Death at St. Asprey’s School

by Bruce, Leo

  “But how can you possibly say it was by someone connected with the school?”

  “I said it was difficult to see it any other way. But it is not impossible, of course.”

  “I hope you may find that. Some passing stranger.”

  Again Carolus had to suppress a smile.

  “But even that would not help the vital question of the school’s reputation,” went on Mrs. Sconer. “Do you think that any preparatory school can survive a murder?”

  “Some of them have survived a good deal. Epidemics, lunacy, fatal accidents, inefficiency, poisoned food, drunken masters and misbehaviour of most kinds.”

  “You mean this is only a step further?” said Mrs. Sconer optimistically.

  “Rather a long step. But I think if the thing doesn’t reveal too much scandal you might pull through.”

  “Must the parents be told?”

  “They will read about it in the morning papers tomorrow. It’s just the sort of job to appeal to the popular press. Do the names of any of your parents make good gossip column news?”

  “Many, I fear. Many. The Minister for Horticulture. Lydia Stripp the film star. The Sheik of Alcalaquiv’r. General Smiling. The Dean of Bournmouth…”

  “Yes, yes. It’s very awkward.”

  “Do you think we should send the boys home?”

  “How much do they know already?”

  “Impossible to say. I have not spoken to anyone yet except my husband. But I should say, unfortunately, that the news will have reached them by this time. Perhaps in an exaggerated form.”

  “It’s not the sort of question in which I can possibly be of much use. I can only promise you to do everything I can to get at the truth.”

  Mrs. Sconer did not seem enthusiastic about this.

  “I hope you will find it came from outside.” she said dismally.

  “What time is it believed to have happened?”

  “Please don’t question me about it, Mr. Deene,” said Mrs. Sconer haughtily.

  Carolus ignored that.

  “When did you hear?” he asked.

  “We were having tea. In here. Young Mayring suddenly entered. I was about to remind him that this was the private part of the house when I saw that he was staring and stuttering like a half-wit. ‘There’s been an accident,’ he said. ‘Sime … I think he’s dead.’ My husband went with him from the room, and some time later returned to tell me what had happened.”

  “You saw no one else till I came in?”

  “My husband particularly asked me to remain here. I have seen no one. Perhaps Matron can give you more information.”

  “I’m sure she can,” said Carolus and left the room.

  Matron could, and was eager to do so.

  “I saw this coming,” she said to Carolus.

  “You…”

  “Well, it had to come, really. That archery ought to have been stopped from the start.”

  Carolus looked at Matron’s lean face without any affection at all.

  “Could you tell me,” he asked patiently, “where everybody was this afternoon?”

  “I don’t know how you expect me to know that,” said Matron. “I’ve scarcely been out of this room. I did happen to see young Mayring going up to the cricket field with the boys. Then Duckmore walked up there by the quick way. But Mayring was back on the archery lawn at four o’clock.”

  “What about Stanley?”

  “He was there too, but I don’t know for how long. I noticed him not long before they all came in. He doesn’t take the interest some of them do in the archery.”

  “Do you know where Mrs. Sconer was this afternoon?”

  “Mrs. Sconer? She was here for a little while after lunch. There were several things she wished to see me about.”

  “And after that?”

  “I have no idea,” said Matron, annoyed at being found deficient. “She may have been in the rose garden. She often goes there in the afternoon.”

  “But you didn’t see her?”

  “How could I, from here? The rose garden’s on the other side of the house.”

  “Visible from the other wing?”

  “Yes. I can’t see everything from here. But I know Mr. Sconer did something unusual for him. He went and had a chat with them on the archery lawn.”

  “You are sure of that?”

  “Of course I am. It was most unusual. He always goes to his study on Thursday afternoons Writing to Parents, till he joins Mrs. Sconer for tea at half past four. He’s not a man to break his habits. When I saw him I was surprised. I should have heard anyway.”

  “You mean?”

