Inspector Pillow seemed relieved. Clearly he regarded Abbershaw as something of an oracle since he was so closely associated with Scotland Yard, and incidentally he appeared to consider that the affair was tangled enough already without the introduction of further complications.
‘By the way,’ said Abbershaw suddenly, as the thought occurred to him, ‘there’s an old woman from the village in one of the attics, Inspector. Has she been rescued yet?’
A steely look came into the Inspector’s kindly blue eyes.
‘Mrs Meade?’ he said heavily. ‘Yes. The party ’as been attended to. The local constable ’as ’er in charge at the moment.’ He sniffed. ‘And ’e’s got ’is ’ands full,’ he added feelingly. ‘She seems to be a well-known character round ’ere. A regular tartar,’ he went on more confidentially. ‘Between you and me, sir’ – he tapped his forehead significantly – ‘she seems to be a case for the County Asylum. It took three men half an hour to get ’er out of the ’ouse. Kept raving about ’ell-fire and ’er son comin’ of a Wednesday or something, I dunno. ’Owever, Police-Officer Maydew ’as ’er in ’and. Seems ’e understands ’er more or less. ’Er daughter does ’is washing, and it’s well known the old lady’s a bit queer. We come acrost strange things in our work, sir, don’t we?’
Abbershaw was properly flattered by this assumption of colleagueship.
‘So you expect Scotland Yard in on this, Inspector?’ he said.
The policeman wagged his head seriously.
‘I shouldn’t be at all surprised, sir,’ he said. ‘Although,’ he added, a trifle regretfully, ‘if they don’t hurry up I shouldn’t wonder if there wasn’t much for them to do except to attend the inquest. Our Dr Rawlins thinks ’e may pull ’em round, but ’e can’t say yet for certain.’
Abbershaw nodded.
‘It was Dawlish himself who got the worst of it, wasn’t it?’ he said.