At approximately the time that Nield and Dyson were trudging back to their cars through the fen, Alan Hunt was telephoning his fiancée at the Crown Hotel.
Susan Ainger had returned the previous evening from her expedition to London. Hunt had already talked to her once on the phone, asking about the shopping she’d done, the people she’d visited, the comfort of the hotel she’d stayed at, and in general showing himself an affectionate and interested husband-to-be. He had also arranged with her that he should dine at the Aingers’ on the following day—which, in part, was why he was now calling her.
“Darling,” he said, “I’m afraid I won’t be able to have dinner with you this evening after all. Something’s come up.…”
“Oh, Alan, what a bore!”
“Isn’t it.…? I very much want to see you, though. Could we meet for an hour on your way home?”
“I expect so,” Susan said. “Usual time and place?”
“Yes—Hayes Corner at a quarter past six.”
“What’s happened—work?”
“No, it’s something else.… I’ll tell you when we meet.”
“All right, darling,” Susan said. “I won’t be late.”
She was already at the wood when Hunt arrived. He parked his car under the trees and joined her in the Austin Healey. His brow was furrowed, his manner unaccustomedly diffident. “Hallo, sweetie,” he said. He kissed her with much less than his usual ardour—then held her away from him, looking into her eyes. “Susan, I must tell you what’s happened.”
“If that’s the best you can do after three days away from me,” she said, “you certainly must!”
“It’s no joking matter,” he told her. “I’m actually in a bit of a spot.”
Her teasing smile faded. “Oh, Alan, I’m sorry.… What’s happened?”
“It’s quite a saga,” he said. “It started on Saturday, just after you’d gone away.…”
He plunged into his story. Substantially, it was the one he’d told Nield on the Monday moming—but now his manner was less light-hearted, less detached. Susan listened with fascinated interest to his tale of the unexpected visit of a girl he’d met on holiday; of the mix-up in identity that had brought it about; of how the girl was going to have someone’s baby; and of her state of mind when she’d found out how she’d been deceived. Hunt described his efforts to persuade her to go home, and how he’d finally succeeded, and how he’d hardly known the girl and had simply been doing her a good turn because she was in trouble. He spoke in a slightly rueful way, keeping the story brief and matter-of-fact, watching Susan all the time to see how she was taking it.
She took the facts unquestioningly, with naïve faith. “Poor girl,” she said. “And what an awful bind for you.… But I must say you seem to have done jolly well. Why do you say you’re in a spot?”
“Well, darling, it seems the girl didn’t actually get home …” Hunt explained how he’d set her down a little way short of her house, and why. “She must have changed her mind again at the last minute and gone off.… And yesterday morning the police came to see me.”
“The police! About her.…?”
“Yes.… They wanted to know what I’d done with her.… ! It’s so fantastic, Susan, I can hardly believe it.… From what they said, they seemed to think it was I who’d got the girl pregnant—and that I hadn’t taken her to Peterborough at all. They behaved just as though they suspected me of having bumped her off.”
Susan stared at him. “They must be out of their minds.”
“That’s what I said.… Of course, in a way I can understand their point of view. The girl had disappeared, and I can’t prove I took her to Peterborough. I can’t prove anything, really.… And there’s another stupid thing that cropped up, too—it couldn’t have come at a worse moment.…”
“What’s that?”
“Well, apparently some busybody was in Ocken Fen on Saturday night and he saw a man and a girl together and heard the girl cry out and he sent the police a note about it. Anonymously—he hadn’t even the guts to sign his name. It was probably just a couple fooling about, but he made it sound terribly sinister—said the man went off on his own after flashing a torch around.… The trouble is, he said he thought the man looked a bit like me. Just thought, mind you—but it didn’t stop him throwing accusations about … So now you can see why I’m in a jam.”
“I’ve never heard anything so ridiculous,” Susan said. For the first time ever, Hunt saw her looking angry.
