The Silent World Of Nicholas Quinn

(b) No spent matches found in either kitchen or living room; no matches found in Quinn's pockets. (Remember: Mrs. E had already cleaned; she'd only returned for the ironing and had not cleared the wastepaper basket again.)

(c) More butter bought, when plenty in stock. (Forget it?)

(d) Note left by Quinn for Mrs. E: vague enough to fit virtually any occasion? (Not all that vague though.)

Morse sat back and looked at his handiwork. Individually each point seemed pretty thin; but collectively — did they add up to something? Something like assuming that Quinn did not return from work at all that Friday evening? Had it been somebody else who lit the fire, and bought the groceries, and wrote a note for Mrs. Evans? Think on, Morse! Think on, my boy! It was possible. Another starting point. Could the mysterious somebody have been Monica? (His mind kept coming back to her.) But she must have gone home to Sally sometime. (Job for Lewis — check.) Martin? He must have gone home to his wife sometime. When? (Job for Lewis — check.) And anyway, neither of them knew enough about cyanide, did they? Poisoning was a highly specialized job. (A woman's weapon, though.) Now, Roope was a chemist. And Ogleby knew enough. . Roope or Ogleby — a much likelier pair to choose from. But Roope was out of Oxford until about 4.15 pm. (Or so he said.) And Ogleby went home a bit early. (Or so he said.) Mm. And what about Bartlett? Kidlington was on the main road from Banbury, and the main road passed no more than thirty yards from Pinewood Close. If he'd left Banbury at 4.25 p.m. and really pushed it, 70 mph say, he could have been in Kidlington by, well, ten to five? Opportunity enough for any of them really. For if Quinn had discovered that one of the four. .

Morse knew he wasn't getting very far. It was the method he couldn't fathom. But one thing was becoming an ever firmer conviction in his mind: whoever had come to Pinewood Close that Friday evening, it hadn't been Nicholas Quinn. Leave it there for the minute, Morse. Think of something else. Always the best way, and there was one thing he could check on straightaway.

He called in Peters, the handwriting pundit, showed him the note written to Mrs. Evans, and gave him one of the sheets of Quinn's writing taken from Pinewood Close.

'What do you think?'

Peters hesitated. 'I'd need to study—'

'What's stopping you?'

Nothing had ever been known to hurry or ruffle Peters, an ex-Home Office pathologist, who in his younger days had made a considerable name and a considerable income for himself by disobeying the two cardinal rules for success — of thinking quickly and of acting decisively. For Peters thought at the speed of an arthritic tortoise and acted with the decisiveness of a soporific sloth. And Morse knew him better than to do anything but sit quietly and wait. If Peters said it was, it was. If Peters said that Quinn had definitely written the note, Quinn had definitely written the note. If he said he wasn't sure, he wasn't sure: and no one else in the world would be sure.

'How long will you be, Peters?'

'Ten, twelve minutes.'

Morse therefore knew that in about eleven minutes he would have his answer, and he sat quietly and waited. The phone went a few minutes later.

'Morse. Can I help you?'

It was the switchboard. 'It's a Mrs. Greenaway, sir. From the John Radcliffe. Says she wants to talk to the man in charge of the Quinn murder.'

'That's me,' said Morse, without much enthusiasm. Mrs. Greenaway, eh? The woman above Quinn. Well, well.

She had read the report in the Oxford Mail (she said) and felt that she ought to ring the police. Her husband wouldn't be very happy but — (Come on, girl, come on!). Well, she wasn't to have the baby until December, but she'd known — about four o'clock on Friday. The contractions — (Come on, girl!). Well, she'd rung up the works where Frank ('my husband, Inspector'), where Frank worked, and tried to get a message to him. But something must have gone wrong. She'd sat there by the window, watching and waiting, but no one came; and then she'd rung the works again about a quarter to five. She wasn't really worried, but she'd feel happier if Frank. . Anyway she could always ring the hospital herself. They would send an ambulance straightaway; and she wasn't absolutely sure. It could have been just — (Come on!). Anyway, she saw Quinn come in, in his car, just after five.

'You saw him?'

'Yes. About five past five, it must have been. He drove in and put his car in the garage.'

'Was anybody with him?'

'No.'

'Go on, Mrs. Greenaway.'

'Well, there's nothing else, really.'

'Did he go out again?'

'I didn't see him.'

'Would you have seen him?'

'Oh yes. As I say, I was looking out of the window all the time.'

'We think he went out to the shops, Mrs. Greenaway. But you say—'

'Well, he could have gone out the back way, I suppose. You can get through the fence and on to the path, but—'