The Footsteps at the Lock · Chapter
IV: The Indescribable Has Its Doubts explained
Miles Bredon, the Indescribable Insurance Company's private detective, is summoned to investigate the disappearance of Derek Burtell.
What happens
Miles Bredon, the Indescribable Insurance Company's private detective, is summoned to investigate the disappearance of Derek Burtell. In a meeting with Sholto and Dr. Tremayne, he learns the details of the case: Derek's life insurance policy for £50,000 is about to expire, and the circumstances of his disappearance—a canoe found with a hole in the bottom—are suspicious. Bredon and his wife Angela plan to travel to the inn near Eaton Bridge to investigate the scene and interview the lock-keeper.
Themes in this chapter
Detection and Rational Inquiry
Bredon applies logical reasoning to analyze the suspicious circumstances of Derek's disappearance, considering suicide, murder, and disappearance theories.
Appearance vs. Reality
The canoe trip appears accidental, but the hole in the canoe and the timing of events suggest a deliberate setup.
Deception and Identity
The Indescribable Company prefers to remain anonymous in its investigations, and Bredon must avoid revealing his true purpose.
Characters to notice
- Miles Bredon
The Indescribable's private detective, reluctantly summoned to investigate Derek Burtell's disappearance.
- Angela
Bredon's wife, who will assist him by charming the lock-keeper during their investigation.
- Sholto
An important cog in the Indescribable Company and a personal friend of Bredon, who presents the case.
- Dr. Simmonds
The doctor who examined Derek and recommended the canoe trip; mentioned as having tried to improve Derek's health.
- Derek Burtell
The missing insured person, whose canoe was found empty with a hole in the bottom.
- Nigel Burtell
Derek's cousin, who accompanied him on the canoe trip and is considered a potential suspect.
Key passages
“To a Company with such vast assets, the sum needed to cover Derek’s policy was of course a mere drop in the ocean. But (it has been finely said) business is business; just as a prudent housewife will waste hours tracing a missing sixpence in the accounts sooner than pay in sixpence from her own purse, so the Indescribable would set agencies to work sooner than lose the paltry sum of fifty thousand pounds.”
Although the insurance company could easily afford to pay the claim, they insisted on investigating because it was a matter of principle, much like a careful housewife would spend hours tracking down a small accounting error rather than pay out of her own pocket.
Explains the company's motivation for hiring a detective despite the relatively small sum.
“I just see the logic of the thing, nothing else. And I say that all this is just a little too good to be coincidence.”
Bredon argues that the circumstances are too perfectly suspicious to be mere chance, and he relies on logical analysis rather than intuition.
Highlights Bredon's rational approach to detection.
“If you want to drown, the simplest way is to drop into the water and have done with it, not to lie in a scuttled canoe feeling the water gradually come up and soak your bags. I don’t believe there’s anybody who could commit suicide in such a cold-blooded way as that.”
Bredon dismisses the suicide theory because it would be absurdly uncomfortable and unnatural for someone to deliberately sink their canoe while still in it.
Bredon's reasoning against the suicide hypothesis.
