Devious Murder Read online

  ‘Not much wrong in that, except that between you you’d brought three men to Mountjoy, one was dead, murdered, and the other two had vanished. You, Watt, had brought the murdered man there from Tolham. That is information it might have taken a lot of work for the police to acquire. We’ll take written statements from you all. And now, do you want to get your expenses for the night you spent in Hampstead?’

  They all eagerly said they did.

  ‘Do you know where your three fares came from?’

  Watt, on behalf of the rest, said they didn’t.

  ‘Well, keep in touch with us through Inspector Toft and we will tell you where to make your claims. Meanwhile, you are not to mention this interview or anything which has gone on in it.’

  And with that the party broke up.

  Alone together, Littlejohn and Cromwell discussed the case.

  ‘The necklace has gone and it looks as if Blunt got to work shortly after Mrs. Havenith and Leo left for the theatre. It seems to me that Cairncross had spotted Blunt in the course of his spying out the land and was keeping an eye on him. It was a case of two professionals on the job,’ said Littlejohn.

  ‘But where does Leo come into the affair?’

  ‘That’s where the question marks enter in. It was 9.45, according to Watt, when Blunt appeared and took his taxi to Mountjoy, where Kaltbad was waiting for him presumably to receive the diamonds and take them abroad with him. By that time Mrs. Havenith and Leo were home at The Limes. They had retired early and probably Leo was in Mrs. Havenith’s bedroom. Blunt must have just finished the job and now had to make his exit through Mrs. Havenith’s room, where the weak spot in the alarm system was located. Probably the window was wide open in case Blunt needed to make a quick retreat.’

  ‘And that’s just what happened?’

  ‘Blunt must have been trapped when the pair returned from the theatre, although such a situation wasn’t above Blunt’s ingenuity to overcome. He must have been too quick for Leo and got away, either through the front door or else through the upstairs window. Cairncross must have spotted Blunt who either evaded him, or else Cairncross let him go and then followed him to discover his next move. Leo, late in the field, followed Cairncross and the three fetched up at Mountjoy.’

  ‘This part is going to be tricky.…’

  ‘Yes. Who killed Kaltbad and buried him? Was it Blunt, and did they quarrel about something?’

  ‘That seems the easiest way of thinking. I can’t imagine Cairncross or Leo doing it, although we can’t know for certain. Let’s assume Blunt did it. Cairncross and Leo were on Blunt’s heels, however. There are no curtains up at the windows of Mountjoy and the electricity is still on. Cairncross and Leo must have seen what was going on there. Perhaps the diamonds were passed from hand to hand by the two men inside. Then occurred the quarrel and Kaltbad was killed. Did the two watching men wait in their hiding places while Blunt disposed of Kaltbad’s body?’

  ‘They must have done if our theory is right.’

  ‘Blunt must have crossed the garden to the tool shed for a spade. Meanwhile, the pair in the garden did nothing, but waited till the job was done.’

  ‘Where were the diamonds then?’

  They paused to consider.

  ‘Blunt, the careful and meticulous, returned with the spade. That’s when one or both of the men broke cover and ran to corner Blunt in the shed. He must have heard them coming. Either Leo or Cairncross returned to the house the day after when he encountered Hassock. It must have been one of them. One had been training for a surgeon; the other had been a medical orderly in North’ Africa. Both would probably know how to tie the peculiar surgeon’s knot, which gave them away. Whoever it was was back to hunt for the necklace which Blunt hid in his flight.’

  ‘That’s it. Blunt must have broken away and one or both of them caught up with him at the gate and killed him. It might have been accidental or deliberate. And they couldn’t dispose of the body because they thought the taxis were manoeuvring round the place waiting for them to come out and be driven home. They just left Blunt there and took to their heels, probably through the back garden gate. Perhaps they walked home. I think not. Let Toft put through an inquiry about two bedraggled men hiring a taxi to Tolham from an all-night garage in Hampstead neighbourhood.…’

  ‘Cromwell did so right away and returned.

  ‘Who killed Blunt?’

