Hickory Dickory Dock

"D'you think it might be important?" "It might be. One can't tell." Inspector Sharpe remained brooding for a few moments. Then he had Nigel Chapman in again.

"I've just had a rather interesting statement from Miss Jean Tomlinson," he said.

"Ah! Who's dear Jean been poisoning your mind against? Me?" "She's been talking about poison, and in connec-don with you, Mr. Chapman." "Poison and me? What on earth?" "Do you deny that some weeks ago you had a wager with Mr. Ba-teson about methods of obtaining poison in some way that could not be traced to you?" "Oh, that!" Nigel was suddenly enlightened.

"Yes, of course! Funny I never thought of that.

I don't even remember Jean being there. But you don't think it could have any possible significance, do you?" "Well, one doesn't know. You admit the fact, then?" "Oh, yes, we were arguing on the subject.

Colin and Len were being very superior and high-handed about it so I told them that with a little ingenuity anyone could get hold of a suitable supply of poison-in fact I said I could think of three distinct ways of doing it, and I'd prove my point, I said, by putting them into practice." "Which you then proceeded to do?" "Which I then proceeded to do, Inspector." "And what were those three methods, Mr.

Chapman?" Nigel put his head a Ettle on one side.

"Aren't you asking me to incriminate myself?" he said. "Surely you ought to warn me?" "It hasn't come to warning you yet, Mr.

Chapman, but, of course, there's no need for you to incriminate yourself, as you put it. In fact you're perfectly entitled to refuse my questions if you like to do so." "I don't know that I want to refuse." Nigel considered for a moment or two, a slight smile playing round his lips.

"Of course," he said, "what I did was, no doubt, against the law. You could haul me in for it if you Eked. On the other hand, this is a murder case and if it's got any bearing on poor little Celia's death I suppose I ought to tell you." "That would certainly be the sensible point of view to take." "All right then. I'll talk." "What were these three methods?" "Well." Nigel leant back in his chair.

"One's always reading in the papers, isn't one, about doctors losing dangerous drugs from a car? People are being warned about it?" "Yes." "Well, it occurred to me that one very simple method would be to go down to the country, follow a G.P. about on his rounds, when occasion offered-just open the car, look in the doctor's case, and extract what you wanted. You see, in these country districts, the doctor doesn't always take his case into the house. It depends what sort of patient he's going to see." "Well?" "Well, that's all. That's to say that's all for method number one. I had to sleuth three doctors until I had found a suitably careless one. When I did, it was simplicity itself. The car was left outside a farmhouse in a rather lonely spot. I opened the door, looked at the case, took out a tube of hyoscine hydrobromide, and that was that." "Ah! And method number two?" "That entailed just a little pumping of dear Celia, as a matter of fact. She was quite unsuspicious.

I told you she was a stupid girl, she had no idea what I was doing. I simply talked a bit about the mumbo jumbo Latin of doctors" prescriptions, and asked her to write me out a prescription in the way a doctor writes it, for tincture digitalin. She obliged quite unsuspecting. All I had to do' after that was to find a doctor in the classified directory, living in a far off district of Lo.ndon, add his initials or sli litly illegible signature. I then took it to a chemist in a busy part of London, who would not be likely to be familiar with that particular doctor's signature, and I received the prescription made up without any difficulty at all. Digitatin is prescribed in quite large quantities for heart cases and I had written out the prescription on hotel notepaper." "Very ingenious," said Inspector Sharpe, drily.

"I am incriminating myself! I can hear it in your voice." "And the third method?" Niel did not reply at once. Then he said, "Look here. What exactly am I letting myself in for?" "The theft of drugs from an unlocked car is larceny," said Inspector Sharpe. "Forging a prescription Nigel interrupted him.

"Not exactly forging, is it? I mean, I didn't obtain any money by it, and it wasn't actually an imitation of any doctor's signature. I mean, if I write a prescription and write H. R. Jarlies on it, you can't say I'm forging any particular Dr. James's name, can you?" He went on with rather a wry smile.

"You see what I mean. I'm sticking my neck out. If you like to turn nasty over this-well-I'm obviously for it. On the other hand, if…" "Yes, Mr. Chapman, on the other hand?" Nigel said with a sudden passion, "I don't like murder. It's a beastly, horrible thing. Celia, poor little devil, didn't deserve to be murdered. I want to help.

But does it help? I can't see that it does.

Telling you my peccadilloes, I mean." "The police have a good deal of latitude, Mr.