魔手36

Thirteen

I
Things never come when they are expected.

I was full of Joanna’s and my personal affairs and was quite taken abackthe next morning when Nash’s voice said over the telephone: “We’ve gother, Mr. Burton!”

I was so startled I nearly dropped the receiver.

“You mean the—”

He interrupted.

“Can you be overheard where you are?”

“No, I don’t think so—well, perhaps—”

It seemed to me that the baize door to the kitchen had swung open atrifle.

“Perhaps you’d care to come down to the station?”

“I will. Right away.”

I was at the police station in next to no time. In an inner room Nash andSergeant Parkins were together. Nash was wreathed in smiles.

“It’s been a long chase,” he said. “But we’re there at last.”

He flicked a letter across the table. This time it was all typewritten. Itwas, of its kind, fairly mild.

“It’s no use thinking you’re going to step into a dead wo-man’s shoes. The whole town is laughing at you. Get outnow. Soon it will be too late. This is a warning. Rememberwhat happened to that other girl. Get out and stay out.”

It finished with some mildly obscene language.

“That reached Miss Holland this morning,” said Nash.

“Thought it was funny she hadn’t had one before,” said Sergeant Par-kins.

“Who wrote it?” I asked.

Some of the exultation faded out of Nash’s face.

He looked tired and concerned. He said soberly:

“I’m sorry about it, because it will hit a decent man hard, but there it is.

Perhaps he’s had his suspicions already.”

“Who wrote it?” I reiterated.

“Miss Aimée Griffith.”

II

Nash and Parkins went to the Griffiths’ house that afternoon with a war-rant.

By Nash’s invitation I went with them.

“The doctor,” he said, “is very fond of you. He hasn’t many friends inthis place. I think if it is not too painful to you, Mr. Burton, that you mighthelp him to bear up under the shock.”

I said I would come. I didn’t relish the job, but I thought I might be somegood.

We rang the bell and asked for Miss Griffith and we were shown intothe drawing room. Elsie Holland, Megan and Symmington were there hav-ing tea.

Nash behaved very circumspectly.

He asked Aimée if he might have a few words with her privately.

She got up and came towards us. I thought I saw just a faint hunted lookin her eye. If so, it went again. She was perfectly normal and hearty.

“Want me? Not in trouble over my car lights again, I hope?”

She led the way out of the drawing room and across the hall into a smallstudy.

As I closed the drawing room door, I saw Symmington’s head jerk upsharply. I supposed his legal training had brought him in contact with po-lice cases, and he had recognized something in Nash’s manner. He halfrose.

That is all I saw before I shut the door and followed the others.

Nash was saying his piece. He was very quiet and correct. He cautionedher and then told her that he must ask her to accompany him. He had awarrant for her arrest and he read out the charge—I forget now the exact legal term. It was the letters, not murder yet.

Aimée Griffith flung up her head and bayed with laughter. She boomedout: “What ridiculous nonsense! As though I’d write a packet of indecentstuff like that. You must be mad. I’ve never written a word of the kind.”

Nash had produced the letter to Elsie Holland. He said:

“Do you deny having written this, Miss Griffith?”

If she hesitated it was only for a split second.

“Of course I do. I’ve never seen it before.”

Nash said quietly: “I must tell you, Miss Griffith, that you were observedto type that letter on the machine at the Women’s Institute between elevenand eleven thirty p.m. on the night before last. Yesterday you entered thepost office with a bunch of letters in your hand—”

“I never posted this.”

“No, you did not. Whilst waiting for stamps, you dropped it inconspicu-ously on the floor, so that somebody should come along unsuspectinglyand pick it up and post it.”

“I never—”

The door opened and Symmington came in. He said sharply: “What’s go-ing on? Aimée, if there is anything wrong, you ought to be legally repres-ented. If you wish me—”

She broke then. Covered her face with her hands and staggered to achair. She said:

“Go away, Dick, go away. Not you! Not you!”

“You need a solicitor, my dear girl.”

“Not you. I—I—couldn’t bear it. I don’t want you to know—all this.”

He understood then, perhaps. He said quietly:

“I’ll get hold of Mildmay, of Exhampton. Will that do?”

She nodded. She was sobbing now.

Symmington went out of the room. In the doorway he collided withOwen Griffith.

“What’s this?” said Owen violently. “My sister—”

“I’m sorry, Dr. Griffith. Very sorry. But we have no alternative.”

“You think she—was responsible for those letters?”

“I’m afraid there is no doubt of it, sir,” said Nash—he turned to Aimée,“You must come with us now, please, Miss Griffith—you shall have everyfacility for seeing a solicitor, you know.”

Owen cried: “Aimée?”

She brushed past him without looking at him.

She said: “Don’t talk to me. Don’t say anything. And for God’s sake don’tlook at me!”

They went out. Owen stood like a man in a trance.

I waited a bit, then I came up to him. “If there’s anything I can do, Grif-fith, tell me.”

He said like a man in a dream:

“Aimée? I don’t believe it.”

“It may be a mistake,” I suggested feebly.

He said slowly: “She wouldn’t take it like that if it were. But I wouldnever have believed it. I can’t believe it.”

He sank down on a chair. I made myself useful by finding a stiff drinkand bringing it to him. He swallowed it down and it seemed to do himgood.

He said: “I couldn’t take it in at first. I’m all right now. Thanks, Burton,but there’s nothing you can do. Nothing anyone can do.”

The door opened and Joanna came in. She was very white.

She came over to Owen and looked at me.

She said: “Get out, Jerry. This is my business.”

As I went out of the door, I saw her kneel down by his chair.

 

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