Golden Rain

by Douglas Clark

  “I think the former, because the two sets of substances are so different. I can understand paint and plaster because the girls will use them in their art classes. But laburnum seeds . . .”

  “You may not have noticed,” said Reed. “But we’ve arrived. We’re there. Journey’s end has been reached.”

  “Don’t get sarky, lad,” said Green. “It ill becomes you when even Sergeant Berger can inform us that dry pea pods show up in bumps and blains, and you can’t even tell us whether laburnum seeds will give a cow that eats them the staggers.”

  “I tell you what I can ask you, though.”

  “What’s that?” asked Green.

  “It’s been puzzling me, too,” said Masters before Reed could reply to the D.C.I.

  “What has?” asked Green.

  “How the kids who planted that stuff in the kitchen knew they were going to annoy Miss Holland rather than Mrs Gibson.”

  “How the devil did you know that was what I was going to ask, Chief?”

  “He knew because it’s so obvious that only a bonehead like you would bother to ask it, lad,” said Green without waiting to hear any reply from Masters. “I think that the answer to your question, however, must be that they thought that any action that would discommode Mrs Gibson would automatically involve or harass Miss Holland.”

  “And if it affected the boss-woman herself directly, so much the better?”

  “Right, lad.”

  Reed didn’t seem satisfied. “Are you satisfied with that, Chief?”

  “I think I’ve got to be. Think of the alternative. The exchange of ingredients would have had to have been made on Tuesday, after Mrs Gibson’s departure, if they were not to affect her.”

  “That would be easy to do, Chief. While Miss Holland was out shopping at the chemist’s.”

  “Quite. But are you suggesting that the people who put those laburnum seeds in the pepper drum knew that Miss Holland would decide to cook Steak au Poivre that night?”

  “Not unless she always did on Tuesday nights, Chief.”

  “We can’t accept that she did. If Miss Holland was in the habit of cooking peppered steak, a woman of her intelligence would not have needed to consult the recipe book, which she patently did last Tuesday.”

  This argument silenced Reed.

  Masters opened the car door and stepped out. The others followed him and they made their way—a posse of four big men—towards the school door.

  Miss Freeman had obviously seen them coming through her office window, because she had the door open before they actually reached it.

  “Good afternoon, Miss Freeman.”

  “Good afternoon.” Miss Freeman made no attempt to stand aside to let them enter.

  “I would like to see Miss Bulmer, please.”

  “I will see if Miss Bulmer is available.” Miss Freeman started to close the door on them, but Green got his body in the way before she could do so.

  “Hang on a moment, love. What’s got into you? It’s raining out there.”

  “Miss Bulmer has forbidden you to enter the school and has told all the staff, whether academic, clerical or domestic, not to communicate with you.”

  “Has she indeed?” asked Masters quietly. “Then I think I had better see Miss Bulmer and remind her that her action makes her liable to instant arrest for preventing me from doing my duty and you, Miss Freeman, the same, if you don’t stand aside.”

  “Arrest? Me?” gasped the secretary. “What for?”

  “Interfering,” said Green. “It’s quite a serious charge, love. Particularly in a serious case.” He eased the door fully open. She backed away before him. “Now, off you go and tell your boss that my boss wants to see her pronto. And no messing.”

  The startled woman left them standing at the junction of the corridors and fled the short way to the little passage that served the suite containing the head’s school study.

  “We should have followed her,” growled Green. “There’s opposition mounting here. I don’t like it. It’s mounting everywhere. Sir Tosh’s daughter-in-law, Sir Tosh himself and Hildidge, and now the school. We’re going to find it hard to get the dabs we want, George.”

  “I don’t like it myself, but we’ll keep cool, even though we’ll play it as if we’re angry.”

  Green eyed him keenly. “Are you up to your tricks?”

  “Not so’s you’d notice. But if they think they’re besting us, we’ll play along. Let them think they’ve got our measure.”

