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20 - Unnatural Death by Dorothy L. Sayers · Unnatural Death

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  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty of Unnatural Death by Dorothy Sayrs. This LibriVox
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  Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain. Murder Ziegfried. What does
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  Speaker 1: this mean? Is brand a pretty piece of kidnapping. That's
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  Speaker 1: all Beddow's Death's Jest book. Parker too had spent a
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  Speaker 1: disappointing half hour. It appeared that Miss Whittaker not only
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  Speaker 1: disliked having her photograph taken, but had actually destroyed all
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  Speaker 1: the existing portraits she could lay hands on. Shortly after
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  Speaker 1: Miss Dawson's death. Of course, many of Miss Whittaker's friends
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  Speaker 1: might be in possession of one, notably, of course, Miss Findlater.
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  Speaker 1: But Parker was not sure that he wanted to start
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  Speaker 1: a local huent cry at the moment Miss Clemson might
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  Speaker 1: be able to get one. Of course, he went round
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  Speaker 1: to Nelson Avenue. Miss Clempson was out. There had been
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  Speaker 1: another gentleman asking for her. Missus Budge's eyes were beginning
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  Speaker 1: to bulge with curiosity. Evidently she was becoming dubious about
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  Speaker 1: Miss Clempson's nephew and his friends. Parker then went to
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  Speaker 1: the local photographers. There were five. From two of them,
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  Speaker 1: he extracted a number of local groups containing unrecognizable portraits
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  Speaker 1: of Miss Whittaker at church bazaars and private theatricals. She
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  Speaker 1: had never had a studio portrait made in Leehampton of
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  Speaker 1: Miss Findlater, on the other hand, he got several excellent
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  Speaker 1: likenesses a slight, fair girl with a rather sentimental look,
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  Speaker 1: plump and prettyish. All these he dispatched a town with
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  Speaker 1: directions that they should be broadcast to the police, together
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  Speaker 1: with a description of the girl's address when last seen.
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  Speaker 1: The only really cheerful members of the party at the
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  Speaker 1: George were the second Policeman, who had been having a
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  Speaker 1: pleasant gossip with various garage proprietors and publicans with a
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  Speaker 1: view to picking up information, and the Chief Constable, who
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  Speaker 1: was vindicated and triumphant. He had been telephoning to various
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  Speaker 1: country police stations and had discovered that x X nine
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  Speaker 1: nine one seven had actually been observed on the previous
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  Speaker 1: Monday by an AA scout on the road to Crow's Beach.
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  Speaker 1: Having maintained all along that the Crow's Beach excursion was
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  Speaker 1: a genuine one, he was inclined to exult over the
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  Speaker 1: Scotland yard man. Whimsy and Parker dispiritedly agreed that they
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  Speaker 1: had better go down and make inquiries at Crow's Beach. Meanwhile,
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  Speaker 1: one of the photographers, whose cousin was on the staff
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  Speaker 1: of the Leehampton Mercury, had put a call through to
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  Speaker 1: the office of that up to date paper, which was
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  Speaker 1: just going to press. A stop press announcement was followed
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  Speaker 1: by a special edition. Somebody rang up the London Evening Views,
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  Speaker 1: which burst out into a front page scoop the fat
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  Speaker 1: was in the fire, and the Daily Yell, Daily Views,
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  Speaker 1: Daily Wire and Daily Tidings, who were all suffering from
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  Speaker 1: lack of excitement, came brightly out next morning with bold
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  Speaker 1: headlines about disappearing young women Crow's Beach in d that
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  Speaker 1: pleasant and respectable watering place. Knew nothing of miss Whittaker,
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  Speaker 1: Miss Finlater or car x x nine nine one seven.
