unruffled. ‘She only took one capsule.’
‘Or pretended to take one!’
‘Or pretended to take one,’ agreed Simon. ‘So you see we still have eleven suspects and not one watertight alibi among them-.’
That’s where you’re wrong,’ declared Miranda. ‘Stella has one, and I’ll tell you why. She did take those sleeping pills and I can prove it. She hates swallowing pills. She always powders them up first. She didn’t swallow the capsules; she broke them open and stirred the stuff into her coffee and drank it. And we all saw her
do it. So unless you think that the Brigadier deliberately palmed off two fake capsules on her, and she knew it, and knew that she was taking something that wouldn’t make her sleep, you’ve lost one suspect.’
‘Are you telling me the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?’ inquired Simon Lang seriously.
‘I don’t have to say that until you’ve got me in the witness-box,’ retorted Miranda bitterly. ‘And I’m not there yet. Yes, of course I’m telling you the truth! Ask Mademoiselle if you don’t believe me. Ask Robert. Ask Lottie! Telephone Bad Oeynhausen and ask the waiter who served the coffee!’
‘All right, all right, all right,’ said Simon Lang pacifically. The point is taken. And disabuse yourself of the idea that I am trying to pin the crime on some innocent person merely for the sake of collecting a victim.’
Miranda’s tense attitude relaxed and she sank back in her chair and gave a shaky laugh.
That’s better,‘approved Simon. *
83
There were voices in the hall beyond the lounge, and he glanced at his wristwatch and stood up.
‘Well, that’s about all for the moment. I’m afraid you’ll probably be asked to go over the same ground again during the next few days, so I shall be seeing you. Thank you for bearing with me so well.’
He smiled down at her. A slow smile that broke up the planes of his face and transformed him into an entirely different and very likeable person.
The next moment the lounge was full of people and Simon Lang had gone.
Miranda went out onto the landing where she found Lottie and Wally Wilkin playing in the lift.
Wally turned to fly at the sight of her, but this time Miranda was too quick for him.
‘Listen to me, you young menace,’ said Miranda, retaining a firm grip upon the writhing child. ‘If I ever catch you creeping into other people’s rooms wearing paper masks again, I’ll - I’ll bastinado you!’
Wally’s eel-like struggles ceased and an unxpected look of interest came over his freckled face: ‘ ‘Ow could you do that? Mum’s got ‘er marriage lines: I seen ‘em.’
‘What on earth ?’ began Miranda, puzzled; then the sudden
realization that he had confused the word with one more familiar to him betrayed her into a laugh.
‘You ought not to know the meaning of words like that!’ she said with attempted severity. ‘Bastinado, you precocious little imp. It’s a Chinese torture!’ Miranda put a slim forefinger to each temple, drew her lovely eyes up into an oriental slant and pulled her curving mouth into a grimace that would have done credit to any cereal package.
‘Coo!’ said Wally, a wealth of admiration in the tone. ‘D’you know any more Chinese tortures?’
‘Lots!’ said Miranda mendaciously. ‘So just you watch your
84
step, young Wally, or you’ll find yourself on the receiving end of them one of these days!’
Wally favoured her with a wide and gap-toothed grin. ‘Garni’ he said, ‘yer too soft-‘earted!’
Miranda tweaked his nose and released him: ‘And now get out of that lift, both of you, or you’ll have the manager after you. What are you doing down here anyway, Lottie? Waiting for your mother to come back?’
‘She’s back,’ said Charlotte. ‘She came back a long time ago. Hours ‘n hours.’
‘Oh. Well I’d better go and find her.’
Stella was in her bedroom. And looking remarkably pretty, thought Miranda, for
‘Or pretended to take one!’
‘Or pretended to take one,’ agreed Simon. ‘So you see we still have eleven suspects and not one watertight alibi among them-.’
That’s where you’re wrong,’ declared Miranda. ‘Stella has one, and I’ll tell you why. She did take those sleeping pills and I can prove it. She hates swallowing pills. She always powders them up first. She didn’t swallow the capsules; she broke them open and stirred the stuff into her coffee and drank it. And we all saw her
do it. So unless you think that the Brigadier deliberately palmed off two fake capsules on her, and she knew it, and knew that she was taking something that wouldn’t make her sleep, you’ve lost one suspect.’
‘Are you telling me the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?’ inquired Simon Lang seriously.
‘I don’t have to say that until you’ve got me in the witness-box,’ retorted Miranda bitterly. ‘And I’m not there yet. Yes, of course I’m telling you the truth! Ask Mademoiselle if you don’t believe me. Ask Robert. Ask Lottie! Telephone Bad Oeynhausen and ask the waiter who served the coffee!’
‘All right, all right, all right,’ said Simon Lang pacifically. The point is taken. And disabuse yourself of the idea that I am trying to pin the crime on some innocent person merely for the sake of collecting a victim.’
Miranda’s tense attitude relaxed and she sank back in her chair and gave a shaky laugh.
That’s better,‘approved Simon. *
83
There were voices in the hall beyond the lounge, and he glanced at his wristwatch and stood up.
‘Well, that’s about all for the moment. I’m afraid you’ll probably be asked to go over the same ground again during the next few days, so I shall be seeing you. Thank you for bearing with me so well.’
He smiled down at her. A slow smile that broke up the planes of his face and transformed him into an entirely different and very likeable person.
The next moment the lounge was full of people and Simon Lang had gone.
Miranda went out onto the landing where she found Lottie and Wally Wilkin playing in the lift.
Wally turned to fly at the sight of her, but this time Miranda was too quick for him.
‘Listen to me, you young menace,’ said Miranda, retaining a firm grip upon the writhing child. ‘If I ever catch you creeping into other people’s rooms wearing paper masks again, I’ll - I’ll bastinado you!’
Wally’s eel-like struggles ceased and an unxpected look of interest came over his freckled face: ‘ ‘Ow could you do that? Mum’s got ‘er marriage lines: I seen ‘em.’
‘What on earth ?’ began Miranda, puzzled; then the sudden
realization that he had confused the word with one more familiar to him betrayed her into a laugh.
‘You ought not to know the meaning of words like that!’ she said with attempted severity. ‘Bastinado, you precocious little imp. It’s a Chinese torture!’ Miranda put a slim forefinger to each temple, drew her lovely eyes up into an oriental slant and pulled her curving mouth into a grimace that would have done credit to any cereal package.
‘Coo!’ said Wally, a wealth of admiration in the tone. ‘D’you know any more Chinese tortures?’
‘Lots!’ said Miranda mendaciously. ‘So just you watch your
84
step, young Wally, or you’ll find yourself on the receiving end of them one of these days!’
Wally favoured her with a wide and gap-toothed grin. ‘Garni’ he said, ‘yer too soft-‘earted!’
Miranda tweaked his nose and released him: ‘And now get out of that lift, both of you, or you’ll have the manager after you. What are you doing down here anyway, Lottie? Waiting for your mother to come back?’
‘She’s back,’ said Charlotte. ‘She came back a long time ago. Hours ‘n hours.’
‘Oh. Well I’d better go and find her.’
Stella was in her bedroom. And looking remarkably pretty, thought Miranda, for
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