Cyanide with Christie

by Katherine Bolger Hyde

  Ian started back. ‘You don’t think …? You couldn’t think I would do that.’

  Olivia blinked twice, then shook her head. ‘No, no, of course not. It’s just that it’s all so terrible. My head’s like a blacksmith’s shop.’ She put her fists to her temples. ‘I don’t know what to think.’

  Ian stole his arm about her and pulled her head down to his shoulder. ‘My poor darling. You need to rest. I’ll get Richards to talk to you next, and then you can take something and lie down. Shall I?’

  Olivia nodded weakly and sagged against him. Emily’s conscience assailed her, so she pulled a book off the shelf at random and returned to her chair by the fire. There was definitely at least a love circle binding Ian and Olivia, but whether Cruella had pulled it into a triangle or simply disrupted it somehow remained unclear.

  Emily was immersed in her random book pick – which turned out to be another Christie, A Murder Is Announced – when Luke came back into the room and addressed the group.

  ‘Before I take the next person, I need to find out about Cruella’s next of kin so we can notify them. Dustin admitted knowing her but couldn’t remember anything about her family. Ian? Olivia? Either of you help me out?’

  Olivia merely shook her head, an effort that caused her to wince. Her head must indeed be pounding.

  Ian had stood as soon as Luke entered, and now a ripple passed over his rigid features. He closed his eyes momentarily as his jaw clenched. ‘She had no family,’ he said in a strangled voice. ‘None living.’

  ‘No husband?’ Luke asked. ‘Even an estranged one would need to be notified.’

  Again the clench and release. ‘I believe not.’

  ‘All right, then. MacDonald, I’ll take you now.’

  ‘Would you mind interviewing Olivia first? She’s feeling quite unwell. She needs to get this over with and get to bed.’

  Emily watched Luke take in Olivia’s pallor, even more pronounced than usual, and the languid way she supported her head in her hands. ‘No problem. Katie, would you ask Heather to do Olivia’s room first?’

  A spasm of alarm crossed several faces at these words. Apparently it hadn’t occurred to her guests that their rooms would be searched.

  Luke walked across the room, took Olivia gently by the elbow, and guided her to the door. Emily felt a tiny pang of jealousy at seeing him so solicitous, but she forced it down. She could hardly hold Luke’s jealousy against him if she gave in to the same emotion herself.

  Luke didn’t offer Olivia coffee. She needed to get to sleep. He poured her a small brandy instead. She sipped it gratefully, and a bit of color returned to her cheeks.

  ‘We’ll keep this short for now. I need to know your movements this evening. Let’s say from the beginning of the charades.’

  ‘I was in the library nearly the whole time. I only went out for a minute to use the restroom.’

  ‘This one down here?’

  ‘No, I went upstairs. And I also looked into my room for a moment to get this shawl.’ She wrapped the filmy black shawl more closely about her. It looked like something Emily might knit.

  ‘Were you ever alone in the library?’

  ‘No. Not completely alone.’

  Luke assumed that meant she’d been alone with Ian – which counted as being alone in his book, as far as opportunity for murder was concerned. But opportunity didn’t equal guilt.

  ‘Anybody else alone in there to your knowledge? When you left or when you went back?’

  She shook her head, then massaged her forehead with her free hand.

  ‘What about during the blackout? What did you do then?’

  ‘I stayed in the library. I’m not very good in the dark.’

  Luke considered. He needed to explore her past connection with Cruella, but he was ninety-nine percent sure that history was linked with Ian’s. Given Olivia’s state of exhaustion, he’d probably get a better story out of Ian.

  ‘All right, you can go. We’ll talk more tomorrow.’

  He escorted her to the foot of the stairs, then opened the library door and called for Ian.

  Luke closed the dining room door behind the two of them to see Ian still standing, facing him. ‘Thank you,’ he said with dignity. ‘Thank you for letting her go so quickly.’

  ‘No problem,’ Luke returned. ‘I can talk to her more tomorrow when she’s rested. No point trying to get sense from somebody in that state anyway.’ He motioned to a chair. ‘Have a seat. Coffee?’

