The way she smiled and the sound of her voice, the foolish inconsequent sound of it, were there in the room. They were there in a silence that no one seemed able to break. Thoughts beat against it, but it resisted them. In the end it was Edna Ford who broke it. She held the three account-books in her right hand. She glanced down at them now, still with that foolish smile, and said,
‘Well, I mustn’t keep Mrs Lenton waiting.’
Ellie gave a kind of gasp. Superintendent Martin said,
‘Mrs Ford, you have just made a very serious admission. Do you wish to make a statement on the subject? I have to tell you that anything you say may be taken down and used in evidence.’
She turned round, the buckle in one hand and the account-books in the other.
‘It was clever of me, wasn’t itî And if that buckle hadn’t been loose, no one would ever have known. I suppose I ought not to have put on the torch until I was out of sight of the house, but you don’t expect people to be looking out of their windows at that time of night. And what was Ellie Page doing in our garden in the dark? I should like to know that. Running after Geoffrey, I suppose – just like all the other silly women. But they won’t get him, because I happen to know that Adriana has left the money to me. So they won’t get him away from me—none of them will!’
The Superintendent addressed Ellie Page.
‘Miss Page, would you be so kind as to ask Watson to come in here. He took down your statement, and I asked him to wait. And please come back yourself – we may want you.’
Edna Ford went on talking about how attractive Geoffrey was, and the folly of the women who imagined that they could get him away from her. She did not seem to be addressing Superintendent Martin or anyone else in particular. The words just ran on as if they were her thoughts, and as if by saying them aloud she could make them come true. She was still talking when Ellie came back with a dark young man who sat down by the side of the table and opened a notebook. Miss Silver’s eyes rested on her gravely and compassionately.
When Watson was seated the Superintendent checked the flow.
‘Now, Mrs Ford, if you are prepared to answer questions or make a statement, Detective Watson will take down what you say in shorthand. When it has been typed it will be read over to you and you can sign it.’
She said in a fretful voice,
‘I don’t see why he wants to take it down. We were getting along very nicely without him.’
‘It is better to have it on record. Then it can be read over to you, and you can say whether it is all right.’
She had an approving nod for that.
‘Well, of course there is that. I wouldn’t want you to put things in afterwards.’
Ellie Page had found a chair beside Miss Silver. Her face was hidden in the hands which rested against the hard upright back. Martin said,
‘Now, Mrs Ford, when Miss Page said, “You killed them both!” you made this reply, “It was very clever of me, wasn’t it?” Did you mean that as an admission that you had pushed Mabel Preston into the pool and drowned her there, and that you subsequently struck Meriel Ford with an iron club and pushed her into the same pool?’
Edna Ford shook her head.
‘Oh, no, I didn’t push Meriel – I didn’t have to. She fell into the pool. It was very convenient.’
Young Watson felt a pringling at the back of his neck. He wrote down what she had said.
‘Why did you drown Mabel Preston?’
‘That was rather a tiresome mistake. You see, she was wearing Adriana’s coat – the one with the big black and white squares and the emerald stripe. Such a noticeable pattern and not at all suitable at Adriana’s age – in fact at either of their ages. I do think elderly people should dress quietly — I am sure you agree about that. Anyhow, there was the coat, and of course I thought it was Adriana inside it. Very misleading of Mabel to put it on like that, and quite her own fault if it turned out as it did. I didn’t like her very much, but I’m sure I hadn’t the slightest desire to drown her. I just switched on my torch for a moment, saw that very noticeable pattern, and gave her one good push. After that, of course, I had to hold her down until she stopped struggling. But it really was quite easy. I am stronger than I look. You see, I used to play golf quite a lot and it develops the muscles.’
‘You say that it was your intention to drown Miss Adriana Ford?’
Edna gave a casual self-satisfied nod.
‘It seemed such a good opportunity,’ she said.
‘How did you come to be following Miss Preston?’
‘Oh, but I wasn’t. It was quite a surprise to me when she came through the gap in the hedge.’
‘Then why were you there?’
She primmed up her mouth.
‘Well, it is all rather delicate. You see, Mrs Trent was behaving so very badly about my husband — she really never left him alone. And when I saw them slip behind the curtains — the room was so hot and I had just opened a window – I thought I had better see where they had gone to, but that tiresome Mrs Felkins caught hold of me. Such a talker, and I couldn’t get away from her. And then there were two or three other people, so it was quite a time before I could go after Geoffrey and that woman. I guessed they would be in the summerhouse down by the pool, and so they were. But I think they heard me coming, because Geoffrey went off one way and she another. I didn’t know that Meriel had been there too, and that she had seen them. At least I don’t know whether she saw them, or whether she saw me, because I don’t know when she was there, but she tore her dress on the hedge, and she must have stained it too, because when I saw her again up at the house she had spilt coffee all down the front of it, and I thought, “Well, she wouldn’t do that for nothing”. I had a good close look at the dress, and under the coffee stain it was all wet with water and slime. So then I knew she had tried to move the body, because that was the only way she could have got herself stained like that. And do you know what I think? She didn’t give the alarm, so she must have thought it was Adriana who had fallen into the pool. And she must have thought it would be a pity if she was found too soon. Because of course she wanted to get her share of the money so as to be able to go on the stage.’