  “If you say so. Me, I’d go for threats.”

  “Would it pay with Miss Bulmer? She’s a cool, calculating mathematician.”

  “She’d still not like the idea of a few hours down at the local nick.”

  “I take your point. We’ll play it as the opportunity arises. Threats if need be and they look like having some effect. Agreed?”

  Green nodded and turned to the sergeants. “One of you keep an eye on this secretary bird when she comes back. No phone calls or trips around the school to warn people.”

  “Got it,” replied Berger.

  “You, Reed, stand by to act as messenger. We may want somebody to ferret out Fryer.”

  Reed nodded and turned as Miss Freeman came to rejoin them at an ungainly trot.

  “Miss Bulmer says she can afford Superintendent Masters two minutes.”

  “Can she?” said Green. “We’ll see about that.”

  All except Berger moved towards the study. Miss Freeman put out a tentative arm as if to stop them. Berger took her elbow and said: “Leave it, love. You come along to your office and make me a cup of tea.”

  “I said I would receive Superintendent Masters only.” Miss Bulmer was cold and distant in her manner: totally unlike her attitude of the night before in the School House.

  “I don’t take orders, Miss Bulmer,” replied Masters. “Not when I am engaged on police business.”

  “You do on these premises. I said I would see you merely to inform you that this school is a private institution. As such, police are only allowed on the premises by invitation. As temporary head of the school I am now withdrawing my permission for you to enter any building belonging to Bramthorpe College.”

  “Wrong,” said Masters. “Wrong on two counts. You may be the temporary headmistress, but the authority for the school is vested in the Board of Governors and I have the permission of the Chairman of the Board to go and come as I please. That’s the first count. The second is that once invited onto premises in the gathering of evidence for a case, that invitation lasts throughout the length of the case and cannot be revoked at will. In fact, Miss Bulmer, I would be within my rights to instal a permanent duty officer within the building until such time as I was satisfied that his presence was no longer needed.”

  “Very well. What do you wish to see me about?”

  “To ask a simple question or two. On the morning that you announced to the assembled school that Miss Holland was dead, you were heard to remark that certain of the pupils appeared seriously shocked. Please tell me the names of those girls.”

  “Rubbish.”

  “You mean you didn’t notice that certain girls were visibly shocked?”

  “I mean I cannot give you their names.”

  “That is not very helpful.”

  “It was not intended to be.”

  “Is this deliberate non-cooperation, Miss Bulmer?”

  “You can take it as such if you wish. But I would point out that the number of girls seriously shocked by the news was so great that the list would contain half the names in the school.”

  “I think your answer has no more than a veneer of truth, Miss Bulmer. Young people do not react quite so severely, quite so quickly to serious news unless it affects them so intimately as to precipitate shock. But we will leave that for the moment. Miss Fryer, your games mistress and, I believe, first aid expert, noticed a case of shock, too, though she misread it as a fainting fit which would probably need her attention. She will remember the name of t
he girl concerned and those companions who rallied her. I propose to send Sergeant Reed to fetch Miss Fryer if you will kindly tell us where she is to be found.”

  “I forbid you to approach Miss Fryer.”

  “Don’t be a fool, ma’am,” said Green. “How can you forbid a witness to speak? It’s illegal and, I might remind you, attracts severe punishment in the courts.”

  “Don’t try to frighten me, Mr. Green.”

  “I’m advising you, love, not frightening you. That would be as wrong of me as your attitude is of you.”

  “Miss Fryer is not in the school,” said Miss Bulmer to Masters. “As there are no more games or gym periods before tomorrow lunchtime when we break up I gave her permission to go off for half term early.”

  “Are you trying to tell me,” asked Masters, “that Miss Fryer teaches no subject other than gym, and that every week she has Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings free?”

  “I am telling you nothing except that Miss Fryer is now on her way home for a week.”

