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Ten
“Jason’s back now,” said Hailey Preston. “Will you come with me, Chief-In-
spector, I’ll take you to his room.”
The room which Jason Rudd used partly for office and partly for a sit-
ting room, was on the first floor. It was comfortably but not luxuriously1
furnished. It was a room which had little personality and no indication of
the private tastes or predilection2 of its user. Jason Rudd rose from the desk
at which he was sitting, and came forward to meet Dermot. It was wholly
unnecessary, Dermot thought, for the room to have a personality; the user
of it had so much. Hailey Preston had been an efficient and voluble gas-
Dermot immediately admitted to himself, it would not be easy to read. In
the course of his career, Craddock had met and summed up many people.
reading the thoughts of most of the people with whom he came in contact.
Rudd’s thoughts as Jason Rudd himself permitted. The eyes, deepset and
you. Here, thought Dermot Craddock to himself, is where I sit and listen
and take very careful notes.
some small complication over at the Studios. Can I offer you a drink?”
“Not just now, thank you, Mr. Rudd.”
“Not the house to take a drink in, is that what you’re thinking?”
“As a matter of fact it wasn’t what I was thinking.”
“No, no I suppose not. Well, Chief-Inspector, what do you want to know?
What can I tell you?”
“Mr. Preston has answered very adequately all the questions I have put
to him.”
“And that has been helpful to you?”
“Not as helpful as I could wish.”
Jason Rudd looked inquiring.
“I’ve also seen Dr. Gilchrist. He informs me that your wife is not yet
strong enough to be asked questions.”
nervous storms. And murder at such close quarters is, as you will admit,
likely to produce a nerve storm.”
“It is not a pleasant experience,” Dermot Craddock agreed, dryly.
“In any case I doubt if there is anything my wife could tell you that you
thing happened, and frankly I would say that I am a better observer than
my wife.”
“The first question I would like to ask,” said Dermot, “(and it is a ques-
tion that you have probably answered already but for all that I would like
to ask again), had you or your wife any previous acquaintance with
Heather Badcock?”
Jason Rudd shook his head.
“None whatever. I certainly have never seen the woman before in my
life. I had two letters from her on behalf of the St. John Ambulance Associ-
ation, but I had not met her personally until about five minutes before her
death.”
“But she claimed to have met your wife?”
Jason Rudd nodded.
“Yes, some twelve or thirteen years ago, I gather. In Bermuda. Some big
garden party in aid of ambulances, which Marina opened for them, I
think, and Mrs. Badcock, as soon as she was introduced, burst into some
long rigmarole of how although she was in bed with flu, she had got up
and had managed to come to this affair and had asked for and got my
wife’s autograph.”
“That, I may say, is a very common occurrence, Chief-Inspector. Large
mobs of people are usually lined up to obtain my wife’s autograph and it is
a moment that they treasure and remember. Quite understandably, it is
an event in their lives. Equally naturally it is not likely that my wife would
remember one out of a thousand or so autograph hunters. She had, quite
frankly, no recollection of ever having seen Mrs. Badcock before.”
“That I can well understand,” said Craddock. “Now I have been told, Mr.
moments that Heather Badcock was speaking to her. Would you agree that
such was the case?”
“Very possibly,” said Jason Rudd. “Marina is not particularly strong. She
was, of course, used to what I may describe as her public social work, and
could carry out her duties in that line almost automatically. But towards
the end of a long day she was inclined occasionally to flag. This may have
been such a moment. I did not, I may say, observe anything of the kind
myself. No, wait a minute, that is not quite true. I do remember that she
was a little slow in making her reply to Mrs. Badcock. In fact I think I
“Something had perhaps distracted her attention?” said Dermot.
tigue.”
Dermot Craddock was silent for a few minutes. He looked out of the
window where the view was the somewhat sombre one over the woods
surrounding Gossington Hall. He looked at the pictures on the walls, and
completely at ease, but he might, Craddock thought, be actually nothing of
the kind. This was a man of very high mental calibre. One would not,
Dermot thought, get anything out of him that he was not prepared to say
unless one put one’s cards on the table. Dermot took his decision. He
would do just that.
“Has it occurred to you, Mr. Rudd, that the poisoning of Heather Bad-
your wife?”
There was a silence. Jason Rudd’s face did not change its expression.
Dermot waited. Finally Jason Rudd gave a deep sigh and appeared to re-
lax.
“Yes,” he said quietly, “you’re quite right, Chief-Inspector. I have been
sure of it all along.”
“But you have said nothing to that effect, not to Inspector Cornish, not at
the inquest?”
“No.”
“Why not, Mr. Rudd?”