Ellie Page dropped her hands from her face and turned an incredulous gaze on Edna. It sounded as if she thought it was all quite a matter of course to push people out of your way, to push them out of life, because they had something you wanted. She thought, ‘She’s mad!’ And then, ‘But I was pushing for something I wanted too. How far would I have pushed her because I wanted Geoffrey?’ A bleak horror fell on her. Her hand went out gropingly. Miss Silver took it and held it in a firm, kind clasp.
The Superintendent was saying, ‘Why did you kill Meriel Ford?’
‘Well, I didn’t know how much she knew. As soon as I heard about her having left a shred of her dress on the hedge I knew she would be questioned about it, and I didn’t know what she might say. And the more I thought about those stains, the more I thought they might mean that she had seen me coming away from the pool. And then, night before last when I knew she had gone out after Geoffrey, I thought perhaps it would be better to get her out of the way anyhow. You see, I’m tired of people running after Geoffrey. And if Meriel had seen me by the pool she would have loved to make a scene about it. She was a very tiresome woman.’
‘So you killed her.’
She gave another of those casual nods.
‘I thought she would be just as well out of the way.’
The young detective wrote. Martin said,
‘Will you tell us how you set about it?’
She was still smiling.
‘It was quite easy. We went up to bed at half past nine, Adriana, Miss Silver, and I. I waited till they had gone into their rooms, and then I slipped down the back stairs. First of all I went to the study, just to make sure about Geoffrey. The glass door was unlatched, so I knew he hadn’t come in. I went to the cloakroom and fetched a niblick, and then I went out. I had just got to the corner of the house, when someone came by. I knew it was Meriel, because she was laughing to herself. She sounded as if she was angry and pleased at the same time. I couldn’t do anything about it then because there was someone else coming up behind her, so I had to let her go past. It seemed a pity, but it turned out all right in the end, because she didn’t go into the house. She just went straight on past the study door and round to the back. And then Geoffrey came by. He went as far as the study door and stood there. Then he gave a sort of groan and said, “Oh, my God! What’s the use!” and he went in, but he didn’t fasten the door, so I knew he was leaving it for Meriel. He must have seen her go on round the house and thought what was the good of going after her.’ She paused.
The Superintendent said,
‘Where were you when Mr Ford went into the house?’
‘I was just off the path behind a lilac bush. Do you know, I very nearly went after Geoffrey and missed what turned out to be such a good opportunity. I actually did go up the steps and into the room, but it was all dark and Geoffrey wasn’t there. He must have gone straight through and up to his room. So if Ellie was following him, that is when she must have gone past, because I didn’t see her and she didn’t see me – at least not then.’
‘Miss Page says she went past the study door after Mr Ford had gone in. She says she was watching Miss Meriel Ford on her way across the lawn when you came up from behind her.’
‘Yes, that’s right. Only I didn’t know she was there. She hadn’t any business to be there! I wanted to know what Meriel was doing, so I followed her. When she had gone in through the gate in the hedge I put on my torch, but I let it hang down in case there should be anyone looking out of a window. I was quite careful about that, and it is just a bit of bad luck that the buckle was coming off my shoe.’
‘Go on, Mrs Ford.’
‘It was all quite easy. I put the torch out before I came to the gate. I wanted to see what she was doing. She had gone through the inner hedge to the pool, and she had a light. I came up to the arch in the hedge and saw her go into the summerhouse. She had that handkerchief you picked up there afterwards. She held it in the light and laughed, and I could see that it was one of Esmé Trent’s. I don’t know anyone else who has bright yellow handkerchiefs – not what I should call in good taste – not at all. Meriel dropped the handkerchief and switched off her torch and came and stood by the pool. It was all very convenient. I only had to hit her once.’
Miss Silver was ready to go. The modest suit-case was packed. The woollen gloves, black cloth coat, the elderly fur tippet, were ready to put on. The black felt hat with its loops of ribbon had been assumed. A handsome cheque had passed. It remained only to bid Adriana Ford farewell.
She found her in an upright chair, her head high, her dark red hair meticulously arranged, her make-up carefully applied.
‘Well,’ she said, ‘so far as you are concerned it is over. As far as we are concerned it is just going to begin. Pity one can’t drop the curtain and call the whole thing off, isn’t it? I keep wondering what would have happened if I had never written to you or come to see you.’
Miss Silver coughed.
‘I do not feel that I had much part in clearing the matter up.’
Adriana lifted a hand.
