A Hundred Thousand Dragons (10 page)

‘I've been expecting the police,' he said. ‘I thought that bloke was a rum 'un.'

Ashley took him through the day, verifying the times of the trains. ‘Do you want to ask anything?' he asked, turning to Jack.

‘Was there much fuel in the tank, Mr Brough?'

‘Yes, sir. I'd filled her up that morning.'

‘And was there a rug of any sort in the car?'

‘Yes, there was, sir. A big green travelling rug.'

Jack looked at Ashley with raised eyebrows. ‘That could have been handy.'

‘It sounds as if it was,' said Ashley dryly. ‘What time did you get the car out to take Mr Madison to the station?'

‘It was ten to seven or so,' said Brough. ‘Only the car was gone.'

‘Hold on a minute, Mr Brough,' said Jack. ‘I just want to get this straight. You put the car away in the garage after picking up Mr Craig from the station at three o'clock, yes? Did you go into the garage during the afternoon?'

Brough shook his head. ‘No, sir. You see, I do all the general handyman work.' He gestured to the wall that surrounded the kitchen garden. ‘The master asked me to repoint the wall yesterday so I was busy all afternoon. When I came to get the car, I couldn't believe it'd gone. I opened the garage and I didn't know what to think. I must have stood there for a few minutes, scratching my head, like, and then I thought there was nothing else for it, I'd better tell the master what had happened.'

‘I wondered what on earth was wrong, Sam,' put in Oxley. ‘We were standing at the front door, me, the master and Mr Madison, when you appeared. You looked bewildered.'

‘That's a fact,' said Brough. ‘You could have knocked me down with a feather. Anyway, the master couldn't believe it either, and came to see for himself. Mr Madison walked round to the garage with us. He suggested Mr Craig had gone off with the car. I could see the master didn't like the idea, then Mr Madison said he didn't mean Mr Craig had actually stolen the car, only taken it to get his own back.' Brough broke off and looked apologetically at Ashley. ‘I didn't really follow what they were talking about, sir, so I might have got that wrong.'

‘No, that agrees with what Mr Vaughan told us,' said Ashley.

‘Well, the master told me to drive Mr Madison to the station in the two-seater, but Mr Madison said he'd walk as he'd been cooped up all day and wanted to stretch his legs.'

‘Would he have time to get to the station?' asked Jack.

‘Yes, sir. If he started off there and then, he'd be all right.'

‘I felt sorry for the master,' said Oxley. ‘He didn't know what to do, but eventually he said there was nothing for it, and he'd have to tell the police. He telephoned them about eight o'clock or so, but didn't say anything about Mr Craig. They wanted to send someone round, but the master said no, as he was going to a party.'

‘I drove him there in the two-seater, sir,' said Brough. ‘The party was at Hammerholt, about sixteen miles away.'

‘We know,' said Ashley. ‘If you drove Mr Vaughan there last night, Brough, you'll know there was a fire in the valley.'

‘I do indeed, sir. It made us very late home, but it couldn't be helped. A car caught fire, didn't it?'

‘I'm afraid,' said Ashley, ‘we think that car was Mr Vaughan's Rolls-Royce. And,' he added, looking at Brough's stunned expression, ‘I'd like you to come over to Hammerholt to see if you can identify it.'

Brough drove to the Hammer Valley in the two-seater so he could return home under his own steam. This arrangement suited Jack very well as, with Ashley beside him in the Spyker, they could talk freely.

‘So,' said Ashley, ‘we're supposed to believe that Craig stormed out of the house, took Vaughan's Rolls and . . .' He frowned. ‘Do you believe Craig could have taken the car, Haldean?'

‘Oh, yes,' agreed Jack. ‘Very easily. He was a high-handed sort of beggar.'

‘The man PC Marsh saw driving the car sounds like Craig. I think Craig's our victim.'

‘Perhaps,' said Jack. ‘Although the hat we found in the Hammer Valley was grey. It wasn't Craig but Madison who had a grey hat.'

Ashley whistled. ‘This gets more complicated by the minute,' he complained. ‘It
has
to be Craig in the Rolls. How on earth could it be anyone else? It can't have been Madison. He was there when Brough reported the car was stolen. The hat might have nothing to do with it. After all, there were enough people in the Hammer Valley last night to have dropped a hundred hats. Incidentally,' he said, looking at Jack, ‘I wish you'd tell me what you know about Craig.'

