Death of a Ghost (11 page)

Mr Potter's red unhappy face wore an even more wretched expression than usual, and his eyes were frightened.

‘Oh, I say, you know, I would like to go back to my studio,' he said. ‘I don't see any point in hanging about here any longer. It's all very sad and awkward, I know, but we must live. I mean life's got to go on, hasn't it? I can't do any good here.'

He was half in and half out of the dining-room doorway as he spoke, and twice he glanced apprehensively over his shoulder back into the room during his short speech. He was so palpably alarmed and preoccupied that both men instinctively glanced past him.

What they saw was completely unexpected. Lying upon the hearthrug and cutting into the picture made by the angle of the door was a pair of feet encased in sensible brown shoes.

The Inspector walked into the room, sweeping aside Mr Potter's tentative and ineffectual gestures of protest.

‘That's all right, Mr Potter,' he said. ‘I see no reason why you shouldn't go back to your studio now. It's only in the garden, isn't it?'

‘Yes, yes, that's right.' Mr Potter was still dancing in front of the policeman in an attempt to screen the object on the floor.

His efforts were completely fruitless, however, and Campion, who had followed Oates, found himself looking down at Mrs Potter lying upon her back, her face crimson and her sleek hair disordered. She was breathing stertorously and her eyes were closed.

Mr Potter gave up all attempts at deception with a rather pathetic little shrug of his shoulders, and then, as the silence became oppressive, ‘It's my wife,' he said apologetically. ‘The shock's been too much for her, you know. She feels things very deeply. These – these masterful women sometimes do.'

‘You'd better get her to bed,' said the Inspector casually. ‘Can you manage?'

‘Oh yes, yes. It's nothing.' Mr Potter was already motioning them towards the door. ‘Good night.'

‘Good night,' said Oates. ‘Are you coming, Campion?'

As they walked down the steps to the street the elder man glanced at his friend.

‘Did you see that?' he said. ‘That was a funny thing, wasn't it? Now I wonder what that means.'

The younger man's friendly face wore a faintly puzzled expression.

‘I didn't go very near her,' he said, ‘but it looked to me as if –'

‘Oh, she was drunk all right,' said Oates. ‘Didn't you see the decanter on the sideboard? She must have taken pretty well a tumblerful neat to put her out like that. Some people do, you know. It's a form of drugging. But what for, I'd like to know? What's she got on her mind that she can't bear to think about? There's something very odd about all this, Campion. Well, well, I wonder now.'

–

T
HE
affair at Little Venice might have lingered on at this stage in its development until it became a tabooed subject at Scotland Yard and a worn-out scandal in Bayswater had it not been for the conversation which the grave-faced man from the Foreign Office held with his department.

The dictates of diplomacy being of considerable importance in those days of conferences, the Home Secretary took action and the Press became oddly uninterested in the murder. A discreet inquest was followed by a quiet funeral, and the remains of Thomas Dacre were deposited in Willesden Cemetery without further attention from the police.

Lafcadio's household quietened down and might never again have emerged from its seclusion had it not been for the startling, utterly unexpected tragedy which was the second murder.

A little over three weeks after Dacre's death, when Inspector Oates had ceased to sigh with relief for the intervention of the powers that be, Mr Campion was seated in his own room in the flat at Bottle Street when Linda called.

She came in hurriedly, her coat clinging to her lean young figure. She looked modern and distinctive, and once again he was reminded that the tempestuous Lafcadio was her grandfather. There was the same faint air of rebellion about her, the same nonchalance, the same frank consciousness that she was a privileged person.

She was not alone. Her companion was a young man of her own age. Campion found himself liking him even before the introductions had been effected.

He was not unlike the girl herself, loosely but strongly built, wide of shoulder and narrow of hip, with faded hair, a big characterful nose, and shy dancing blue eyes.

He seemed delighted to see Campion and favoured the room with the frankly approving stare of a friendly child.

‘This is Matt D'Urfey,' said Linda. ‘He used to share a hovel with Tommy.'

‘Yes, of course. I've seen your pen drawings about, haven't I?' Campion turned to the visitor.

‘Very likely,' said D'Urfey without pride. ‘I must live. I say, I like your flat.'

