The Body in the Library (Miss Marple 3)

“There was very little discussion, sir. Mr. Jefferson announced what he had in mind and stifled any protests. That is, he shut up Mr. Mark, who was a bit outspoken. Mrs. Jefferson didn’t say much—she’s a quiet lady—only urged him not to do anything in a great hurry.”

Sir Henry nodded.

“Anything else? What was the girl’s attitude?”

With marked distaste the valet said:

“I should describe it, sir, as jubilant.”

“Ah—jubilant, you say? You had no reason to believe, Edwards, that”—he sought about for a phrase suitable to Edwards—“that—er—her affections were engaged elsewhere?”

“Mr. Jefferson was not proposing marriage, sir. He was going to adopt her.”

“Cut out the ‘elsewhere’ and let the question stand.”

The valet said slowly: “There was one incident, sir. I happened to be a witness of it.”

“That is gratifying. Tell me.”

“There is probably nothing in it, sir. It was just that one day the young woman, chancing to open her handbag, a small snapshot fell out. Mr. Jefferson pounced on it and said: ‘Hallo, Kitten, who’s this, eh?’

“It was a snapshot, sir, of a young man, a dark young man with rather untidy hair and his tie very badly arranged.

“Miss Keene pretended that she didn’t know anything about it. She said: ‘I’ve no idea, Jeffie. No idea at all. I don’t know how it could have got into my bag. I didn’t put it there!’

“Now, Mr. Jefferson, sir, wasn’t quite a fool. That story wasn’t good enough. He looked angry, his brows came down heavy, and his voice was gruff when he said:

“‘Now then, Kitten, now then. You know who it is right enough.’

“She changed her tactics quick, sir. Looked frightened. She said: ‘I do recognize him now. He comes here sometimes and I’ve danced with him. I don’t know his name. The silly idiot must have stuffed his photo into my bag one day. These boys are too silly for anything!’ She tossed her head and giggled and passed it off. But it wasn’t a likely story, was it? And I don’t think Mr. Jefferson quite believed it. He looked at her once or twice after that in a sharp way, and sometimes, if she’d been out, he asked her where she’d been.”

Sir Henry said: “Have you ever seen the original of the photo about the hotel?”

“Not to my knowledge, sir. Of course, I am not much downstairs in the public departments.”

Sir Henry nodded. He asked a few more questions, but Edwards could tell him nothing more.

II

In the police station at Danemouth, Superintendent Harper was interviewing Jessie Davis, Florence Small, Beatrice Henniker, Mary Price, and Lilian Ridgeway.

They were girls much of an age, differing slightly in mentality. They ranged from “county” to farmers’ and shopkeepers’ daughters. One and all they told the same story—Pamela Reeves had been just the same as usual, she had said nothing to any of them except that she was going to Woolworth’s and would go home by a later bus.

In the corner of Superintendent Harper’s office sat an elderly lady. The girls hardly noticed her. If they did, they may have wondered who she was. She was certainly no police matron. Possibly they assumed that she, like themselves, was a witness to be questioned.

The last girl was shown out. Superintendent Harper wiped his forehead and turned round to look at Miss Marple. His glance was inquiring, but not hopeful.

Miss Marple, however, spoke crisply.

“I’d like to speak to Florence Small.”

The Superintendent’s eyebrows rose, but he nodded and touched a bell. A constable appeared.

Harper said: “Florence Small.”

The girl reappeared, ushered in by the constable. She was the daughter of a well-to-do farmer—a tall girl with fair hair, a rather foolish mouth, and frightened brown eyes. She was twisting her hands and looked nervous.

Superintendent Harper looked at Miss Marple, who nodded.

The Superintendent got up. He said:

“This lady will ask you some questions.”

He went out, closing the door behind him.

Florence shot an uneasy glance at Miss Marple. Her eyes looked rather like one of her father’s calves.

Miss Marple said: “Sit down, Florence.”

