The Twenty-Third Man (25 page)

‘For heaven’s sake, say on, abnormal child.’ Laura stuck a sweet in his mouth to add weight to her words. Clement nodded his thanks and chewed dreamily for some moments. Then he said:

‘I suppose I’ve listened to everything everybody’s said in this hotel since I’ve been here, unless the people have been in bed. What do you want me to tell you?’

‘Only that which is on your mind,’ said Dame Beatrice.

Clement chewed on, sucked, and nodded.

‘Well,’ he said, ‘I suppose it all began the day you got here. Do you remember me pushing Mrs Lockerby into that pool?’

‘Vividly.’

‘I never realized a lady could be so tough.’

‘Tough?’ Laura pricked up her ears and raised her eyebrows.

‘Tough is the only word,’ Clement insisted. ‘I had to hop it pretty-dam’-quick, I can tell you. “There was blood in the mate’s eye.”’

‘Oh, tosh!’ said Laura. ‘You’d expect any normal person to be a bit annoyed if a wretched little half-bake like you pushed her into a pond.’

‘Yes, I know,’ agreed Clement, ‘and I can see now that it was a fairly stinking thing to do, but, honestly, Laura, I thought she was going to brain me, and if she
had
brained me I think – well, never mind that.’

‘You’re not certain what your father’s reactions would have been?’

Clement did not reply. He swallowed what remained of the sweet and then said: ‘Come for a swim. I want you to look at my arms when I do my back-crawl.’

‘They’re not sufficiently relaxed after each pull,’ said Laura. ‘You look like a demented porpoise. Come on, then, but you’ll have to go up to the hotel to get my things. I’m not going to sweat more than I have to in this heat. Pilar knows where everything is.’

When the instructional session was over, and coach and pupil were spread-eagled on the sand, Clement said:

‘Laura?’

‘Say on, boy-friend.’

‘You know when I went to the cave of the dead kings?’

‘First or second time?’

‘First. I
didn’t
see twenty-four of them, you know.’

‘We had tended to suppose that, but don’t let it deter you that we came to the conclusion you’re a pestiferous, pernicious, and unskilful little liar.’

‘Oh, well, that’s a help. I just wanted to make old Peterhouse sit up.’

‘Peterhouse?’

‘Well, it must have been Peterhouse who hid Mr Emden, mustn’t it? When nobody could get any news of him, you know.’

‘Golly!’ Laura sat up and stared down at the sprawling child. Clement closed his eyes. A smile of self-satisfaction
wreathed
his young, tender mouth. ‘Take that smirk off your face, or I’ll bounce my fist on your tum! Now tell me what you mean,’ said Laura firmly.

‘Well,’ said Clement, ‘I do a lot of thinking, and what I wondered was where on earth Emden was between the time he left the hotel and the time he was killed.’

‘It wasn’t a
long
time,’ Laura pointed out.

‘No, I know. But there must have been a day or two, Laura. Well, Dame Beatrice found out he’d never been to the troglodytes, didn’t she?’

‘How do you know that?’

‘Pilar told me. Pilar knows everything.’

‘And what she doesn’t know she invents. Don’t lose sight of that significant fact.’

‘Did she invent what I said just now?’

‘Partly. He
had
been to the troglodytes. He went to fix himself up as a lodger in one of the caves, but he never took up his option.’

‘Well, but that’s near enough, isn’t it, Laura? I mean, he wasn’t killed immediately, was he?’

‘How do you make that out?’ It was not that she disagreed; she was interested in his powers of inductive reasoning.

‘Well, he wasn’t dead when Peterhouse took that first party to the cave, otherwise he’d have
been
in the cave, wouldn’t he?’

‘Not necessarily. The body could have been hidden somewhere at hand.’

‘Oh, no, Laura! The bandits would have known. We know they always keep a watch on the cave of dead men to kidnap anybody who goes without a proper guide. Look at what they did when
I
went!’

‘And when
I
went, only I pleaded the blessed state of motherhood and got away with it! Yes, you’ve got something there. The bandits would have known. So what?’ But she guessed what was coming.

‘He was alive and hidden, Laura. And shall I tell you where?’

‘If you like.’

‘All right.
you
tell
me
, then, and we’ll see whether great minds think alike.’

‘Flattering both of us, aren’t you? Here goes, then! He was hiding on Peterhouse’s island of Tiene.’

