谋杀启事26

III

“I’m sorry about it, I am really,” said Myrna Harris. “It’s ever so nice ofyou not to be ratty about it. But you see Mum’s the sort of person whofusses like anything. And it did look as though I’d—what’s the phrase?—been an accessory before the fact” (the words ran glibly off her tongue). “Imean, I was afraid you’d never take my word for it that I only thought itwas just a bit of fun.”

Inspector Craddock repeated the reassuring phrase with which he hadbroken down Myrna’s resistance.

“I will. I’ll tell you all about it. But you will keep me out of it if you canbecause of Mum? It all started with Rudi breaking a date with me. Wewere going to the pictures that evening and then he said he wouldn’t beable to come and I was a bit standoffish with him about it—because afterall, it had been his idea and I don’t fancy being stood up by a foreigner.

And he said it wasn’t his fault, and I said that was a likely story, and thenhe said he’d got a bit of a lark on that night—and that he wasn’t going tobe out of pocket by it and how would I fancy a wristwatch? So I said, whatdo you mean by a lark? And he said not to tell anyone, but there was to bea party somewhere and he was to stage a sham hold-up. Then he showedme the advertisement he’d put in and I had to laugh. He was a bit scornfulabout it all. Said it was kid’s stuff, really—but that was just like the Eng-lish. They never really grew up—and of course, I said what did he meanby talking like that about Us—and we had a bit of an argument, but wemade it up. Only you can understand, can’t you, sir, that when I read allabout it, and it hadn’t been a joke at all and Rudi had shot someone andthen shot himself—why, I didn’t know what to do. I thought if I said I knewabout it beforehand, it would look as though I were in on the whole thing.

But it really did seem like a joke when he told me about it. I’d have swornhe meant it that way. I didn’t even know he’d got a revolver. He never saidanything about taking a revolver with him.”

Craddock comforted her and then asked the most important question.

“Who did he say it was who had arranged this party?”

But there he drew a blank.

“He never said who it was that was getting him to do it. I supposenobody was, really. It was all his own doing.”

“He didn’t mention a name? Did he say he—or she?”

“He didn’t say anything except that it was going to be a scream. ‘I shalllaugh to see all their faces.’ That’s what he said.”

He hadn’t had long to laugh, Craddock thought.

 

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