sir,â he said, âas long as you did check up on him â â
âCheck up?â
Luke sighed. âNeither Mr Campion nor I ever met Mr Elginbrodde. Today we questioned a man called Duds Morrison. There are five years in Morrisonâs life which from our point of view are unaccounted for, and it was during those same five years that Elginbrodde met and married your daughter. Iâm just making quite sure theyâre not the same man.â
Meg gaped at him. In her amazement she let the murmur of the telephone outside pass unnoticed.
âBut I saw him too.â
Luke regarded her stolidly. âI know you did,â he said, and added with an irritable gesture which destroyed his official manner, âyouâre human, arenât you?â
âBut of course.â To everyoneâs astonishment the Canon got up and, coming down the room, took his daughterâs hand. âOf course,â he repeated. âThis young man must make sure of that, Meg. Good gracious me. No good purpose is ever served by discounting the possibility of
sin
.â He made the word sound familiar if not downright homely.
Lukeâs smile grew slowly broad and absent-mindedly he turned his thumbs up. âThatâs all right then. You must take a squint at him yourself, sir â¦â
âIs there a Chief Inspector of Po-lice in there, Meg? Name of Luke?â The bellow from the landing cut him short and sent him hurrying to the door. âDivisional Headquarters, urgent.â
Everyone listened to the ensuing conversation but it was not revealing.
âWhere?â Luke demanded after a long silence, and then âI see. Right. Iâll come there now. No good sending a car in this fog.â
He came striding back into the room, unusual touches of colour on his cheek-bones.
âIâm afraid itâll have to be tonight, sir,â he said to Avril, âand Iâll have to ask you to come out again too, Mr Campion, if you will. I havenât been very bright. Theyâve just picked up Duds in an alley off Crumb Street. Heâs what you might call thoroughly dead by all I can hear.â
Mr Campion sat up slowly and then rose to his feet.
âSo soon?â he murmured. âThatâs a black mark against us, Charles. I wondered if he had it coming to him, but I didnât envisage anything quite so â prompt.â
âAre you saying heâs been murdered?â Meg was very pale.
Luke smiled at her from the midst of his preoccupation. âHe didnât die of neglect.â
The Canon got up. âWe must go at once,â he said.
*
As the front door closed behind the three men and its distinctive slam echoed in the apartment upstairs, Meg walked down the room and back again.
âI love Geoffrey,â she said.
âYes.â Amanda did not move. Her eyes looked warm and honey-coloured in the firelight. âThatâs obvious, if youâll forgive my saying so. Did you quarrel this afternoon?â
âNo, I tried to explain, though, which was silly. I thought I knew Geoff but I donât, Amanda. I love him unbearably but I donât know him at all.â She looked so young of a sudden that the other woman glanced away.
âI donât expect heâs very knowable at the moment,â she observed. âGetting married is always rather complicating, donât you think? I know itâs useless to say donât worry, but I feel you must wait. Waiting is one of the great arts.â
âThat awful little man on the station wasnât Martin.â
âNo, of course he wasnât.â
âThe Chief Inspector didnât believe me.â
âLuke was mystified. When he talked to Morrison he must have decided it wasnât blackmail. Now of course heâs furious with himself.â
âBecause he didnât guess the man was going to get killed?â
âWell,â said Amanda, who was giving the
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