Here Comes a Chopper by Gladys Mitchell Page A

missing. I was not, myself, in favour of this course, as, of course, I dislike the uniforms, although I see you don’t wear yours, but, as I was over-ruled, we called you in.’
    ‘Yes, Lady Catherine. You did. Did you formulate any opinion as to where the missing gentleman might have got to?’
    ‘No. He was temperamental, and was apt to be inconsiderate. I did not trouble myself to wonder where he was, but I
did
feel a certain amount of exasperation at having my table put out because he had chosen to pick a quar——’
    ‘Please, Lady Catherine,’ said the inspector, raising a formidably large hand with a curiously pale palm. ‘I don’t want you to volunteer any information at the moment unless I specifically ask for it.’
    ‘Oh?’ said Lady Catherine, taken aback. ‘Very well.’ She waited for the next question.
    ‘If the gentleman was odd in his habits, as you suggest, Lady Catherine——’
    ‘But I
don’t!’
said Lady Catherine vigorously. ‘You are not to put that in your notes!’ she observed, turning towards the sergeant. ‘I said nothing of the kind! Odd in his habits indeed! Anyone would suppose poor Harry was a Mormon elder! … Although I’m not sure that that is totally unreasonable, either,’ she suddenly added.
    ‘You said Mr Lingfield was eccentric and temperamental, Lady Catherine,’ pursued the inspector.
    ‘Yes, I did. I agree. That
is
what I said. I did
not
say that he was odd in his habits. The idea! Icertainly should not enter the house (of my own volition) of anyone who was odd in his habits!’
    She stared severely at the sergeant, who had discovered a microscopic portion of yolk of egg on his tunic and was methodically removing it with the nail of his right forefinger. He blushed, and applied himself to his notebook.
    ‘No, Lady Catherine?’ said the inspector in a tone which he meant to be encouraging. ‘Certainly not. But, if you don’t mind telling me——’
    ‘I will tell you everything,’ said Lady Catherine, in tragic and dramatic tones. The inspector coughed again, and caught Mrs Bradley’s eye.
    ‘Very good, Lady Catherine,’ he agreed. ‘Now, first, was there any reason for you to suspect that anybody wished Mr Lingfield any harm?’
    ‘Good gracious! Of course!’ said Lady Catherine. ‘But you mustn’t take any notice of what I say.’
    The inspector ignored this.
    ‘Now, Lady Catherine,’ he said, ‘at what time did Mr Lingfield leave this house the last time he went out of it?’
    ‘I don’t know exactly. It would have been at half-past three, no doubt. I was told he would go out then, so I suppose he did.’
    ‘Then you cannot be sure he went out at half-past three?’
    ‘Well, no, but Mrs Denbies and my grandnephew—George, you know—went out with him. They all went riding on the Common. Ridiculous, actually. Quite the wrong time of the day. The morning would have been far better.’
    ‘Mrs Claudia Denbies and Master George Merrow,’ said the inspector, dictating these names to the sergeant.
    ‘Very good, sir,’ said the sergeant, writing them down.
    ‘Very good, Lady Catherine,’ said the inspector. He turned towards Roger, who bestowed on him no very friendly gaze.
    ‘You are taking it for granted, Inspector,’ said Mrs Bradley, ‘that the corpse is that of Mr Lingfield?’
    ‘Well, no, madam, certainly not. The inquest will settle all that, or so we hope. But the fact remains that a gentleman is missing from this house, and a male corpse has been discovered in the vicinity.’
    ‘Of course, there’s such a thing as coincidence,’ said Roger. The inspector turned on him immediately.
    ‘How came you, sir,’ he asked, ‘to come upon the corpse in the coppice?’
    ‘I was looking for it,’ said Roger. ‘That is to say, I was looking for Mr Lingfield. That is to say, I was helping to look for him, you know.’
    ‘You knew Mr Lingfield, then?’
    ‘No, but the dog did. At least, we hoped it did.’
    ‘The dog,