‘Yes, but it’s hopeless, I fancy.’

‘Try the bumby-hole,’ suggested Mrs Bradley.

‘The …?’

‘Well, I imagine that, in these enlightened times, the bungalow possesses a dustbin, but …’

‘Yes. We’ve raked over the local sewage works long ago, but no luck. And if you mean the heap of refuse behind Tiny Fullalove’s woodshed, and the woodshed roof, and all the guttering round the bungalow, and the bottom of the well, and the bottom of the rainwater butt, and inside the cistern and …’

Mrs Bradley cackled, and said that she was sorry she had spoken.

‘I should think so, too,’ said the Chief Constable. ‘Have another try.’

‘Has every pot and bottle been sent for analysis?’

‘Every single one. They got rid of the belladonna at once. There isn’t a trace of it left.’

‘Hardly surprising. I should scarcely think you’d have any luck with that, but one never knows; and although we can now prove that Ed Brown had identified the deadly nightshade for them, we cannot prove from that that their knowledge was guilty knowledge. I think we must employ the technique of the shoot.’

‘Eh? What shoot?’

‘The use of beaters to start up the game.’

The Chief Constable looked uneasy.

‘I’m not at all sure that I understand you,’ he said. ‘We have to go carefully, you know. Once Scotland Yard trace the typewriter (which they are absolutely bound to do in the end) we can charge Emming with uttering the typed letters, but there’s nothing strong enough yet for a murder charge, as I say, unless Tiny Fullalove squeals, and somehow I don’t believe he’s the squealing kind.’

‘I was thinking of Mrs Emming.’

‘We’ve tried her, you know. She isn’t easy.’

‘She would be a good deal easier if she knew that her own life was in danger.’

‘But it isn’t in danger.’

‘Not as long as it is perfectly certain that she isn’t going to give any evidence away. But what if Tiny Fullalove thought she would?’

‘Oh, I see. You mean …?’

‘I mean that the bleating of the lamb would tend to excite the tiger, particularly this tiger. And, as I think I said before, five thousand pounds isn’t so very much when it’s shared among three people.’

‘You think the woman will claim two-thirds of the money?’

‘Why should she not? She is in a position to point out to Tiny Fullalove that she may be the means of saving his neck. If Tiny had been the obvious claimant (which, as things stand, he most certainly is not) his position might have been awkward … Can’t you hear her saying it? She’s not a courageous type, but money is an amazing stimulant.’