The Chief Constable conceded the point without ado.
“Then perhaps you could send for her and we could speak to her in here. It would be more private, and there need be no talk about it outside.”
“Very well,” Markfield acquiesced at once. “I think that would be better. I'll send for her now.”
He rang a bell and despatched a boy with a message. In a few minutes a tap on the door sounded, and Markfield ushered Norma Hailsham into the room. Inspector Flamborough glanced at her with interest, to see how far his conception of her personality agreed with the reality. She was a girl apparently between twenty and twenty-five, dressed with scrupulous neatness. Quite obviously, she spent money freely on her clothes and knew how to get value for what she spent. But as his eyes travelled up to her face, the Inspector received a more vivid impression. Her features were striking rather than handsome, and Flamborough noted especially the squarish chin and the long thin-lipped flexible mouth.
“H'm!” he commented to himself. “She might flash up in a moment, but with that jaw and those lips she wouldn't cool down again in a hurry. I was right when I put her down as a vindictive type. Shouldn't much care to have trouble with her myself.”
He glanced at Sir Clinton for tacit instructions, but apparently the Chief Constable proposed to take charge of the interview.
“Would you sit down, Miss Hailsham,” Sir Clinton suggested, drawing forward a chair for the girl.
Flamborough noticed with professional interest that by his apparently casual courtesy, the Chief Constable had unobtrusively manœuvred the girl into a position in which her face was clearly illuminated by the light from the window.
“This is Inspector Flamborough,” Sir Clinton went on, with a gesture of introduction. “We should like to ask you one or two questions about an awkward case we have in our hands—the Hassendean business. I'm afraid it will be painful for you; but I'm sure you'll give us what help you can.”
Norma Hailsham's thin lips set in a hard line at his first words, but the movement was apparently involuntary, for she relaxed them again as Sir Clinton finished his remarks.