by Ngaio Marsh
The car drew up at last into the shadow of the enormous house.
“If nothing else has gone cock-eyed,” Alleyn said, “she’ll be in the school.”
Thomas cried out in alarm: “Are you talking about Caroline Able?”
“No. See here, Ancred. We’re going into the school. There’s a separate entrance back there, and we’ll use it. Will you go into this part of the house and please say nothing about our arrival?”
“Well, all right,” said Thomas, “though I must say I don’t quite see—”
“It’s all very confusing. Away you go.”
They watched Thomas walk slowly up the steps, push open the great door, and pause for a second in the shadowy lobby. Then he turned and the door closed between them.
“Now, Fox,” Alleyn said, “you and I will go into the school. I think the best thing we can do is to ask her to come back with us to London and make a statement. Awkward if she refuses, but if she does we’ll have to take the next step. Drive back to the end of the building there.”
The car was turned, and stopped again at a smaller door in the west wing. “Thompson, you and Bream wait back there in the car. If we want you, we’ll get you. Come on, Fox.”
They got out. The car moved away. They had turned to the doorway when Alleyn heard his name called. Thomas was coming down the steps from the main entrance. He ran towards them, his coat flapping, and waved his arm.
“Alleyn! Alleyn! Stop!”
“Now what?” Alleyn said.
Thomas was breathless when he reached them. He laid his hands on the lapels of Alleyn’s coat. His face was colourless and his lips shook. “You’ve got to come,” he said. “It’s frightful. Something frightful’s happened. Sonia’s in there, horribly ill. Withers says she’s been poisoned. He says she’s going to die.”
CHAPTER XVIII
The Last Appearance of Miss O
i
They had carried her into a small bedroom in the school.
When Alleyn and Fox, accompanied as far as the door by Thomas, walked unheralded into the room, they found Dr. Withers in the act of turning Pauline and Desdemona out of it. Pauline appeared to be in an advanced state of hysteria.
“Out, both of you. At once, please. Mrs. Ancred and I can do all that is necessary. And Miss Able.”
“A curse. That’s what I feel. There’s a curse upon this house. That’s what it is, Dessy.”
“Out, I say. Miss Ancred, take this note. I’ve written it clearly. Ring up any surgery and tell them to send the things up immediately the car arrives. Can your brother drive my car? Very well.”
“There’s a man and a car outside,” Alleyn said. “Fox, take the note, will you?”
Pauline and Desdemona, who had backed before the doctor to the door, turned at the sound of Alleyn’s voice, uttered incoherent cries, and darted past him into the passage. Fox, having secured the note, followed them.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Dr. Withers demanded. “Get out!” He glared at Alleyn and turned back to the bed. Millamant Ancred and Caroline Able were stooped above it, working, it seemed with difficulty, over something that struggled and made harsh inhuman noises. A heavy stench hung in the air.
“Get the clothes away, but put that other thing on her. Keep her covered as far as possible. That’s right. Take my coat, Mrs. Ancred, please; I can’t do with it. Now, we’ll try the emetic again. Careful! Don’t let me break the glass.”
Miss Able moved away with an armful of clothes. Millamant stood back a little, holding the doctor’s jacket, her hands working nervously.
There, on a child’s bed with a gay counterpane, Sonia Orrincourt strained and agonised, the grace of her body distorted by revolt and the beauty of her face obliterated in pain. As Alleyn looked at her, she arched herself and seemed to stare at him. Her eyes were bloodshot; one lid drooped and fluttered and winked. One arm, like that of a mechanical toy, repeatedly jerked up its hand to her forehead in a reiterated salaam.
He waited, at the end of the room, and watched. Dr. Withers seemed to have forgotten him. The two women after a startled glance turned again to their task. The harsh cries, the straining and agonizing, rose in an intolerable crescendo.
“I’m going to give a second injection. Keep the arm still, if you can. Very well, then, get that thing out of the way. Now.”
The door opened a fraction. Alleyn moved to it, saw Fox and slipped through.
“Our chap ought to be back any minute with the doctor’s gear,” Fox muttered.
“Have you rung for Dr. Curtis and Co.?”
