‘My business, sir,’ went on Tanner, ‘is, I expect, of a rather unusual kind for you to deal with. My name is Tanner—Inspector Tanner of New Scotland Yard, and I have come to ask your kind help in obtaining some information of which I am in need.’
If the clergyman was surprised he did not show it.
‘And what is the nature of the information?’ he asked.
Tanner took the photograph from his pocket.
‘We have had,’ he explained, ‘to arrest a man on suspicion of a serious crime—murder, in fact. The only clue to his antecedents we have is this photograph. You will see it represents part of your churchyard, and the headstone in the foreground is in memory of John Dale and his wife, Eleanor. We thought if we could find out something about these Dales, it might help us.’
‘Is Dale the name of your suspect?’
‘No, sir, he is called Douglas, but of course that may not be his real name.’
The clergyman thought for a few moments.
‘I fear I cannot tell you very much,’ he said at last. ‘When I came here thirteen years ago there was no one of that name in the parish. I do remember hearing of the family you mention, but they had moved some years previously.’
‘You don’t know to where?’