“Anything that might suggest that Miss Peach was ever here.”
“But you are not convinced? Because of the green leather bag?”
“Which is not the bag that was found near the body, and it stretches credibility to suppose that she had two different bags.”
“Really, Michael,” Neate said in severe tones. “You used to be more suspicious than that. The bags are easy to explain. Kent Atherton discovered signs that someone was here when he visited with Katherine Parish. His brother being away, he took it upon himself to return the next day, where he encountered Miss Peach. Finding that she suspected him, he strangled her, took her body to Tonkins Farm, arranging the barn to look as if she had been living there. He knew that Miss Parish would confirm the green bag, so he put the contents into a different bag and disposed of the green leather one, to ensure there was no connection with this tower.”
“That is—” Michael began, then frowned. “Actually, that is very logical. And that dilapidated old cloth bag is not the sort of thing Miss Peach would use. But…Kent Atherton?Do you truly think he murdered Nicholson?”
“Well, hecouldhave done,” Neate said with a shrug. “A great many people could have done.”
“Yes, butwhy?”Michael said. “Give me a single sensible reason and I will arrest him today.”
Neate sighed. “No idea.”
They both laughed.
Sandy, meanwhile, had been prowling round the room, moving furniture, looking behind and under things, even raking through the ashes in the brazier. Now he rattled the door to the outside. “Is there a key to this door?”
“No. Atherton said it is missing,” Michael said.
“Ye’ve two unexplained keys from Miss Peach’s pocket,” Sandy said.
“Oh, but that is—” Michael stopped. Impossible, surely, but it would not hurt to try them, would it?
The second key opened the door.
“There ye are,” Sandy said smugly. “Now ye’ve the proof that Miss Peach was here.”
“So we do,” Michael said wonderingly.
He stepped out onto the balcony. It was only narrow, with a low wall on the outer side, and steps leading up to a covered viewpoint on the very top of the tower.
“A fine view,” Sandy said, following him nimbly up the steps.
“A bit blowy up here,” Michael said.
“Aye, and nothing left for us to find,” Sandy said, looking around at the dusty, leaf-blown floor. “No green bag, for instance.”
“Yet she must have come up here,” Michael said thoughtfully. “She had the key in her pocket. Why else would she keep it except to use this vantage point?”
“When was the door locked and when was it unlocked?” Sandy said.
Michael frowned, considering. “It was locked when I was here before. It wasunlockedwhen Kent Atherton was here with Miss Parish, but it was locked on his previous visit, and the key was missing the whole time.”
“Ah!” Sandy said. “And what do you make of that?”
“If we assume that Miss Peach had the key the whole time… on one occasion she forgot to lock that door.”
“And what was different about that one time? The time when Miss Parish was here?”
“Nothing… except that there were signs of someone living there. The bed, disordered… as if someone had just risen from it!” he cried excitedly. “Theysurprisedher. She was sleeping, perhaps, woke in a panic hearing people coming up the stairs and rushed out onto the balcony to hide, but she forgot, or perhaps did not have time, to lock the door behind her. It was her hiding place, Sandy! At those times when the door was locked, she was out there, keeping out of sight. Probably she would have taken her bag with her, when she had sufficient notice of an arrival. And since she still had the key with her, that means she intended to return here.”
A cry from below sent them running down the steps again and into the top room, where James Neate was waving something triumphantly. “Her notebook, Michael! It was stitched into the mattress. Neatly done, but that is an old trick.”
“But what does it say? What was she up to? Why was she here?”
“Ah. It is all in code, sadly, but I shall work on it. It cannot be too complicated. I just need the book she used. There were some in her room, so I shall see what I can work out. It should not take long to decipher.”
