Death at the Dolphin (The Ngaio Marsh Collection) (The Alleyn Mysteries) by Ngaio Marsh

Author:Ngaio Marsh [Marsh, Ngaio]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Series - Ngaio Marsh, Crime
Publisher: Harper Collins, Inc.
Published: 2009-12-24T00:00:00+00:00

III

‘To me,’ said Mr Greenslade with palpable self-restraint, ‘there can be only one explanation, my dear Alleyn. The boy, who is, as Jay informs us, an unpleasant and mischievous boy, banged the door to suggest he’d gone but actually stayed behind and, having by some means learnt the number of the combination, robbed the safe of its contents. He was caught in the act by Jobbins who must have seen him from his post on the half-landing. As Jobbins made for him the boy, possibly by accident, overturned the pedestal. Jobbins was felled by the dolphin and the boy, terrified, ran into the circle and down the centre aisle. In his panic he ran too fast, stumbled across the balustrade, clutched at the velvet top and fell into the stalls. As he fell he let go the easel with the glove and papers and they dropped, as he did, into the aisle.’

Mr Greenslade, looking, in his unshaven state, strangely unlike himself, spread his hands and threw himself back in Winter Morris’s chair. Peregrine sat behind his own desk and Alleyn and Fox in two of the modish seats reserved for visitors. The time was twelve minutes past three and the air stale with the aftermath of managerial cigarettes and drinks.

‘You say nothing,’ Mr Greenslade observed. ‘You disagree?’

Alleyn said: ‘As an open-and-shut theory it has its attractions. It’s tidy. It’s simple. It means that we all sit back and hope for the boy to recover consciousness and health so that we can send him to the Juvenile Court for manslaughter.’

‘What I can’t quite see –’ Peregrine began and then said, ‘Sorry.’

‘No. Go on,’ Alleyn said.

‘I can’t see why the boy, having got the documents and glove, should come out to the circle foyer where he’d be sure to be seen by Jobbins on the half-landing. Why didn’t he go down through the circle by the box, stairs, and pass-door to the stage and let himself out by the stage-door?’

‘He might have wanted to show off. He might have – I am persuaded,’ Mr Greenslade said crossly, ‘that your objections can be met.’

‘There’s another thing,’ Peregrine said, ‘and I should have thought of it before. At midnight, Jobbins had to make a routine report to police and fire-station. He’d do it from the open telephone in the downstairs foyer.’

‘Very well,’ said Greenslade. ‘That would give the boy his opportunity. What do you say, Alleyn?’

‘As an investigating officer I’m supposed to say nothing,’ Alleyn said lightly. ‘But since the people at the bistro up the lane and the wretched Hawkins all put Jay out of the picture as a suspect and you yourself appear to have been some thirty miles away –’

‘Well, I must say!’

‘– there’s no reason why I shouldn’t ask you to consider under what circumstances the boy, still clutching his booty, could have fallen from the circle with his face towards the balustrade and as he fell have clawed at the velvet top, palms down in such a posture that he’s left nail-tracks almost parallel with the balustrade but slanting towards the outside.

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