all that—-”
“Oh Vivian, don’t. Don’t go.”
It was quite a wail, and it affected Mr.
Dubois adversely. His retreat quickened.
“Awfully sorry, old girl. Important engagement.
I’m putting up at the Dormy House,
71
by the way. Inspector. Ifyou–er want me for
anything.”
Inspector Neele nodded. He had no wish to
detain Mr. Dubois. But he recognised Mr.
Dubois’s departure for what it was. Mr.
Dubois was running away from trouble.
Adele Fortescue said, in an attempt to carry
off the situation:
“It’s such a shock, to come back and find
the police in the house.”
“I’m sure it must be. But you see, it was
necessary to act promptly in order to obtain
the necessary specimens of foodstuffs, coffee, tea, etc.”
“Tea and coffee? But they’re not poisonous?
I expect it’s the awful bacon we sometimes
get. It’s quite uneatable sometimes.”
“We shall find out, Mrs. Fortescue. Don’t
worry. You’d be surprised at some of the
things that can happen. We once had a case of
digitalis poisoning. It turned out that foxglove
leaves had been picked in mistake for
horseradish.”
“You think something like that could
happen here?”
“We shall know better after the autopsy,
Mrs. Fortescue.”
“The autop–oh I see.” She shivered.
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The Inspector went on: “You’ve got a lot
of yew round the house, haven’t you, madam.
There’s no possibility, I suppose, of the
berries or leaves having got–mixed up in
anything?”
He was watching her closely. She stared at
him.
“Yew berries? Are they poisonous?”
The wonder seemed a little too wide-eyed
and innocent.
“Children have been known to eat them
with unfortunate results.”
Adele clasped her hands to her head.
“I can’t bear to talk about it any more.
Must I? I want to go and lie down. I can’t
stand any more. Mr. Percival Fortescue will
arrange everything–I can’t–I can’t–it isn’t
fair to ask me.”
“We are getting in touch with Mr. Percival
Fortescue as soon as possible. Unfortunately
he is away in the North of England.
“Oh yes, I forgot.”
“There’s just one other thing, Mrs. Fortescue.
There was a small quantity of grain in
your husband’s pocket. Could you give me
some explanation of that?”
She shook her head. She appeared quite bewildered.
73
“Would anyone have slipped it in there as a
joke?”
“I don’t see why it would be a joke?”
Inspector Neele did not see either. He said:
“I won’t trouble you any further at present,
Mrs. Fortescue. Shall I send one of the maids
to you? Or Miss Dove?”
“What?” The word came abstractedly. He
wondered what she had been thinking about.
She fumbled with her bag and pulled out a
handkerchief. Her voice trembled.
“It’s so awful,” she said unsteadily. “I’m
only just beginning to take it in. I’ve really
been numbed up to now. Poor Rex. Poor dear
Rex.”
She sobbed in a manner that was almost
convincing.
Inspector Neele watched her respectfully
for a moment or two.
“It’s been very sudden, I know,” he said.
“I’ll send someone to you.”
He went towards the door, opened it and
passed through. He paused for a moment
before looking back into the room.
Adele Fortescue still held the handkerchief
to her eyes. The ends of it hung down but did
not quite obscure her mouth. On her lips was
a very faint smile.
74
8
“T” ‘WE got what I could, sir.” So Sergeant
| Hay reporting. “The marmalade, bit of
JLthe ham. Samples of tea, coffee and
sugar, for what they’re worth. Actual brews
have been thrown out by now, of course, but
there’s one point. There was a good lot of
coffee left over and they had it in the servants’
hall at elevenses–that’s important, I
should say.”
“Yes, that’s important. Shows that if he
took it in his coffee, it must have been slipped
into the actual cup.”
“By one of those present. Exactly. I’ve
inquired, cautious like, about this yew
stuff–berries or leaves–there’s been none of
it seen about the house. Nobody seems to
know anything about the cereal in his pocket, either. … It just seems daft to them. Seems
daft to me, too. He doesn’t seem to have been