Gipsy
’
s Mile,
’
said Herbert grimly.
‘
It was Miles who told me.
’

‘
Miles? How did he know about it?
’

‘
Why, because he helped Gil dispose of the body, of course.
’

Angela stared at him, thunderstruck.

‘
What?
’
she cried,
hardly able to believe her ears.

‘
But I thought you knew,
’
said Herbert.
‘
I thought Miles must have told you everything.
’

‘
No, he didn
’
t,
’
said Angela. She felt suddenly as though she had been pitched from an unpleasant dream into the most frightful night
mare.
‘
I didn
’
t know anything about it.
’

‘
Then how did you find out about Gil and Lita?
’

‘
I
’
ve seen a copy of their marriage certificate,
’
said Angela.

Herbert nodded in comprehension, but did not ask why or how.

‘
I see,
’
he said.
‘
And so you realized im
mediately that he must have done it. Of course.
’

‘
Tell me what happened,
’
said Angela, although she was not at all sure that she wanted to hear. Poor Marguerite! What would happen to them now? This was far worse than she had imagined.

‘
I don
’
t know, exactl
y,
’
said Herbert.
‘
It was all over by the time I arrived, but Miles confided to me the next day that Gil had got himself into the most tremendous scrape and he
’
d somehow found himself helping and was feeling terrible about it.
’

According to Herbert, Gil ha
d telephoned Miles on the Thursday afternoon
—
the day before the party arrived at Gipsy
’
s Mile
—
in a great state, saying confusedly that something awful had happened and he didn
’
t know what to do about it. To Miles it sounded very much as though Gil had plu
n
ged into another nervous episode similar to the one he
’
d had years ago, so he hastened to his friend
’
s assistance, thinking that perhaps he just needed bucking up a bit. Never in his wildest imaginings had he expected what he found when he arrived at Blak
e
ney Park and discovered that Gil had a dead body on his hands and couldn
’
t quite explain where it had come from, but needed to get rid of it in a hurry.

Of course, Miles wanted to know who she was, and Gil confessed that it was Lita, the girl he
’
d met in L
ondon that time, and that he had rather stupidly married her without mentioning it. They had both realized immediately that it was a mistake, and had parted, and Gil had more or less forgotten about her, or at least had succeeded in blocking her out of hi
s
mind (here Angela shook her head in astonishment), but then years later she turned up out of the blue, and although he was engaged to Lucy there was no getting away from the fact that he was already married. And now Lita was dead and it was all his fault,
although he couldn
’
t quite say how it had happened, and now what was he to do? Miles, naturally, was completely shocked and taken aback by the whole thing, and in the tumult of his thoughts the one idea that came to the fore was the need to get rid of th
e
body as soon as possible, so that
’
s what they did.

‘
Whose idea was it to disfigure her face?
’
said Angela.

‘
I don
’
t know,
’
said Herbert, looking rather sick.
‘
I didn
’
t ask, because I didn
’
t want to know anything more about it. The whole thing has been wei
ghing on my mind for weeks now. I wish Miles hadn
’
t told me.
’

‘
Is that why you didn
’
t come to the sculpture exhibition?
’

‘
Yes,
’
he said.
‘
I didn
’
t think I could play the part any more. I managed it that first weekend at Gipsy
’
s Mile, but I expect that
’
s be
cause it hadn
’
t really sunk in then.
’

They both fell silent, deep in thought. If it had been difficult for Angela to report Gil to the police, it was a real wrench to the heart now that she knew Miles was mixed up in the thing, and she heartily wished that
she had kept on walking when she spotted Herbert standing by the Serpentine. But a thing once known could never be unknown, and now she had to decide what to do. Miles was her friend
’
s husband; could she give him away to the police?

She glanced up and saw
Herbert regarding her sympathetically.

‘
I know, old girl, it
’
s hard,
’
he said.
‘
Now you know how I have felt these past few weeks.
’

‘
I almost wish I hadn
’
t asked,
’
said Angela.

‘
So the police know nothing about Miles, then?
’

‘
No
—
or at least, not from me,
’
said Angela.

‘
They will find out soon enough, though.
’

Angela said nothing, uncomfortably aware that the only way they were likely to find out was if she told them, since she doubted that Gil would want to betray the friend who had helped him out.

‘
What a
re you going to do now?
’
said Herbert.

‘
I don
’
t know,
’
said Angela.

‘
Your friend in the police will want to know about Miles.
’

‘
Yes, I suppose he will.
’

‘
Well, I won
’
t blame you if you tell him,
’
said Herbert.
‘
I
’
m in rather a muddle about the whole thing
myself.
’

‘
Herbert, do you know where Gil has gone?
’

‘
I didn
’
t even know he
’
d gone missing until you told me,
’
he said.
‘
I hope he
’
s not going to do anything silly, though. He can
’
t have been in his right mind when he
—
he did it. Gil
’
s not like that. He
’
s a
good fellow, Angela,
’
he went on firmly,
‘
and I can
’
t help thinking that there must be more to this than meets the eye. I can
’
t and won
’
t believe he killed a woman in cold blood. We went through a lot together, the three of us, and had the kind of experie
n
ces that really test the mettle of a man, and I know he
’
s not that sort.
’