“They’re on the way.”
“Thompson and Bream still on the premises?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Bring them in. Keep the servants in their own quarters. Shut up any rooms she’s been in since she got here. Herd the family together and keep them together.”
“That’s all been fixed, Mr. Alleyn. They’re in the drawing-room.”
“Good. I don’t want to leave her yet.”
Fox jerked his thumb. “Any chance of a statement?”
“None at the moment, far as I can see. Have you got anything, Fox?”
Fox moved closer to him, and in a toneless bass began to mutter rapidly: “She and the doctor and Miss Able had tea together in Miss Able’s room. He’d come up to see the kids. She sent the little Kentish girl through to order it. Didn’t fancy schoolroom tea. Tea set out for the rest of the family in the dining-room. Second tray brought from the pantry by Barker with tea for one. Second pot brewed by Mrs. Kentish in the dining-room. Miss Desdemona put some biscuits on the tray. It was handed over to Miss Panty by Mrs. Ancred. Miss Panty brought it back here. Miss O. was taken bad straight away before the other two had touched anything. The little girl was there and noticed everything.”
“Got the tea things?”
“Thompson’s got them. Mrs. Ancred kept her head and said they ought to be locked up, but in the fluster of getting the patient out the tray was knocked over. She left Mrs. Kentish to carry on, but Mrs. Kentish took hysterics and Isabel swept it up in the finish. Tea and hot water and broken china all over the shop. We ought to get a trace, though, somewhere, if there’s anything. That little girl’s sharp, by gum she is.”
Alleyn laid his hand swiftly on Fox’s arm. In the room the broken sounds changed into a loud and rapid babbling—“Baba-ba-ba”—and stopped abruptly. At the same moment the uniformed driver appeared at the far end of the passage carrying a small case. Alleyn met him, took the case, and, motioning to Fox to come after, re-entered the room.
“Here’s your case, Dr. Withers.”
“All right. Put it down. When you go out, tell those women to get in touch with her people if she’s got any. If they want to see her, they’ll have to be quick.”
“Fox, will you—”
Fox slipped away.
“I said: When you go out,” Dr. Withers repeated angrily.
“I’m afraid I must stay. This is a police matter, Dr. Withers.”
“I’m perfectly well aware of what’s happened. My duty is to my patient, and I insist on the room being cleared.”
“If she should become conscious…” Alleyn began, looking at the terrible face with its half-open eyes and mouth.
“If she regains consciousness, which she won’t, I’ll inform you.” Dr. Withers opened the case, glanced up at Alleyn and said fiercely: “If you don’t clear out I’ll take the matter up with the Chief Constable.”
Alleyn said briskly: “That won’t do at all, you know. We’re both on duty here and here we both stay. Your patient’s been given thallium acetate. I suggest that you carry on with the treatment, Dr. Withers.”
There was a violent ejaculation from Caroline Able. Millamant said: “That’s the ringworm stuff! What nonsense!”
“How the hell…” Dr. Withers began, and then: “Very well. Very well. Sorry. I’m worried. Now, Mrs. Ancred, I’ll want your help here. Lay the patient—”
Forty minutes
later, without regaining consciousness, Sonia Orrincourt died.
ii
“The room,” Alleyn said, “will be left exactly as it is. The police surgeon is on his way and will take charge. In the meantime, you’ll all please join the others in the drawing-room. Mrs. Ancred, will you and Miss Able go ahead with Inspector Fox?”
“At least, Alleyn,” said Dr. Withers, struggling into his jacket, “you’ll allow us to wash up.”
“Certainly, I’ll come with you.”
Millamant and Caroline Able, after exchanging glances, raised a subdued outcry. “You must see…” Dr. Withers protested.
“If you’ll come out, I’ll explain.”
He led the way and they followed in silence. Fox came out last and nodded severely to Bream, who was in the passage. Bream moved forward and stationed himself before the door.
Alleyn said: “It’s perfectly clear, I’m sure, to all of you that this is a police matter. She was poisoned, and we’ve no reason to suppose she poisoned herself. I may be obliged to make a search of the house (here is the warrant), and I must have a search of the persons in it. Until this has been done none of you may be alone. There is a wardress coming by car from London, and you may, of course, wait for her if you wish.”
