“Ernest said you asked for me, darling. Hello, Tom; hello, Ernie. How nice to see you.”
DS Tring was wearing his summer suit, a vast acreage of robin’s-egg blue-and-white check, topped with an expanse of forehead that continued hairless to the nape of his neck. His flourishing moustache half hid a broad smile. He loomed over Ernie Piper, a slight figure, barely regulation height, in his dark blue flannel suit. Just seeing the two of them—Tom so good with people, Ernie so good with facts—made Daisy feel better.
Greetings were exchanged, enquiries made after Tom’s godson Oliver and his sisters.
“If you’re quite ready,” said Alec, a bit snarky. They all sat down. “Daisy, I want you to tell Tom and Ernie everything you can remember about the visit to Worcester, from the moment we parted in the cathedral. I’m hoping either the telling will remind you of something you saw or heard that you missed out when you reported, or one of them will spot something I missed.”
Daisy dredged her memory for details. The three men listened in silence, Ernie writing down her words verbatim—his recent promotion to sergeant had not diminished his supply of well-sharpened pencils.
“The road was flooded,” she finished, “so we turned round and came back here. Alec arrived a few minutes later.”
Alec clarified: “Having been informed by Laurette—Mrs. Vincent Dalrymple—of Raymond’s accident.”
“Can we come back to that in a minute, Chief?” said Tom. “Mrs. Fletcher, you didn’t catch even a glimpse of any of the suspects as you and Mrs. Vincent wandered about the city?”
“No. She dragged me from shop to shop, none of which satisfied her. She went on about London or Paris being the only places to buy clothes. I don’t know how she survives in Scarborough.”
“Did she buy anything?”
“Some aspirin, a hairnet, and a magazine, that she could have bought in any of a dozen shops.”
“Was she hunting for anything in particular?”
“Not that she mentioned. She looked at clothes mostly. We went into a toy shop but she didn’t seem to be particularly interested.”
“Ah,” said Tom profoundly.
Ernie took his turn. “Mrs. Fletcher, can you estimate how much time passed between your first awareness of something happening ahead and when you dropped Mrs. Vincent at the hotel?”
“Heavens no. I suppose it was at least fifteen minutes. Less than half an hour, though. That’s the best I can do, and I wouldn’t swear to it.”
“You heard the deceased say he was pushed?”
“Yes. ‘Someone pushed.’ He was mumbling, not speaking clearly. He was in a daze. The bobby who’d helped him to the pavement assumed he was referring to the person who pushed him out of the way of the trams, so I did too. Now I come to think of it, he repeated the phrase. He might have been trying to say he didn’t mean that person.”
“Maybe. Mrs. Vincent offered to go and tell the rest of the party? Or did you suggest it?”
Daisy frowned. “I’m pretty sure she offered. But she wanted a lift to the hotel in Raymond’s car.”
“Chief,” said Tom, “you haven’t described their reactions when they heard.”
“We’ll discuss that later,” said Alec, to Daisy’s annoyance.
“What about Mrs. Vincent, Mrs. Fletcher? Was she very upset?”
“I was concentrating on Raymond, not Laurette. When we first realised there had been an accident, neither of us was keen to get close. Then the crowds sort of relaxed—it was really crowded, the first shopping day after the bank holiday—so I assumed nothing too serious had happened and we walked on the way we’d been going. Of course, when I saw it was Raymond, I hurried forward. I was concentrating on Raymond, not on Laurette’s emotions.”
“But she was tut-tutting at your side?” Tom suggested patiently. “After all, from what I gather, she was more closely related to him than you were.”
“Slightly closer. Not at all close. And Raymond really didn’t make any effort to get to know anyone at Fairacres, wouldn’t you say, darling?”
“I agree, except for his one kindness to Belinda.”
“Oh yes, at the fair. So out of character as to be memorable! He wasn’t a very congenial person. No, Laurette wasn’t ‘tut-tutting at my side,’ Tom. She stood back a little. There wasn’t much room at his side, though, what with me and the coppers.”
“And in the car?”
“Sorry, I really wasn’t paying much attention to her. It was only a couple of minutes’ drive to the Talbot. Alec, have you asked Geraldine what she observed at the hotel when Laurette told you all about Raymond?”