The Clocks

He thought she’d hardly done herself justice by her last suggestion. On the other hand, if she believed that the girl had been seen entering her house, and that that had in fact been the case, then the suggestion that the girl had gone to No. 19 was quite an adroit one under the circumstances.

Hardcastle glanced at his watch and decided that he had still time to tackle the Cavendish Secretarial Bureau. It had, he knew, been reopened at two o’clock this afternoon. He might get some help from the girls there. And he would find Sheila Webb there too.

***

One of the girls rose at once as he entered the office.

‘It’s Detective Inspector Hardcastle, isn’t it?’ she said. ‘Miss Martindale is expecting you.’

She ushered him into the inner office. Miss Martindale did not wait a moment before attacking him.

‘It’s disgraceful, Inspector Hardcastle, absolutely disgraceful! You must get to the bottom of this. You must get to the bottom of itat once. No dilly-dallying about. The police are supposed to give protection and that is what we need here at this office.Protection. I want protection for my girls and I mean to get it.’

‘I’m sure, Miss Martindale, that-’

‘Are you going to deny that two of my girls,two of them, have been victimized? There is clearly some irresponsible person about who has got some kind of-what do they call it nowadays-a fixture or a complex-about shorthand typists or secretarial bureaux. They are deliberately martyrizing this institute. First Sheila Webb was summoned by a heartless trick to find a dead body-the kind of thing that might send a nervous girl off her head-and now this. A perfectly nice harmless girl murdered in a telephone box. You must get to the bottom of it, Inspector.’

‘There’s nothing I want more than to get to the bottom of it, Miss Martindale. I’ve come to see if you can give me any help.’

‘Help! What help can I give you? Do you think if I had any help, I wouldn’t have rushed to you with it before now? You’ve got to find who killed that poor girl, Edna, and who played that heartless trick on Sheila. I’m strict with my girls, Inspector, I keep them up to their work and I won’t allow them to be late or slipshod. But I don’t stand for their being victimized or murdered. I intend to defend them, and I intend to see that people who are paid by the State to defend them do their work.’ She glared at him and looked rather like a tigress in human form.

‘Give us time, Miss Martindale,’ he said.

‘Time? Just because that silly child is dead, I suppose you think you’ve all the time in the world. The next thing that happens will be one of the other girls is murdered.’

‘I don’t think you need fear that, Miss Martindale.’

‘I don’t suppose you thought this girl was going to be killed when you got up this morning, Inspector. If so, you’d have taken a few precautions, I suppose, to look after her. And when one of my girls gets killed or is put in some terribly compromising position, you’ll be equally surprised. The whole thing is extraordinary,crazy! You must admit yourself it’s a crazy set-up. That is, if the things one reads in the paper were true. All those clocks for instance. They weren’t mentioned this morning at the inquest, I noticed.’

‘As little as possible was mentioned this morning, Miss Martindale. It was only anadjourned inquest, you know.’

‘All I say is,’ said Miss Martindale, glaring at him again, ‘you mustdo something about it.’

‘And there’s nothing you can tell me, no hint Edna might have given to you? She didn’t appear worried by anything, she didn’t consult you?’

‘I don’t suppose she’d have consulted me if shewas worried,’ said Miss Martindale. ‘But what had she to be worried about?’

That was exactly the question that Inspector Hardcastle would have liked to have answered for him, but he could see that it was not likely that he would get the answer from Miss Martindale. Instead he said:

‘I’d like to talk to as many of your girls here as I can. I can see that it is not likely that Edna Brent would have confided any fears or worries to you, but shemight have spoken of them to her fellow employees.’

‘That’s possible enough, I expect,’ said Miss Martindale. ‘They spend their time gossiping-these girls. The moment they hear my step in the passage outside all the typewriters begin to rattle. But what have they been doing just before? Talking. Chat, chat, chitter-chat!’ Calming down a little, she said, ‘There are only three of them in the office at present. Would you like to speak to them while you’re here? The others are out on assignments. I can give you their names and their home addresses, if you like.’

‘Thank you, Miss Martindale.’

‘I expect you’d like to speak to them alone,’ said Miss Martindale. ‘They wouldn’t talk as freely if I was standing there looking on. They’d have to admit, you see, that theyhad been gossiping and wasting their time.’

She got up from her seat and opened the door into the outer office.