  “One of the boys would have told me. Or Mrs. Skippett. She was Doing the hall this afternoon.”

  “I see. Who else was on the archery lawn?”

  “They were all there. Mr. and Mrs. Ferris. Mr. Kneller. Duckmore. Mollie Westerly. Quite a party, it was. I was wondering who was supposed to be on duty. Somebody ought to have been supervising the boys’ tea.”

  “No one was?”

  “I went down myself when I heard the noise. They came into the dining-room at a quarter past four. After I had been there ten minutes Duckmore came in. I intended to tell Mrs. Sconer of that. It doesn’t do for the Men to come late on duty?”

  “Where was Parker all this time?”

  Matron looked somewhat ferocious.

  “I’m sorry to say Parker has developed some very intemperate habits lately,” she said. “He came in here for a few moments after lunch while I was giving out medicines. I don’t know what he wanted—an aspirin I suppose. He often takes one. At any rate he was at the medicine cupboard. Then he went to his room—it couldn’t have been more than half-past one—and I could guess what he went there for.”

  “What?”

  “Well, I knew he had a bottle of whisky there. It went down by more than two inches this afternoon.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I happened to notice. He must have been drinking fast because it was all between half-past one and four because he wouldn’t miss his tea.”

  “What else did you happen to notice, Matron?”

  Quite unconscious of irony, Matron continued with gusto.

  “There was Something between Mr. and Mrs. Ferris,” she said. “Mrs. Sconer doesn’t really like them spending so much time at the school with this archery they’re so keen on. They are parents, after all, and you never know where you are with them. But this afternoon I couldn’t help seeing there was something going on between them.”

  “Such as?”

  “She kept walking away and coming back as though they were arguing and she was threatening to leave. Of course I couldn’t hear what they were saying but sometimes actions, speak louder than words. They went off together, though. Not long after four that must have been. Of course they only live a mile away so they can pop over in a minute in that car of theirs. I used to think it was something else that brought them over, before all this archery started.”

  “You did?”

  “Well, yes, because I couldn’t help noticing it when she and Sime were together. That was when Mr. Ferris didn’t come of course. I felt I should tell Mrs. Sconer what I’d seen.”

  “What had you seen, Matron?”

  “Nothing, really. Only it was what went on behind the scenes. You can always tell. As if Sime wasn’t doing enough mischief, with Mollie Westerly running after him. I don’t say it had gone very far, mind you. but I couldn’t miss seeing how they looked at one another. That made it awkward, of course. One of the boys’ mothers with one of the Men. Mrs. Sconer was quite worried about it long before all this happened.”

  “You don’t think Bill Ferris knew?”

  “That’s another thing. Just lately I’ve begun to think he did. Only from what I couldn’t help seeing when the archery was going on, but I must say I had begun to think there was more in it than met the eye. You could tell by the way he behaved. I said to Mrs. Sconer, I’m afraid Mr. Ferris has begun to Wonder. S
he didn’t like the sound of it at all, their being parents and everything. But she couldn’t get Mr. Sconer to get rid of Sime, for all that. It seems he was very clever with the teaching but as I said to Mrs. Sconer, what’s the good of that if he’s going to Cause Trouble? And of course as it’s turned out I was right. The boys are already talking about this murder and before long we shall have parents coming down to take them away.”

  “Had anything happened earlier in the afternoon?” asked Carolus relentlessly keeping Matron to the point.

  “It depends what you call anything happening. Two of the boys had sneaked away from the cricket field to hang round Sime’s window but they must have found him asleep because they were off again at once.”

  “What time was that?”

  “It couldn’t have been later than three, and I know it was after quarter to, because the programme I listen to ends at 2.45 and I’d switched it off.”

  “You don’t have a television set?”