  ‘Yes, please.’ Ian passed a hand over his eyes. ‘This has been an ordeal for all of us. But Olivia is not physically strong. Though her strength of character would surprise you.’

  Luke let that pass, though he’d already chalked Olivia up as a strong woman for the way she handled Cruella’s persecution. Strong enough to murder? Hard to say.

  ‘Now then. Let’s talk about you. How do you know Cruella?’

  ‘We met many years ago. We moved in the same circle of writers in New York back in the eighties.’

  ‘And?’

  ‘And what? I hadn’t seen her for a number of years before she turned up here.’

  ‘It’s obvious there’s some history between you. Something that involves Olivia, too. Otherwise why the hostility?’

  Ian’s jaw set, and the color left his face. ‘You saw what she was like. A prankster. Deliberately provocative. She needed no particular motivation to annoy us beyond the fact that she knew who we were. And we needed no further reason to avoid her than knowing her character.’

  Luke kept silent a minute, his eyes on Ian’s face. ‘You know, I might buy that except for that incident with the ring in the pudding. That ring meant something to her, and to you. I’d like to know what that was.’

  Ian ran his finger underneath the collar of his dress shirt. ‘Can you not simply take my word it has nothing to do with this investigation?’

  ‘No, sir, I’m afraid I cannot. As it stands, I have three people with a possible motive for killing Cruella. You are one of them, and I need to know just how strong your motive was.’ He waited a bit, then added, ‘Not telling me is only going to make me think something even worse than the truth, you know.’

  Ian stared at him wide-eyed. ‘Lieutenant, I swear to you, I did not kill Cruella. And neither did Olivia.’

  ‘If that’s the case, you have nothing to fear from telling me the truth.’

  Ian buried his head in his hands for a long moment, then raised it, took a deep drink of his coffee, and set the cup down. ‘Cruella and I were married. Briefly. A long time ago.’ He shot a glance at Luke and added, ‘You are no doubt wondering what possessed me to marry her. I can hardly say myself. Back then she was beautiful, believe it or not. And exciting, unpredictable. Passionate. I came under her spell.’ He shuddered. ‘It only took a few months for me to see the harpy’s pinions beneath the surface charm. But it took me years to get free of her.’

  ‘The ring?’

  ‘Our engagement ring. I was … well provided for, which is no doubt why she pursued me in the first place. And very much infatuated. I bought the showiest ring I could find.’

  ‘So what does Olivia have to do with all this?’

  Ian’s face froze. ‘I’m sorry, Lieutenant, but I refuse to drag Olivia into this. She is completely innocent – not only of murder, but of Cruella’s suspicions as well. Please take my word that she cannot possibly be involved.’

  Luke gazed at him a long minute until the ice began to crack. ‘I’m sorry, but I can’t do that. I’ll respect your chivalry for now, but I’m going to have to find out one way or the other – from you or from her.’

  Ian gave a curt nod. ‘You must do your duty, Lieutenant. But please be gentle with her. She’s been through too much on my account already.’

  Luke returned the nod, then took Ian through his movements in the course of the evening. ‘Were you alone in the library at any time?’

  ‘I don’t believe so. Everyone was in and out – it’s difficult to be sure.’<
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  ‘How about you and Olivia together?’

  ‘No. Never.’ He spat that out too fast. Luke envisioned a stolen kiss or three.

  ‘And when the lights went out? Where were you?’

  ‘I was in the library. I heard voices in the hall and went to the door, but no farther. Then when the lights came on I went back to my seat to wait for the charade.’

  All very pat. Possibly even true. And it got Luke absolutely nowhere.

  ‘May I go now, Lieutenant? I have something of a headache myself.’

  ‘One more thing. Can you tell me Cruella’s real name? Gonna need it for the death certificate.’

  Ian grimaced. ‘Jane Smith.’ Luke’s eyebrows shot up, and Ian added, ‘I know. Hard to believe, isn’t it? But you can see why a woman like that couldn’t bear to go through life as plain Jane Smith.’

  ‘Did she change it legally to Cruella Crime?’

