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Miss Marple coughed

‘But my dear, surely, nowadays I have seen—er—them myself in shops most indelicately displayed It is very easy for anyone to have a—a bust—of any size and dimension’

‘What are you trying to say?’ demanded Raymond

‘I was just thinking, dear, that during the two or three days Lou orking there, one woman could have played the two parts You said yourself, Lou, that you hardly saw the housekeeper, except for the one ht you in the tray with coffee One sees those clever artists on the stage co in as different characters with only a e could have been effected quite easily Thatslipped on and off’

‘Aunt Jane! Do you mean that Miss Greenshaas dead before I started work there?’

‘Not dead Kept under drugs, I should say A very easy job for an unscrupulous woeot you to telephone to the nephew to ask him to lunch at a definite time The only person ould have known that this Miss Greenshaas not Miss Greenshaould have been Alfred And if you re there it et, and Miss Greenshaw stayed in the house Alfred never came into the house because of his feud with the housekeeper And on the lastAlfred was in the drive, while Miss Greenshaorking on the rockery—I’d like to have a look at that rockery’

‘Do you mean it was Mrs Cressho killed Miss Greenshaw?’

‘I think that after bringing you your coffee, the woman locked the door on you as she went out, carried the unconscious Miss Greenshan to the drawing-roouise and went out to work on the rockery where you could see her fro to the house clutching an arrow as though it had penetrated her throat She called for help and was careful to say “he shot me” so as to remove suspicion from the housekeeper She also called up to the housekeeper’sas though she saw her there Then, once inside the drawing-room, she threw over a table with porcelain on it—and ran quickly upstairs, put on herand was able a few moments later to lean her head out of theand tell you that she, too, was locked in’

‘But she was locked in,’ said Lou

‘I know That is where the policeman comes in’

‘What policeman?’

‘Exactly—what police me how and when you arrived on the scene?’

The inspector looked a little puzzled

‘At twelve twenty-nine we received a telephone call fro that her eant Cayley and myself went out there at once in a car and arrived at the house at twelve thirty-five We found Miss Greenshaw dead and the two ladies locked in their rooms’

‘So, you see, my dear,’ said Miss Marple to Lou ‘The police constable you saasn’t a real police constable You never thought of hiain—one doesn’t—one just accepts one more uniform as part of the law’

‘But hy?’

‘As to ell, if they are playing A Kiss for Cinderella, a policeman is the principal character Nat Fletcher w

ould only have to help hie He’d ask his way at a garage being careful to call attention to the time—twelve twenty-five, then drive on quickly, leave his car round a corner, slip on his police uniform and do his “act”’

‘But hy?’

‘Someone had to lock the housekeeper’s door on the outside, and soh Miss Greenshaw’s throat You can stab anyone with an arrow just as well as by shooting it—but it needs force’

‘You mean they were both in it?’

‘Oh yes, I think so Mother and son as likely as not’

‘But Miss Greenshaw’s sister died long ago’

‘Yes, but I’ve no doubt Mr Fletcher ain He sounds the sort of man ould, and I think it possible that the child died too, and that this so-called nepheas the second wife’s child, and not really a relation at all The woot a post as housekeeper and spied out the land Then he wrote as her nephew and proposed to call upon her—hein his policeman’s uniform—or asked her over to see the play But I think she suspected the truth and refused to see hi a will—but of course once she had ht) then it was clear sailing’

‘But why use an arrow?’ objected Joan ‘So very far fetched’

‘Not far fetched at all, dear Alfred belonged to an archery club—Alfred was meant to take the blame The fact that he was in the pub as early as twelve twenty was most unfortunate from their point of view He always left a little before his proper tiht—’ she shook her head ‘It really see—morally, I mean, that Alfred’s laziness should have saved his life’

The inspector cleared his throat

‘Well,I shall have, of course, to investigate—’

IV

Miss Marple and Rayardening basket full of dying vegetation