The silent world of Nicholas Quinn by Colin Dexter

here?' said Morse quietly.
    'He wanted to see the Secketary. But he was out, I knew that, sir. So Mr. Roope asked
    me if any of the assistant secketaries was in—he had some papers, you see, as he
    wanted to give to somebody.'
    'Who did he give them to?'
    That's just it. As I was going to say, sir, we tried all the other secketaries' offices, but there was nobody in.'
    Morse looked at him sharply. 1'You're quite sure about that, Mr. Noakes?'
    'Oh yes, sir. We couldn't find anybody, you see, and Mr. Roope left the papers on the
    Secketary's desk.'
    Morse glanced at Lewis and his eyebrows rose perceptibly. 'Well, well. That's very
    interesting. Very interesting.' But if it was as interesting as Morse would have the
    caretaker imagine, it prompted no further questions. At least not immediately so. The
    plain truth was that the information was, for Morse, completely unexpected, and he
    now regretted his earlier (stupidly theatrical) decision of allowing word to be spread on the office grapevine (it had surely got round by now?) that he would be asking all of
    them to account for their movements on Friday afternoon. The last thing he had
    expected was that they'd all need an alibi. Bartlett, he knew, had been out at Banbury.
    But where had the others been that fateful afternoon? Monica, Ogleby, Martin, and
    Quinn. All of them out of the office . Whew!
    'What time was all this, Mr. Noakes?'
    ' 'Bout half past four, sir.'
    'Had any of the others left a note?'
    'I don't think so.'
    'Could any of them have been upstairs, do you think?'
    'Could 'ave been, sir, but—well, I was here quite a long while. I was in the corridor,
    you see, fixin' this broken light when Mr. Roope came in.'
    Morse still seemed temporarily blown off course, and Lewis decided to see if he could
    help. 'Could any of them have been in the lavatory?'
    'Must have been in there a long time!' It was quite clear from the slighdy contemptuous
    smirk that crossed Noakes's face that he was not prepared to pay any particular
    respect to the suggestions of a mere sergeant, and the almost inevitable 'sir' was
    noticeably absent.
    'It was raining on Friday afternoon, wasn't it?' said Morse at last.
    'Yes, sir. Rainin', blowin'—miserable afternoon it was.'
    'I hope Mr. Roope wiped his feet,' said Morse innocendy.
    For the first time Noakes seemed uneasy. He passed his hands one over the other,
    and wondered what on earth that was supposed to mean.
    'Did you see any of them at all—later on, I mean?'

    'Not really, sir. I mean, I saw Mr. Quinn leave in his car about—'
    'You what? ' Morse sat up and blinked at Noakes in utter bewilderment.
    'You saw him leave , you say?'
    'Yes, sir. About ten to five. His car was—'
    'Were there any other cars here?' interrupted Morse.
    'No, sir. Just Mr. Quinn's.'
    'Well, thank you, Mr. Noakes. You've been very helpful.' Morse got up and walked to
    the door. 'And you didn't see anyone else—anyone at all—after that?'
    'No, sir. Except the Secketary himself. He came back to the office about half past five,
    sir.'
    'I see. Well, thank you very much.' Morse had scarcely been able to hide his mounting
    excitement and he fought back the strong impulse to push Noakes ou1t into the
    corridor.
    'If I can be of any help any time, sir, I hope you . . .' He stood fawning at the door like a liegeman taking leave of his lord. But Morse wasn't listening. A little voice within his
    brain was saying 'Bugger off, you obsequious little creep,' but he merely nodded good-
    naturedly and the caretaker finally sidled through the door.
    'Well, Lewis? What do you make of that little lot?'
    'I expect we shall soon find somebody who saw Quinn in a pub on Friday night. About
    chucking-out time.'
    'You think so?' But Morse wasn't really interested in what Lewis was making of it. The
    previous day the cogs had started turning all right, but turning, it now appeared, in the wrong direction; and whilst Noakes had been speaking they'd temporarily stopped
    turning