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Authors: Michael Innes
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poor Oliver Osprey?’
‘Yes, of course – and I do promise to be serious. I’ll try to find out who killed him. I’ll stick on the job until – until all those late roses droop and die, if need be.’
‘Will it take that long?’ There was now a hint almost of challenge in Miss Minnychip’s voice.
‘I hope not. Perhaps a couple of days.’ Appleby said this with some gravity, and it was with gravity that he looked at Miss Minnychip as he said it. ‘And, now, may we go back to Osprey’s collection – and conceivably to your father’s collection, as well? I’ve gathered that what has happened here has made you more than a little apprehensive that something equally out of the way may occur in your own house. And that is reasonable enough. If the Osprey Collection of coins has been under threat, so may the neighbouring Minnychip Collection well be.’
‘Exactly so, Sir John. It is why I feel that some police protection ought to be afforded to me in my own modest dwelling. But, now, please tell me. Have Lord Osprey’s coins been successfully stolen, or have they not?’
‘At this stage, Miss Minnychip, that question can’t be answered. We simply don’t know.’
‘Don’t know!’
‘It certainly sounds absurd. But nobody seems to know just where Lord Osprey kept this very compendious treasure. Have you yourself ever seen it, by the way?’
‘Definitely not. I used to hear a good deal about it in my father’s time, of course. But I have never seen it, and have no idea where Oliver kept it. Marcus must know – Marcus Broadwater. He virtually looked after the things.’
‘But he doesn’t know. He has told me so, earlier this morning. When he and Lord Osprey had occasion to inspect the collection together, Lord Osprey simply wheeled it in. That is Mr Broadwater’s expression.’
‘Wheeled it in!’
‘It sounds extremely absurd, I agree. Absurd but not inconceivable.’
‘But if Oliver was killed in the library as the result of coming upon a thief there, it must surely be somewhere in the library that–’
‘That the collection has its home? Not necessarily. And here we come to that mysterious intruder. At dusk yesterday evening, when you yourself and several other people were in the library, Lord Osprey made to close the curtains over the big French window. It was apparently his habit to do so himself. But on this occasion he suddenly saw someone lurking just outside. He at once drew the curtains to, and told Bagot to investigate. Is that correct? I gather from Lord Osprey’s son, Adrian, that you had just a glimpse of this lurking person yourself.’
‘Yes. That was precisely what happened.’
‘Would you be able to pick out the intruder in an identity parade?’
‘Dear me, no, Sir John. It was all too momentary for that.’
‘Was it a man, or a woman?’
‘I suppose it was a man. But no doubt one would somehow suppose a lurking figure to be that of a man. I really don’t know. It was, as I say, all over in a couple of seconds.’
‘But now, Miss Minnychip, consider. It has been discovered that there is a perfectly practicable means of getting across the moat and up to the small and isolated terrace on the other side of the window. It becomes, so to speak, a vulnerable point in Clusters’ defences. So Lord Osprey may have become uneasy about it a good deal later last night, come down here to reassure himself, and actually encountered an intruder. His murder may have been a direct consequence of that. But that the thief, or intending thief, made his entry by way of the library is only a weak indication that the collection was kept in – or indeed near – it. Supposing a thief to have informed himself in one way or another where the coins were actually kept (in which case it seems that he would have decidedly the advantage of the rest of us) he may have been encountered by Lord Osprey when he was already in possession of the collection – in which case he has it now. Or he
‘Yes, of course – and I do promise to be serious. I’ll try to find out who killed him. I’ll stick on the job until – until all those late roses droop and die, if need be.’
‘Will it take that long?’ There was now a hint almost of challenge in Miss Minnychip’s voice.
‘I hope not. Perhaps a couple of days.’ Appleby said this with some gravity, and it was with gravity that he looked at Miss Minnychip as he said it. ‘And, now, may we go back to Osprey’s collection – and conceivably to your father’s collection, as well? I’ve gathered that what has happened here has made you more than a little apprehensive that something equally out of the way may occur in your own house. And that is reasonable enough. If the Osprey Collection of coins has been under threat, so may the neighbouring Minnychip Collection well be.’
‘Exactly so, Sir John. It is why I feel that some police protection ought to be afforded to me in my own modest dwelling. But, now, please tell me. Have Lord Osprey’s coins been successfully stolen, or have they not?’
‘At this stage, Miss Minnychip, that question can’t be answered. We simply don’t know.’
‘Don’t know!’
‘It certainly sounds absurd. But nobody seems to know just where Lord Osprey kept this very compendious treasure. Have you yourself ever seen it, by the way?’
‘Definitely not. I used to hear a good deal about it in my father’s time, of course. But I have never seen it, and have no idea where Oliver kept it. Marcus must know – Marcus Broadwater. He virtually looked after the things.’
‘But he doesn’t know. He has told me so, earlier this morning. When he and Lord Osprey had occasion to inspect the collection together, Lord Osprey simply wheeled it in. That is Mr Broadwater’s expression.’
‘Wheeled it in!’
‘It sounds extremely absurd, I agree. Absurd but not inconceivable.’
‘But if Oliver was killed in the library as the result of coming upon a thief there, it must surely be somewhere in the library that–’
‘That the collection has its home? Not necessarily. And here we come to that mysterious intruder. At dusk yesterday evening, when you yourself and several other people were in the library, Lord Osprey made to close the curtains over the big French window. It was apparently his habit to do so himself. But on this occasion he suddenly saw someone lurking just outside. He at once drew the curtains to, and told Bagot to investigate. Is that correct? I gather from Lord Osprey’s son, Adrian, that you had just a glimpse of this lurking person yourself.’
‘Yes. That was precisely what happened.’
‘Would you be able to pick out the intruder in an identity parade?’
‘Dear me, no, Sir John. It was all too momentary for that.’
‘Was it a man, or a woman?’
‘I suppose it was a man. But no doubt one would somehow suppose a lurking figure to be that of a man. I really don’t know. It was, as I say, all over in a couple of seconds.’
‘But now, Miss Minnychip, consider. It has been discovered that there is a perfectly practicable means of getting across the moat and up to the small and isolated terrace on the other side of the window. It becomes, so to speak, a vulnerable point in Clusters’ defences. So Lord Osprey may have become uneasy about it a good deal later last night, come down here to reassure himself, and actually encountered an intruder. His murder may have been a direct consequence of that. But that the thief, or intending thief, made his entry by way of the library is only a weak indication that the collection was kept in – or indeed near – it. Supposing a thief to have informed himself in one way or another where the coins were actually kept (in which case it seems that he would have decidedly the advantage of the rest of us) he may have been encountered by Lord Osprey when he was already in possession of the collection – in which case he has it now. Or he
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