“I could answer you very adequately by saying that it was merely a be-
lief on my part unsupported by any kind of evidence. The facts that led me
to deduce it, were facts equally accessible to the law which was probably
minister a fatal dose to her on this particular occasion, though it would
seem a very curious and far- fetched decision. But it might have been
chosen conceivably for the reason that at a public occasion of this kind the
issues would be more confused, the number of strangers present would be
considerable and just for that reason it would be more difficult to bring
home to the person in question the commission of such a crime. All that is
true, but I am going to be frank with you, Chief-Inspector. That was not my
reason for keeping silent. I will tell you what the reason was. I didn’t want
my wife to suspect for one moment that it was she who had narrowly es-
“Thank you for your frankness,” said Dermot. “Not that I quite under-
“No? Perhaps it is a little difficult to explain. You would have to know
Marina to understand. She is a person who badly needs happiness and se-
curity. Her life has been highly successful in the material sense. She has
piness. Again and again she has thought that she has found happiness and
view of life. In her previous marriages she has expected, like a child read-
ing a fairy story, to live happy ever afterwards.”
Again the ironic smile changed the ugliness of the clown’s face into a
strange, sudden sweetness.
continued indefinitely. We are fortunate indeed if we can achieve a life of
Dermot Craddock shook his head.
“I have not so far that good, or bad fortune,” he murmured.
“In our world, the moving picture world, marriage is a fully occupa-
tional hazard. Film stars marry often. Sometimes happily, sometimes dis-
astrously, but seldom permanently36. In that respect I should not say that
idea that she was unlucky, that nothing would ever go right for her. She
has always been looking desperately39 for the same things, love, happiness,
affection, security. She was wildly anxious to have children. According to
some medical opinion, the very strength of that anxiety frustrated40 its ob-
suaged by having adopted a baby, a child is born naturally shortly after-
You can imagine her delight when eleven years ago she found she was go-
ing to have a child. Her pleasure and delight were quite indescribable. She
was in good health and the doctors assured her that there was every
reason to believe that everything would go well. As you may or may not
know, the result was tragedy. The child, a boy, was born mentally defi-
cient, imbecile. The result was disastrous45. Marina had a complete break-
recovery was slow she did recover. Shortly after that we married and she
began once more to take an interest in life and to feel that perhaps she
could be happy. It was difficult at first for her to get a worthwhile contract
for a picture. Everyone was inclined to doubt whether her health would
stand the strain. I had to battle for that.” Jason Rudd’s lips set firmly to-
gether. “Well, the battle was successful. We have started shooting the pic-
ture. In the meantime we bought this house and set about altering it. Only
about a fortnight ago Marina was saying to me how happy she was, and
how she felt at last she was going to be able to settle down to a happy
home life, her troubles behind her. I was a little nervous because, as usual,
her expectations were too optimistic. But there was no doubt that she was
happy. Her nervous symptoms disappeared, there was a calmness and a
quietness about her that I had never seen before. Everything was going
well until —” He paused. His voice became suddenly bitter. “Until this
happened! That woman had to die—here! That in itself was shock enough.
I couldn’t risk—I was determined47 not to risk—Marina’s knowing that an
attempt had been made on her life. That would have been a second, per-
He looked directly at Dermot.
“Do you understand—now?”
“I see your point of view,” said Craddock, “but forgive me, isn’t there
one aspect that you are neglecting? You give me your conviction that an
attempt was made to poison your wife. Doesn’t that danger still remain? If
a poisoner does not succeed, isn’t it likely that the attempt may be re-
peated?”
“Naturally I’ve considered that,” said Jason Rudd, “but I am confident
that, being forewarned so to speak, I can take all reasonable precautions
for my wife’s safety. I shall watch over her and arrange that others shall
watch over her. The great thing, I feel, is that she herself should not know
that any danger threatened her.”
“And you think,” said Dermot cautiously, “that she does not know?”
“Of course not. She has no idea.”
“You’re sure of that?”
“Certain. Such an idea would never occur to her.”
“That’s very different,” said Jason Rudd. “Logically it was the only solu-
tion. But my wife isn’t logical, and to begin with she could not possibly
imagine that anyone would want to do away with her. Such a possibility
would simply not occur to her mind.”
“You may be right,” said Dermot slowly, “but that leaves us now with
several other questions. Again, let me put this bluntly. Whom do you sus-
pect?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“Excuse me, Mr. Rudd, do you mean by that you can’t or that you
won’t?”
Jason Rudd spoke quickly. “Can’t. Can’t every time. It seems to me just as
impossible as it would seem to her that anyone would dislike her enough
other hand, on the sheer, downright evidence of the facts, that is exactly
what must have occurred.”
“Will you outline the facts to me as you see them?”