‘Got it in one! My cock-eyed parents wouldn’t have worked that one out in a month of Sundays!’

‘Fifth Commandment!’ said Laura sternly.

‘Yes, but they’re not; they’re foster-parents, and all they foster in me is a sort of dreary loathing. It’s no joke being adopted by people you don’t like or respect.’

‘My heart bleeds for you. What’s their opinion of
you
, Clement?’

‘They think I’m a wart, I expect. Oh, well, never mind about them. Back to our dead sheep.’

‘
Moutons
aren’t dead, you half-baked oaf.’

‘O.K. To recapitulate, (favourite word with my father when I don’t understand what he’s talking about), Emden wasn’t dead; he was on Tiene. If you ask
me
, Laura, it was on Tiene he was killed.’

‘
Eh
?’ She was genuinely startled. ‘Here, you come along at once and decant this theory in front of Dame B.’

‘Oh, she’s thought of it for herself, you bet,’ said Clement. ‘You don’t really think she went with old Peterhouse just to see his crack-pot experiments with Alpine plants? Be your age, Laura!’

Dame Beatrice received the theory with an appreciative cackle and forbore to comment until she and Laura were alone. Then she said:

‘We must talk to Mr Peterhouse.’

‘Frighten him into a fit, you mean?’

‘I think that is more easily said than done, but a word in season might bear fruit. Then, of course, there are the brother and sister. I have made up my mind to tax Telham with accomplishing the death of his brother-in-law.’

‘I thought the police had already taken that line.’

‘Not quite. They had no evidence on which to base a definite accusation. They went as far as they dared, but
Inspector
Anson is both cautious and fair-minded. There is no reason why I should be either.’

‘So you think you can bounce the truth out of him, do you? He’s a dark horse and pretty deep, I fancy.’

‘I don’t expect to bounce the
truth
out of him, but there may be interesting repercussions. Then there is the question of Caroline. As far as I can see. she was the only person, except for Emden, (no longer an interested party), who profited in any way by her husband’s death.’

‘Money? I didn’t know money had come into it.’

‘It has not.’

‘Oh, you mean the affair with Emden.’

‘Exactly.’

‘But Lockerby doesn’t seem to have worried about that. At least, that’s what I gathered from what you told me.’

‘Caroline may have wanted to marry Emden. There was no thought of a divorce. I see Ian Lockerby as a coldly cruel man.’

‘He seems to have had a pretty hot temper, doesn’t he?’

‘A hot temper when he was under the influence of alcohol, I fancy. Apart from that, I think he enjoyed the situation which obtained at that flat.’

‘I can’t see why Caroline didn’t run away with Emden. She was living with him, it appears. Why didn’t she push off and leave Lockerby on his own? It seems to me the obvious course to have taken.’

‘I must ask her that. It is an interesting point which, incidentally, had not escaped me.’

‘I bet it hadn’t!’ said Laura. ‘I wish I could sit in when you tackle her. It should be an interesting interview.’

‘I hope it will be a fruitful one.’

‘By the way, why wasn’t there any suggestion that Emden killed Lockerby? I should have thought he had as much interest in his death as Caroline. It looks to me as though he could have killed him and then come here, where there’s no extradition.’

Dame Beatrice nodded benignly, then changed the subject and (as it seemed to Laura) with some abruptness.

‘What did you make of our visit to the island of Tiene?’ she inquired.

‘Weird and wonderful. Did you think that Peterhouse would attack you?’

‘The most striking and interesting thing about Peterhouse, so far as I am concerned, is the apparently serious deterioration in his mental condition since the death of Emden.’

‘
Has
it deteriorated? Of course, I didn’t know him quite as soon as you did.’

‘I choose my words carefully, I trust.’

‘Oh, I see. You don’t think he’s half as loony as he makes himself out to be.’

‘Anxiety can produce strange results, of course.’

‘Oh, I see. He’s the type who might think that, because somebody has been murdered, he might be the next on the list.’

‘If this were not Hombres Muertos, he might be quite right,’ said Dame Beatrice.

‘I decline to look puzzled and I refuse to plead for an elucidation of that enigmatic statement. Let’s change the subject.’

‘As you wish. Do not forget, however, that there are advantages, at times, in being regarded as irresponsible.’