  ‘Leo was perhaps surprised when he learned the necklace had gone. Cairncross certainly knew. He might just have been doing his duty and pursuing Blunt to recover it. Just for argument, let’s give him the benefit of the doubt. What motive could Leo have had? He has plenty of money. Why be eager to get hold of the diamonds? If Blunt had them in his pocket and Leo or Cairncross took them they’d have to dispose of them. Cairncross hadn’t stolen them. Why would he return to the house, if he had? Leo is probably our man.’

  ‘And Leo’s motive for killing Blunt?’

  ‘He had a good one. Old man Havenith, although detained in America by his oil wells, was a jealous husband, who was ruthless if his wives were unfaithful. Leo, his first wife’s son, knew all about that. He was obviously having an affair with Mrs. Havenith and he must have been jumpy and nervous about what would happen if his father got to know. That would be worse than all the previous affairs, and old Havenith would make him pay for it to the full. It would ruin him and his mistress. He would probably suspect every stranger of being a private detective spying on behalf of his old man. Whether he encountered Blunt in the library or in Mrs. Havenith’s bedroom, he jumped to the obvious conclusion and the only solution was to kill him. He pursued Blunt with that in mind.…’

  ‘That seems to cover every point, Tom, but how are we going to find out if it’s right? There are some weak links in it.’

  ‘We’ll just wait patiently for the result of Toft’s inquiries and then go and test our theory right away.’

  Chapter 12

  Murder in the Rain

  There was a photographer sneaking round the garden at Mountjoy when Littlejohn and Cromwell arrived there again. He was from the local paper and was hunting for illustrations for an article about The House of Death. He recognised Littlejohn.

  ‘Give me a break, sir. Let me take a picture of you and your assistant on the front steps. Scotland Yard on the Case.’

  There seemed no harm in obliging him. After all, everybody knew.

  Otherwise there was nobody about. Here they were again, doing the routine work they usually left to their underlings. It was dreary and tiring as a rule, but now it seemed a bit more exciting.

  ‘Let’s go back to Hampstead and see if we can find the diamonds,’ Littlejohn had said.

  This time they entered by the front door. There were a few circulars behind the door and the manifestos of some candidates for a vacant place on the council. Nothing more.

  They started in the cellars, where piles of earth still surrounded Kaltbad’s grave. The soil had been carefully sieved by the technical staff, but yielded nothing more. Then they worked upwards to the attics. They tested the floors for loose boards. They found one, too, and dragged it up expectantly. It held a dusty old wallet containing five obsolete £1 notes and a photograph of a girl standing by a gate and wearing one of the hideous hats of the ‘twenties’. It must have had a story connected with it sometime!

  ‘He can’t have hidden the diamonds here, if our theory is correct. We reckoned that Cairncross and Leo came upon him as he replaced the spade in the woodshed. When he found himself at bay, his first thought would be to hide them on the spot. Let’s go and explore.’

  It was hardly a woodshed. Something more than that. There were electric lights and power points in it and a joiner’s bench with a neat little steel vice attached to it. There were hooks in the wooden walls where tools had probably hung, although the tools had evidently been included in the removal.

  ‘It looks as if Kaltbad did a bit of tinkering here,’ remarked Cromwell to himself.

 
; The lawn mower stood in one corner and the garden tools, shears, rakes, forks.…

  Then a number of bags. Cromwell kicked one.

  ‘Fertiliser by the looks of it.’

  He bent and thrust his hand in it. He began to dig in the contents. Then he took out his hand and there they were! The Havenith diamonds, looking outrageously shabby in a thin coating of phosphate.

  They took them to the door and Cromwell gently dusted the necklace with his handkerchief. The stones caught the pale autumn sunlight and sparkled in it. They seemed to hold the two detectives in a spell.

  ‘Aren’t they beauties?’ said Cromwell. ‘But not worth all this killing.…’

  ‘Put them in your pocket, Bob, and let’s get round to the local police and see if they’ve traced the garage that supplied transport for Cairncross and Leo on the night of the murder.’

  Cromwell slipped the diamonds into his jacket pocket where he kept his tobacco pouch and a bottle of vitamin tablets. A homely receptacle for a fortune in diamonds!

