Smallbone Deceased by Michael Gilbert Page A

examining deeds, people selling office accessories, and even the friends and relatives of the staff. The other side is a bit more select. There are only these three partners’ offices and the partners’ secretaries’ room. But even so, a lot of people who know the ropes short-circuit the system by going straight in to see the secretary of the partner they’re interested in—or to bring messages—or collect mail—or wind up the clocks, or spray the telephones or clean the typewriters.”
    â€œIn short,” said Hazlerigg, “anyone who looked as if they had some business to transact could walk into either side of the office during business hours whenever they liked without anyone stopping them, and probably without anyone noticing them. After business hours no one could get into the Inn without a strong probability of being noticed—or into the offices?”
    â€œCertainly not into the offices,” said Bohun. “Sergeant Cockerill locks the two doors at night. He leaves about seven. He’s the last to go.”
    â€œWho has keys?”
    â€œNo one has keys except him, I understand. If he’s away he hands them over to someone else. He’s the locker-upper in chief. He looks after the strong room as well.”
    â€œSupposing one of the partners wanted to get in after hours?”
    â€œI’m not sure,” said Bohun. “I asked John Cove and he said that no partner in a fashionable firm of solicitors ever did work after hours—that sort of thing being left, one gathers, to the shirtsleeves brigade in the City. If a partner wanted to work late I suppose he would get the door keys from Sergeant Cockerill and do the locking up himself.”
    â€œEven Abel Horniman didn’t have the keys?”
    â€œNot of the outer doors.”
    â€œI see,” said Hazlerigg. “Well, that would seem to dispose of that. Not forgetting that any key can be copied—these big heavy door keys easier than most. Now what about Horniman’s room.”
    â€œIn office hours,” said Bohun slowly, “there is one very serious obstacle, if you look at the layout you’ll see that the partners’ secretaries’ room is really designed to control the entrance to all three of the partners’ rooms. And at least one of the three secretaries—Miss Cornel, Miss Glittering or Miss Mildmay—had always to be in it.”
    â€œYou say they have to be in it,” said the inspector doubtfully. “How well was the rule observed?”
    â€œPretty well, I imagine,” said Bohun. “First of all, this was a Horniman office and system’s the watchword. But apart from that, the partners’ telephone exchange was in the secretaries’ room, it was all part of the system for keeping irritating or unwanted clients at arm’s length—which is a fairly important thing in any solicitor’s office. The actual telephone exchange—the one that connects up with the outside world—is in the basement and is looked after by Sergeant Cockerill or his young stand-in, Charlie. When a call comes for one of the partners it is plugged through first to the partners’ secretaries’ room and vetted there before being put through to the partner concerned. It really does mean that one of the secretaries has to be there the whole time.”
    â€œI see,” said the inspector. “And they’d have noticed at once if Mr. Smallbone had gone into Mr. Horniman’s office?—”
    â€œNot only would they have noticed it,” said Bohun, with a smile, “but they’d have made a note of it in the journal, and, when Smallbone finally left, the secretary concerned—Miss Cornel in this case—would have noted the length of time he’d been there—with a view to typing out an ‘attendance’ on the subject later. How do you think we poor solicitors live?”
    Hazlerigg thought about