Read C S Lewis and the Body in the Basement (C S Lewis Mysteries Book 1) for Free Online

. . . no, thank you. I’ll be all right in a moment.’
    Within three minutes of the phone call Inspector Hyde was striding through the front door of the bank. He was a bustling, efficient, restless little man. Beside him was a taller, solidly built, stocky man, later introduced to us as Sergeant Donaldson.
    ‘Where’s the body, Dixon?’ the inspector demanded, without a glance at us.
    Constable Dixon unlocked the cellar door and led his senior officers down the stairs. We heard them moving about and speaking quietly, and when they returned ten minutes later the inspector was saying, ‘Well, where is the weapon, Dixon? Answer me that?’
    The constable had the good sense to remain silent. The inspector waved a hand at us, asking Dixon, ‘Are these the witnesses you mentioned?’
    ‘Yes, sir.’
    ‘Gentlemen, I must ask you to wait here a little longer while we take additional statements. And I’d ask you not to leave Market Plumpton without my permission.’ Jack, Warnie and I glanced at each other. Our prospects of a walking holiday were sinking fast.
    ‘Now, young lady,’ said the inspector, turning his attention to the tear-stained office girl. ‘The bank is closed for the remainder of the day. You are to lock the front door.’
    She blinked the tears from her eyes and said, ‘But it’s not closing time yet . . . ’
    ‘Nonsense!’ snapped the inspector. ‘There’s been a serious crime committed here, and I am in command of the crime scene. You will lock up immediately.’
    ‘Yes, sir,’ she responded mildly, taking a large bunch of keys from a desk drawer and walking to the front door. A moment later it closed with a soft thud, shutting out the street sounds, and shutting us in with the bristling inspector. In response to a commanding gesture from his superior, Constable Dixon walked over and stood with his back to the closed front door. Clearly we were not going to be allowed to leave for a little while yet.
    ‘Now, gentlemen,’ said the inspector. ‘I apologise for neglecting you so far. The name is Hyde. I am the inspector of police for this district. What can you tell me about this suspicious death?’
    ‘In all probability, nothing more than your constable has already told you,’ said Jack.
    Sergeant Donaldson pulled out a notebook and pencil, and during the conversation that followed took copious notes. He began by taking down our names, addresses and occupations. There was a look of slight surprise on his face when he discovered that Jack was a Fellow of Magdalen College Oxford, that Warnie held a commission in the British Army, and that I was about to start work for Sir William Dyer at Plumwood Hall.
    ‘Did any one of you go back down to the cellar?’ asked Hyde.
    We all looked at him and shook our heads.
    ‘Jack was withdrawing money from his passbook account, and we stood beside him,’ Warnie explained.
    ‘In fact,’ I added, ‘the late Mr Grimm insisted that we three all stand on the customers’ side of the counter, so none of us was even close to the door leading to the cellar steps.’
    ‘So who could have gone through that door and down those steps?’ asked the inspector quietly, putting the question more to himself than to us. Then he turned around to face the office girl.
    ‘Miss,’ he barked. She went pale and dabbed at her eyes with an already soaked handkerchief. ‘You’re Ruth Jarvis, aren’t you? Todd Jarvis’s daughter?’
    ‘Yes, sir,’ she replied in a voice little above a whisper.
    ‘How long have you worked here?’
    ‘Two years, sir.’
    ‘Now, you were here in this office. Did you follow Mr Grimm down those steps into the cellar?’
    Her only response was to break into a fresh round of howling.
    ‘She couldn’t have, inspector,’ said Jack. ‘We were facing the office and if she’d moved we would have noticed. She didn’t leave her desk. In fact, I’m sure she didn’t stop typing.’
    ‘That’s right,’ sobbed Ruth Jarvis. ‘I didn’t