  At the local police station Sergeant Reaper was waiting for them with the information for which they had asked. Harter’s Garage, Hampstead, had supplied a taxi to Tolham to two dishevelled men on the night of the crime.

  Littlejohn rang Toft at Tolham and told him to muster the three taxi drivers right away.

  ‘You might as well come with us to The Limes, Toft. We’ll probably need you.’

  ‘You mean we’re all going, sir?’

  ‘Yes. We’ll call at the police station and join you there.’

  The strange procession of a police car followed by three taxis caused a stir in Tolham. Some of the passers-by stopped and looked ready to doff their hats thinking it a funeral. Others thought Royalty was on the way there.

  Mrs. Morgan answered the bell at The Limes. She stepped back in alarm when she saw all the vehicles.

  ‘Oh dear! What is this all about? It’s most inconvenient.’

  Cromwell reassured her.

  ‘We’re not all proposing to invade the house. The Chief Superintendent and I want a word with several of you here. The rest will wait outside. And why is it inconvenient?’

  ‘Mr. Havenith, senior, has arrived. He’s in the library.’

  ‘Was he sent for?’

  ‘Yes. My husband telephoned him. He is really the master here and we are his servants. I thought it my duty to inform him that the diamond necklace has been stolen. He came over on the next plane.’

  Cromwell turned to Littlejohn for a decision.

  ‘We are here to see Mr. Leo and Mr. Cairncross to begin with. Are they indoors?’

  ‘Yes, sir.’

  ‘We would like to see them, then. You may tell Mr. Havenith, senior, if you wish.’

  ‘Please come in.…’

  Indoors the atmosphere had changed as though Wilbur K. Havenith carried it around with him like an aura. The place was hushed and seemed to be waiting for something.

  Mrs. Morgan showed them to a small morning room at the front of the house and bade them be seated. She seemed to have some difficulty in finding Leo and Cairncross. When they did arrive they looked changed. Leo was sheepish and had lost a lot of his effrontery. Cairncross reminded Littlejohn of a man reduced in rank. Whether it was the dominant presence of Mr. Havenith, senior, or the arrival of the police again, there was no telling.

  ‘I didn’t expect you here again,’ said Cairncross. ‘I hope you have some news about the diamonds. Mr. Havenith has arrived from America. We had to let him know of the theft, of course. He’s furious. He blames me. Short of sitting by the safe for 24 hours a day, I couldn’t have done a better job. It’s just bad luck.…’

  He kept rambling on and on and hadn’t even greeted his visitors.

  ‘We’ve just one or two questions to ask you.…’

  ‘You’ll have to be quick about it. We’re with Mr. Havenith now, working on the case, and we left him waiting for us.’

  ‘The case is solved, so you needn’t hurry. We just want to ask you where you and Leo were on the night Charles Blunt met his death.’

  Cairncross made an impatient gesture.

  ‘We’ve already told you. Both of us were here at the time of the crime, which I gather was about eleven o’clock. We were here and in bed. I admit it’s difficult proving an alibi when you’re in bed at the time a crime’s committed…’

  ‘Will you stop chattering, Cairncross! Especially when you’re not telling the truth. You and Mr. Leo were at Hampstead, visiting a place called Mountjoy.’

  Leo, who had been standing there letting Cairncross do the talking, suddenly joined in.

  ‘Hampstead? What would we be doing there? I tell you, we were here. Cairncross will confirm that.’

  ‘He’s already done so, but it isn’t true.’

  Cairncross grew aggressive.

  ‘Well, like it or not, that’s where we were and we’re sticking to our statement. You can’t prove otherwise.’

  Littlejohn turned to Cromwell.

  ‘Ask Treadwell and Monk to come in, please.’

  ‘Who are Treadwell and Monk? I’ve never heard of them. If this is a trick.…’

  ‘Why should we trick you? We’re seeking information about a murder and you’re trying to make us believe a pack of lies.…’

  Cromwell returned shepherding in the two taxi drivers, but four men entered the room.

  ‘What the hell’s going on here?’ said the fourth.

  He was a tall, skinny man with grey dishevelled hair and a fringe across his forehead. He looked tough and domineering and everybody stood still when he spoke. Yet he was not the blustering, plethoric, type-cast tycoon. An active man with cold light-blue eyes.