“I know.… It just shows how a completely innocent person can get caught up in these things—and how difficult it is to clear yourself.… I’ve told the police exactly what happened—but the trouble is they don’t know me. So they don’t know whether to believe me or not. To them, I’m just a man who came up with a rather extraordinary story he can’t substantiate. A man with a motive, too—they seem to think I might have got rid of the girl because she could have got in the way of my marrying you.… I suppose it’s their duty to be suspicious and think up every nasty angle they can—bat it’s damned unpleasant for me.”
“Darling, it’s horrible for you—it’s a perfectly awful thing to have happened. I’m livid about it.…” She sat silent for a moment, considering the situation. “Still,” she said, “once the girl turns up, that’ll be the end of it, won’t it?”
“Oh, yes—as long as she does turn up. If she doesn’t, things might get a bit rugged—and she did talk of losing herself.… But I’m not worried about the long term—the police are pretty certain to dig up some bit of evidence that proves my story.… What worries me is what’s going to happen in the next few days.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, there’ll obviously be a search for the girl, and that means the newspapers will have to be told all about the case.… When the story comes out, it’s going to look pretty bad for me. I’m afraid a lot of people are going to suspect me. In fact, my name’s going to be mud around here for a bit.”
A little of the colour went out of Susan’s cheeks. “Well, I call that most unfair,” she said indignantly; “It’s not your fault that the girl came to see you—and all you did was try to help her.”
“I know that,” Hunt said, “and you know it—but is the world going to believe it? I’m afraid I’m in for a rather sticky time.…” He reached for Susan’s hand. “I’m so sorry it’s happened, sweetie.… It’s going to be beastly for you, too.”
“You don’t have to worry about me,” Susan said.
“But I do, Susan—terribly. I love you so much—I wouldn’t have involved you in a sordid thing like this for anything in the world.… Now that I have, I wouldn’t blame you if you felt you couldn’t go through with our marriage. Or at least if you wanted to postpone it.…”
“Alan.… ! You’re not serious?”
“I am serious.… It would just about break my heart if you called it off, but I certainly don’t feel I’ve any right to hold you to a promise you made when things were so different.… The least I can do is offer you your freedom.”
“Heavens, you do sound old-fashioned.… ! I don’t want my freedom—I only wish we could get married to-morrow.… In any case, I wouldn’t call it off now—what sort of a person do you take me for? You don’t really suppose I’d leave you in the lurch just when you need me most?”
“That’s not how I’d think of it, Susan. I’d think you were being sensible.… I’m not sure you realise, yet, just how unpleasant it’s going to be.”
“I don’t care what it’s like,” Susan said. “If you’re in a jam, I’d much sooner be in it with you.… Now will you please stop talking nonsense.”
Hunt sighed. “You’re so loyal, darling.… I only hope you won’t regret it.”
“Of course I won’t.”
He bent and kissed her. “I love you very much, Susan—and I don’t want you to be hurt. If you should change your mind later on.…”
“Please, Alan!”
“Very well—I won’t say anything more.… We’ll just have to hope they find the girl quickly.”
Susan nodded. “Hadn’t we better tell Daddy about all this?”
“We must, of course.… I’ll tell him myself, it’s my job.… But I think I’ll wait a day or two—there’s no point in upsetting him and your mother before it’s necessary—and if the girl’s found soon, it won’t be. Don’t you agree?”
“Yes, all right.… When am I going to see you again?”
“Well, it may not be too easy for the next couple of days—I’m supposed to be holding myself available at the site for questioning. I shouldn’t really have slipped away this evening.… But I’ll ring you each day, and tell you the news.”
“Twice a day, please.…”
Hunt smiled. “Okay—twice a day.… Darling, I can’t tell you how much better you’ve made me feel. I’m sure this trouble will soon pass—and we’ll get married and live happily ever after.… Right?”
Susan nodded. “I love you so much, Alan.…” She smiled a little, too. “I even love you for wanting to ‘give me my freedom’. … !”