The door opened again and Aristide Leonides second wife came into the room.
She wore blackvery expensive black and a good deal of it. It swathed her up to the neck and down to the wrists. She moved easily and indolently, and black certainly suited her. Her face was mildly pretty, and she had rather nice brown hair arranged in somewhat too elaborate a style. Her face was well powdered and she had on lipstick and rouge, but she had clearly been crying. She was wearing a string of very large pearls and she had a big emerald ring on one hand and an enormous ruby on the other.
There was one other thing I noticed about her. She looked frightened.
Good morning, Mrs Leonides, said Taverner easi ly. Im sorry to have to trouble you again.
She said in a flat voice:
I suppose it cant be helped.
You understand, dont you, Mrs Leonides, that if you wish your solicitor to be present, that is perfectly in order?
I wondered if she did understand the significance of those words. Apparently not. She merely said rather sulkily:
I dont like Mr Gaitskill. I dont want him.
You could have your own solicitor, Mrs Leonides.
Must I? I dont like solicitors. They confuse me.
Its entirely for you to decide, said Taverner, producing an automatic smile. Shall we go on, then?
Sergeant Lamb licked his pencil. Brenda Leonides sat down on a sofa facing Taverner.
Have you found out anything? she asked.
I noticed her fingers nervously twisting and untwisting a pleat of the chiffon of her dress.
We can state definitely now that your husband died as a result of eserine poisoning.
You mean those eyedrops killed him?
It seems quite certain that when you gave Mr Leonides that last injection, it was eserine that you injected and not insulin.
But I didnt know that. I didnt have anything to do with it. Really I didnt, Inspector.
Then somebody must have deliberately replaced the insulin by the eyedrops.
What a wicked thing to do!
Yes, Mrs Leonides.
Do you thinksomeone did it on purpose? Or by accident? It couldnt have been aa joke, could it?
Taverner said smoothly:
We dont think it was a joke, Mrs Leonides.
It must have been one of the servants.
Taverner did not answer.
It must. I dont see who else could have done it.
Are you sure? Think, Mrs Leonides. Havent you any ideas at all? Theres been no ill-feeling anywhere? No quarrel? No grudge?
She still stared at him with large defiant eyes.
Ive no idea at all, she said.
You had been at the cinema that afternoon, you said?
YesI came in at half-past sixit was time for the insulinIIgave him the injection just the same as usual and then hehe went all queer. I was terrifiedI rushed over to RogerIve told you all this before. Have I got to go over it again and again? Her voice rose hysterically.
Im sorry, Mrs Leonides. Now can I speak to Mr Brown?
To Laurence? Why? He doesnt know anything about it.
Id like to speak to him all the same.
She stared at him suspiciously.
Eustace is doing Latin with him in the schoolroom. Do you want him to come here?
Nowell go to him.
Taverner went quickly out of the room. The sergeant and I followed.
Youve put the wind up[77] her, sir, said Sergeant Lamb.
Taverner grunted. He led the way up a short flight of steps and along a passage into a big room looking over the garden. There a fair-haired young man of about thirty and a handsome, dark boy of sixteen were sitting at a table.
They looked up at our entrance. Sophias brother Eustace looked at me, Laurence Brown fixed an agonized gaze on Chief Inspector Taverner.
I have never seen a man look so completely paralysed with fright. He stood up, then sat down again. He said, and his voice was almost a squeak:
Ohergood morning, Inspector.
Good morning. Taverner was curt. Can I have a word with you?
Yes, of course. Only too pleased. At least
Eustace got up.
Do you want me to go away, Chief Inspector? His voice was pleasant with a faintly arrogant note.
Wewe can continue our studies later, said the tutor.
Eustace strolled negligently towards the door. He walked rather stiffly. Just as he went through the door he caught my eye, drew a forefinger across the front of his throat and grinned. Then he shut the door behind him.
Well, Mr Brown, said Taverner. The analysis is quite definite. It was eserine that caused Mr Leonides death.
Iyou meanMr Leonides was really poisoned? I have been hoping
He was poisoned, said Taverner curtly. Someone substituted eserine eyedrops for insulin.
I cant believe it Its incredible.
The question is, who had a motive?
Nobody. Nobody at all! The young mans voice rose excitedly.
You wouldnt like to have your solicitor present, would you? inquired Taverner.
I havent got a solicitor. I dont want one. I have nothing to hidenothing
And you quite understand that what you say is about to be taken down?
Im innocentI assure you, Im innocent.
I have not suggested anything else. Taverner paused. Mrs Leonides was a good deal younger than her husband, was she not?
II suppose soI mean, well, yes.
She must have felt lonely sometimes?
Laurence Brown did not answer. He passed his tongue over his dry lips.
To have a companion of more or less her own age living here must have been agreeable to her?
Ino, not at allI meanI dont know.
It seems to me quite natural that an attachment should have sprung up between you.
The young man protested vehemently.