He looked at the three faces, all of them marked by the same signs of exhaustion, all turned resentfully towards him. There was a long silence.
“Well,” Millamant said at last, with an echo of her old short laugh, “you can search me. The thing I want to do most is sit down. I’m tired.”
“I must say,” Caroline Able began, “I don’t quite—”
“Here!” Dr. Withers cut in. “Will this suit you? I’m these ladies’ medical man. Search me and then let them search each other in my presence. Any good?”
“That will do admirably. This room here is vacant, I see. Fox, will you take Dr. Withers in?” Without further ado, Dr. Withers turned on his heel and made for the open door. Fox followed him in and shut it.
Alleyn turned to the two women. “We shan’t keep you long,” he said, “but if, in the meantime, you would like to join the others, I can take you to them.”
“Where are they?” Millamant demanded.
“In the drawing-room.”
“Personally,” she said, “I’m beyond minding who searches me and who looks on.” Bream gave a self-conscious cough. “If you and Miss Able like to take me into the children’s play-room, which I believe is vacant, I shall be glad to get it over.”
“Well, really,” said Miss Able, “well, of course, that is an extremely sane point of view, Mrs. Ancred. Well, if you don’t object.”
“Good,” Alleyn said. “Shall we go?”
There was a screen, with Italian primitives pasted over it, in the play-room. The two women, at Alleyn’s suggestion, retired behind it. First Millamant’s extremely sensible garments were thrown out one by one, examined by Alleyn, collected again by Miss Able, and then, after an interval, the process was reversed. Nothing was discovered, and Alleyn, walking between them, escorted the two ladies to the bathroom, and finally through the green baize door and across the hall to the drawing-room.
Here they found Desdemona, Pauline, Panty, Thomas and Cedric, assembled under the eye of Detective-Sergeant Thompson. Pauline and Desdemona were in tears. Pauline’s tears were real and ugly. They had left little traces, like those of a snail, down her carefully restrained make-up. Her eyes were red and swollen and she looked frightened. Desdemona, however, was misty, tragic and still beautiful. Thomas sat with his eyebrows raised to their limit and his hair ruffled, gazing in alarm at nothing in particular. Cedric, white and startled, seemed to be checked, by Alleyn’s arrival, in a restless prowl round the room. A paperknife fell from his hands and clattered on the glass top of the curio cabinet.
Panty said: “Hallo! Is Sonia dead? Why?”
“Ssh, darling! Darling, ssh!” Pauline moaned, and attempted vainly to clasp her daughter in her arms. Panty advanced into the centre of the room and faced Alleyn squarely. “Cedric,” she said loudly, “says Sonia’s been murdered. Has she? Has she, Miss Able?”
“Goodness,” said Caroline Able in an uneven voice, “I call that rather a stupid thing to say, Patricia, don’t you?”
Thomas suddenly walked up to her and put his arm about her shoulders.
“Has she, Mr. Alleyn?” Panty insisted.
“You cut off and don’t worry about it,” Alleyn said. “Are you at all hungry?”
“You bet.”
“Well, ask Barker from me to give you something rather special, and then put your coat on and see if you can meet the others coming home. Is that all right, Mrs. Kentish?”
Pauline waved her hands and he turned to Caroline Able.
“An excellent idea,” she said more firmly. Thomas’s hand still rested on her shoulder.
Alleyn led Panty to the door. “I won’t go,” she announced, “unless you tell me if Sonia’s dead.”
“All right, old girl, she is.” A multiple ejaculation sounded behind him.
“Like Carabbas?”
“No!” said her Aunt Millamant strongly, and added: “Pauline, must your child behave like this?”
“They’ve both gone away,” Alleyn said. “Now cut along and don’t worry about it.”
“I’m not worrying,” Panty said, “particularly. I dare say they’re in Heaven, and Mummy says I can have a kitten. But a person likes to know.” She went out.
Alleyn turned and found himself face to face with Thomas.
