Read Online The Lately Deceased by Bernard Knight - Free Book Online Page A

there were several far more likely customers present – perhaps even myself amongst them. But Margaret … impossible!
    Meredith regarded him with interest.
    â€˜In other words, you mean that the fatal attack on your wife was made by mistake in the dark, having been meant for someone else?’
    Gordon nodded. ‘I can see no other explanation, Superintendent!’
    Old Nick stood up, towering above the others.
    â€˜Thank you, Mr Walker. Probably at a later time I’ll ask you to enlarge on that. At present, we must get on with the other witnesses. I expect you’ve had enough by now, anyway. Please let one of my officers know where you are staying, and if you want to go out of town, let us know so that we may contact you if we want your help again.’
    Grey beckoned Meredith down and spoke softly into his ear.
    â€˜What about the weapon? Or are you going to keep that under your hat?’
    Old Nick rubbed his blue-black chin thoughtfully, before making up his mind.
    â€˜You might as well know that your wife was stabbed to death,’ he said bluntly to Walker. ‘We must start looking for the missing weapon at once. Have you any instrument in your flat resembling a stiletto?’
    Gordon ran a hand shakily through his hair. ‘Stiletto? God, this gets more fantastic every minute! I feel as if I shall shortly wake up from a nightmare.’
    Meredith waited patiently for Gordon to come down to reality. ‘Please try to think if you can recall any tool or instrument that might fit that description.’
    The other chewed his lip in concentration.
    â€˜Certainly no stiletto … never even seen one. A knitting needle, maybe. Margaret used to knit sometimes, but that was in Oxford. She wouldn’t have brought her knitting to a horse show. I just can’t think of anything else, Superintendent.’
    â€˜Well, if you do come up with any ideas, let us know right away. You can go back to collect your things, but I’m afraid that we will have to stay in possession for a day or two. Where will you be staying until then, sir.’
    â€˜With Mr Tate, I expect. I’ve not asked him yet, but I’ve no doubt that he can put me up. I wouldn’t stay in the flat now, anyway. I’ll go down to Oxford as soon as I can, to square things up down there.’

Chapter Nine
    After Gordon Walker had left, the CID officers sat down to a long drawn-out afternoon of interviewing. All of the party guests had turned up by now except Martin Myers, Pearl and Colin Moore, and two girls from a model agency who had gone off to a show in Manchester and hadn’t yet been contacted.
    Pearl and Colin had vanished into thin air, their flat was deserted and no sign had been seen of them at Metro. The Hampstead police, in whose district they lived, were making hourly calls to try to catch them as soon as they came home.
    One by one, the witnesses went in for interrogation, looking very different in appearance from twelve hours before. The men, some in dark business suits and others in roll-neck sweaters under raincoats, looked tired out before they started. Some obviously had roaring hangovers, their eyes puffy and shy of the bare light in the room.
    The girls were all smartly turned out despite the fact that some had been roused by the police almost before they had got to bed.
    Grey and Stammers looked through the pile of statements with growing frustration. All the guests seemed to do their best to be helpful, but it was painfully obvious that their eyewitness value was just about nil. None had any clear idea of time during the revels, no one had noticed any unusual happenings, no one knew what had happened to the deceased after the games had started and no one had seen any instrument in the flat that resembled a stiletto.
    Late in the afternoon, just as the last of the girls had swayed her hips out of the interviewing room, a constable came in from the duty room below and handed Meredith