Read Online A Hundred Thousand Dragons by Dolores Gordon-Smith - Free Book Online

match. ‘In the first place, I’m convinced that the accident wasn’t genuine.’
    â€˜Because you didn’t hear a car before the explosion,’ agreed Ashley.
    Jack nodded. ‘Yes, that’s it. I was speaking to Vaughan and – bang! There was a terrific explosion and a sheet of flame. So far, so good. Now, earlier in the evening, Vaughan reported his Rolls had been stolen.’
    â€˜And at quarter to six Constable Marsh stopped a Rolls – I’ll eat my hat if it’s not Vaughan’s Rolls with the number plates being so similar – on the Haverly Road. All Marsh could really tell us was that the nearside headlight was damaged and that the motorist had a cheerful manner, a full brown beard and a rug on the back seat.’
    â€˜That’s part one, so to speak,’ said Jack, drawing on his cigarette. ‘Those are all observed or reported events. What we’re meant to think is that some poor beggar swiped Vaughan’s Rolls-Royce, piled it into a tree in the Hammer Valley and died in the fire.’
    â€˜And what do you think actually happened?’ asked Ashley.
    Jack paused to arrange his thoughts. ‘I think there was a murder,’ he said eventually. ‘I think the murderer concealed the body under a rug and drove to the Hammer Valley. I think the murderer positioned the car against a tree and subsequently set fire to it.’
    â€˜And do you,’ said Ashley, with a deep breath, ‘think Vaughan was the murderer?’
    â€˜You’re getting very daring in your assumptions in your old age,’ said Jack appreciatively. ‘Let’s say it is Vaughan. The fact that Constable Marsh didn’t recognize him is neither here or there.’
    â€˜Too right,’ agreed Ashley.
    â€˜It could be Vaughan. A cheerful manner, even with a corpse cluttering up the car, is easy enough to assume, and I know Vaughan has a false beard in his possession. You should have seen him at the party last night, Ashley. His chin was like an exploding mattress.’ Despite himself, Ashley smiled. ‘And, if you have used your car to transport illicitly acquired mortal remains, it’s only common sense to report it as stolen. Let’s say that’s what happened. After his encounter with Constable Marsh, Vaughan arranges the corpse and the car neatly against a convenient tree and tootles back home.’
    Ashley choked on his cigarette. ‘That’s where the other car comes in! The diamond-tyred car, I mean. Vaughan abandons the Rolls and gets driven back here by the diamond car.’
    Jack’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully. ‘I wonder if you’re right.’
    Ashley clicked his tongue in irritation. ‘Hang on, it won’t work. Vaughan was talking to you when the damn Rolls blew up.’
    Jack grinned. ‘It’d work well enough if he had a fuse of some sort. Let me take you back to last night. I was on the terrace, as I said, and I seemed to be completely alone. Then Vaughan popped up like the demon king. Naturally, I assumed that he’d come on to the terrace through the French windows, but he could have come up the steps from the valley just as easily. We had about ten seconds’ worth of conversation and then the car blew up.’
    â€˜A fuse?’ queried Ashley doubtfully. ‘Where would he get his hands on a fuse?’
    Jack shook his head. ‘Don’t be so literal. A fuse merely conveys a spark from one place to another. A line of petrol would do it. You’d have to set fire to it right away, otherwise it’d evaporate, but there’d be nothing to stop Vaughan going down to the Rolls from the terrace, taking a can of petrol from the car and laying a trail back to the house. Then, standing on the steps and sheltered by the overhang of the terrace, he simply strikes a match, nips back up top, has a word with any passing guests he happens to see –’
    â€˜Such as your