‘I came across him in the war,' said Jack tightly. ‘We . . . we didn't see eye to eye. That's all.'

‘Are you sure that's all?'

Jack took a deep breath. ‘Ashley, all I really know is that he had a foul temper. That, and he was the top-notch great-granddaddy expert of experts on Arabia and the Arabs, the “Don't question me, boy, I was doing this when you were wet behind the ears” type.'

Ashley looked at Jack's rigid profile and gave up. ‘I wish I knew who this couple in the car were,' he said, after a fairly loaded silence. ‘No one knew a thing about them, did they?'

Jack relaxed. ‘No, and,' he added with a grin, ‘I bet Doris Tiverton would have had something to say if she thought Vaughan was entertaining mystery women.'

‘Yes, she was a good witness, wasn't she? It's thanks to her that we know when Craig left.' Ashley flipped open his notebook, checking the times. ‘That was at half five.'

‘And at quarter to six p.m., as he would say, Constable Marsh stopped a bearded bloke driving what we assume is Vaughan's Rolls-Royce in Lower Haverly. Right?'

‘Right. Our next definite time is ten to seven, when Brough realized the car was gone. Almost immediately afterwards he saw both Vaughan and Mr Madison, so they were on the spot for sure. Now I know Mr Madison walked to the station, but Vaughan was definitely around for the rest of the evening, until he went off to the Stuckleys'. And we know there's nothing dodgy about that, because Brough drove him there.' Ashley sighed. ‘I know there's been some jiggery-pokery, but it's hard to see what. To be honest, I'm inclined to believe Mr Vaughan is telling the truth as he saw it. It fits in with what I gathered about Craig's character.'

‘Yes, it does,' said Jack. ‘There was one thing that struck me, though. Brough told us he filled the car up yesterday. Now the fire happened about half ten, and judging from what I saw, the car must have been full of juice. So, granted that Craig nicked the Rolls, what the dickens did he do with it? I'm absolutely certain sure that he didn't do what he was supposed to have done, which is smash it into a tree at half past ten. He can't have driven round aimlessly, otherwise he'd be low on juice.'

‘Could he have driven to the Hammer Valley and left the car there? Vaughan could've mentioned the party, which could be why Craig chose the Hammer Valley to hide the car.' He snapped his fingers. ‘How about this? Say this mysterious couple are friends of Craig's. What if Craig swiped the car, telephoned them from a public call box and asked them to meet him in the Hammer Valley? Although it obviously went wrong, the idea was that they'd take him back to London or wherever.'

‘By jingo, Ashley, that'd work!' exclaimed Jack. ‘My word, that'd really work. It doesn't explain the footprints and the car tyres at Vaughan's, but it explains a dickens of a lot.' The speed of the Spyker, which had increased in a direct index to his mood, slowed again. ‘Actually, that opens up another possibility, doesn't it? There's a dead body to account for and Craig had a lousy temper. It could be the other man who died.' He shuddered. ‘I hope it's not the woman.'

Ashley let his breath out slowly. ‘That's something I hadn't thought of. We'll know more tomorrow,' he said, brightening. ‘Dr Wilcott will have done the post-mortem by then and we'll know if it's a man or a woman, if nothing else. If it is a woman, Craig's got some questions to answer.'

‘There's another possibility,' said Jack, after a pause. ‘I know we talked about it earlier, but what if Vaughan drove the car? Again, I'm not sure who on earth this man and woman can be, but he'd have to have some sort of confederate and they're as good as any. If Vaughan was the driver, he'd have to leave the house as soon as he'd spoken to Doris Tiverton at half five and we know the car was in Lower Haverly at quarter to six.' He glanced at Ashley. ‘What d'you think? I bet I could get from Vaughan's house to Lower Haverly in quarter of an hour or so.'

‘I bet you could,' said Ashley with a grin. ‘Whether Vaughan could is a different matter, wouldn't you say? We're back to the idea that Vaughan murdered Craig, aren't we? What about this Madison chap? He'd have to be in on it, too.'

‘Maybe Doris Tiverton was right when she called him a gangster. Madison seems to have put the wind up everyone, so let's say he is in on it. Is that an overwhelming objection?'