  ‘Who are you?’ he said to Littlejohn. ‘And who are all these men? What’s going on?’

  Littlejohn introduced himself and Cromwell and suddenly Mr. Havenith grew more affable.

  ‘My name’s Havenith, Wilbur K. Havenith, and I thank you for your assistance in this case. I’d like to talk with you both later, but get on with what you were doing. I won’t disturb you. Who are these two men? Are these detectives too?’

  ‘No, sir. Two taxi drivers who are helping us with our investigations.’

  ‘Well?’

  Littlejohn turned to the two bewildered drivers who stood blinking at the scene, as though almost blinded by strong light.

  Treadwell was the first to understand what was required of him. He pointed at Cairncross.

  ‘That’s him! That’s the man I took to Hampstead.’

  Monk stood still for one worried moment, swallowed air and belched it out dyspeptically. Then he pointed a crooked finger at Leo.

  ‘Same here,’ he said.

  ‘So much for your alibi,’ said Littlejohn to Cairncross.

  ‘Will somebody tell me what this is all about? Who wants an alibi?’

  Wilbur Havenith looked nettled and ready to explode.

  Then came an interruption. A young man, neatly dressed and well-trained, like a good retriever, entered and approached Wilbur Havenith.

  ‘What is it, Harry?’

  ‘Chicago and Frankfurt are both on the phone, sir.’

  Mr. Havenith took with him a portable office and staff and transacted business all the time. It was business as usual wherever he pitched his tent.

  ‘Tell them to go to hell. I’m busy.

  Harry, still like a good hound, turned and trotted off to transmit the news.

  ‘Now,’ said Mr. Havenith. ‘What’s been going on?’

  He looked with irritation at all the men standing round.

  ‘Sit down, all of you. I hate men standing on one foot, then the other, and breathing down my neck.’

  Cairncross and Leo, struggling to find words, sat down without an excuse and Littlejohn and Cromwell brought up chairs and made themselves comfortable.

  Havenith turned on the two taximen.

  ‘Sit down or get out.’

  They, too, drew up chairs and sat on them gingerly
as though they might collapse under them.

  Havenith sat down himself and faced Littlejohn.

  ‘Well, Captain?’

  Cromwell corrected him.

  ‘Chief Superintendent.…’

  ‘This is rather premature, sir. I ought to tell you to wait until it is all fact. Now its part fact, part surmise.…’

  ‘That’s all right by me, Mr. Littlejohn. Proceed. That’s life, isn’t it? Part fact, part surmise.’

  ‘Very well. It all arose out of Mrs. Havenith’s diamond necklace.…’

  Wilbur Havenith smiled grimly.

  ‘My diamonds. Mine. I bought them as an investment and whatever Julie has told anybody about them, she wears them because I say she can. If they’re ever recovered I want them. I’ve got a buyer. She isn’t fit to wear them. She’s just trash.’

  Leo and Cairncross both started to talk at once, so loudly that each drowned the other.

  ‘Sit down, you two, and not another word out of you till I say you can talk.’

  And they obeyed him meekly

  ‘Go on.…’

  ‘Your purchase of the jewellery at auction, sir, was so much publicised by the newspapers and glossy magazines that they not only attracted the small fry of the criminal fraternity, but a crook who was the best burglar in Europe.’

  ‘Who might that be?’

  ‘Charles Blunt.’

  ‘Never heard of him.’

  ‘That would have pleased Charles had he been alive. He didn’t like publicity.’

  ‘And he stole my diamonds?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘In spite of the security work of Mr. Cairncross?’

  ‘Yes.’

  Cairncross broke in again.

  ‘I was on his tail right from the beginning. After he got the diamonds I was still on his tail.…’

  ‘But where are the diamonds, then, you bum? You’d better shut up. We’ll deal with you later. Go on, Littlejohn. And no more interruptions from any of you.’

  He glared at Cromwell to show that he was included, too.

  ‘Blunt took a flat in the house next door to this. It overlooked this one almost fully. From the windows of his flat he patiently accumulated all the information he needed for his job. The layout of the rooms, the alarm system and its weak points.…’