The Quiet Woman by Harry Carmichael

Author:Harry Carmichael
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: The Quiet Woman
ISBN: 9781448204595
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2019-11-23T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter X

After His Sunday Dinner he took a short walk to shake down Mrs Buchanan’s roast beef, Yorkshire pudding and a mountain of potatoes. Then he went back to the office.

Ideas for a feature article on the Jauncey payroll theft came only with difficulty. Time after time he drafted an opening paragraph, re-read it irritably and threw it in the wastepaper basket. He knew what he wanted to say but it looked no good on paper.

At the end of half an hour he had the skeleton of an article and a dozen rough notes with which to put some flesh on bare bones. But he was still dissatisfied with the result of his work. It lacked impact. Two days in bed seemed to have blunted the ability he had come to take for granted.

Eventually he went upstairs and had a strong cup of tea and borrowed a cigarette. When he came back he phoned Scotland Yard.

Hennant had gone home. Sergeant Freeson said the superintendent was taking his grandchildren to the zoo.

Quinn said, ‘Anybody else but your chief and I’d feel inclined to make a highly comical remark. However, I don’t want to damage our entente cordiale. Got anything new on the Jauncey case? I could use a fresh approach for the piece I’m doing.’

‘Well, there is a little problem in connection with Graham’s car … although the superintendent doesn’t want it to appear in print. He says I can tell you about it in return for the information you gave him concerning your chat with Yvonne Marshall’s husband. Thinks you might come up with an ingenious solution.’

‘He flatters me,’ Quinn said. ‘But let’s hear the problem.’

Freeson told him about the spare wheel in the boot of the Hillman and what had happened when Inspector Aronson checked the flat tyre. As a footnote, the sergeant mentioned the mileage that had been done by Mrs Marshall’s hired car.

‘… You see, Mr Quinn, there’s a discrepancy between what it says on the clock and the actual distance she should’ve travelled if she’d gone to St Katherine Dock.’

‘You’re seven miles short,’ Quinn said.

‘Yes. Personally speaking, I don’t think it’s as important as that business with the loose valve in Graham’s spare wheel. Not much doubt it was done deliberately.’

‘To fix things so that Graham’s car didn’t leave the factory at the same time as the Cortina. Question is—why?’

‘The superintendent and I got stuck there, too. It’s pretty obvious who did it—’

‘Mrs Marshall,’ Quinn said.

‘Quite so. But there doesn’t seem to be any motive.’

‘Yet she must’ve had one. It’s beginning to look more and more like her husband suggested. She pulled a fast one on Graham … and to do it she had to immobilize his car temporarily.’

Sergeant Freeson said, ‘We got as far as that. Then we ran out of steam.’

‘All right, I’ll think about it.’

‘Very good, sir. But you won’t mention this to anyone, will you?’

‘Not a word,’ Quinn said. ‘Thank the superintendent for giving me his confidence. I may not be able

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