He wandered across the room to look at a small Cameron over the bookshelf, leaving Linda to continue the conversation. She did this at once, plunging immediately into the matter on her mind with her usual directness.

‘Look here, Albert,' she said, ‘about Tommy. There's something very queer going on.'

Campion glanced up at her shrewdly, his pale eyes suddenly grave behind his spectacles.

‘Still?' he enquired, adding, ‘I mean, anything fresh?'

‘Well, I think so.' Linda's tone kept a touch of its old defiance. ‘Of course you may pooh-pooh the whole thing, but you can't get away from the facts. That's why I've brought Matt along. I mean, look at Matt; he's not the person to imagine anything.'

The recipient of this somewhat doubtful compliment glanced over his shoulder and smiled delightfully, returning immediately to the etching, which he evidently enjoyed.

‘My dear girl' – Campion's tone was soothing – ‘I haven't heard the facts yet. What's up?'

‘There aren't any actual facts. That's what's so infuriating.'

Her big grey-green eyes above the wide cheek-bones were suddenly suffused with helpless tears.

Campion sat down. ‘Suppose you tell the sleuth all about it?' he suggested.

‘I want to. That's why I've come. Albert, whoever killed Tommy is not content with stealing his life. They're just obliterating him as well, that's all.'

Mr Campion had a gentle, kindly personality and was possessed of infinite patience. Gradually he calmed the girl and got her to tell her rather curious story.

‘The first things that disappeared were those drawings of Tommy's that I showed you on the day of the private view,' she said. ‘You remember them. They were in that cupboard in the studio. About a dozen or fourteen. Just sketches, most of them, but I'd kept them because they were good. I went to get them out last week because I wanted to have a little show of Tommy's work somewhere – nothing ambitious, you know, just a few things of his in one of the small galleries. I didn't want him just to fade away utterly; you see, because he – he – well, he had
something
, didn't he?'

Her voice, never very steady, threatened to break, but she controlled herself and went on steadily:

‘First of all I found my drawings had gone. I turned the place out and raised hell generally, but they'd just vanished. They've gone as completely as if they'd never existed. And then, of course, I couldn't get a gallery.'

She paused and regarded Campion earnestly.

‘Can you believe that there isn't a single small gallery in London to be had for love or money to exhibit Tommy's work? It isn't even as though times were good and money was floating around. It's a conspiracy, Albert, a wretched measly mean effort to stamp Tommy out of the public mind for ever.'

Mr Campion looked uncomfortable.

‘My dear girl,' he said at last, ‘don't you think the – well, the unfortunate circumstances of young Dacre's death may have something to do with it? After all, I know the good gallery folk aren't all renowned for good taste, but don't you think they feel they don't want to lay themselves open to any accusation of sensation-mongering? Why not leave it for a year or so and let him burst on the world without any unpleasant associations?'

The girl shrugged her shoulders.

‘Perhaps so,' she said. ‘That's what that little beast Max says. Still, that's only a half, only a quarter of the whole thing. You see, Albert, it isn't only my drawings that have vanished. All his work, everything he ever did, is going. Someone hated him so much that they don't want anything he possessed to remain.'

Matt, who had given up contemplating the walls, lounged back to Linda's side.

‘I thought it was rather odd that anyone should burgle the hovel,' he remarked. ‘I mean, what had Tommy got? Nothing but his paints and a spare shirt. Nothing of mine was touched. Thank God!' he added piously.

‘Burglary?' enquired Campion.

‘Good Lord, yes. Hasn't Linda told you? I thought that's why we came.' Mr D'Urfey seemed astonished. ‘The night before last when I was down at the Fitzroy some lunatic walked into the hovel and removed every single thing Tommy possessed. His clothes, one or two old canvases, all his paints, brushes, and other paraphernalia. Rather queer, wasn't it? I was glad to get rid of the stuff in a way – other people's junk, you know – but I thought it was odd, so I mentioned it to Linda, and since all the poor chap's stuff is vanishing she thought we'd better come along.'

Mr Campion listened to this somewhat extraordinary announcement with interest.

‘When you say all his stuff is vanishing, what do you mean?' he enquired.