  ‘She tried, after she became successful with that pseudonym, but the judge wouldn’t do it. He insisted a legal name had to be reasonable. And there was nothing reasonable about Cruella Crime.’

  FOURTEEN

  Ian came back in alone and said Luke would like to speak with Veronica. ‘He’s hoping to let those of you staying elsewhere get home sometime tonight.’

  Emily seized the opportunity. ‘Give me a minute with Luke, would you, Veronica? I promise I’ll be quick.’

  She darted into the dining room. ‘Luke, can I have a quick word?’

  He looked up at her, and she watched the usual pleasure in his eyes at seeing her shut down to blankness. ‘OK, but it better be quick. Got a lot of people to get through tonight.’

  She swallowed her hurt. ‘Yes, I know. It’s just – well, you’ve probably thought of this already, but … I was wondering, doesn’t it have to be someone on your charades team? Because how could anyone else have known Cruella would drink out of that glass?’

  Luke frowned. ‘That’s a good point.’ He drummed his fingers on the table. ‘What exactly was said when Katie took the tray out?’

  Emily concentrated, trying to remember Katie’s exact words. ‘Katie said to me, “Do you mind? Cruella said she needs these for the charade.”’

  ‘And did you answer?’

  ‘Not with words. I think I nodded or shrugged or something.’

  He rubbed the back of his neck. ‘Possible somebody could have assumed from that Cruella would be the one drinking it.’

  ‘I suppose so, but that would be a terrible risk to take.’

  ‘I know.’ He squinted at the wall. ‘Was your whole team there in the library when Katie came for the tray?’

  ‘I think so. We were expecting the gong to go at any time.’

  He faced her straight on. ‘Look, Em, there’s one possibility we have to face, unpleasant as it might be.’

  She quailed. ‘I know. The poison could have been meant for me.’

  ‘Anything you haven’t told me about any of these people? Any connection you have with the new ones? Conflicts with people in town?’

  ‘No. Not a thing. Wanda doesn’t seem to like me much – I think she’s jealous because I have money. But you don’t kill somebody on that basis.’

  ‘No. I’m going to proceed on the assumption Cruella was the target. But we can’t rule the other thing out.’ He glanced at her sideways. ‘You OK with me staying on the premises for now? I don’t want to leave you alone, just in case.’

  ‘Fine by me. In fact, I wouldn’t have it any other way.’ Emily assayed a smile, and it was met by something that at least was not a frown. ‘I’ll let you get on with your interviews.’

  Luke ducked upstairs for a minute to tell Pete and Heather to pay special attention to anything in the bathrooms or kitchen that might conceivably be used to poison someone. Then he returned to the dining room, where Veronica was stirring cream into a cup of coffee.

  ‘Thanks for waiting. I won’t keep you too long.’

  She smiled wearily. ‘No problem.’

  ‘First, I have to ask you formally, did you have any connection at all with Cruella before this afternoon?’

  ‘None whatsoever. Emily had mentioned her to me on the phone – warned me about her, actually – but other than that I’d never even heard of the woman.’ Veronica’s demeanor was serene, as usual. Luke had known her for years and had no reason to doubt her.

  ‘Good. Now if you would, cast your mind back and tell me if you saw anyone behaving suspiciously at any time. Any little detail that struck you as off? Or anything that might suggest a connection we don’t know about?’

  ‘I’ve been thinking about this while we were waiting. The only thing I’ve come up with may have no significance at all.’

  ‘Let me be the judge of that.’

  ‘Of course. It’s only that when we were all gathered in the library before dinner, I heard Cruella say she was going to get her hands on Emily’s amaretto, one way or another.’

  Luke pricked up his ears at that. ‘Now that does sound significant.’ Not to mention it was a huge relief – making it much less likely Emily was the target. ‘Who was she talking to?’

  ‘No one in particular. Just making a pronouncement.’

  ‘Anybody else hear her say it?’

  ‘I can’t say with certainty what another person heard or didn’t hear, but as I recall, Ian, Oscar, and Dustin were all close enough to hear. And Devon, but I don’t suppose he’s high on your list of suspects.’