  “I haven’t time for that,” said Matron understandably. “I like just the old-fashioned radio because I can listen while I’m doing something else. Anyway, as I say, I had just switched this programme off and was having a few minutes quiet. I happened to be looking out of the window when I thought I heard someone in the passage here. I might have gone to see, if it hadn’t been that just then I saw these boys creeping through the trees from the cricket field and thinking that no one noticed them.” There was a touch of scorn in Matron’s voice for the boys who had so underrated her powers of observation. “It was young Chavanne and a boy called Lipscomb. I guessed where they were going when I saw them dodging about before making for the back of the staff bungalow. But they couldn’t have been there a minute. I can’t see Sime’s window from here, of course, but not two minutes later they were rushing back to the cricket field. I should have told Mrs. Sconer about it if All This hadn’t happened. She doesn’t like the boys hanging about Sime’s window at all hours of the day. Anyway this time they didn’t stop there to talk.”

  “I wonder why not.”

  “I’ve thought about that,” said Matron. “It must have been either that they saw he was asleep or that his curtains were drawn. He asks one of the Men to draw his curtains sometimes if they go in during the afternoon, so that he can get some sleep.”

  “Perhaps Sime himself sent the boys away?”

  “I hadn’t thought of that,” said Matron regretfully. “But then again it might have been Mr. Stanley who saw them and sent them back to the cricket field, because he won’t put up with all that. There was Trouble about the other day, as I told Mrs. Sconer. But whatever it was the boys didn’t say.”

  “Did you see much of the archery itself?”

  “I don’t take a lot of interest in it,” said Matron, “but I couldn’t help noticing the way they were doing it this afternoon, as though it was a match or a competition or something. There would be five of them shooting at the same time because they’ve got five targets.”

  “Can you see all five archers from here when they’re shooting?”

  “Well, no I can only see the three,” said Matron, evidently speaking with profound regret. “But I can tell if there are five of them out there because of the arrows.”

  “How many of them were there altogether this afternoon?”

  “I can’t say that they were all there at the same time, mind you, because the Ferrises went off earlier than the rest and Mayring and Duckmore were up at the cricket field until just at the last. But there must have been … well, let’s see … there were Mr. and Mrs. Ferris, Duckmore, Mr. Kneller, Mr. Stanley, Mayring and Mollie Westerly. That’s seven.”

  “So they couldn’t all shoot at the same time?”

  “No. Only the five of them. There was generally one or two waiting for the chance to follow them.”

  “When they had finished shooting did they go down to recover their arrows?”

  “They always do that. All five of them together.”

  “Leaving their bows behind?”

  “That’s it. You could see them from here counting up their scores this afternoon. Quite seriously they seemed to be taking it. Some of them went on till quite half past four. The tea in the common-room must have been cold.”

  “Did you notice if Duckmore remained out there to the end?”

  “No, he didn’t. I thought afterwards it was funny him being late coming on duty in the dining-room when he wasn’t out there the last time I looked. According to what I couldn’t help noticing he must have gone in at about ten or a quarter past four, which was only right because he was meant to be on duty for tea at four-fifteen.”

  “But he wasn’t.”

  “No. As I say, I could tell by the noise that no one was on so I went down. Presently Duckmore came in. I could see he was fussed. I thought at the time it was because he was late on duty but now I wonder.”

  Did you speak to him?”

  “Yes. I did. I felt it was only right because I meant to tell Mrs. Sconer that he was late coming on duty. I said, ‘You’re very late, Mr. Duckmore’. I thought at first he wasn’t going to answer. Some of the Men can be very rude when I speak to them. Duckmore looked at me as though he was trying to understand what I had said. ‘Late?’ he said, staring like an idiot which I’m really more than half inclined to think him. ‘Late?’ Then he began gaping at his watch as though he was trying to tell the time and couldn’t. I didn’t think much of it at the time, except just to remember to tell Mrs. Sconer, but it seems rather funny now, doesn’t it?”

  “Curious, yes. Did you happen to see any more of him?”

