A Mind to Murder by P. D. James Read Free Book Online Page A

the endowments of course on the Appointed Day following the 1946 Act. A bit has come in since, but not much. People aren’t so keen to will money toinstitutions run by the government. But the place was quite well off before 1948 as these places go. They did themselves well in the way of equipment and facilities. The Hospital Management Committee’s had quite a job providing for them in the way to which they’d become accustomed.”
    “Is the clinic difficult to administer? I imagine there may be personality problems.”
    “No more difficult than any other small unit. You get personality problems anywhere. I’d rather deal with a difficult psychiatrist than a difficult surgeon any day. They’re the real prima donnas.”
    “Did you consider Miss Bolam a successful administrative officer?”
    “Well … she was efficient. I hadn’t really any complaints. She was a bit rigid, I suppose. After all, Ministry circulars haven’t even the force of law, so there’s no sense in treating them as if they are personally dictated by God Almighty. I doubt whether Miss Bolam would have got much further. Mind you, she was a competent, methodical and highly conscientious officer. I don’t think she ever sent in an inaccurate return.”
    Poor devil! thought Dalgliesh, stung by the bleak anonymity of that official epitaph. He asked: “Was she popular here? With the medical staff, for example?”
    “Well, now, Superintendent, you’ll have to ask them. I can’t think of any reason why she shouldn’t be.”
    “You were not then under any pressure from the Medical Committee to remove her from the clinic?”
    The mild grey eyes grew suddenly blank. There was a momentary pause before the group secretary calmly replied: “I have had no official request of that kind made to me.”
    “But unofficially?”
    “There has been a feeling here from time to time, I believe, that a change of job might be helpful to Miss Bolam. Now that’s not such a bad idea, Superintendent! Any officer in a small unit, particularly a psychiatric clinic, can benefit from a change of experience. But I don’t transfer my staff at the whim of medical committees. Bless me, no! And, as I said, no official request was made. If Miss Bolam herself had asked for a transfer, that would have been a different matter. Even so, it wouldn’t have been easy. She was a general administrative officer and we haven’t many posts in that grade.”
    Dalgliesh then asked again about Miss Bolam’s telephone call and Lauder confirmed that he had spoken to her at about ten to one. He remembered the time because he was just about to go for lunch. Miss Bolam had asked to speak to him personally and had been put through by his secretary. She had asked whether she could see him urgently.
    “Can you remember the exact conversation?”
    “More or less. She said: ‘Can I have an appointment to see you as soon as possible? I think there may be something going on here that you ought to know about. I should like your advice. Something that started well before my time here.’ I said that I couldn’t see her this afternoon as I would be in the Finance and General Purposes Committee from two-thirty onwards and had a Joint Consultative Committee immediately afterwards. I asked whether she could give me any idea what it was all about and whether it couldn’t wait until Monday. She hesitated, so, before she could reply, I said I’d drop in on my way home this evening. I knew they had a late clinic on Fridays. She said that she would arrange to be alone in her office from six-thirty onwards, thanked me and rang off. The JCC lasted longer than I expected—that Committee always does—and I got here just before seven-thirty. But you know that. I was still incommittee at the time they found the body, as no doubt you’ll be checking in due course.”
    “Did you take Miss Bolam’s message seriously? Was she the sort of woman who ran to you with trifles or would a request to see you really