Bathurst, Anthony (Fictitious character) -- Fiction; Detective and mystery stories; England -- Fiction
“Yes—Daphne. But latest information that we have managed to pick up
proves that that is not the case. There has been a confusion of
identity. The murdered girl turns out to be another young lady.” He
crumbled a piece of bread on to the white table-cloth. “In the
greatest confidence, Mr. Falcon, I’ll tell you what we have discovered
and what brings me on the hunt to Westhampton. The murdered girl is a
Miss Sheila Delaney of ‘Rest Harrow,’ Tranfield.” He paused to watch
carefully the effect of his somewhat curt announcement upon Falcon’s
jovial face.
“Sheila Delaney?” he cried. “Colonel Dan’s daughter—oh, but that’s
bad—is there any chance that you’re mistaken?”
“None—I’m afraid,” replied Bannister gravely.
“What a dreadful business! Dreadful! Dreadful!” He wiped his forehead
with his handkerchief. “Everybody liked Sheila Delaney.”
“Now, Mr. Falcon. These two young men here—your two ‘commercials’—I’m
coming to my point. I have reason to believe that they are acquainted
with a Mr. Warburton—a Mr. Alan Warburton of Crossley Road,
Westhampton.”
“Sir Felix’s nephew, Inspector,” intervened Falcon. “_The_ Sir
Felix—the Mutual Bank——”
“So I understand—now could you arrange for me to have a little chat
with them? Don’t tell them who I am.”
Falcon’s face wore a new horror. “Surely you aren’t going to tell me
that Alan Warburton’s the murderer? I can’t believe that. Why——”
“Why—what?”
Falcon shifted uneasily in his chair and knew that despite all he
himself could achieve to the contrary, Bannister meant to have his
question answered. He caught the Inspector’s eyes fixed unwaveringly
on his own and realised that there was going to be no escape for him.
“Well,” he said eventually—semi-apologetically—“what I was going to
say exactly was this. Miss Delaney and Alan Warburton were, a short
time ago by way of being very great friends—that was all.” As he spoke
his eyes sought Bannister’s again in the hope that the Inspector would
be able to find satisfaction in his statement. But Bannister had by
this time scented his quarry and refused to be in any way denied the
swift exultation of the hunt.
“What do you mean exactly by the expression ‘great friends’?”
Falcon’s tongue played round his lips nervously before he answered.
“Well, Inspector, let me put it like this, they were seen about
together a rare lot. Went to dances together, went motoring
together—theatres—you know—the usual companionship of a young fellow
and a young girl. People began to look for one with the other.”
“Did that state of affairs exist what you might term recently?”
“That’s a question I couldn’t properly answer, Inspector. Certainly, I
believe they were nothing like as intimate as they had been in the
past. That’s what I’ve been told—and from what I’ve been able to see
for myself it was perfectly true. It was noticeable.”
“Had the lady other admirers or formed other attractions?”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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