“It is supposed,” I said, “to induce punctuality.”
The inspector snorted.
“I don’t think we need go further into that now, Inspector,” said Colonel Melchett tactfully. “What we want now is the true story from both Mrs. Protheroe and young Redding. I telephoned to Haydock and asked him to bring Mrs. Protheroe over here with him. They ought to be here in about a quarter of an hour. I think it would be as well to have Redding here first.”
“I’ll get on to the station,” said Inspector Slack, and took up the telephone.
He spoke down it.
“And now,” he said, replacing the receiver, “we’ll get to work on this room.”
He looked at me in a meaningful fashion.
“Perhaps,” I said, “you’d like me out of the way.”
The inspector immediately opened the door for me. Melchett called out:
“Come back when young Redding arrives, will you, Vicar? You’re a friend of his and you may have sufficient influence to persuade him to speak the truth.”
I found my wife and Miss Marple with their heads together.
“We’ve been discussing all sorts of possibilities,” said Griselda. “I wish you’d solve the case, Miss Marple, like you did the time Miss Wetherby’s gill of picked shrimps disappeared. And all because it reminded you of something quite different about a sack of coals.”