The Lately Deceased by Bernard Knight Read Free Book Online Page B

you can say this thing!’
    â€˜Can you tell us, Doctor,’ said Meredith, ‘which part of the chest you listened to? Did you lift the clothing at all?’
    â€˜No, she wore a long dress, with a top jacket. I put my stethoscope in the aortic area at the top. Zat is sufficient to hear the heartbeats if they are there.’
    Meredith’s medical knowledge did not run this far and he was unable to make any comment.
    â€˜So there could have been a mark lower down without you noticing it?’
    Weinkaatz, grasping eagerly at any concession, agreed profusely.
    â€˜Yes, yes that is so … but there was no blood at all’
    â€˜Mmmm … now, lastly, you are ready to swear that she was dead at the time you saw her. Not in a coma or anything like that?’
    â€˜She was dead, officer, even a little cold.’
    Meredith had one last question: ‘How long would you say she had been dead, Doctor?’
    The Austrian shied away from this like a frightened horse.
    â€˜Oh, how can I say? Not long; no stiffness in the eyes, just a little bit cold … very hard to say … hot room, too. I can only say less than six hours.’
    Meredith finished with a reprimand on the evils of not reporting such deaths to the authorities straight away, and the now crestfallen doctor went off promising to go to the police station at two o’clock to sign his typed statement.
    Grey was scornful at the doctor’s estimation of the time of death.
    â€˜Six hours, my Aunt Fanny!’ he sneered. ‘A likely story, if you ask me!’
    â€˜Where’s Walker now?’ asked Old Nick.
    â€˜Waiting in the dining room,’ said the constable.
    â€˜Hmm! It’s difficult to know quite what to do with him, until we’re ready to drag the story from everybody else at this blasted party. We can’t do that until after lunch now.’
    â€˜What about moving him over to the station, sir?’ Grey suggested. ‘They can fix him something to eat while he waits. There should be quite a few other witnesses there by now, if Masters has been able to round them up.’
    â€˜Does it matter if they talk together beforehand?’ asked Stammers.
    â€˜Can’t do any harm. No one knows why they’ve been sent for yet, except possibly one of them and there’s no fear of him blabbing,’ answered Meredith.
    â€˜Hadn’t we better make a start with these people that Masters has collected, sir?
    â€˜They’re entitled to be a bit shirty if they’re dragged away from their work and then held for hours doing nothing.’ Sydney Grey had a streak of sympathy where witnesses were concerned and didn’t agree with Meredith’s idea of letting them sweat.
    â€˜Well, we’ll look in at the station and see who Masters has managed to scrape together,’ conceded Old Nick. ‘Meanwhile, Williams, find Mr Walker and that pair living with him and ask them to come on over.’
    When they arrived in the dismal waiting room of Comber Street Police Station, Geoffrey Tate and Abe Franklin were at once joined by five others from the party of the night before. Four were young fellows from the studios; Geoff knew them by name but had no idea what they did there. The fourth was Leo Prince, looking mystified and worried, and as happy in a police station as a Moslem in a pork butcher’s shop.
    On the heels of the detectives came Gordon, who had driven Barbara and Webster in his own car.
    Meredith addressed the subdued crowd, standing in the entrance of the CID office.
    â€˜Tm sorry to have had to bring you here at this time of day and leave you so much in the dark as to what’s going on, but you must have realised by now that we have reason to be disturbed by the circumstances of Mrs Walker’s death. We will have to question each one of you individually about happenings at the party last night. Until we get the doctor’s report on the examination of the