In the Teeth of the Evidence Read Online Free PDF Page A

mine, sir; but that couldn’t be reached without a ladder, and the ladder is locked up in the tool-shed.’
        ‘That’s all right,’ put in Inspector Henley. ‘We went into that last night. The shed was locked and, what’s more, there were unbroken cobwebs between the ladder and the wall.’
        ‘I went through all the rooms at half-past seven, sir, and there was nothing out of order.’
        ‘You may take it from me,’ said the Inspector, again, ‘that there was no interference with any of the locks. Carry on, Hamworthy.’
        ‘Yes, sir. While I was seeing to the house, Mr Grimbold came down into the library for his glass of sherry. At 7.45 the soup was served and I called Mr Grimbold to dinner. He sat at the end of the table as usual, facing the serving-hatch.’
        ‘With his back to the library door,’ said Parker, making a mark on a rough plan of the room, which lay before him. ‘Was that door shut?’
        ‘Oh, yes, sir. All the doors and windows were shut.’
        ‘It looks a dashed draughty room,’ said Wimsey. ‘Two doors and a serving-hatch and two french windows.’
        ‘Yes, my lord; but they are all very well-fitting, and the curtains were drawn.’
        His lordship moved across to the connecting door and opened it.
        ‘Yes,’ he said; ‘good and heavy and moves in sinister silence. I like these thick carpets, but the pattern’s a bit fierce.’ He shut the door noiselessly, and returned to his seat.
        ‘Mr Grimbold would take about five minutes over his soup, sir. When he had done, I removed it and put on the fish. I did not have to leave the room; everything comes through the serving-hatch. The wine – that is, the Chablis – was already on the table. That course was only a small portion of turbot, and would take Mr Grimbold about five minutes again. I removed that, and put on the roast pheasant. I was just about to serve Mr Grimbold with the vegetables, when the telephone-bell rang. Mr Grimbold said: “You’d better see who it is. I’ll help myself.” It was not the cook’s business, of course, to answer the telephone.’
        ‘Are there no other servants?’
        ‘Only the woman who comes in to clean during the day, sir. I went out to the instrument, shutting the door behind me.’
        ‘Was that this telephone or the one in the hall?’
        ‘The one in the hall, sir. I always used that one, unless I happened to be actually in the library at the time. The call was from Mr Neville Grimbold in Town, sir. He and Mr Harcourt have a flat in Jermyn Street. Mr Neville spoke, and I recognised his voice. He said: “Is that you, Hamworthy? Wait a moment. Mr Harcourt wants you.” He put the receiver down and then Mr Harcourt came on. He said: “Hamworthy, I want to run down tonight to see my uncle, if he’s at home.” I said: “Yes, sir, I’ll tell him.” The young gentlemen often come down for a night or two, sir. We keep their bedrooms ready for them. Mr Harcourt said he would be starting at once and expected to get down by about half-past nine. While he was speaking I heard the big grandfather-clock up in their flat chime the quarters and strike eight, and immediately after, our own hall-clock struck, and then I heard the Exchange say “Three minutes.” So the call must have come through at three minutes to eight, sir.’
        ‘Then there’s no doubt about the time. That’s a comfort. What next, Hamworthy?’
        ‘Mr Harcourt asked for another call and said. “Mr Neville has got something to say,” and then Mr Neville came back to the phone. He said he was going up to Scotland shortly, and he wanted me to send up a country suit and some stockings and shirts that he had left down here. He wanted the suit sent to the cleaner’s first, and there were various other instructions, so that he asked for another three minutes. That would be at 8.30, sir, yes. And about a minute after that, while he was still