  “Thank you. Now my last question, Miss Bulmer. Last night we got on amicably enough. Why has your attitude now changed so drastically that you are being positively obstructive? I say positively advisedly, because I believe you have been less than truthful with us, and I also believe that you granted Miss Fryer extra leave so that she would not be available here for questioning. Further, you have tried to deny us entry to the school.”

  “Mr Masters, when I first met you last night, I was not aware that you were trying to implicate girls from the school in a murder charge. It was only after I left you and I came to review the business of our meeting that I came to realise what your investigations were likely to do. They would involve Bramthorpe in a major scandal. A scandal that could ruin the school. And for what? I do not believe that any girl here is implicated. But before the courts establish that, the damage will have been done. As headmistress of Bramthorpe I am not prepared to sit idly by and see the school suffer because of your blunders. Nor will I allow any of the girls who are now my responsibility to be harassed by police who are so patently on the wrong track. I intend to see that you change your area of investigation and that Bramthorpe College does not receive any publicity that would blemish its name. That is my duty and my intention.”

  “Some speech, love,” said Green in mock admiration.

  “Please do not refer to me as love.”

  “Have it your way. But I’ll give you another word of advice. If you try to stop us doing what we’ve got to do you’ll create such a stink that the publicity will rock the foundations of this school.”

  “There will be no publicity. There will be nothing to publicise. And, furthermore, I still have the right to complain of your conduct.”

  “Of course you have,” said Masters. “I will give you the names of the senior officers to whom to complain. First off, locally, there’s Chief Superintendent Hildidge and then at Scotland Yard there’s . . .”

  “My complaints will be made to members of the Government. Through its former pupils, this school has connections in places slightly more influential than the police hierarchy.”

  “Has it indeed! Well, Miss Bulmer, let me give you a quid pro quo. Start to do anything along the lines just suggested, and we, too, will have our say. In fact, I should have no compunction in recommending—because you are going to such great lengths to impede me that you must have something to hide—in recommending that you, yourself should be arrested for murder.”

  Miss Bulmer sprang from her chair.

  “How dare you threaten me!”

  “Please allow me to continue. The charge may not stick, but the arrest would be publicised, and I think I could make out so plausible a case against you that . . .” Masters stopped in mid-sentence before continuing more slowly, “. . . that the newspapers would have a field day and quite a lot of the mud would stick.” He finished talking and turned to Green. “A word with you. Outside, Bill.”

  “What about me, Chief?” said Reed.

  “Stay here please, for the moment.”

  “What the hell’s got into you, George?” asked Green when they were out in the corridor. “Threatening her like that . . .”

  “You told me to, remember.”

  “Not to threaten to charge her with murder.”

  “You saw her reaction.”

  “Oh, yes, I saw it. I thought she was going to fling a book at you.”

  “Touched a sore spot, did I?”

  “And how! But she’ll call your bluff, that one.”

  “That’s what I thought—at first. And then when I said I could make out a plausible case against her, an idea suddenly came to me. How we needn’t worry our heads about those fingerprints.”

  “I saw the idea come. What was it exactly?”

  Masters spent two or three minutes telling him. Green paid close attention even though during the recital he took out a battered Kensitas packet and lit up a cigarette. When Masters had finished speaking, Green paused reflectively for a few moments before replying and then said: “Why not? Let’s try it for size. What’s the first move?”

  “To get Sir Thomas to agree to fix a meeting for us. He’ll be present, of course. His son and Rachel, with June Hall and her father. I’ll go and see him to persuade him it is absolutely vital. I’ll take Reed. Can I leave it to you to question Miss Freeman and Miss Lickfold?”

  “Right. When do you want this meeting?”

  “This evening. Early. I’ll try and get Kenny to lay it on for cocktail time—use a drink as the excuse.”

  “Right. What about Miss Bulmer?”

  “We’ll leave her. I’ll just go and tell her we’re leaving, and just to make her happy I’ll say we shall probably have to tackle Fryer at her home. That’ll please her.”

  He returned to the study.

