The Last Warning (Robert Budd Book 14) by Gerald Verner

Author:Gerald Verner [Verner, Gerald]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Endeavour Media
Published: 2018-12-27T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

Superintendent Hawkins was talking to a dapper man with a fattish, florid face, when Mr. Budd got back from his interview with Mr. Whipper. He introduced the red-faced man as Major Candy, the Chief Constable for the County.

‘How d’ye do,’ said the Major, in a deep, rather hoarse voice that, coming from a man of such a small stature, was a little startling. ‘This is an extraordinary business, eh? Deuced extraordinary.’

Mr. Budd thoroughly agreed with him and said so.

‘Very glad you were on the spot,’ went on the Major. Hawkins has just given me all the details, and I’m hanged if I can see how it could’ve happened.’

‘No more can I, sir, at the moment,’ said Mr. Budd. ‘But there must be an explanation . . .’

‘Must be a secret entrance to the room,’ declared the Chief Constable.

‘If there is, it’s the finest secret I’ve ever come up against,’ said the big man. ‘We’ve examined that room so well that we know every fly mark.’

‘I’d be willing to swear there isn’t a secret entrance, sir,’ said Hawkins.

‘The thing’s incredible,’ grunted Major Candy. ‘You’ve been over to see this man, Whipper, I’m told?’

‘Yes, sir,’ replied Mr. Budd. He told them what the little burglar had had to say, and Hawkins frowned.

‘Do you think he was speaking the truth?’ he asked. ‘Maybe, he’s just making it up to be sensational.’

‘He was speakin’ the truth,’ said Mr. Budd. ‘I can generally tell when these fellers are lyin’, an’ Whipper wasn’t.’

‘But the Longdons,’ protested the Chief Constable, pursing his lips. ‘I know them very well. Mrs. Longdon’s a charming woman. Charming! I don’t think she even knew Gottleib, and I’m certain she didn’t know Brinn . . .’

‘Her son knows Miss Hatton,’ remarked Mr. Budd. ‘It was his handkerchief that we found at the beginnin’ of the path that leads down to the summerhouse where Brinn was killed.’

‘Yes, that’s right,’ exclaimed Hawkins.

‘I wasn’t altogether satisfied with Miss Hatton’s explanation of how it got there,’ went on the stout man.

‘But the Longdons,’ muttered the Major again, pinching his chin and frowning. ‘It’s absurd to suppose that they could have anything to do with these murders . . .’

‘Why is it?’ asked Mr. Budd, looking at him sleepily. ‘Apart from the fact that you consider Mrs. Longdon a charmin’ woman, what do you know about ’em, sir?’

The Chief Constable’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. For a moment he was silent and then he said:

‘Well, if you put it like that, nothing,’ he admitted rather lamely.

‘Did you ever meet the husband?’ asked Mr. Budd.

The Major shook his head.

‘No. I believe he died several years ago,’ he answered. ‘Mrs. Longdon was a widow when she first came here.’

‘How long ago is that?’

The Chief Constable considered.

‘Eight years — may be a little longer,’ he replied. ‘The house had been empty for some time when she took it and moved in with her son.’

‘Was Criller livin’ here then?’ asked Mr. Budd, and the Major nodded.

‘Yes, he’d been here — let me see — about ten years,’ he answered.

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