The car was a two-seater Daimler with a yellow body and a hood. This was
an exact description of Thornton Lyne's machine which had been found near
the place where his body was discovered. The hood of the car was up when
it was seen in the mews and the time apparently was between ten and
eleven on the night of the murder. But though he pursued the most
diligent inquiries, Tarling failed to discover any human being who had
either recognised Lyne or observed the car arrive or depart.
The hall porter of the flats, on being interviewed, was very emphatic
that nobody had come into the building by the main entrance between the
hours of ten and half-past. It was possible, he admitted, that they could
have come between half-past ten and a quarter to eleven because he had
gone to his "office," which proved to be a stuffy little place under the
stairs, to change from his uniform into his private clothes before going
home. He was in the habit of locking the front door at eleven o'clock.
Tenants of the mansions had pass-keys to the main door, and of all that
happened after eleven he would be ignorant. He admitted that he may have
gone a little before eleven that night, but even as to this he was not
prepared to swear.
"In fact," said Whiteside afterwards, "his evidence would lead nowhere.
At the very hour when somebody might have come into the flat--that is to
say, between half-past ten and a quarter to eleven--he admits he was not
on duty."
Tarling nodded. He had made a diligent search of the floor of the
basement corridor through the store-room into the courtyard, but had
found no trace of blood. Nor did he expect to find any such trace, since
it was clear that, if the murder had been committed in the flat and the
night-dress which was wound about the dead man's body was Odette Rider's,
there would be no bleeding.
"Of one thing I am satisfied," he said; "if Odette Rider committed this
murder she had an accomplice. It was impossible that she could have
carried or dragged this man into the open and put him into the car,
carried him again from the car and laid him on the grass."
"The daffodils puzzle me," said Whiteside. "Why should he be found with
daffodils on his chest? And why, if he was murdered here, should she
trouble to pay that tribute of her respect?"
Tarling shook his head. He was nearer a solution to the latter mystery
than either of them knew.
His search of the flat completed, he drove to Hyde Park and, guided by
Whiteside, made his way to the spot where the body was found. It was on
a gravelled sidewalk, nearer to the grass than to the road, and Whiteside
described the position of the body. Tarling looked round, and suddenly
uttered an exclamation.
"I wonder," he said, pointing to a flower-bed.
Whiteside stared, then laughed.
"That curious," he said. "We seem to see nothing but daffodils in this
murder!"
The big bed to which Tarling walked was smothered with great feathery
bells that danced and swayed in the light spring breezes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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