‘You got the truth out of Ellie. Mary Lenton says she did nothing but cry and turn faint. They didn’t know what to do with her, and they were going to send her away, and if they had done that, or if she had just slipped into an illness, I don’t suppose she would ever have spoken. In which case poor Edna would probably have murdered somebody else before anyone found her out, and the most likely person to be murdered next would have been me. So you must expect me to have some bias in the matter!’ She gave a short laugh. ‘Odd, that one should still feel an affection for living! My household has been broken up, two people have been murdered on the premises, Geoffrey has had a narrow escape of being hanged, his wife turns out to be a homicidal lunatic, and my family affairs are front-page news. I ought to feel finished, but I don’t! I’m looking for a flat in town, and Meeson is as pleased as Punch. She has always hated Ford. The one bright spot seems to be that there are no two opinions about Edna being mad, poor thing. She hadn’t a great deal of mind to go out of, but I suppose she might have kept what balance she had if she hadn’t let herself get so eaten up with jealousy about Geoffrey.’
Miss Silver said,
‘Jealousy is a terrible and corroding poison.’
Adriana made an impatient gesture.
‘People don’t always go off their heads with it. Why, we didn’t even take it seriously.’
‘That was a mistake.’
‘It’s all very well to say so now, but if you could have seen her all these years, doing that tiresome fancy work, interfering in the household, bickering with Meriel, fussing about Geoffrey – why, we used to make a joke of it. The Superintendent says you suspected her, but I don’t see how you could.’
‘She was one of the people whom I was bound to suspect, because she was one of the people who was aware that Miss Meriel Ford had been down by the pool at or about the time when Miss Preston was murdered. This fact at first placed Miss Meriel herself in the position of being my principal suspect, but when she had met the same fate as Miss Preston it became clear that she had been removed because she was a danger to the real murderer.’
‘Edna – why did you pitch on Edna?’
‘She was in an abnormal mental state. I have some experience of these matters, and she seemed to me to be given up to what the French call an idée fixe. Her outbursts on the subject of her husband’s infatuation for Mrs Trent were indications which I could not neglect. Both before and after these outbursts there were characteristic periods of apparent inertia. She also exhibited a strong and settled desire to return to the life of a town or suburb, but as she herself informed me, that was not financially possible. I believe that she allowed herself to dwell upon this idea incessantly, and that it provided the motive for the first crime. She knew that you had left her a life interest in the bequest made to her husband, and she dwelt on the idea of removing him from the neighbourhood of Mrs Trent.’
‘Then why didn’t she just murder Esmé Trent and have done with it?’
‘She might have done so if the opportunity had occurred. That first murder was not planned. The time, the place, the opportunity, presented themselves at a moment when her jealousy was most strongly excited, and the second crime was committed to cover up the first. Her mania had by then progressed to a point where it seemed to her that it was a perfectly natural and inevitable thing to do. By the time she made her statement to Superintendent Martin she no longer felt any sense of guilt.’
Adriana said in her deep voice,
‘Well, they won’t hang her, and it let Geoffrey out. He is a good deal broken up.’
Miss Silver’s natural kindness of disposition did not incline her towards sympathy with Mr Geoffrey Ford. He was certainly very much shocked and upset, but she did not think it had failed to occur to him that he might himself have been a victim, and she felt assured that it would not be very long before he was again reaching out for feminine admiration and sympathy. The fact that Adriana now turned the conversation to Ellie Page did not dispose her to regard him with any more favour.
‘I can’t imagine why you should have thought that Ellie came into it at all.’
‘You yourself told me that there had been some talk about her and Mr Geoffrey Ford, and the footprint under the Lodge window had to be accounted for. It was quite a recent one, and it was not made by Miss Meriel, neither were the fingerprints on the windowsill hers. The footprint was that of a much smaller foot. It was a deep one. Whoever made it had stood at the living-room window to listen. A chance remark informed me that Mrs Trent had a passion for open windows. It was therefore more than possible that the person who stood by that window to listen might have heard what would throw valuable light upon the crime. In considering who this person might be, it was reasonable to deduce that she must have had a deep personal interest in what was going on inside the Lodge. Ellie Page came into my mind at once. I had seen her, and had been struck by her look of deep unhappiness. She is slightly made, her hands and feet are small. Immediately after the crime she is said to be ill. I decided to see her if it were possible to do so. Walking along the road, it was apparent that any of the Vicarage windows on that side would command a view of the road between Ford House and the Lodge. As we now know, Ellie Page was in the habit of watching this stretch of road from her bedroom window. Mr Geoffrey had become alarmed by the strength of her feelings. He had been cooling off, and she was tormented by his attentions to Mrs Trent. As I walked in the direction of the Vicarage I became convinced that it was Ellie Page who had listened at the Lodge window. The rest you know. When I saw her leave the house and go into the church I followed, and found that she had reached the point where unhappiness compelled her to find an outlet. Fear and shame withheld her from confiding in her cousins. She had grieved Mrs Lenton and angered the Vicar, and they were sending her away. She had to speak to someone, and she unburdened herself to me. The hardest part of my task was to get her to see that it was her duty to give this information to the police. It was only when she realized the serious nature of Mr Geoffrey Ford’s position that she was induced to do so.’
Adriana made one of her impatient gestures. ‘Oh, well, she’ll get over it,’ she said.