Gently Through the Mill by Hunter Alan

Author:Hunter, Alan [Hunter, Alan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery, Crime
ISBN: 9781849017923
Amazon: 1849017921
Goodreads: 23103623
Publisher: Not Avail
Published: 1958-01-01T08:00:00+00:00

‘Henry … forgive me, Henry!’

The actors had been moved, but the situation was continuing. Lit by the rosy sunset, Blythely’s parlour had an angry, melodramatic appearance. It might have been a special stage-set for just such a scene as this.

Blythely, erect by the window, had his face darkened by the weird light behind him. On the dumpy settee Clara Blythely lay prostrate, by accident in a pose which would have pleased a producing eye.

‘I’m so ashamed, Henry … so ashamed!’

Who could mistake the purport of the scene? It was classic in its simplicity, its principals were typecast. The pity of it was that Griffin wasn’t here to enjoy the triumph of his acuteness.

‘I was mad – you’ve got to believe me! I wasn’t myself … it was somebody else!’

There was the Husband, there the Wife – hamming it, if anything; a good producer would have toned it down a little.

Wearily Gently seated himself and sought the consolation of his pipe. Had it been so simple, then, the crucial problem of Taylor’s demise? The rest, that didn’t concern him. It was a mystery, and it could stay so. This was the compass of the brief he held and here, apparently, the inconsequential answer!

Did it even matter who else knew what, guiltily or cunningly, according to their nature?

‘You followed her out there, didn’t you?’

On the screen of his mind he could project the whole picture, complete in time as in space.

‘You saw them go in … you waited in the shadows. When she came out you let her go. To save her face—’

Mrs Blythely’s tears came in a storm. She, at all events, was past equivocation. The baker, with head unbowed, still obstinately stared at nothing – yet he must have appreciated the endorsement given by his wife’s lamentations.

‘For him you couldn’t wait. Once she was gone, you went in after him. Of course, he was unprepared, but even if he hadn’t been—’

‘I didn’t go into the loft.’

It was the baker’s first response for a good five minutes. His tone, like his expression, hadn’t altered by one iota.

‘Then how did this cross get there?’

‘I told you it wasn’t mine.’

‘You mean that it belonged to Taylor?’

‘How can one tell when there’s nothing on it?’

The stupid repetition of this evasion irritated Gently. Surely by now the fellow could see …! But a moment later his wife settled the question finally.

‘It’s mine … he gave it to me … oh God, it was a wedding present! Twenty years …’

Her tears smothered the rest.

‘So – now we’re getting somewhere!’

Gently took a long pull at his pipe.

‘You jumped him as he came out, did you – took him completely by surprise! Did you know that we could tell that it was done from behind? But then you had to find a place for him, and not having much time—’

‘I didn’t kill that man.’

‘Let me finish what I’m saying! Not having much time, you had to hide him about the premises – somewhere that was safe, with luck for a week or two.

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