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  Speaker 1: No hotel had received them, No garage had refueled or
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  Speaker 1: repaired them, No policeman had observed them. The Chief Constable
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  Speaker 1: held to his theory of an accident, and scouting parties
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  Speaker 1: were sent out. Wires arrived at Scotland Yard from all
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  Speaker 1: over the place. They had been seen at Dover, at Newcastle,
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  Speaker 1: at Sheffield, at Winchester, at Rugby. Two young women had
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  Speaker 1: had tea in a suspicious manner. At Folkestone, a car
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  Speaker 1: had passed noisily through Dorchester at a late hour on
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  Speaker 1: Monday night. A dark haired girl in an agitated condition
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  Speaker 1: had entered a public house in New Alresford just before
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  Speaker 1: closing time and asked the way to Hazelmere. Among all
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  Speaker 1: these reports, Parker selected that of a boy scout who
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  Speaker 1: reported on Saturday morning that he had noticed two ladies
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  Speaker 1: with a car having a picnic on the downs on
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  Speaker 1: the previous Monday, not far from Shelley Head. The car
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  Speaker 1: was an Austin seven. He knew that because he was
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  Speaker 1: keen on motors, an unanswerable reason for accuracy in a
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  Speaker 1: boy of his age, and he had noticed that it
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  Speaker 1: was a London number, though he couldn't say positively what
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  Speaker 1: the number was. Shelley Head lies about ten miles along
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  Speaker 1: the coast from Crows Beach and is curiously lonely considering
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  Speaker 1: how near it lies to the watering place. Under the
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  Speaker 1: cliffs is a long stretch of sandy beach, never visited
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  Speaker 1: and overlooked by no houses. The cliffs themselves are chalk
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  Speaker 1: and covered with short turf, running back into a wide
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  Speaker 1: expanse of downs covered with gorse and heather. Then comes
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  Speaker 1: a belt of pine trees, beyond which is a steep,
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  Speaker 1: narrow and rutty road leading at length into the tarmac
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  Speaker 1: high road between Ramborough and Rider's Heath. The downs are
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  Speaker 1: by no means frequented, though there are plenty of rough
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  Speaker 1: tracks which a car can follow if you are not
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  Speaker 1: particular about comfort or fussy over your springs. Under the
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  Speaker 1: leadership of the boy scout, the police car bumped uncomfortably
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  Speaker 1: over these disagreeable roads. It was hopeless to look for
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  Speaker 1: any previous car tracks, for the chalk was dry and hard,
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  Speaker 1: and the grass and heath retained no marks. Everywhere, little
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  Speaker 1: dells and hollows presented themselves, all exactly alike, and many
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  Speaker 1: of them capable of hiding a small car, not to
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  Speaker 1: speak of the mere signs and remains of a recent picnic.
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  Speaker 1: Having arrived at what their guide thought to be approximately
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  Speaker 1: the right place, they pulled up and got out. Parker
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  Speaker 1: quartered the ground between the five of them, and they
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  Speaker 1: set off. Whimsy took a dislike to gorse bushes that day.
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  Speaker 1: There were so many of them and so thick. Any
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  Speaker 1: of them might hold a cigarette package or a sandwich. Paper,
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  Speaker 1: or a scrap of cloth, or a clew of some kind.
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  Speaker 1: He trudged along unhappily, back bent and eyes on the ground,
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  Speaker 1: over one ridge and down into the hollow, then circling
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  Speaker 1: to the right and to the left, taking his bearings
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  Speaker 1: by the police car, over the next ridge, and down
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  Speaker 1: into the next hollow. Over the next ridge. Yes, there
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  Speaker 1: was something in the hollow. He saw it first, sticking
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  Speaker 1: out round the edge of a gorse bush. It was
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  Speaker 1: light in color and pointed rather like a foot. He
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  Speaker 1: felt a little sick. Somebody has gone to sleep there,
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  Speaker 1: he said aloud. Then he thought, funny, it's always the
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  Speaker 1: feet they leave showing He scrambled down among the bushes,
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  Speaker 1: slipping on the short turf and nearly rolling to the bottom.
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  Speaker 1: He swore irritably the person was sleeping oddly, the flies
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  Speaker 1: must be a nuisance all over the head Like that.
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  Speaker 1: It occurred to him that it was rather early in
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  Speaker 1: the year for flies. There had been an advertising rhyme
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  Speaker 1: in the papers, something about each fly you swat now
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  Speaker 1: means remember three hundred fewer next September? Or was it
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  Speaker 1: a thousand fewer? He couldn't get the meter quite right.
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  Speaker 1: Then he pulled himself together and went forward. The flies
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  Speaker 1: rose up in a little cloud. It must have been
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  Speaker 1: a pretty heavy blow, he thought, to smash the back
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  Speaker 1: of the skull like that. The shingled hair was blonde.