Behind Thomas he saw Caroline Able stooping over Millamant, who sat fetching her breath in dry sobs, while Cedric bit his nails and looked on. “I’m sorry,” Millamant stammered: “it’s just reaction, I suppose. Thank you, Miss Able.”
“You’ve been perfectly splendid, Mrs. Ancred.”
“Oh, Milly, Milly!” wailed Pauline. “Even you! Even your iron reserve. Oh, Milly!”
“Oh, God!” Cedric muttered savagely. “I’m so sick of all this.”
“You,” Desdemona said, and laughed with professional bitterness. “In less tragic circumstances, Cedric, that would be funny.”
“Please, all of you stop.”
Thomas’s voice rang out with authority, and the dolorous buzz of reproach and impatience was instantly hushed.
“I dare say you’re all upset,” he said. “So are other people. Caroline is, and I am. Who wouldn’t be? But you can’t go on flinging temperaments right and left. It’s very trying for other people and it gets us nowhere. So I’m afraid I’m going to ask you all to shut up, because I’ve got something to say to Alleyn, and if I’m right, and he says I’m right, you can all have hysterics and get on with the big scene. But I’ve got to know.”
He paused, still facing Alleyn squarely, and in his voice and his manner Alleyn heard an echo of Panty. “A person likes to know,” Panty had said.
“Caroline’s just told me,” Thomas said, “that you think somebody gave Sonia the medicine Dr. Withers prescribed for those kids. She says Sonia had tea with her. Well, it seems to me that means somebody’s got to look after Caroline, and I’m the person to do it, because I’m going to marry her. I dare say that’s a surprise to all of you, but I am, so that’s that, and nobody need bother to say anything, please.”
With his back still turned to his dumbfounded family, Thomas, looking at once astonished and determined, grasped himself by the lapels of his coat and continued. “You’ve told me you think Papa was poisoned with this stuff and I suppose you think the same person killed Sonia. Well, there’s one person who ordered the stuff for the kids and wouldn’t let Caroline touch it, and who ordered the medicine for Papa, and who is pretty well known to be in debt, and who was left quite a lot of money by Papa, and who had tea with Sonia. He’s not in the room, now,” said Thomas, “and I want to know where he is, and whether he’s a murderer. That’s all.”
Before Alleyn could answer, there was a tap on the door and Thompson came in. “A call from London, for
you, sir,” he said. “Will you take it out here?”
Alleyn went out, leaving Thompson on guard, and the Ancreds still gaping. He found the small telephone-room across the hall, and, expecting a voice from the Yard, was astonished to hear Troy’s.
“I wouldn’t have done this if it mightn’t be important,” said Troy’s voice, twenty miles away. “I telephoned the Yard and they told me you were at Ancreton.”
“Nothing wrong?”
“Not here. It’s just that I’ve remembered what Sir Henry said that morning. When he’d found the writing on his looking-glass.”
“Bless you. What was it?”
“He said he was particularly angry because Panty, he insisted it was Panty, had disturbed two important documents that were on his dressing-table. He said that if she’d been able to understand them she would have realized they concerned her very closely. That’s all. Is it anything?”
“It’s almost everything.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t remember before, Rory.”
“It wouldn’t have fitted before. I’ll be home to-night. I love you very much.”
“Good-bye.”
“Good-bye.”
When Alleyn came out into the hall, Fox was there waiting for him.
“I’ve been having a bit of a time with the doctor,” Fox said. “Bream and our chap are with him now. I thought I’d better let you know, Mr. Alleyn.”
“What happened?”
“When I searched him I found this in his left-hand side pocket.”
Fox laid his handkerchief on the hall table and opened it out, disclosing a very small bottle with a screw top. It was almost empty. A little colourless fluid lay at the bottom.
“He swears,” said Fox, “that he’s never seen it before, but it was on him all right.”
Alleyn stood looking at the little phial for a long moment. Then he said: “I think this settles it, Fox. I think we’ll have to take a risk.”
“Ask a certain party to come up to the Yard?”
“Yes. And hold a certain party while this stuff is analysed. But there’s no doubt in my mind about it, Fox. It’ll be thallium acetate.”