“I’m sorry, Aunt Daisy,” Belinda said anxiously. “Are you awfully cross with Daddy?”
“No, darling, it’s no use being cross when he’s just doing his job.”
“It isn’t, is it? Aunt Daisy, please will you hold on for just a minute?” The ear-piece clicked on the table, then Daisy heard a muffled voice: “Granny, may I please invite Aunt Daisy to tea,please?”
The invitation was proffered and accepted, and Daisy returned to her lunch. The sardines looked less appetizing than ever, especially as she was going out for tea. Putting them away in the larder, she vowed never to eat them again once she was married to Alec.
Too maddening that he had buzzed off! And taken Tom Tring with him, as well. She would willingly have told Tring her deduction, but she hesitated to approach whomever Alec had left in charge at this end, let alone—heaven forbid!—Superintendent Crane.
There was always Sergeant Jameson. Strictly speaking he was not involved in the investigation, but on the other hand, he was right on the spot.
Daisy decided to pop into the museum and have a word with Sergeant Jameson on her way to St. John’s Wood for tea. She worked hard for a couple of hours, then walked to the Natural History Museum. Fate was against her. It was Jameson’s day off.
“He’ll be in tomorrow, miss,” his substitute promised her. “Ten till six, same as usual, but the museum opens at ha’ past two, Sundays.”
Sighing, she thanked him and went out to catch a Number 74 ’bus.
By the next day, Daisy had demoted her educated deduction to guesswork. She was in two minds whether to trouble Jameson with it, or wait till Alec came back, or simply abandon it.
It was a bleak day, autumn showing its teeth. Sitting at the typewriter, Daisy grew chilled, her feet frigid. She decided a brisk walk was what she needed, and once outside, her steps turned of their own volition towards the museum.
When she arrived, the constables on duty were just dispersing on their regular patrols about the halls and galleries. “And keep an eye on that Grand Duke,” Jameson admonished them as they departed, leaving him alone in the police post.
“Be with you in a minute, miss,” he grunted, and filled in some figures on a duty sheet. “There we are. Now, what’s up? I heard you was asking for me yesterday.”
“I expect you’ll think I’m a fearful ass,” said Daisy tentatively, “but I’ve had an idea, and I decided you were the best person to try it on.”
“Go ahead, miss. Nothing venture, nothing gain.”
Thus encouraged, Daisy explained her reasoning—omitting its dream source. The sergeant listened intently, whether from politeness or interest, she could not tell. “So, you see,” she finished apologetically, “it’s not much more than a guess.”
“Blimey, miss, sounds good to me! It’s true Mr. Steadman won’t let the housemen go near his skellingtons. Course, I’m not a detective officer, and I’m bound to ask, have you told Detective Chief Inspector Fletcher?”
“He’s gone out of town. Looking for Constable Westcott, actually. He hadn’t heard of him till I mentioned him.”
Jameson blenched. “Flippin’ ’ell, if you’ll excuse my language, miss. He already thinks we’re blinkin’ idiots, letting a murder and a burglary go on under our noses. And now no one told him about Westcott retiring!”
“I’m afraid not.” Daisy saw her chance and seized it. “But if you were to find the jewels, when everyone else has missed them … Of course, if they’re not there, no one need know we looked.”
“We?”
“You’d let me go with you, wouldn’t you?” she coaxed. Without her to egg him on, she thought, he might get cold feet. “It’s only fair.”
“That’s as may be.” He gave her a harassed glance. “In the dinosaur skulls, you think they are. We couldn’t go while the museum’s open.”
Careful not to show her triumph at his choice of pronouns, Daisy glanced around. She had not noticed that the museum was busier than usual. A stream of visitors was still pushing in through the doors, and through the arches she saw crowds around the African elephant and wandering from bay to bay of the Central Hall.
“No, not till closing time,” she agreed. “I could come back just before six o’clock.”
“That’s the ticket,” said Jameson, his relief suggesting he doubted that, when it came to the point, she would actually return. “I’ll have to clear it with Sergeant Drummond, that takes over at six, but I don’t s’pose he’ll mind.”
“Right-oh, then, Sergeant, I’ll see you at ten to six,” Daisy vowed.
She decided to go and have a quick look at the dinosaur gallery, just to make sure the ladders were still there, she toldherself. As she rounded the police post, she came face to face with Rudolf Maximilian.
“Hello,” she said, “are you still hoping they’ll let you cut up the animals?”
“Mine ruby is somevhere,” he said sulkily. “I try to see vhere might it be, so to tell police.”
