Inspector Morse 11 The Daughters of Cain

At 9:30 n.M. on Tuesday, September 27, Morse walked down the High from Carfax. There were several esteemed jewellers' shops there, he knew that; and he looked in their windows. He was somewhat uncertain, however, of what exactly to purchase--and wholly uncertain about whether his present errand was being made easier, or more difficult, by his strong suspicion now that it had been Eleanor Smith who had murdered her step-father (the same Eleanor who had formally identified the body the previous day). Perh[s in a sense it was going to be easier, though, since in probability he wasn't looking for a wedding present longer, the prospect of an imminent marriage now seemi. g increasingly remote. Yet for some reason he still wanted buy the girl a present: a personal present.

Something like Lewis had suggested.

"How much is that?" he asked a young female assist in the shop just across from the Covered Market.

"Nice little pendant, isn't it, sir? Delicate, tasteful, and quite inexpensive, really."

"How much is it T' repeated Morse.

"Only 5, sir."

Only!

Morse looked down at the representation on the tiny oval pendant of--of somebody? "St. Christopher, is it?"

"St. Anthony, sir. A well-known Christian saint."

"I thought he was the patron saint of lost property."

"Perhaps you're thinking of a later St. Anthony?"

But Morse wasn't. He thought there'd only been one St. Anthony.

"If... if I bought this, I'd need a chain as well, wouldn't I?"

"It would be difficult to wear without a chain, yes." She was laughing at him, Morse knew that; but it hadn't been a very bright question. And very soon he was survey-Lng a large selection of chains: chains with varied silver- or gold-content; chains of slightly larger or slightly smaller links; chains of different lengths; chains of differing prices.

So Morse made his purchase: pendant plus chain (the cheapest).

Then, after only a few steps outside the jeweller's up to-wards Carfax Tower, he performed a sudden U-mm, returning to the shop and asking if he could please exchange the chain (not the pendan0 for something a little more expen-sive.

The assistant (still smiling at him?) was happily co-operative; and five minutes later Morse started walking once again up towards Carfax. With a different chain. With the most expensive chain there. He was ready for the interview.

When earlier he had rung Eleanor Smith, she had sounded in no way surprised that the police should wish to take her fingerprintsfor "elimination purposes," as Morse had empha.sised. And when he'd explained that it was against the rule-book for anyone who had been at the scene of the river-side discovery (as he had been) to go anywhere near the homes of those who might possibly be involved with the, er, the investigation, she'd agreed to go along to Thames Valley HQ. A car would pick her up. At 11:15 A.M.

Morse just had time to call in at Sainsbury's supermar-ket, on the Kidlington roundabout, where he made his few purchases swiftly, and found himself the only person at the "small-basket" check-out. Just the four items, in fact: two small tins of baked beans; one small brown loaf; and a bottle of Glenfiddich.

Chapter Sixty

When the Himalayan peasant meets the he-bear in his pride, He shouts to scare the monster, who will often mm aside. But the sbe-bear thus accosted rends the peasant tooth and nail.

For the female of the species is more deadly than the male.

(RODYARD KIPLING, The Female of the Species)

"What line are you going to take with her, sir?"

"I'm not at all sum. All I know is that if any of our three ladies actually murdered Brooks--and pretty certainly one of them did--we can forget the other two, wherever they' re sunning themselves at the minute. It's odds on that one o? them, or both of them, had some part to play in the plot: but I'm sure that neither of them could have murdered Brooks. It's a physical impossibility, knowing what we do about dates and times. But she could have done. Ellie Smith could have done--if only just. She went to Birming-ham that Wednesday--you've checked on that. But we can't be sure when she came back, can we? You see, it she'd come back an hour, even half an hour earlier..."

"She could have stolen the knife, you mean?"

"Or she could have got someone to steal it for her."

"Ashley Davies."

"Yes. Could well have been. Then he gets his reward: he gets the hand of the increasingly desirable Miss Smith-a young woman he's had his lecherous eyes on even when she was a sleep-around-with-anybody girl."

"What about the a Uendant at the Pitt Rivers, though? He says he probably saw this young fellow Costyn there."

"It's always dodgy though--this identification business. We can't rely on tha L"

Lewis nodded. "He doesn't seem to have any real link with the case, anyway."

"Except with Mrs. Stevens. She taught him, remember. And I suppose if he's on drugs or something--got a regular habit to feed--short of cash--and if she was prepared to pay---"

"You mean she got him to steal the knife--for somebody else? For Ellie Smith, say?"