Florence Small sat down obediently. Unrecognized by herself, she felt suddenly more at home, less uneasy. The unfamiliar and terrorizing atmosphere of a police station was replaced by something more familiar, the accustomed tone of command of somebody whose business it was to give orders. Miss Marple said:

“You understand, Florence, that it’s of the utmost importance that everything about poor Pamela’s doings on the day of her death should be known?”

Florence murmured that she quite understood.

“And I’m sure you want to do your best to help?”

Florence’s eyes were wary as she said, of course she did.

“To keep back any piece of information is a very serious offence,” said Miss Marple.

The girl’s fingers twisted nervously in her lap. She swallowed once or twice.

“I can make allowances,” went on Miss Marple, “for the fact that you are naturally alarmed at being brought into contact with the police. You are afraid, too, that you may be blamed for not having spoken sooner. Possibly you are afraid that you may also be blamed for not stopping Pamela at the time. But you’ve got to be a brave girl and make a clean breast of things. If you refuse to tell what you know now, it will be a very serious matter indeed—very serious—practically perjury, and for that, as you know, you can be sent to prison.”

“I—I don’t—”

Miss Marple said sharply:

“Now don’t prevaricate, Florence! Tell me all about it at once! Pamela wasn’t going to Woolworth’s, was she?”

Florence licked her lips with a dry tongue and gazed imploringly at Miss Marple like a beast about to be slaughtered.

“Something to do with the films, wasn’t it?” asked Miss Marple.

A look of intense relief mingled with awe passed over Florence’s face. Her inhibitions left her. She gasped:

“Oh, yes!”

“I thought so,” said Miss Marple. “Now I want all the details, please.”

Words poured from Florence in a gush.

“Oh! I’ve been ever so worried. I promised Pam, you see, I’d never say a word to a soul. And then when she was found all burnt up in that car—oh! it was horrible and I thought I should die—I felt it was all my fault. I ought to have stopped her. Only I never thought, not for a minute, that it wasn’t all right. And then I was asked if she’d been quite as usual that day and I said ‘Yes’ before I’d had time to think. And not having said anything then I didn’t see how I could say anything l

ater. And, after all, I didn’t know anything—not really—only what Pam told me.”

“What did Pam tell you?”

“It was as we were walking up the lane to the bus—on the way to the rally. She asked me if I could keep a secret, and I said ‘Yes,’ and she made me swear not to tell. She was going into Danemouth for a film test after the rally! She’d met a film producer—just back from Hollywood, he was. He wanted a certain type, and he told Pam she was just what he was looking for. He warned her, though, not to build on it. You couldn’t tell, he said, not until you saw a person photographed. It might be no good at all. It was a kind of Bergner part, he said. You had to have someone quite young for it. A schoolgirl, it was, who changes places with a revue artist and has a wonderful career. Pam’s acted in plays at school and she’s awfully good. He said he could see she could act, but she’d have to have some intensive training. It wouldn’t be all beer and skittles, he told her, it would be damned hard work. Did she think she could stick it?”

Florence Small stopped for breath. Miss Marple felt rather sick as she listened to the glib rehash of countless novels and screen stories. Pamela Reeves, like most other girls, would have been warned against talking to strangers—but the glamour of the films would obliterate all that.

“He was absolutely businesslike about it all,” continued Florence. “Said if the test was successful she’d have a contract, and he said that as she was young and inexperienced she ought to let a lawyer look at it before she signed it. But she wasn’t to pass on that he’d said that. He asked her if she’d have trouble with her parents, and Pam said she probably would, and he said: ‘Well, of course, that’s always a difficulty with anyone as young as you are, but I think if it was put to them that this was a wonderful chance that wouldn’t happen once in a million times, they’d see reason.’ But, anyway, he said, it wasn’t any good going into that until they knew the result of the test. She mustn’t be disappointed if it failed. He told her about Hollywood and about Vivien Leigh—how she’d suddenly taken London by storm—and how these sensational leaps into fame did happen. He himself had come back from America to work with the Lemville Studios and put some pep into the English film companies.”