Grey nodded.
“It’s straightening itself out a little,” he agreed. “But the car is a tough proposition! That number, by the way, is a London one, as you probably know, which widens our field considerably.”
“Miss Allen, also, is convinced that her sister never walked to the farm.”
“I know. I gather that she emphasized that point in her interview with Sir Edward. I have seen Leslie, by the way, and I put your questions to him. His description of the scene at the farm after the arrival of Gregg was very circumstantial. He told me one thing that rather struck me.”
“Anything that bears on our friend the doctor?”
“Yes. It’s small, but interesting. Fortunately for us, Leslie has got what is known as an oral memory. That is to say, he remembers things he has heard more easily than things he has read. With most people it is the other way round. He told me that, at school, he always had to say a thing out loud before he could learn it. The result is that he was able to repeat to me, almost word for word, everything that was said in his presence that night. Of course, the peculiar circumstances helped to impress it all on his memory. He shares your opinion of Gregg. Thinks him a tough customer and inclined to be brutal, at any rate in speech. This being the case, he was surprised at the emotion Gregg showed at the sight of Mrs. Draycott’s body. He says it was slight, but quite apparent, and would have been perfectly natural in a layman. In Gregg, it struck him as curious. There was something curious, also, in the wording of Gregg’s answer to the Sergeant when he asked him if he had ever seen the deceased. Leslie says he thought nothing of it at the time, but it remained in his memory and he is certain that he has it correct.”
“I thought Gregg denied ever having met her.”
“His exact words were that she was no friend of his. The Sergeant, very naturally, accepted it as a denial.”
Chapter IX
When Fayre got back to Staveley he found a tea-party in full swing and spent the rest of the afternoon trying to escape from various formidable old ladies, who picked his brains as tactfully as might be as to the way Leslie’s affairs were shaping; how Cynthia was taking the whole affair and whether Sir Edward Kean was likely to be briefed for the defence. He put them off as best he could with noncommittal answers and felt thankful, for Cynthia’s sake, that she had decided earlier in the day to drive over to Galston and spend the afternoon at home.