‘Just that,' said Linda. ‘Seigals in Duke Street had a few of his drawings, and just after he died they displayed them in that small box case on the left of the door. You know they haven't much window space. Well, the whole box was taken, stolen, some time in the lunch hour when the street was pretty well deserted. No one saw them go. Then there were the contents of his studio in Florence. Someone bought the lot within twenty-four hours of his death. I wrote the people last week and got their reply yesterday.'

She hesitated and went on awkwardly.

‘He owed quite a lot, and they were glad to accept any offer for the stuff he left behind. They didn't seem to know who the man was. I've wired them for full particulars, but I haven't had any reply yet.'

Mr Campion sat on the arm of his chair, his long thin legs stretched out in front of him.

‘This is very odd,' he said. ‘About the – er – hovel burglary? You say nothing but Dacre's stuff was taken?'

‘Oh, well, they lifted an old overall of mine,' said D'Urfey casually, ‘but the rest was all his. That wasn't so difficult as a matter of fact,' he went on frankly. ‘Dacre was a tidy bloke anyway, and he'd only just returned, so most of his stuff was stacked up in a corner of the studio, hardly any of it unpacked. What made me think it was a bit queer,' he continued, evidently making a much longer speech than was his wont, ‘was why anyone should come to the hovel. It's perfectly simple to walk into, of course, but why should anyone do it?'

‘Where,' enquired Mr Campion, ‘is the hovel?'

‘Christian Street. It turns off the wrong end of Shaftesbury Avenue,' said Mr D'Urfey promptly. ‘It's that smelly little road on the right, opposite the Prince's Theatre and parallel with Drury Lane. The hovel is two top rooms in the house over the rag-and-bone shop. The stink has worn off by the time you get to the top, or you've grown used to it – I've never been sure which,' he added frankly. ‘It's not bad. No sanitation, but central and all that. Anyone could walk in and move my entire estate at any time, of course, but no one ever does. Why should they?'

‘No one saw any stranger go up, I suppose, on the day of your burglary? The people underneath, for instance?'

‘No. Mrs Stiff lives on the floor below. She's a flower-girl in Piccadilly and she was out all the evening. The rag-and-bone shop closes at five and the place is pitch-dark after eight. We're not very hot on street lamps in our district – the kids smash 'em – so anyone could have come in. Still, it doesn't matter, but it's funny, isn't it?'

Mr Campion considered. Linda was regarding him sombrely, but Mr D'Urfey's dancing eyes had already strayed to a Currier and Ives which had taken his fancy and he moved over to get a closer view.

Campion framed a delicate question.

‘There is Dacre's wife,' he ventured at last. ‘Might not she have felt that his things were her property?'

‘Wife?' Matt left his print unwillingly. ‘Oh, Rosa-Rosa. I forgot. Yes, we thought of her at once. I looked her up, but she doesn't know a thing about it. In fact, she's livid about his trunk going. Apparently there's a pair of stays in it that he refused to let her wear. She was very fond of them. She's very dense, you know, but these things were heirlooms as far as I could make out. Did you understand her, Linda?'

‘Rosa-Rosa did not take Tommy's things.' The girl spoke with the quiet conviction which quenches all argument. There was a pause. ‘I don't know why I've come to you, Albert. I don't know what I expect you to do,' she burst out suddenly. ‘But something queer is happening; something I don't understand.'

Her strong brown hands fluttered in an odd, helpless gesture.

‘Do you know, I can't think of anything in the world I can lay my fingers on that he ever possessed – not a scrap of drawing, not a paint-brush.'

Campion rose to his feet and patted her shoulder.

‘I think I can alter that for you,' he said, a tinge of satisfaction in his voice. ‘I've got a drawing of Dacre's in the next room. You can have it if you like.'

He hurried out to return almost immediately with a big flat brown-paper parcel which he set down on the desk.

‘I'm afraid I ought to confess that I did a bit of sharp buying myself,' he said, snipping the string. ‘I phoned Max Fustian at his office on the day after the – er – private view and told him that I'd seen some of Dacre's work and was very impressed with it. He went round to Seigals, I suppose, for when I got to his gallery he had half a dozen to show me. I bought one, and as I was off to Paris that afternoon they kept it and didn't send it round until yesterday. I haven't opened it yet. I like it immensely. It's the head of a boy, a Spaniard, I think.'