It didnt! It wasnt! Nothing of the kind! I know what youre thinking, but it wasnt so! Mrs Leonides was very kind to me always and I had the greatestthe greatest respect for herbut nothing morenothing more, I do assure you. Its monstrous to suggest things of that kind! Monstrous! I wouldnt kill anybodyor tamper with bottlesor anything like that. Im very sensitive and highly strung. Ithe very idea of killing is a nightmare to me they quite understood that at the tribunalI have religious objections to killing. I did hospital work insteadstoking boilersterribly heavy workI couldnt go on with itbut they let me take up educational work. I have done my best here with Eustace and with Josephinea very intelligent child, but difficult. And everybody has been most kind to meMr Leonides and Mrs Leonides and Miss de Haviland. And now this awful thing happens And you suspect memeof murder!
Inspector Taverner looked at him with a slow, appraising interest.
I havent said so, he remarked.
But you think so! I know you think so! They all think so! They look at me. II cant go on talking to you. Im not well.
He hurried out of the room. Taverner turned his head slowly to look at me.
Well, what do you think of him?
Hes scared stiff.
Yes, I know, but is he a murderer?
If you ask me, said Sergeant Lamb, hed never have had the nerve.
Hed never have bashed anyone on the head, or shot off a pistol, agreed the Chief Inspector. But in this particular crime what is there to do? Just monkey about with a couple of bottles Just help a very old man out of the world in a comparatively painless manner.
Practically euthanasia, said the sergeant.
And then, perhaps, after a decent interval, marriage with a woman who inherits a hundred thousand pounds free of legacy duty, who already has about the same amount settled upon her, and who has in addition pearls and rubies and emeralds the size of whats-its-name eggs!
Ah, well Taverner sighed. Its all theory and conjecture! I managed to scare him all right, but that doesnt prove anything. Hes just as likely to be scared if hes innocent. And anyway, I rather doubt if he was the one actually to do it. More likely to have been the womanonly why on earth didnt she throw away the insulin bottle, or rinse it out? He turned to the sergeant. No evidence from the servants about any goings on?
The parlourmaid says theyre sweet on each other.
What grounds?
The way he looks at her when she pours out his coffee.
Fat lot of good that would be in a court of law! Definitely no carryings on?
Not that anybodys seen.
I bet they would have seen, too, if there had been anything to see. You know Im beginning to believe there really is nothing between them. He looked at me. Go back and talk to her. Id like your impression of her.
I went, half-reluctantly, yet I was interested.
Chapter 9
I found Brenda Leonides sitting exactly where I had left her. She looked up sharply as I entered.
Wheres Inspector Taverner? Is he coming back?
Not just yet.
Who are you?
At last I had been asked the question that I had been expecting all the morning.
I answered it with reasonable truth.
Im connected with the police, but Im also a friend of the family.
The family! Beasts! I hate them all.
She looked at me, her mouth working. She looked sullen and frightened and angry.
Theyve been beastly to me alwaysalways. From the very first. Why shouldnt I marry their precious father? What did it matter to them? Theyd all got loads of money. He gave it to them. They wouldnt have had the brains to make any for themselves!
She went on:
Why shouldnt a man marry againeven if he is a bit old? And he wasnt really old at allnot in himself. I was very fond of him. I was fond of him. She looked at me defiantly.
I see, I said. I see.
I suppose you dont believe thatbut its true. I was sick of men. I wanted to have a homeI wanted someone to make a fuss of[78] me and say nice things to me. Aristide said lovely things to meand he could make you laugh and he was clever. He thought up all sorts of smart ways to get round all these silly regulations. He was very, very clever. Im not glad hes dead. Im sorry.
She leaned back on the sofa. She had rather a wide mouth; it curled up sideways in a queer, sleepy smile.
Ive been happy here. Ive been safe. I went to all those posh dressmakersthe ones Id read about. I was as good as anybody. And Aristide gave me lovely things. She stretched out a hand, looking at the ruby on it.
Just for a moment I saw the hand and arm like an outstretched cats claw, and heard her voice as a purr. She was still smiling to herself.
Whats wrong with that? she demanded. I was nice to him. I made him happy. She leaned forward. Do you know how I met him?
She went on without waiting for an answer.
It was in the Gay Shamrock. Hed ordered scrambled eggs on toast and when I brought them to him I was crying. Sit down, he said, and tell me whats the matter. Oh, I couldnt, I said. Id get the sack[79] if I did a thing like that. No, you wont, he said, I own this place. I looked at him then. Such an odd little man he was, I thought at firstbut hed got a sort of power. I told him all about it Youll have heard about it all from them, I expect making out I was a regular bad lotbut I wasnt. I was brought up very carefully. We had a shopa very high-class shopart needlework. I was never the sort of girl who had a lot of boy friends or made herself cheap. But Terry was different. He was Irishand he was going overseas He never wrote or anythingI suppose I was a fool. So there it was, you see. I was in troublejust like some dreadful little servant girl