At length he was round the edge of the lilacs and hidden from the house. The sweat was running down his face and the most

Ticklish part of his task was still to do. If he broke his heart in the effort, he must carry the body over the plot of lawn. No wheel-marks or heel-marks or signs of dragging must be left for the police to see. He braced himself for the effort.

It was done. The corpse of Gooch lay there by the fountain, thebruise upon the temple carefully adjusted upon the sharp stone edge of the pool, one hand dragging in the water, the limbsdisposed as naturally as possible, to look as though the man had stumbled and fallen. Over it, from head to foot, the water of the fountain sprayed, swaying and bending in the night wind. MrSpiller looked upon his work and saw thatit was good. The journey back with the lightened chair was easy. When he had returned the vehicle to the outhouse and passed for the last timethrough the library window, he felt as though the burden of years had been rolled from his back.

His hack! He had remembered to take off his dinner-jacket while stooping in the spray of the fountain, and only his shirt was drenched. That he could dispose of in the linen-basket, but the seat of his trousers gave him some uneasiness. He mopped at himself as best he could with his handkerchief. Then he made his calculations. If he left the fountain to play for an hour or so it would, he thought, produce the desired effect. Controlling his devouring impatience,he sat down and mixed himself a final brandy.

At one o'clock he rose, turned off the fountain, shut the library window with no more and no less than the usual noise and force, and went with firm footsteps up to bed.

Inspector Frampton was, to Mr Spiller's delight, a highly intelligent officer. He picked up the clues thrown to him with the eagerness

of a trained terrier. The dead man was last seen alive by Masters after dinner - 8.30 - just so. After which, the rest of the party

had played bridge together till 10.30. Mr Spiller had then gone

82 Crime Never Pays

The Fountain Plays

out withMrs Digby. Just after he left,Masters had turned off thefountain. Mr Proudfoot had left at 10.40 and Miss Spiller and the maids had then retired. Mr Spiller had come in again at 10.45 or 10.50, and inquired for Mr Gooch. After this, Masters had gone across to the garage, leaving Mr Spiller to lock up. Later on, Mr Spiller had gone down the garden to look for Mr Gooch. He had gone no farther than the lilac hedge, and there calling to him and getting no answer, had concluded that his guest had already come in and gone to bed. The housemaid fancied she had heard him calling Mr Gooch. She placed this episode at about half-past eleven - certainly not later. Mr Spiller had subsequently sat up reading in the library till one o'clock, when he had shut the window and gone to bed also.

The body, when found by the gardener at 6.30 a.m., was still wet with thespray from the fountain, which had also soaked the grass beneath it. Since the fountain had been turned off at 10.30, this meant that Gooch must have lain there for an appreciable period before that. In view of the large quantity of whisky that he had drunk,it seemed probablethat he hadhad a heart-attack, or haddrunkenly stumbled, and,in falling, had struck his head on the edge ofthe pool. All these considerations fixed the time of death at from 9.30 to 10 o'clock - an opinion with which the doctor, though declining to commit himself within an hour or so, concurred, and the coroner entered a verdict of accidental death.

Only the man who has been for years the helpless victim of blackmail could fully enter into Mr Spiller's feelings. Compunction played no part in them - the relief was far too great. To be rid of the daily irritation of Gooch's presence, of his insatiable demands for money, of the perpetual menace of his drunken malice - these boons were well worth a murder. And,

Mr Spiller insisted to himself as he sat musing on the rustic seat by the fountain, it had not really been murder. He determined to call on Mrs Digby that afternoon. He could ask her to marry himnow without haunting fear for the future.The scent of the lilacwas intoxicating.

'Excuse me, sir,' said Masters.

Mr Spiller, withdrawing his meditative gaze from the spouting water, looked inquiringly at the man-servant, who stood in a respectful attitude beside him.

'If it is convenient to you, sir, I should wish to have my bedroom changed. ! should wish to sleep indoors.'

'Oh?' said Mr Spiller. 'Why that, Masters?'

'I am subject to be a light sleeper, sir, ever since the war, and I find the creaking of the weather-vane very disturbing.'

'It creaks, does it?'

'Yes, sir. On the night that Mr Gooch sustained his unfortunate accident, sir, the wind changed at a quarter past eleven. The creaking woke me out of my first sleep, sir, and disturbed me very

much.'

A coldness gripped Mr Spiller at the pit of the stomach. The servant's eyes, in that moment, reminded him curiously of Gooch. He had never noticed any resemblance before.

'It's a curious thing, sir, if Imay say so, that, with thewind shifting as it did at 11.15,Mr Gooch's body should have become sprayed by the fountain. Up till 11.15 the spray was falling on the other side, sir. The appearance presented was as though thebody had been placed in position subsequently ro 1 1.15, sir, and the fountain turned on again.'

'Very strange,' said Mr Spiller. On the other side of the lilac hedge, he heard the voices of Betty and Ronald Proudfoot, chattering as they paced to and fro between the herbaceous

Crime Never Pays

The Fountain Plays

borders. They seemed to be happy together. The whole house

seemed happier, now that Gooch was gone.

'Very strange indeed, sir. I may add that, after hearing theinspector's observations, 1 took the precaution to dry your dress-trousers in the linen-cupboard in the bathroom.'

'Oh, yes,' said Mr Spiller.

'I shall not, of course, mention the change of wind to the authorities, sir, and now that the inquest is over, it is not likely to occur to anybody, unless their attention should be drawn to it. I think, sir, all things being taken into consideration, you might find it worth your while to retain me permanently in your service at-shall we say double my present wage to begin with?'

Mr Spiller opened his mouth to say, 'Go to Hell,' but his voicefailed him. He bowed his head.

"1 am much obliged ro you, sir.' said Masters, and withdrew on

silent feet.

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 1241