‘Not overwhelming,' said Ashley, after a few moments' thought. ‘I'd say it made it unlikely, though. And there's another thing. If this Madison bloke doesn't blink at murder, why bring in this mysterious couple? Why didn't he simply follow Vaughan in the two-seater and bring him back from the Hammer Valley afterwards?'

‘Maybe he can't drive,' said Haldean with a shrug.

‘Maybe,' agreed Ashley dubiously. ‘Yes, that's the obvious answer. At least it explains why they were both in the Hammer Valley
and
at Vaughan's. Vaughan would have to drive like a bat out of hell, though, to be back at his house for ten to seven. I don't know if it's possible.'

‘Let's work it out. First of all, I'm assuming that Craig's tetchiness got too much for everyone and he was bumped off. Now what do you do with a corpse? It's a nasty thing to have cluttering up your study, so Vaughan and Madison decide to dispose of it. Madison can't drive, so Vaughan rings up A. N. Others and asks for a helping hand.'

‘He'd have to phrase that phone call pretty carefully.'

‘So he would,' agreed Haldean. ‘He probably wouldn't Reveal All on the phone. I know I wouldn't, knowing that the exchange were sitting there with ears flapping. He might simply ask for help with a problem. That would cover it. Okey-doke, what now? I noticed that when Oxley served tea at four o'clock, Craig was sitting with his back to the room. He was still sitting with his back to the room when Oxley came back at half four. I wonder if he was dead.'

Ashley choked. ‘What! He can't have been. Oxley heard another quarrel break out as he left the room.'

Jack looked at him quickly. ‘So?'

‘So the quarrel could've been have staged for Oxley's benefit,' said Ashley slowly.

‘I'll tell you something else, too. Vaughan told us there'd been an argument and Oxley said they'd been going at it hammer and tongs. Now, does anyone, in those circumstances, break off and calmly have afternoon tea? We know they were all
supposed
to have had tea, because there were three lots of dishes used, but from what we've heard, it seems a lot more likely that Craig would have thrown his cup at Madison, not sat there placidly asking the man to pass him another cucumber sandwich.'

‘I'm not so sure,' said Ashley. ‘Lots of people like a cup of tea if they've been under a strain.'

Jack grinned. ‘There speaks the spirit of England. I still think it's unlikely. The other thing I noticed was that Vaughan made a point of asking if Brough was repointing the wall. You see what I'm getting at? For Vaughan's plan to work, he'd have to be certain that Brough didn't go near the garage.'

‘So that's why you were asking about the garden wall! I wondered why you were so interested.'

‘You see where this leads, don't you? As soon as Oxley's cleared away the tea things at half four, Vaughan and Madison put the body in the car, knowing the servants are all busy with their tea. It's easy enough to get out of the French windows and the study's on the same side of the house as the garage. Then, come half five, Vaughan rings for Doris Tiverton, staging Craig's supposed departure by slamming a door. As soon as Doris is out of the way, Vaughan, who's been waiting like a greyhound in the slips, grabs his false beard and shoots off to the Hammer Valley, meeting PC Marsh on the way. He places the car artistically against a tree, hops into A.N. Others' car, and is back in the study for ten to seven, prepared to be thunderstruck when Brough tells him the Rolls has been pinched. How about that?'

‘Hold on,' said Ashley. ‘I want to jot down these times. As I see it,' he said, after a pause, ‘Vaughan has from just after half-five until ten to seven, which is,' he said, adding up the times in his notebook, ‘an hour and a quarter. I think he'd be pretty lucky to do it,' he said dubiously. ‘I don't know if it's possible.'

‘An hour and a quarter?' repeated Jack. He made a dissatisfied noise. ‘He'd be cutting it fine, I agree. It's about sixteen miles in all. Half of an hour and a quarter is thirty-seven-and-a-half minutes. Thirty-seven minutes isn't much time, and that's leaving no margin to sort things out at the other end.'

‘And he was stopped by PC Marsh,' put in Ashley.

‘And he stopped to chew the fat with PC Marsh,' agreed Haldean.

‘Why didn't Vaughan set off at half four? Granted that Craig was dead by then, that is? After all, he could have summoned Doris Tiverton into the room at any time he liked. He didn't have to call her at half five.'