‘Don’t I know it! I got out of various tiresome and time-wasting chores in my youth by affecting to be utterly unreliable. It’s jolly good defence mechanism. It nearly always works. “It’s no good expecting Laura” – whatever it was I could have done. So you think Peterhouse’s madness has method. But I still don’t understand that crack about Hombres Muertos, so I
shall
change the subject. What do you think of that Bostonian who seems to have acted as my understudy when you were here before?’

‘She found Mr Emden a nuisance.’

‘I suppose
she
didn’t do him in?’

‘I did not ask her.’

‘He does seem to have been a Lothario. No wonder he fled at Caroline’s approach.’

‘But, my dear Laura, we do not know that he fled at Caroline’s approach. We have no evidence which bears upon the matter. You must not jump to conclusions.’

‘Well’, said Laura, ‘I’m dashed if I can see why he should vamoose at anyone else’s approach. It wasn’t
you
he was scared about, was it?’

‘I think he suspected collusion between me and Mr Clun. And that, if it is a fact, coupled with the very valuable suggestion which you offered a while ago, could lead to a solution of our problem.’

‘As how?’ asked Laura. But there was no reply.

DAME BEATRICE CHOSE
her victims with care. After some consideration she decided to begin with Caroline Lockerby, and, having invited her to sherry in the hotel garden as a preliminary to lunch, stated her business unequivocally.

‘I may tell you’, she said, when the waiter had withdrawn, ‘that I have known for some time not only the identity of the person who killed your husband, but that of the man who killed Emden.’

‘Yes?’ Caroline looked at her, startled, her lovely mouth slightly open. ‘And have you any proof?’

‘I will leave you to answer your own question when you have heard what I have to say. Whether I can count on your cooperation is, I am inclined to think, doubtful, but we shall see. Let us begin with the extraordinary reaction of Mr Telham to Mr Clun when arrived at the hotel. You remember?’

‘I – yes. You have to remember that Telham was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.’

‘From which verge he retreated rapidly. His behaviour, on the day we visited the cave of dead men, was in marked contrast to your own.’

‘I was feeling the heat.’

‘Quite, quite. May I put it to you that Mr Telham had an acute attack of guilty conscience when he saw Mr Clun’s name on the ship’s passenger list?’

‘There was nothing for him to feel guilty about. He could not help giving evidence at Clun’s trial.’

‘He could not help it, I agree. But Mr Telham is of a chivalrous disposition and, I suggest, felt badly about having helped to send Mr Clun to prison. I suggest that he avoided him quite successfully on the ship but was horrified
to
discover that they would be spending at least a month together at the same hotel.’

‘Well, yes, the idea did upset Telham,’ Caroline agreed. ‘You see, we’d concluded that Clun would be emigrating, not coming to a holiday island like this.’

‘Leaving his shady past behind him? I see. But perhaps Clun does not consider his past to be shady. He has plenty of self-confidence, you know, and is not sensitive. I should say that he regards the death he caused as a regrettable accident for which he has been over-severely punished.’

‘He’s a swaggering brute, and Telham did quite right to make it clear that we intended to have nothing more to do with him.’

‘Exit Telham’s guilty conscience, then,’ said Dame Beatrice good-humouredly. ‘Now what did you make of the flight of Mr Emden from the hotel?’

‘I don’t see it as flight. He had given a reason, it seems, for leaving. After all, he dressed in that eccentric way. It wasn’t so extraordinary that he wanted to sample life as the troglodytes lived it.’

‘You think not? But we found his dead body, not his living one, in a cave. What is more, I think you realized what had happened to him.’

‘I? Good heavens, no!’

‘You thought you saw one of the bodies move.’

‘I was not feeling at all well that day. I was hysterical and silly, I know, but it didn’t mean a thing.’ Dame Beatrice let this pass, but Caroline suddenly added, ‘It
was
the tall one which I fancied I saw move.’

‘You were in an overwrought state, as you say. You must have had a bitter pill to swallow. You came here to join the man who had committed murder for your sake, only to find that, in two short months, he had gained for himself a most disreputable name among women and thought it best to leave the hotel.’

‘How do you know that? How do you know I’d arranged to join that – that cock of the dunghill here? Nobody knew except Telham!’

‘Nobody told me, of course. Perhaps you forgot that I left Hombres Muertos for a time, and went back to England. I discovered there a number of interesting facts and formed some theories based on them.’