A Murder Is Announced

She made one of her dramatic entrances, flinging open the door and almost knocking Craddock sideways. She was in a frenzy of excitement.

‘Ah, you do not ask Mitzi to come in here with the others, do you, you stiff policemen? I am only Mitzi! Mitzi in the kitchen! Let her stay in the kitchen where she belongs! But I tell you that Mitzi, as well as anyone else, and perhaps better, yes, better, can see things. Yes, I see things. I see something the night of the burglary. I see something and I do not quite believe it, and I hold my tongue till now. I think to myself I will not tell what it is I have seen, not yet. I will wait.’

‘And when everything had calmed down, you meant to ask for a little money from a certain person, eh?’ said Craddock.

Mitzi turned on him like an angry cat.

‘And why not? Why look down your nose? Why should I not be paid for it if I have been so generous as to keep silence? Especially if some day there will be money-muchmuch money. Oh! I have heard things-I know what goes on. I know this Pippemmer-this secret society of whichshe ’-she flung a dramatic finger towards Julia-‘is an agent. Yes, I would have waited and asked for money-but now I am afraid. I would rather besafe. For soon, perhaps, someone will killme. So I will tell what I know.’

‘All right then,’ said the Inspector sceptically. ‘Whatdo you know?’

‘I tell you.’ Mitzi spoke solemnly. ‘On that night I amnot in the pantry cleaning silver as I say-I am already in the dining-room when I hear the gun go off. I look through the keyhole. The hall it is black, but the gun go off again and the torch it falls-and it swings round as it falls-and I seeher. I seeher there close to him with the gun in her hand. I see Miss Blacklock.’

‘Me?’ Miss Blacklock sat up in astonishment. ‘You must be mad!’

‘But that’s impossible,’ cried Edmund. ‘Mitzi couldn’t have seen Miss Blacklock.’

Craddock cut in and his voice had the corrosive quality of a deadly acid.

‘Couldn’t she, Mr Swettenham? And why not?Because itwasn’t Miss Blacklock who was standing there with the gun? It wasyou, wasn’t it?’

‘I-of course not-what thehell!’

‘Youtook Colonel Easterbrook’s revolver.You fixed up the business with Rudi Scherz-as a good joke. You had followed Patrick Simmons into the far room and when the lights went out, you slipped out through the carefully oiled door. You shot at Miss Blacklock and then you killed Rudi Scherz. A few seconds later you were back in the drawing-room clicking your lighter.’

For a moment Edmund seemed at a loss for words, then he spluttered out:

‘The whole idea ismonstrous. Whyme? What earthly motive hadI got?’

‘If Miss Blacklock dies before Mrs Goedler, two people inherit, remember. The two we know of as Pip and Emma. Julia Simmons has turned out to be Emma-’

‘And you think I’m Pip?’ Edmund laughed. ‘Fantastic-absolutelyfantastic! I’m about the right age-nothing else. And I can prove to you, you damned fool, that Iam Edmund Swettenham. Birth certificate, schools, university-everything.’

‘He isn’t Pip.’ The voice came from the shadows in the corner. Phillipa Haymes came forward, her face pale. ‘I’m Pip, Inspector.’

‘You, Mrs Haymes?’

‘Yes. Everybody seems to have assumed that Pip was a boy-Julia knew, of course, that her twin was another girl-I don’t know why she didn’t say so this afternoon-’

‘Family solidarity,’ said Julia. ‘I suddenly realized who you were. I’d had no idea till that moment.’

‘I’d had the same idea as Julia did,’ said Phillipa, her voice trembling a little. ‘After I-lost my husband and the war was over, I wondered what I was going to do. My mother died many years ago. I found out about my Goedler relations. Mrs Goedler was dying and at her death the money would go to a Miss Blacklock. I found out where Miss Blacklock lived and I-I came here. I took a job with Mrs Lucas. I hoped that, since this Miss Blacklock was an elderly woman without relatives, she might, perhaps, be willing to help. Not me, because I could work, but help with Harry’s education. After all, itwas Goedler money and she’d no one particular of her own to spend it on.

‘And then,’ Phillipa spoke faster, it was as though, now her long reserve had broken down, she couldn’t get the words out fast enough, ‘that hold-up happened and I began to be frightened. Because it seemed to me that the only possible person with a motive for killing Miss Blacklock wasme. I hadn’t the least idea who Julia was-we aren’t identical twins and we’re not much alike to look at. No, it seemed as though I was the only one bound to be suspected.’

She stopped and pushed her fair hair back from her face, and Craddock suddenly realized that the faded snapshot in the box of letters must have been a photograph of Phillipa’s mother. The likeness was undeniable. He knew too why that mention of closing and unclosing hands had seemed familiar-Phillipa was doing it now.