Free A Presumption of Death by Dorothy L. Sayers, Jill Paton Walsh

dishevelled, RAF officer, who had left his jacket unbuttoned, and his dark hair unbrushed. The knot of his tie hung below his unbuttoned shirt collar and he looked not quite sleepy, but very much preoccupied. He was dazzlingly handsome in a vulnerable-looking way, with a long sensitive mouth, and a bony, boyish frame. Harriet thought he would appeal deeply to the mothering instinct in many young women.
    She watched him carefully while the Brigadier explained the situation to him, and saw the colour drain from his face when he understood that Wendy Percival was dead.
    ‘I heard something . . . I didn’t know it was her,’ he said, very quietly.
    ‘But you did know the young woman?’ said the Brigadier.
    ‘Yes, sir.’
    ‘Then I think it would be best if you would answer the questions Lady Peter wishes to put to you.’
    ‘There was a dance in the village last Saturday,’ Harriet said. ‘Were you there?’
    He hesitated. Glanced at his commanding officer and away again.
    ‘I have been told that your name was on the list of those who went from here to attend it. Your name was checked off when the party returned here,’ Harriet prompted. ‘But were you actually at the dance?’
    ‘No,’ he said quietly.
    ‘It has been suggested to me that the reason why Wendy was not at the dance was that she was with you. Is that true?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘It might help very much if you would tell me about it.’
    ‘It was just such a good chance,’ he said miserably. ‘Wendy’s quarters would be empty, because all the girls were going to the dance. Transport there, transport back again . . . You’re going to think me an awful heel, I know, but it wasn’t like that. She wanted me to . . . to find a way to . . .’ His voice began to shake, and suddenly he was looking at Harriet wide-eyed and desperate. ‘It was for me,’ he said. ‘In case I was going to die – we thought there might never be a chance again. We couldn’t wait to make it respectable, we were jumping the gun, but we thought one of us might die at any moment . . . and we hadn’t expected – and we thought it would be me – of course we thought it would be me!’
    ‘But you are trying to tell us the young woman was previously of good character?’ the Brigadier interposed.
    ‘She was – of course she was! But we were in love, and we didn’t know how long we had got; it was first time for both of us, and of course I would have married her if I got back safely . . .’
    ‘About any danger your work entails, least said soonest mended,’ said the Brigadier.
    ‘I am so sorry,’ said Harriet gently. ‘And I do understand that you are under very great pressure. Peace-time rules seem hardly to apply. Could you tell me, however, exactly how you parted from Wendy and got back here undetected?’
    ‘It was easy,’ he said. ‘It went like a dream. We could hear the air-raid warning from Wendy’s bunk, and it gave us time to dress, and get back where we ought to have been. I just joined the press of people getting on to our truck. She stayed back so that the trucks would have driven off, and the locals would all be in the shelters, and nobody would see her, and she was going to get down to the shelter almost last, and say she had gone back for a blanket to keep her dress from getting scruffy sitting on the ground.’
    ‘And did you see anyone else around as you made your way to the truck? Did anyone see you?’
    ‘Not that I can remember. I wasn’t watching. I was in a sort of daze . . . I’ll tell you one thing,’ he added, suddenly sounding collected and emphatic. ‘You’re going to have more than one murder on your hands if I get to know who killed her. I’ll get them myself. And I’m trained to kill, trust me for it.’
    ‘Don’t be a silly chump,’ said the Brigadier. ‘You’ll talk yourself into a scrape that might be hard to talk you out of. I’m confining you to barracks, understand? Off with you now, and back