Chapter 16 Chapter 16 Return of the Superintendent

Inspector Craddock made his way home by the night train, but he slept badly that night. He dreamed incessantly, and those dreams might be called nightmares rather than sleeps. He ran through the dimly lit corridors of an old castle over and over, trying desperately to get somewhere, or to stop something in time.Finally he dreamed that he was waking up, and a great sense of relief flooded him.Then, the door of his box slid open slowly, and Letitia Blacklock put her bloody head in, looked at him, and blamed him: "Why don't you save me? You can do it if you try your best. " Now, he really woke up.

Thankfully, the Inspector reached Milchester at last.He went straight to the Bureau to report to Ridesdale, who listened carefully. "This visit did little to advance the case," said he, "but it confirmed what Miss Blacklock told you. Pip and Emma—well, I want to know who they are." "Patrick and Julia Simmons are the right age, Chief. Assuming we can prove that the siblings grew up Miss Blacklock never met—" Ridesdale pursed his lips and smiled slightly, and said: "Our ally, Miss Marple, has confirmed it for us. In fact, Miss Blacklock had never seen them until two months ago."

"Then, as it should be, the Chief—" "It's not as simple as that, Craddock. We've been checking, and based on what we have so far, Patrick and Emma certainly appear to be unrelated. His file with the Navy is real - well behaved, no 'disobedience' possible Tendency. We checked with Shaner as well, and an aggrieved Mrs Simmons of course said that her son and daughter live in Chipping Krighorth with her cousin Letitia Blacklock. So This is the result!" "And that Simmons too big must be the real Simmons too big?" "She's been calling Mrs. Simmons for a long time, that's all I can say," replied Ridesdale dryly.

"That seems clear enough. Only—these two match. The age match, and Miss Blacklock herself unknown. If you want Pip and Emma, ​​well, there they are." The Chief nodded thoughtfully, then pushed a piece of paper towards Craddock. "That's a little bit of what we've got from our investigations into Mrs. Easterbrook." The inspector raised his eyebrows as he watched. "Very interesting," he said, "she kept the old bastard completely in the dark, didn't she? But I don't think it has anything to do with the case." "Apparently not."

"But this one has something to do with Mrs. Hammers." Craddock raised his eyebrows again. "I think I'm going to have to talk to this lady again," he said. "Do you think this information might be relevant to this case?" "I think it's possible. Of course, it might be a thankless effort..." The two fell into silence for a moment. "Is there anything going on with Fletcher, Chief?" "Fletcher was extremely active. With Miss Blacklock's consent, he conducted a routine search of the mansion, but found nothing significant. He then checked who had had a chance of oiling the door, and who Who stayed in the mansion when the foreign girl was out. It was more complicated than we thought, for she seemed to be out for a walk most of the afternoon. Usually to the village, to have a cup of coffee at the Blue Bird. So, in Black When Miss Locke and Miss Bonner go out--which is usually in the afternoon--picking blackberries, there's no obstruction there."

"And the door is always unlocked?" "It used to be locked. But I guess not now." "What did Fletcher get? Who came in when the house was empty?" "Actually they all went." Ridesdale glanced at the page in front of him. "Miss Murgatroyd took a hen (again bird) to hatch her eggs. It sounds superfluous, but that's what she said. She was flustered and contradicting herself.But Fletcher thinks it's character, not guilt. " "Maybe," Craddock admitted, "she panicked." "Then Mrs. Swettenham came to get the horsemeat that Miss Blacklock had left her on the kitchen table, because Miss Blacklock was driving down to Milchester that day, and whenever she went, she always got some Horsemeat. Do you see the trick?"

Craddock thought about it. "Why didn't Miss Blacklock leave the horsemeat when she passed Mrs Swettenham's on the way back from Milchester?" "I don't know, but she didn't. Mrs Swettenham said she--Miss Blacklock--had always had horsemeat on the kitchen table, and she--Mrs Swettenham-- Like to wait to pick it up when Micky isn't around because Micky can be rude sometimes." "The explanation is quite coherent. What about the next one?" "Miss Hinchcliffe. She said she hadn't been at all lately, but she had. Because Micky saw her come out of the side door one day, and Mrs. Butter too—she was native. Miss Hinchcliffe later Admitted that she might have been there, but she forgot, didn't remember what she was doing, and said she probably just stopped by to see it."

