Read Online Silence Observed by Michael Innes - Free Book Online Page B

the young man said – civilly but entirely without interest.
    “My wife, Mr Heffer, is much distressed that you were unable to dine with us.”
    “Oh, good Lord!” Now the young man did tumble to his feet. “I say – what a frightful thing. But I did clean forget. Please explain to Lady Appleby. And of course I’ll call and apologize just as soon as ever I can.”
    At this Inspector Parker, who had been obtrusively impassive before so startling an event as Appleby’s appearance, spoke for the first time. It was briefly.
    “Um,” Inspector Parker said.
    “And ‘Um’ to you,” the young man said rather childishly. “Why can’t you do something?” He turned to Appleby. “Why don’t they arrest me, if they want to? This chap will do nothing but ask me to be reasonable – by which he seems to mean that I should pour my life history into the sergeant’s waiting notebook. Why doesn’t he caution me, and say I ought to send for a solicitor, and that sort of thing?”
    “I imagine, Mr Heffer, that he feels there are circumstances of which you could give him a perfectly simple explanation if you were disposed to. As for your solicitor, I should certainly advise you to have him along. Summoning him will not establish the slightest adverse inference as to your position in this affair.”
    “I’ll be damned if I summon anybody. And we’ve been staring at each other like this for hours, with the consequence that I’ve been extremely discourteous to your wife. And all because I happened to find old Trechmann shot dead. It’s outrageous!”
    “That a harmless man should be murdered?”
    “Well, yes – that too, of course.” Jimmy Heffer seemed a little checked by this.
    “Then might it not be reasonable that we should approach the matter in a co-operative spirit?” Appleby turned to Inspector Parker. “Just what is the situation, Parker, and what do we want to know?”
    “Well, sir, Mr Heffer has some story about an old woman.”
    Appleby frowned. He plainly thought poorly of this as the beginning of an expository speech.
    “ Some story , Parker? I don’t think we can have that. It carries an implication of prevarication which isn’t at all proper at this stage. I can see that Mr Heffer is an irritating person – or at least that he is behaving in an irritating manner now. But irritated is just what we mustn’t get. So let’s start again.”
    “Yes, Sir John. Well, the circumstances are these. At just after six o’clock this evening a constable on his beat turned into this street from the direction of the British Museum. He believes himself to have been aware of two persons, both male, walking down it in the same direction as himself, and a little ahead of him. Unfortunately, as it turns out, his attention was then distracted. He had occasion, that is to say, to examine the window of the stationer’s and newsagent’s shop near that end of the street.”
    Appleby considered this gravely.
    “Wasn’t that rather an idle occupation on this constable’s part, Parker?”
    “A matter of vigilance, sir. He had reason to suppose that the window might be displaying publications of a pornographical character.”
    “Well, well! And what was it that he failed to observe as a consequence of this distracting pornography?”
    “He failed to observe what had happened to the two persons walking down the street in front of him. Not, of course, that there was any particular reason why he should observe them. But he is fairly sure that the street was empty when he heard a shot.”
    “Heard a shot? It was a deuced clever thing to hear, wasn’t it, when walking in the direction of one of the most noisy thoroughfares in London? Do you mean he heard a bang which might have been any sort of bang?”
    “No, sir.” Inspector Parker was respectfully reproachful. “This man happens to have received a good deal of instruction in small arms, and he knew at once that he had heard a revolver shot. He walked forward