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  Speaker 1: The face lay between the bare arms. He turned the
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  Speaker 1: body on its back. Of course, without the photograph, he
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  Speaker 1: could not He need not be certain that this was
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  Speaker 1: vera Findlater, all this had taken him perhaps thirty seconds.
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  Speaker 1: He scrambled up to the rim of the hollow anch.
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  Speaker 1: A small black figure at some distance stopped and turned.
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  Speaker 1: He saw its face as a white spot with no
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  Speaker 1: expression on it. He shouted again and waved his arms
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  Speaker 1: in wide gestures of explanation. The figure came running. It
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  Speaker 1: lurched slowly and awkwardly over the heathy ground. It was
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  Speaker 1: the policeman, a heavy man not built for running in
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  Speaker 1: the heat. Whimsy shouted again, and the policeman shouted too.
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  Speaker 1: Whimsy saw the others closing in upon him. The grotesque
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  Speaker 1: figure of the boy scout topped a ridge, waving its staff,
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  Speaker 1: then disappeared again. The policeman was quite near now. His
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  Speaker 1: bowler hat was thrust back on his head, and there
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  Speaker 1: was something on his watch chain that glinted in the sun.
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  Speaker 1: As he ran, Whimsy found himself running to meet him
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  Speaker 1: and calling, explaining at great length. It was too far
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  Speaker 1: off to make himself heard, but he explained wordily, with emphasis, pointing,
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  Speaker 1: indicating he was quite breathless. When the policemen and he
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  Speaker 1: came together, they were both breathless. They wagged their heads
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  Speaker 1: and gasped. It was ludicrous. He started running again, with
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  Speaker 1: the men at his heels. Presently they were all there, pointing, measuring,
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  Speaker 1: taking notes, grubbing under the gorse bushes. Whimsy sat down.
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  Speaker 1: He was dreadfully tired. Peter said Parker's voice, Come and
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  Speaker 1: look at this. He got up wearily. There were the
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  Speaker 1: remains of a picnic lunch. A little farther down the hollow.
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  Speaker 1: The policeman had a little bag in his hand. He
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  Speaker 1: had taken it from under the body and was now
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  Speaker 1: turning over the trifles it contained. On the ground. Close
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  Speaker 1: to the dead girl's head was a thick, heavy spanner,
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  Speaker 1: unpleasantly discolored and with a few fair hairs sticking to
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  Speaker 1: its jaws. But what Parker was calling his attention to
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  Speaker 1: was none of these, but a man's mauve gray cap
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  Speaker 1: where did you find that? Asked Whimsy. Alf here picked
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  Speaker 1: it up at the top of the hollow, said Parker,
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  Speaker 1: tumbled off into the gorse. It was corroborated. The scout
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  Speaker 1: just up here, lying upside down, just as if it
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  Speaker 1: had fallen off somebody's head. Any footmarks not likely. But
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  Speaker 1: there's a place where the bushes are all trodden and broken.
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  Speaker 1: Looks as if there'd been some sort of struggle. What's
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  Speaker 1: become of the Austin? I don't touch that spanner, my lad.
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  Speaker 1: There may be fingerprints on it. This looks like an
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  Speaker 1: attack by some gang or other. Any money in that
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  Speaker 1: purse ten shilling note sixpence and a few coppers? Oh well,
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  Speaker 1: the other woman may have had more on her. She's
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  Speaker 1: very well off, you know, held up for ransom, I
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  Speaker 1: shouldn't wonder. Parker bent down and very gingerly enfolded the
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  Speaker 1: spanner in a silk handkerchief, carrying it slung by the
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  Speaker 1: four corners. Well, we'd better spread about and have a
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  Speaker 1: look for the car. Better try that belt of trees
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  Speaker 1: over there looks a likely spot. And Hopkins, I think
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  Speaker 1: you'd better run back with our car to Crow's Beach
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  Speaker 1: and let him know at the station and come back
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  Speaker 1: with a photographer and take this wire and send it
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  Speaker 1: to the Chief Commissioner at Scotland Yard, and find a
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  Speaker 1: doctor and bring him along with you. And you'd better
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  Speaker 1: hire another car while you're about it, in case we
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  Speaker 1: don't find the Austin, we shall be too many to
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  Speaker 1: get away in this one. Take Alf back with you
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  Speaker 1: if you're not sure of finding the place again, Oh
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  Speaker 1: aunt Hopkins, fetch us along something to eat and drink,
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  Speaker 1: will you? We may be at it a long time.
