Dance to Your Daddy

'But you don't believe him, do you?'

'No, I do not, but I am anxious that you shall not deny having run away to those cliffs or that Romilly found you and brought you back-that is, if these things really happened.'

'But the police may believe I drowned things-living creatures-and they may think I'm mad, and that I pushed Hubert over the cliff.'

'Tell the truth, simply and openly. Then I can help you. And now I will tell you the truth about myself. My name is not Beatrice Adler. I did not correct you at the time, because it was unnecessary and, for you, perhaps, alarming. I am Beatrice Adela Lestrange Bradley, and I am attached to the Home Office in the capacity of psychiatric adviser.'

'But then-but then-' she raised her eyes and gazed first at Dame Beatrice, who had seated herself composedly in an armchair, and then at the tall and magnificent Laura, who, like Rosamund herself, was still standing.

'Yes,' said Dame Beatrice quietly, 'failing yourself and Romilly, who is quite as infamous a man as you have always suspected, I am the heiress named in your grandfather's Will. Nevertheless, I have every intention of seeing that you get your rights. I cannot prove this to you at present. I can only ask you to believe me and to tell the police the whole truth.'

'But I-but I-'

'There's nothing else you can do,' interpolated Laura bluntly, 'so there's no point in raising objections. Besides, you're being cagey. You read this morning about the body on Dancing Ledge.'

(2)

The police, called up by Laura and told that Dame Beatrice was at home and would be pleased to see them, turned up in the person of a friend of hers, Detective-Inspector Nicholas Kirkby, recently promoted, youngish, keen, efficient and fair-minded. He was shown into the library, where she greeted him warmly. Laura had already made his acquaintance through Dame Beatrice and her own husband, so Rosamund was introduced and the two young women went out of the room.

'So that's the young girl I've been hearing about,' said Kirkby. 'The lady who chucks things, animate and inanimate, into the sea. The theory at Galliard Hall seems to be that this dead man was one of them. What can you tell me about her, Dame Beatrice? I was told you've been staying at the house, but left before the body was discovered.'

'That is so. I was invited to go to Galliard Hall to examine and treat this girl with a view to curing her of what I was told was an obsession. In my opinion, she is perfectly normal, and the stories which have been put about are lies. I hasten to add that this is only an opinion. After all, I have only known her for about a week. In her own view, she is the centre of a conspiracy to rob her of her fortune. When she dies, after she attains the age of twenty-five, the money goes to the man who claims to be her husband.'

'Mr Romilly Lestrange? Yes, he told me she was his wife. Why, do you doubt it, Dame Beatrice?'

'Yes, I do. I believe the girl, who asserts that she is merely his ward. I think the housekeeper, Mrs Judith, may be married to him.'

'It sounds an odd sort of set-up. Reminds you of a mid-Victorian novel, doesn't it? However, all I have to find out at the moment is who killed the Reverend Hubert Lestrange, so I am trying to discover where everybody was, and what each of the household was doing, at the probable time of his death.'

'And when was that?'

'That's my chief difficulty at present. It's hard to pin the doctors down about it. The furthest they will go is to say that when they examined him he had probably been dead for five or six days, but that, as the body had been in water, it could be as long as seven or eight days. Now, just for the record, could I have an account of your own movements for the past eight days?'

'Certainly. That takes us back to yesterday (Sunday) week, does it not?' She opened a table drawer and took out her engagement book. 'Last Sunday week I was at home here and, apart from a stroll in the garden to look at the early daffodils, I did not leave the house. 'Last Monday I went to London on a routine visit to my clinic. I caught the early train-the slow one, because the fast, which comes through from Weymouth, does not stop at Brockenhurst-and reached my clinic at twelve. I lunched at half-past one at the Dorchester, where they will remember me, took a short stroll in the Park and returned to my clinic at three. I remained there until half-past four, took tea there with the resident staff, had about an hour's conversation with the doctor-in-charge, and caught the six-thirty fast train from Waterloo to Bournemouth, where my chauffeur met me with the car. I arrived home at approximately nine o'clock, dined, talked to Laura, sent her to bed and then I stayed up and read until about midnight.'

'That seems to account very nicely for Sunday and Monday.'

'On Tuesday I attended the baptism of Laura's baby daughter. We lunched at home and the ceremony was at three in the village church. After the ceremony, which was also attended by the Assistant Commissioner and his son, I told Laura that I had received an invitation to stay at Galliard Hall.'

'Oh, yes. When did you receive this invitation?'

'On the previous Thursday. Laura usually attends to my correspondence, but this envelope was marked Personal, so, of course, she did not open it and, as I did not make up my mind immediately whether to accept or not, I did not mention it until I had come to a decision.'

'But you did accept the invitation?'

'Oh, yes, after some thought, I wrote to Romilly Lestrange on the Monday, while I was at my clinic, and posted the letter at Waterloo.'

'May I ask why it took you from the Thursday until the Monday to make up your mind?'

'Certainly you may. I had never heard of Romilly Lestrange, and his claim to be my cousin by my first marriage I mentally queried. This being so, I decided that Romilly might be a scoundrel, and I thought I would add him to my collection of smooth villains. I have done so with the greatest delight.'

'That, then, brings us to Wednesday and the time you actually spent at Galliard Hall.'

Dame Beatrice gave him a detailed account of her stay, including her talks with Rosamund and the others. He did not ask any questions until she had finished. Then he said:

'So you disbelieve Mr Romilly Lestrange's description of the strange conduct of the young lady, and she, in spite of what he told you, insists she is not his wife.'

'At present I am inclined to believe the girl. I think she has been worried, thwarted and unhappy, but that is not all. I believe she has gone in fear of her life. I do not know who Romilly is, but I doubt whether he is a member of my first husband's family. There is much that I intend to find out, but, so long as the girl is safe, I am in no hurry to continue my investigations on her behalf. They can wait until you have cleared up your case. May I ask what makes you regard the Reverend Hubert's death as murder?'

'That he was murdered is only our theory. It may have been suicide, but, considering his vocation, we are doubtful about that. However, if he hadn't been a clergyman we should have been more open-minded about suicide than we are. Our object, when we've heard what our witnesses have to tell us, is to try to find out what on earth he was doing on the cliff at all.'

'I wonder whether he had paid any previous visits to Galliard Hall? I understand that he had not.'

'That's something I hope to find out. You mean he may have been decoyed on to the cliff-top. If he didn't know the countryside, he wouldn't have realised that Dancing Ledge is not on the way to Galliard Hall. I asked Mr Romilly for a list of his guests-and his household. I wonder whether you would be good enough to check it with me?'