  Luke gave a slight smile. He’d suspected Devon of murder once, but in all seriousness he hardly seemed capable of it, and in this case certainly had no motive. If anyone could have found Cruella more amusing than infuriating, it would have been Devon.

  ‘Any of those people seem to react to what she said?’

  Veronica pondered. ‘Ian studiously ignored Cruella, not only at that moment but all the time. Dustin was sullen as usual. I think Oscar frowned – I got the impression he was offended on Emily’s behalf. Devon, of course, simply lapped up the drama.’

  Luke pouched his lips, drumming his pen on his notebook. ‘You didn’t see any follow-up to this threat from Cruella? I mean, other than her using the amaretto in the charade.’

  ‘No. I expect the charade was her follow-up.’

  ‘Yeah. All right. Anything else you can tell me?’

  ‘Nothing I’ve thought of so far. I’ll let you know if anything else occurs to me.’

  ‘Thanks. You’ve been a big help.’ He stood and shook her hand.

  ‘Is there any chance of us locals getting home tonight?’

  ‘I’ll do what I can. I’m going to talk to the others right now, then I think Pete can manage to get you all home safe with his chains.’

  Luke interviewed Hilary, who had nothing of interest to add to what he had said previously and raised no red flags. Then he called Devon.

  Devon bounced in as if he had absorbed all the energy everyone else in the group had lost. ‘Here we are again, Lieutenant. Nice little murder on our hands. Personally, I think Emily engineered the whole thing to look like an Agatha Christie novel. Cruella will probably come back to life any minute and tell us it was all an elaborate joke.’

  Luke quelled him with a look. ‘I saw Cruella die, and I promise you she is not coming back to life. Not unless you believe in zombies. And you may have the kind of sick sense of humor that would plan this, but Emily does not.’

  Devon cleared his throat and looked at his perfectly polished shoes. ‘No, of course not. Sorry. I tend to get facetious under stress. I can’t seem to help it.’

  ‘No need for you to feel stressed. You’re not under suspicion this time. That is, unless you had some connection with the victim I don’t know about?’

  ‘Me? Heavens, no. I didn’t know she existed until yesterday, when Emily rang to warn us about her.’ He smiled brightly.

  Was that smile a little too bright? He let it pass – this was Devon, after all. ‘OK. So I need to know from you whether you saw or heard anything
suspicious in the course of the evening – anything that seemed off in any way, anything that could shed light on this business.’

  ‘Well, I think Veronica already told you what Cruella said about the amaretto.’

  ‘She did.’

  ‘Other than that … I really can’t think of anything.’

  ‘How about when your team was waiting around for the charades to start? Anybody go near the bar shelf then?’

  ‘Not that I saw.’

  ‘Anybody alone in the library at any point that you know of?’

  ‘How would I know if I wasn’t there with them?’

  ‘You might have gone out and left one person behind, or come back in and seen only one person there.’

  ‘Oh, yes, of course. But no, I didn’t. I was in there most of the time myself; I only nipped out for a tick to use the loo. Except for when the lights went out – I went into the hall then, along with practically everyone else, apparently.’

  ‘Who was there when you left for the restroom?’

  ‘Oh dear, let me think.’ Devon put his hand to his brow in a theatrical gesture. ‘I believe Oscar was there. And that unpleasant woman, Wanda – I think she was lurking in one of those wing chairs by the fire. That might be all – or was Ian there too? I’m sorry, I really can’t remember.’

  ‘And when you came back?’

  ‘Hmm – those three plus Emily, I think. And Olivia came in right after me.’

  ‘So that’s the whole gang.’ Luke blew out a long breath. ‘Looks like no joy on that front. All right, Devon, you can go. I need to talk to Wanda, and then I’ll get Pete to drive you all home.’

  Luke ushered Devon back to the library and called for Wanda. She didn’t answer right away, and Luke couldn’t see her. Emily gestured toward the wing chair opposite her, and then Luke noticed the silver high heels propped up on the ottoman. He moved around to face the chair.