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  Speaker 1: Here's some money that enough? Yes, thank you, sir. The
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  Speaker 1: constable went off, taking Alf, who was torn between a
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  Speaker 1: desire to stay and do some more detecting and the
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  Speaker 1: pride and glory of being first back with the news.
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  Speaker 1: Parker gave a few words of praise for his valuable assistance,
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  Speaker 1: which filled him with delight, and then turned to the
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  Speaker 1: Chief Constable. They obviously went off in this direction. Would
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  Speaker 1: you bear away to the left, sir and enter the
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  Speaker 1: trees from that end? And Peter, will you bear to
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  Speaker 1: the right and work through from the other end while
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  Speaker 1: I go straight up the middle. The Chief constant bull,
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  Speaker 1: who seemed a good deal shaken by the discovery of
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  Speaker 1: the body obeyed without a word. Whimsy caught Parker by
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  Speaker 1: the arm. I say, he said, have you looked at
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  Speaker 1: the wound? Something funny, isn't there? There ought to be
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  Speaker 1: more mess somehow? What do you think? I'm not thinking
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  Speaker 1: anything for the moment, said Parker a little grimly. We
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  Speaker 1: all wait for the doctor's report. Come on, Steve, we
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  Speaker 1: want to dig out that car. Let's have a look
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  Speaker 1: at that cap hm sold by a gentleman resident in Stepney,
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  Speaker 1: almost new smells strongly of California poppy, rather a swell
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  Speaker 1: sort of gangsman, apparently quite one of the lads of
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  Speaker 1: the village. Yes, we ought to be able to trace that.
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  Speaker 1: Thank heavens, they always overlook something. Well, we'd better get along.
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  Speaker 1: The search for the car presented no difficulties. Parker stumbled
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  Speaker 1: upon it almost as soon as he got in. Under
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  Speaker 1: the trees. There was a clearing with a little rivulet
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  Speaker 1: of water running through it, beside which stood the missing Austin.
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  Speaker 1: There were other trees here mingled with the pines, and
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  Speaker 1: the water made an elbow and spread into a shallow
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  Speaker 1: pool with a kind of muddy beach. The hood of
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  Speaker 1: the car was up and Parker approached with an uncomfortable
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  Speaker 1: feeling that there might be something disagreeable inside, but it
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  Speaker 1: was empty. He tried the gears, they were in neutral
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  Speaker 1: and the handbrake was on. On the seat was a handkerchief,
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  Speaker 1: a large linen handkerchief, very grubby and with no initials
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  Speaker 1: or laundry mark. Parker grunted a little over the criminal's
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  Speaker 1: careless habit of strewing his belongings about. He came round
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  Speaker 1: in front of the car and received immediate further proof
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  Speaker 1: of carelessness, for on the mud there were foot marks,
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  Speaker 1: two men's and a woman's. It seemed the woman had
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  Speaker 1: got out of the car. First. He could see where
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  Speaker 1: the left heel had sunk heavily in as she extricated
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  Speaker 1: herself from the low seat, then the right foot less heavily.
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  Speaker 1: Then she had staggered a little and started to run,
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  Speaker 1: but one of the men had been there to catch her.
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  Speaker 1: He had stepped out of the bracken in shoes with
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  Speaker 1: new rubbers on them, and there were some scuffling marks
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  Speaker 1: as though he had held her and she had tried
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  Speaker 1: to break away. Finally, the second man, who seemed to
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  Speaker 1: possess rather narrow feet and to wear the long toed
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  Speaker 1: boots affected by town boys of the louder sort, had
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  Speaker 1: come after to her from the car. The marks of
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  Speaker 1: his feet were clear, crossing and half obliterating hers. All
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  Speaker 1: three had stood together for a little Then the tracks
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  Speaker 1: moved away with those of the woman in the middle,
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  Speaker 1: and led up to where the mark of a Michelin
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  Speaker 1: balloon tire showed clearly. The tires of the Austin were
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  Speaker 1: ordinary dunlops. Besides, this was obviously a bigger car. It
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  Speaker 1: had apparently stood there for some little time, for a
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  Speaker 1: little pool of engine oil had dripped from the crack case.