“If you like. The circumstances are quite clear. I poured out two daiquiri
Badcock. What Mrs. Badcock did I do not know. She moved on, I presume,
to speak to someone she knew. My wife had her drink in her hand. At that
moment the mayor and his wife were approaching. She put down her
glass, as yet untouched, and greeted them. Then there were more greet-
ings. An old friend we’d not seen for years, some other locals and one or
two people from the studios. During that time the glass containing the
we had both moved forward a little to the top of the stairs. One or two
photographs were taken of my wife talking to the mayor, which we hoped
would please the local population, at the special request of the represent-
atives of the local newspaper. While this was being done I brought some
fresh drinks to a few of the last arrivals. During that time my wife’s glass
must have been poisoned. Don’t ask me how it was done, it cannot have
been easy to do. On the other hand, it is startling, if anyone has the nerve
to do an action openly and unconcernedly, how little people are likely to
notice it! You ask me if I have suspicions; all I can say is that at least one of
about twenty people might have done it. People, you see, were moving
about in little groups, talking, occasionally going off to have a look at the
alterations56 which had been done to the house. There was movement, con-
tinual movement. I’ve thought and I’ve thought, I’ve racked my brains but
there is nothing, absolutely nothing to direct my suspicions to any particu-
lar person.”
He paused and gave an exasperated57 sigh.
“I understand,” said Dermot. “Go on, please.”
“I dare say you’ve heard the next part before.”
“I should like to hear it again from you.”
“Well, I had come back towards the head of the stairs. My wife had
turned towards the table and was just picking up her glass. There was a
slight exclamation58 from Mrs. Badcock. Somebody must have jogged her
arm and the glass slipped out of her fingers and was broken on the floor.
Marina did the natural hostess’s act. Her own skirt had been slightly
touched with the liquid. She insisted no harm was done, used her own
handkerchief to wipe Mrs. Badcock’s skirt and insisted on her having her
own drink. If I remember she said ‘I’ve had far too much already.’ So that
was that. But I can assure you of this. The fatal dose could not have been
added after that for Mrs. Badcock immediately began to drink from the
glass. As you know, four or five minutes later she was dead. I wonder—
how I wonder—what the poisoner must have felt when he realised how
badly his scheme had failed….”
“All this occurred to you at the time?”
“Of course not. At the time I concluded, naturally enough, this woman
something of that sort. It never occurred to me that poisoning was in-
volved. Would it occur to you—would it occur to anybody?”
“Probably not,” said Dermot. “Well your account is clear enough and
you seem sure of your facts. You say you have no suspicion of any particu-
lar person. I can’t quite accept that, you know.”
“I assure you it’s the truth.”
“Let us approach it from another angle. Who is there who could wish to
harm your wife? It all sounds melodramatic if you put it this way, but
what enemies had she got?”
Jason Rudd made an expressive60 gesture.
“Enemies? Enemies? It’s so hard to define what one means by an enemy.
ing campaign, who will do someone they are jealous of a bad turn if the
opportunity occurs. But that doesn’t mean that any of those people is a
murderer, or indeed even a likely murderer. Don’t you agree?”
“Yes, I agree. There must be something beyond petty dislikes or envies.
Is there anyone whom your wife has injured, say, in the past?”
“Honestly, I don’t think so,” he said at last, “and I may say I’ve given a lot
of thought to that point.”
“Anything in the nature of a love affair, an association with some man?”
“There have of course been affairs of that kind. It may be considered, I
suppose, that Marina has occasionally treated some man badly. But there
“What about women? Any woman who has had a lasting grudge against
Miss Gregg?”
“Well,” said Jason Rudd, “you can never tell with women. I can’t think of
“Who’d benefit financially by your wife’s death?”
“Her will benefits various people but not to any large extent. I suppose
the people who’d benefit, as you put it, financially, would be myself as her
husband, from another angle, possibly the star who might replace her in
this film. Though, of course, the film might be abandoned altogether.
These things are very uncertain.”
“Well, we need not go into all that now,” said Dermot.
“And I have your assurance that Marina will not be told that she is in
possible danger?”
“We shall have to go into that matter,” said Dermot. “I want to impress
upon you that you are taking quite a considerable risk there. However, the
matter will not arise for some days since your wife is still under medical
care. Now there is one more thing I would like you to do. I would like you
to write down for me as accurately66 as you can every single person who
stairs at the time of the murder.”
“I’ll do my best, but I’m rather doubtful. You’d do far better to consult
my secretary, Ella Zielinsky. She has a most accurate memory and also
lists of the local lads who were there. If you’d like to see her now—”
“I would like to talk to Miss Ella Zielinsky very much,” said Dermot.
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