At the Sign of the Clove and Hoof by Zoë Johnson

Author:Zoë Johnson [Johnson, Zoë]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Golden Age mysteries british, 1940s murder mysteries, bibliomysteries, murder mystery series
Publisher: Moonstone Press
Published: 2023-03-27T22:00:00+00:00

The Police were busy all over the country and their efforts were directed mainly towards the threefold object of finding Gedling’s late servant Costigan, of whom nothing had been seen or heard since he stepped off the Larcombe bus at Setterham, of finding John-Thomas Ridd, and of identifying the butchered “detective.”

Plain-clothes men lurked in railway stations and public houses; a strict watch was kept at likely ports; cars were stopped in Devonshire lanes and their drivers questioned; in London, a hundred people were interviewed; the B.B.C. broadcast urgent police messages; the Press published descriptions of the missing men; bloodhounds were brought to Old Barton in an attempt to follow up the Captain’s trail through the woods—but the rain neutralized their efforts; a specially-trained squad of police searchers explored every nook and cranny, every bush and pool, every shed and ditch in the Larcombe area for anything and everything that might have a bearing on the mysterious tragedies. Nor were Inspector Blutton and Det.-Sergt. Plumper idle.

The day after Gedling’s suicide, the shy, red-headed boatman Alan Charnock came into Hannabus’s shop to buy a caulking-iron. Peascod was there, theorizing on Crime and munching barley sugar. Hannabus himself was dogmatizing on the same subject and making rabbit-traps.

“The very man!” cried Peascod.

“What’s up?” said Alan.

“I’m eliminating, and I haven’t eliminated you yet.”

“You can eliminate till doomsday and it won’t do you any good,” mumbled Hannabus with strings dangling from his mouth. “I tell you old Mr. Gedling’s been doing all this ’ere. He’s crazy, and everybody knows it. Now he’s dead we’ll have a bit of peace—you see.”

Charnock said, “I don’t know about that, Seb, but I do know all this ’ere’s messed up the Cloven proper what with John-Thomas gone and all these nosey parkers about.”

“Ah,” said Hannabus.

“And there’s summat funny with Bert Yeo too.”

“Is he ill or something, then? I haven’t seen him for a day or two.”

“I’ve just been talking to Jane McQueen,” said Charnock, “and their Rosa told her that when he came down yester morning—and he hasn’t been down for days, you know—he was all grey like. She says he looks like he has consumption or something. Well, anyhow, when she told him about Gedling being dead and Cap’n having run off, he fainted right over, just like a girl, fell down all of a heap. A man of his age too!”

“D’you know what I think?” said Hannabus. “I think old Bert knows something. I don’t say he’s had anything to do with it, mark you—far from it. But he’s seen or heard something and he daren’t speak. It’s got on his mind.”

Peascod was derisive. “But he could only have heard or seen something in connection with somebody in Larcombe—and you’re not going to tell me there’s somebody in this village that he’s afraid to inform on! Think, man. There are no sinister villains knocking about this place, with the possible exception of myself. You’re all honest, God-fearing men. Take Mr. Charnock here. Busy from morn till night with his beloved boat, wedded to the Sea.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.