"It's rather strange." "Obviously the way she behaves. Then there's Mrs. Easterbrook, who trains dogs down the road, so pops in to see if Miss Blacklock can lend her a knitting sample, but Miss Blacklock No. She said she would wait a while." "So it is. Possibly to poke around, or perhaps to oil the door. And the Colonel?" "Go one day with a book on India, which Miss Blacklock has expressed a desire to read." "She really has that wish?" "She said she wished she couldn't watch it, but it didn't work." "It's fair to say," said Craddock, "that if anyone insists on lending you a book, you can't get away with it!"

"We don't know if Edmund Swettenham has been there. He's vaguely saying he's dropped in occasionally on errands for his mother, but he doesn't think it's been recently." "Actually, none of this can be concluded yet." "yes." Ridesdale grinned slightly, and said: "Miss Marple is also active. Fletcher reported that she went to the 'Bluebird' house for coffee one morning. Sherry went to Gravel Heights and went to the small house. Went to tea in the paddock. She admired Mrs. Swettenham's gardens, and stopped by Colonel Easterbrook's to admire his Indian curios."

"She can tell us whether this Colonel Easterbrook is a real guy or a fake." "She'll figure it out, I agree - he seems to be all right. We'll check with the British authorities in the Far East to find out his identity." "In the meantime," interrupted Craddock, "do you think Miss Blacklock will agree to go?" "Leaving Chipping Crighorn?" "Yes. Maybe take the faithful Bonner somewhere nobody knows. Why doesn't she go to Scotland and live with Belle God? It's a hard place to get around." "Just stay there and wait for her to die? I don't think she'll do that.

I don't think any woman with a good heart would like that suggestion. " "If it's about saving her life—" "Come on, Craddock, it's not as easy as you think to kill people." "Isn't it, Chief?" "Well, I agree. On the one hand, it's simple enough. There are many methods, such as using herbicides, or giving her a club in the head when she comes out to close the poultry, or hiding behind the fence and throwing her on the head. Jars. That's all fairly simple. It's not so easy to kill someone without being suspected. The murderer must realize by now that he's being watched. The well-laid plan failed, and our unknown murderer had to think otherwise. " "I know that, Director. But the murderer has to think about time. Mrs. Godler is a dying person, and she will die at any time. This means that the murderer can't afford to wait." "correct." "One more thing, Chief, the murderer must know that we are investigating everyone." "And it's time-consuming," sighed Ridesdale. "It means checking with the East, that is, India. Yes, it's a time-consuming and boring business." "So that's another reason to hurry. I believe, Chief, that the danger is real, and a lot of money is at stake. As soon as Belle Godler is dead and a policeman walks in, Craddock cuts off." . "Sergeant Legge calling from Chipping Krighorth, Chief." "Come in." Inspector Craddock had been staring at the Chief, and saw the Chief's expression become serious and stiff. "Very well," cried Ridesdale angrily, "Inspector Craddock will be here in a moment." He put down the microphone. "Yes—" Craddock hesitated to speak. Ridesdale shook his head. "No," he said, "it's Dora Bonner. She asked for some aspirin, and apparently she took the bottle that lay by Letitia Blacklock's bed, and there were only a few pills left in it. She took two pills and kept one. The coroner took that one and sent it for analysis. He said it was definitely not aspirin." "She died?" "Yes, she was found dead in her bed this morning. The medical examiner said she died in a sound sleep. He said that although she was in 'extreme condition', he did not think she died of natural causes. He suspected anesthesia poisoning. An autopsy is scheduled for tomorrow. " "Miss Blacklock's bedside aspirin pills. Brilliant devil. Patrick told me Miss Blacklock threw away half a bottle of sherry - opened a new one. I guess she wouldn't think of using the opened one." A bottle of aspirin for that kind of thing. Who's in the house this time—for the last day or two? There's no way the pills are going to be there for long." Ridesdale looked at him. "All the people were there yesterday," he said, "for a birthday dinner for Miss Bonner. Any one of them could have slipped upstairs and changed the pills without anyone noticing. Anyone in the house could strike at any moment."