‘Yes, isn’t it? It sounds quite idiotic. I can hear that myself. What I really mean, I suppose, is that there has been something, some little thing that I’ve noticed but I don’t know what I’ve noticed.’

‘About anyone in particular?’

‘No, I told you, that’s just it. I don’t know who it is. The only way I can sum it up is to say that there’s someone here, who’s—somehow—wrong! There’s someone here—I don’t know who—who makes me uncomfortable. Not when I’m looking at her but when she’s looking at me because it’s when she’s looking at me that it shows, whatever it is. Oh, I’m getting more incoherent than ever. And anyway, it’s only a feeling. It’s not what you want. It isn’t evidence.’

‘No,’ said Kelsey, ‘it isn’t evidence. Not yet. But it’s interesting, and if your feeling gets any more definite, Miss Rich, I’d be glad to hear about it.’

She nodded. ‘Yes,’ she said, ‘because it’s serious, isn’t it? I mean, someone’s been killed—we don’t know why—and the killer may be miles away, or, on the other hand, the killer may be here in the school. And if so that pistol or revolver or whatever it is, must be here too. That’s not a very nice thought, is it?’

She went out with a slight nod. Sergeant Bond said,

‘Crackers—or don’t you think so?’

‘No,’ said Kelsey, ‘I don’t think she’s crackers. I think she’s what’s called a sensitive. You know, like the people who know when there’s a cat in the room long before they see it. If she’d been born in an African tribe she might have been a witch doctor.’

‘They go round smelling out evil, don’t they?’ said Sergeant Bond.

‘That’s right, Percy,’ said Kelsey. ‘And that’s exactly what I’m trying to do myself. Nobody’s come across with any concrete facts so I’ve got to go about smelling out things. We’ll have the French woman next.’

Chapter 10

Fantastic Story

Mademoiselle Angèle Blanche was thirty-five at a guess. No make-up, dark brown hair arranged neatly but unbecomingly. A severe coat and skirt.

It was Mademoiselle Blanche’s first term at Meadowbank, she explained. She was not sure that she wished to remain for a further term.

‘It is not nice to be in a school where murders take place,’ she said disapprovingly.

Also, there did not seem to be burglar alarms anywhere in the house—that was dangerous.

‘There’s nothing of any great value, Mademoiselle Blanche, to attract burglars.’

Mademoiselle Blanche shrugged her shoulders.

‘How does one know? These girls who come here, some of them have very rich fathers. They may have something with them of great value. A burglar knows about that, perhaps, and he comes here because he thinks this is an easy place to steal it.’

‘If a girl had something of value with her it wouldn’t be in the gymnasium.’

‘How do you know?’ said Mademoiselle. ‘They have lockers there, do they not, the girls?’

‘Only to keep their sports kit in, and things of that kind.’