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  Speaker 1: Then the bigger car had moved off down a sort
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  Speaker 1: of ride that led away through the trees. Parker followed
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  Speaker 1: it for a little distance, but the tracks soon became
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  Speaker 1: lost in a thick carpet of pine needles. Still, there
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  Speaker 1: was no other road for a car to take. He
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  Speaker 1: turned to the Austin to investigate further. Presently shouts told
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  Speaker 1: him that the two others were converging upon the center
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  Speaker 1: of the wood. He called back, and before long Whimsy
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  Speaker 1: and Sir Charles Pillington came crashing towards him through the bracken,
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  Speaker 1: which fringed the pines well, said Whimsy. I imagine we
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  Speaker 1: may put down this elegant bit of purple headgear to
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  Speaker 1: the gentleman in the slim boots, bright yellow, I fancy
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  Speaker 1: with buttons. He must be lamenting his beautiful cap. The
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  Speaker 1: woman's footprints belonged to Mary Whittaker. I take it, I suppose, so.
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  Speaker 1: I don't see how they can be the Findlater girls.
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  Speaker 1: This woman went or was taken off in the car.
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  Speaker 1: They are certainly not vera Findlater's. There was no mud
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  Speaker 1: on her shoes when we found her. Oh, you were
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  Speaker 1: taking notice. Then, I thought you were feeling a bit
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  Speaker 1: dead to the world. So I was old, dear, but
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  Speaker 1: I can't help noticing things though, moribund hullo, what's this?
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  Speaker 1: He put his hand down behind the cushions of the
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  Speaker 1: car and pulled out an American magazine, that monthly collection
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  Speaker 1: of mystery and sensational fiction published under the name of
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  Speaker 1: the Black Mass. Light Reading for the Masses, said Parker,
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  Speaker 1: brought by the gentleman in the yellow boots, perhaps suggested
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  Speaker 1: the Chief Constable, more likely by miss Findlater, said Whimsey.
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  Speaker 1: Hardly a lady's choice, said Sir Charles in a pained tone.
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  Speaker 1: Oh I dun'no from all I hear. Miss Whittager was
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  Speaker 1: dead against sentimentality and roses round the porch, and the
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  Speaker 1: other poor girl copied her in everything they might have
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  Speaker 1: a boyish taste in. Well, it's not important, said Parker.
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  Speaker 1: Wait a bit, look at this. Somebody's been making marks
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  Speaker 1: on it. Whimsy held out the cover for inspection. A
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  Speaker 1: thick pencil mark had been drawn under the first two
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  Speaker 1: words of the title. Do you think it's some sort
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  Speaker 1: of message? Perhaps the book was on the seat and
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  Speaker 1: she contrived to make the marks unnoticed and shoved it
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  Speaker 1: away here before they transferred her to the other car. Ingenious,
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: said Sir Charles. But what does it mean the black
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  Speaker 1: It makes no sense. Perhaps the long towed gentleman was
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: a black man, suggested Parker. Or possibly a Hindu or
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: Parsi of sorts. God bless my soul, said Sir Charles. Horrified.
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  Speaker 1: An English girl in the hands of a black man.
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  Speaker 1: How abomin Well we'll hope it isn't so. Shall we
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  Speaker 1: follow the road out or wait for the doctor to arrive.
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  Speaker 1: Better go back to the body, I think, said Parker.
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  Speaker 1: They've got a long start of us, and half an
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  Speaker 1: hour more or less in following them up won't make
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  Speaker 1: much odds. They turned from the translucent, cool greenness of
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  Speaker 1: the little wood back on to the downs. The streamlet
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  Speaker 1: clacked merrily away over the pebbles, running out to the southwest,
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  Speaker 1: on its way to the river and the sea. It's
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  Speaker 1: all very well your chattering, said Whimsey to the water.
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  Speaker 1: Why can't you say what you've seen? End of Chapter
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  Speaker 1: twenty