‘So I hope. I think that Legge has been to gaol, that you know it, that you’re sorry for him, and that as long as you can avoid making a false statement you will give me as little information as possible. Is that right?’

‘It’s right in so far as I’ll continue to hold me tongue.’

‘Ugh!’ said Alleyn with a rueful grin. ‘You are being firm with me, aren’t you? Well, here we go again. I think that if Mr Legge had not been to gaol you would laugh like mad and tell me what a fool I was.’

‘You do, do you?’

‘Yes. And what’s more I do seriously advise you to tell me what you know about Legge. If you won’t do that, urge Legge to come out of the thicket, and tell me himself. Tell him that we’ve always got the manslaughter charge up our sleeves. Tell him that his present line of behaviour is making us extremely suspicious.’ Alleyn paused and looked earnestly at Miss Darragh.

‘You said something to this effect this morning, I know,’ he added. ‘Perhaps it’s no good. I don’t see why I should finesse. I asked Legge to let me take impressions of his fingerprints. Good prints would have been helpful but they’re not essential. He picked up the dart, it has been tested and we’ve got results. I asked him for impressions because I already suspected he had done time and I wanted to see how he’d respond. His response convinced me that I was right. We’ve asked the superintendent at Illington to send the dart to the Fingerprint Bureau. Tomorrow they will telephone the result.’

‘Let ‘um,’ said Miss Darragh cheerfully.

‘You know, you’re withholding information. I ought to be very stiff with you.’

‘It’s not meself I mind,’ she said. ‘I’m just wishing you’d leave the poor fellow alone. You’re wasting your time, and you’re going to do ‘um great harm in the end. Let ‘um alone.’

‘We can’t,’ said Alleyn. ‘We can’t let any of you alone.’

She began to look very distressed and beat the palms of her hands together.

‘You’re barking up the wrong tree,’ she said. ‘I’ll accuse no one; but look farther and look nearer home.’

And when he asked her what she meant she only repeated very earnestly, ‘Look farther and look nearer home. I’ll say no more.’

CHAPTER 14
Crime and Mr Legge

‘Fox,’ said Alleyn, ‘get your hat. We’ll walk to Cary Edge Farm and call on Miss Moore. Miss Darragh says it’s a mile and a quarter over the downs from the mouth of the tunnel. She says we shall pass Cubitt painting Parish on our way. An eventful trip. Let us take it.’