‘Look — what do you think of the possibility of distraction, sir? Deliberate or accidental?’ Her pencil moved south to the opposite side of the road. ‘There’s a sort of little green area over here … it’s hard to envisage what’s on offer from a map …’
‘Shrubs,’ Joe supplied. ‘I skulked around in there myself. You could hide a couple of quiet men in there for hours.’
‘Righto. Let’s picture them hiding here while the cabby does his reconnaissance and safely unloads Lady Dedham. Then we imagine him walking back to the taxi to assist the admiral … it’s at that moment that the men run across the road and hide in the bushes near the doorstep. A diversion could well have been staged then, don’t you agree? Though the circumstances are not yet perfectly clear.’
‘Yes. The arrival of the next fare. The young lady who barged in to commandeer the cab.’
Lily read from her notes: ‘Miss Harriet Hampshire, giving an address in Park Lane.’ She paused, her brow furrowed in thought. ‘It rings a bell with me … Is this one of the houses near Pinks Hotel, sir?’
Joe nodded.
‘And Miss Hampshire claims to have been in Melton Square, visiting a friend. At least that’s what she told Superintendent Hopkirk.’
‘I saw her,’ he said. ‘Briefly before they drove her home. Stunner! She’d certainly have diverted the admiral’s and the driver’s attention. Yes, two dark-clad men, profiting from a distraction, could have got across the road to the forward cover position without being spotted. And they were wearing rubber-soled shoes. In any case, any sound would have been masked by the noise of the taxi engine, which had been left running.’ He heaved a sigh. ‘The admiral dismissed the cabby, and strolled down to his front door. The moment he stood on the doorstep, off guard and backlit by the hall lights, they struck.’
‘I’m wondering why the cabby didn’t set off at once, sir?’
‘Waiting — as he’d said he would — to make sure all was well?’ Sandilands suggested. ‘Some sort of argy-bargy with the girl? Checking directions?’