‘I am inclined to believe him,’ said Dame Beatrice.
‘I don’t think there is any doubt the body was carried in his van, ma’am, and buried while those chickens were being rounded up.’
‘Yes, but we know that the van was often left in the Buxton’s drive. Rattock, no doubt, knows how to drive it and although he must have had some help with the burial, I have little doubt that Pybus rendered it. Rattock, of course, has denied and will continue to deny the charge of murder and will insist that Pybus named him only to save his own skin. In any case, with so many male tenants at Mrs Buxton’s house, you can scarcely substantiate a murder charge against anybody in particular, I suppose,’ said Dame Beatrice.
‘All Hatton Garden to a bit of costume jewellery it was Rattock’s crime, ma’am, but, as you say, we do need final proof of that and I fancy there is very little chance of having him follow Pybus’s example and sign a confession. When we questioned him he rambled a bit and contradicted himself once or twice, but I put that down to nerves. There’s no doubt he is a very frightened man. What he came out with amounts to this: it’s quite true that he was a boy in Pybus’s art class at the old school before this one was built. Pybus was always on the lookout for talent and took an interest in Rattock, thinking the boy had got a bit of a feel for painting and for colour, so he kept in touch with him after the lad left school. Rattock was the only one of Mrs Buxton’s tenants who was ever allowed to have visitors, but, according to Pybus, his own visits to Rattock were not very frequent. However, now and again he ran into Pythias at Mrs Buxton’s — and on one occasion Pythias went up to Rattock’s attic when Pybus was there and took a big portfolio of paintings with him.’
‘So at some time or other, Pybus became aware that Pythias had a talent far superior to his own.’
‘That’s about the size of it, ma’am. Well, to go back to what Pybus has told us, it so happened that on that breaking-up Friday before Christmas, Pybus paid a rather late visit to Rattock and spotted Pythias’s briefcase in Rattock’s room. Rattock told him that Pythias had had a bit of a turn-up with Mrs Buxton and had taken himself off to a friend’s house, leaving the money in Rattock’s charge as he had been unable to bank it in the dinner-hour.’
‘And Pybus swallowed this unlikely story?’
‘According to what he told us, he swallowed it hook, line and sinker, ma’am, and he swears that, until Pythias didn’t turn up at school and didn’t send in a medical certificate at the beginning of the Easter term, he had no suspicions of Rattock at all. After a bit, when still nothing had been heard of Pythias, he went to Mrs Buxton’s house and asked Rattock a few questions about Rattock’s story of being left in charge of the money. Rattock then told him that he was going to keep it, as he reckoned that Pythias was in some sort of trouble and had done a bunk. Pybus says he argued with him and that in the end Rattock agreed to return the cash to the school, but sent only the cheques to the bank and hung on to the actual money.’
‘He appears to have embroidered his story a little since he told it to me. Did you ask him anything about the picture of Vesuvius which was on exhibition in the art room?’ asked Dame Beatrice.
‘Yes, I did mention it. Pybus admitted that it had not been sent in specially for the opening-day exhibition, but that Rattock had given it to him and he had had it for some time. When he was planning this opening-day display, he thought it might prove attractive and eye-catching to what he called “the ignorant laity”. He also said he had not told Rattock that he was putting it on show simply because it had not occurred to him to do so.’
‘Did you query that explanation?’
‘No, ma’am. I thought it was probably true, and it didn’t matter much, anyway.’
‘I agree that it was true, but I also think that the fact he displayed the painting will prove to be Rattock’s Achilles heel.’
‘Could you explain that, ma’am? I realise that anybody who had seen the picture in the art room and the wall painting in Pythias’s bedsit would have no doubt that the same person painted both, but I don’t see how either picture could tell us anything about the murder. I wish you would tell me what you think happened on that Friday night the school broke up. Mrs Buxton’s story is that Pythias brought the journey money home with him and, when she refused to have it in the house for the weekend, he went off in a huff to stay with friends. Well, we can’t trace the friends and my hunch is that they don’t exist. We only have her word for it that he ever intended going away for Christmas at all. She may be lying about that, but it’s her story and she’s sticking to it.’
‘She also avers that a man and a woman called to take away Mr Pythias’s effects. That was almost certainly a lie.’
‘Oh, yes, we pinned that one down a bit, but only so far. I’m certain in my own mind that Buxton himself sold the things to dealers, but that doesn’t prove he murdered Pythias. What’s your version, ma’am, of what happened?’
‘The same, I fancy, as your own. When Laura visited the house on pretence of wishing to rent a room, she was well aware that Rattock was on the stairs listening to the conversation. I imagine he distrusted all visitors at that time. It seems quite likely that he overheard that altercation between Mrs Buxton and Mr Pythias on that Friday evening and realised that Pythias had in his charge a considerable sum of money.’
‘All clear and fits my own theories, ma’am. So the idea of murder came into Rattock’s mind. The thing about which I’m still in the dark is where the murder was committed. On the evidence of the golf-club, which we found in some long grass near the golf-course, it seems possible that the job was done there, but we’ve quartered the area without finding any other clue and we’ve been over the rooms at the house with a small-tooth comb. Mrs Buxton says Pythias left the house after their little set-to, but it doesn’t sound as though she actually saw him go.’
‘Because, of course, he did not leave the house that night. At least, that is my opinion. I think Mr Pythias went to his room that evening and Rattock tapped on the door and was admitted, although doubtless, from the point of view of Pythias, it was a surprise visit. I think they conversed and that Rattock took one of the golf-clubs out of the bag which was probably in a corner of the room, affected to demonstrate some stroke or other, but seized the opportunity to swing the club and kill the man.’
‘There’s no proof of it, ma’am. We got no prints off the handle of the club we found and the chap who bought the rest of the clubs can’t describe the man who sold them to him.’
‘Neither the prints of the murderer nor those of Pythias were on the club you found, of course,’
‘That’s right. Well, we’ve got a signed confession from Pybus, but there is no doubt that he didn’t see the murder committed. He only got suspicious when Pythias didn’t turn up at school. Even then, I’m not sure he suspected Rattock. It could have been anybody in the house who knew that the money was there. You pointed that out, and I agree.’
‘He probably asked some very searching questions the next time he visited Rattock, and the answers did not satisfy him.’
‘You’ve got something up your sleeve, ma’am. Would you care to come clean?’
‘Look at it this way: you and I have seen the pictures which we know were the work of Pythias. We have also (thanks to Pybus) seen the dreadful daub which was on exhibition in the art room. You yourself and Laura have identified the artist as the person who also painted the picture on the wall in Pythias’s lodging.’