Rudi Scherz had seemed just as usual.
She hadn't seen him the evening before.
She'd no idea - no idea at all - she stressed the point, that Rudi Scherz was a crook.
And probably, Craddock thought, that was quite true.
Chapter 5 MISS BLACKLOG AND MISS BUNNER
Little Paddocks was very much as Detective-Inspector Craddock had imagined it to be.
He noted ducks and chickens and what had been until lately an attractive herbaceous border and in which a few late Michaelmas daisies showed a last dying splash of purple beauty.
The lawn and the paths showed signs of neglect.
Summing up, Detective-Inspector Craddock thought: "Probably not much money to spend on gardeners - fond of flowers and a good eye for planning and massing a border.
House needs painting.
Most houses do, nowadays.
Pleasant little property."
As Craddock's car stopped before the front door, Sergeant Fletcher came round the side of the house.
Sergeant FIetcher looked like a guardsman, with an erect military bearing, and was able to impart several different meanings to the one monosyllable: "Sir."
"So there you are, Fletcher."
"Sir," said Sergeant Fletcher.
"Anything to report?"
"We've finished going over the house, sir, Scherz doesn't seem to have left any fingerprints anywhere.
He wore gloves, of course.
No signs of any of the doors or windows being forced to effect an entrance.
He seems to have come out from Medenham on the bus, arriving here at six o'clock.
Side door of the house was locked at 5:30, I understand.
Looks as though he must have walked in through the front door.
Miss Blacklog states that that door isn't usually locked until the house is shut up for the night.
The maid, on the other hand, states that the front door was locked all the afternoon - but she'd say anything.
Very temperamental you'll find her.
Mittel-Europa refugee of some kind."
"Difficult, is she?"
"Sir!" said Sergeant Fletcher, with intense feeling.
Craddock smiled.
Fletcher resumed his report.
"Lighting system is quite in order everywhere.
We haven't spotted yet how he operated the lights. It was just the one circuit went. Drawing-room and hall.
Of course, nowadays the wall brackets and lamps wouldn't all be on one fuse - but this is an old-fashioned installation and wiring.
Don't see how he could have tampered with the fuse-box because it's out by the scullery and he'd have had to go through the kitchen, so the maid would have seen him."
"Unless she was in it with him?"
"That's very possible.
Both foreigners - and I wouldn't trust her a yard - not a yard."
Craddock noticed two enormous frightened black eyes peering out of a window by the front door.
The face, flattened against the pane, was hardly visible.
"That her there?"
"That's right, sir."
The face disappeared.
Craddock rang the front-door bell.
After a long wait the door was opened by a good-looking young woman with chestnut hair and a bored expression.
"Detective-Inspector Craddock," said Craddock.
The young woman gave him a cool stare out of very attractive hazel eyes and said:
"Come in.
Miss Blacklog is expecting you."
The hall, Craddock noted, was long and narrow and seemed almost incredibly full of doors.