  Matron gave Carolus a freezing look. She was put out at him for doubting her thoroughness.

  “I came up here after the boys had finished their tea,” she said. “There are several who come for their medicine after tea. I always have trouble with the little Fitzsmith because his mother insists on his taking enormous capsules which he can scarcely swallow. They’re made of stuff like rice paper and full of some dark crystals inside. It’s his doctor at home who makes them up for him. But this afternoon I knew he’d thrown one away because there ought to have been four, one left for that day and three for the next after which I should count out the next week’s supply. Little Fitzsmith was so tiresome about it and swore he’d never thrown one away, and I was telling him I should have to tell Mrs. Sconer when I happened to look out of the window and saw something you ought to know.”

  “Yes?” said Carolus almost breathlessly.

  “The front door slammed and out rushed Duckmore looking as though all the furies were after him. I called out, ‘Mr. Duckmore! Where are you going?’ but he didn’t take a bit of notice. I thought I had better go down and tell Mrs. Sconer at once about this, because I knew he ought to be on duty. Of course, I didn’t know Anything Had Happened then; it was just that I knew Mrs. Sconer wouldn’t like one of the Men rushing out like that and leaving the boys. In the hall I met Mr. Sconer and Mayring. I thought there was something wrong by the look on their faces. I don’t usually have much to say to Mr. Sconer but this time I told him that Duckmore had just run out of the front gates like a madman, and he sent Mayring after him.”

  “Did you then return to your room?”

  “Yes. Mr. Sconer went off towards the boys’ part of the house and I didn’t like to disturb Mrs, Sconer in the drawing-room.”

  “You were back at your window in time to see me drive in?”

  “Yes. I did happen to notice your car and Duckmore getting out of it. I heard you tell Mayring not to let Duckmore get away but I still didn’t know what was wrong.”

  “Really? It was a quarter to five when I picked up Duckmore.”

  “Yes,” said Matron angrily. “It only shows how they were trying to keep it from anyone, doesn’t it? You can’t tell me some of them hadn’t known for some time by then. But was I told? Not till one of the boys came running in and said ‘Old Sime’s been shot in the eye by an arrow like King Harold at the Battle of Hastings’.
Can you imagine it?”

  “Which boy was that?”

  “Lipscomb. I asked him whatever he was talking about and he said Chavanne had told him. It was All Over the School in a moment.”

  Carolus did not show the least sign of impatience. Although he was desperately anxious to see the assistant masters before the police examined them, he knew enough of witnesses to realize that in Matron he had the observer of all time. Keen, watchful, malicious, there was nothing she would have missed. She might never again be so informative. With the police she would try to cover up things she thought to the school’s disadvantage and even with Carolus, if he returned to question her after her first excitement was over, she might be reserved and difficult. She did not exaggerate for she was too accustomed to having the facts she gave to Mrs. Sconer disputed by erring Men or the boys themselves to take any risks.

  “So you did go down to Sime’s room?” asked Carolus.

  “Yes. But it was too late. There is no key in the lock—I told Mrs. Sconer long ago it Doesn’t Do for the Men to be able to lock their doors—but Mr. Stanley was there and Mr. Sconer had told him not to allow anyone in. So I haven’t seen It yet. I suppose the police will take It away now?”

  “They’ll have a lot of photography and measurement to do first,” predicted Carolus. “Did Sime’s bed always face the window like that?”

  “No. It was against the wall on your right as you go in.”

  “Who moved it?”

  “He wanted it moved himself when he knew he had to Lie Up for some time. I suppose he wanted to be able to look out and talk to the boys at the window when they came to see him.”

  “Did you have it moved?”

  Matron hesitated a moment as though wondering whether she was committing herself.

  “In the end, I did. When he first asked me I told him it would be bad for his eyes, reading against the light like that. But he kept on about it and said he’d rather be able to see out than be able to read. So I got two of the Men to move it.”

  “Which were they?”