  “Sorry about that, Miss Bulmer. I’ve just sent one of my men over to Groombridge to get Miss Fryer’s home number. I suddenly realised whilst I was talking to you that I could get it from there. Now, where were we? Oh, yes! You are still determined to be obstructive and you are going to report me. That being so, I think no further value is to be got out of this interview. So we will go, but we may well have to return, as I cannot leave matters in their present unsatisfactory state.” He turned to Reed. “Will Berger have had time to get to Groombridge yet? You see, I don’t want Miss Bulmer ringing through there to order them not to give him the number.”

  “You needn’t worry, Superintendent. He won’t get it. All the school staff—and that includes domestic staff—have been warned to refuse to speak to you.”

  “I see. So it is stalemate, Miss Bulmer. A great pity! This could all have been settled so easily and amicably. I hope you realise what a terrible position you have put yourself in, and your staff, too. I may well have to invite them to the police station to question them, and that can be a far from pleasant experience.”

  “My staff will follow my lead for the good of the school, Mr Masters.”

  “I admire loyalty, Miss Bulmer. But this could be sadly misplaced. However, you’ve taken your stand, so now we will go, to leave you to think things over.”

  When they had left the study, Reed said angrily: “She thinks you’re stupid, Chief.”

  “She may be right. But not for the reasons she thinks.”

  “What was all that flannel at the end about anyway?”

  “I wanted to lull her suspicions while the D.C.I. asked Miss Freeman a question or two and got the answers out of her before Miss Bulmer could intervene.”

  “Was that why you told her you were hanging on until Berger could reach Groombridge?”

  “Yes. Come on now. If the D.C.I. has finished, collect him and Sergeant Berger and come out to the car. We’ve got a lot to do.”

  When they were all in the car, Masters said: “Stop at the first phone box. I’ll see if Sir Thomas is at home. If he is, you can take us there. Then Berger can take the D.C.I. on to Miss Lickfold’s house. You shouldn’t have l
ong to wait there, Bill, because afternoon school will soon be over, and I should think Lickfold hurries home. After that you can pick us up again.”

  “Right.”

  *

  Sir Thomas must have been watching out for them at half-past six, for he opened the door before Masters had time to ring the bell.

  “All here,” he said. “And I’ve taken the liberty of inviting Hildidge. I hope that is agreeable to you?”

  “Certainly. In fact, I’m pleased he is here. I have no wish for anything to appear hole-and-corner about this meeting.”

  “I hope not. You’ve really told me nothing of what you are about, and though I agreed to get Hall and his daughter here, I had a devil of a job to persuade him. He is not, you see, a friend of mine, accustomed to coming here. We are the merest of acquaintances, and a somewhat mysterious invitation to drinks at this time puzzled him mightily, and so he started to ask questions. In the end I had to fall back on what he took to be an ulterior motive, and confess that I wanted to sound him out concerning the feasibility of developing some property of mine. I’m afraid he is in for a rude shock, isn’t he?”

  “I think he will be grateful to you.”

  “I hope so.”

  “His daughter is here?”

  “She was a stumbling block. He couldn’t see why I should invite a schoolgirl to a business meeting over a drink, but she’s here. I think cupidity finally triumphed over curiosity.”

  “Good. And Rachel?”

  “Getting her—and Norman—was easy enough. He wants to apologise to you by the way.”

  “Please tell him not to bother. Now, Sir Thomas, if we could join the others?”

  “Right. The girls are in the kitchen eating fruit cake. There is no prep tonight, so they feel they are on the spree.”

  “Good for them,” said Green, following Sir Thomas into the drawing room. “That’ll put on a bit of weight that in five years’ time they’ll be doing their damnedest to take off.”

  “Gentlemen,” announced Sir Thomas, “the team from Scotland Yard. Everybody knows everybody except, I think, Mr Nicholas Hall. Mr Hall, Superintendent Masters, D.C.I. Green . . .”