Crook o' Lune by E.C.R. Lorac

Author:E.C.R. Lorac
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks

CHAPTER XI

I

Apart from Driving Down to Kirkholm for a midday meal at the Manor Hotel, Gilbert Woolfall had been at Aikengill all day. In the afternoon a couple of young officers from the County C.I.D. had come up to take records of fingerprints throughout the house. Gilbert had gone round the house with them, conscientiously searching to determine that nothing had been stolen and nothing moved from its accustomed place. He had felt all the time that it was a futile proceeding, but he had fallen in with all the suggestions the police had made.

“This house is a very simple proposition from your point of view, officer,” he said. “My uncle had a minimum of personal gear: after his death his clothes and footwear were all sent to a charitable organisation in Liverpool, where there is more real poverty than in any rural district. He had an old-fashioned gold watch which I have got at home, a double-barrelled shot-gun which is on its brackets in the hall, and a good pair of binoculars which are in my bedroom here. The gun and the glasses are both worth money, but they weren’t taken. Apart from his papers and books in the study he left hardly any other personal possessions. There are some clothes of mine here, including a good raincoat and tweed overcoat and good leather shoes, any of which are worth stealing, but they haven’t been stolen.”

“Were there any rare books, valuable engravings, clocks, anything of that kind?” asked the detective.

“No. Nothing. Everything was valued for probate. The most valuable things in the house are the old furniture—dower chest, a court cupboard, old tables, and chairs, but they can hardly be described as portable. As for Mrs. Ramsden’s things, I know nothing about them, but I’m pretty certain she didn’t possess anything valuable. When she heard that my uncle had left her £500, she said it was the first time in her life she’d ever had any money of her own, apart from the wages she earned as housekeeper.”

“You evidently don’t believe in the theory that a thief was responsible for the fire here,” observed the C.I.D. man.

“No. I don’t, but what I believe is neither here nor there,” said Gilbert, “so I’ll leave you to get on with your job. I can see that it’s important for you to find out if any stranger has been in the house; if you want to take my fingerprints, so that you can eliminate one lot, you’re welcome.”

“Thank you, sir. That will be very helpful.”

The young officer got out his gear, and while he was taking impressions of Gilbert Woolfall’s fingers, he asked: “Would you tell me who has been in the house recently, to your knowledge, sir?”

“I can only tell you about the times I have been in the house. I have had very few visitors. A fortnight ago the Rector, Mr. Tupper, spent an hour or so here in the evening: we sat in here, in the sitting-room. Mr. Herdwick,

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