He said, more as though he were speaking to himself: 'So, in the end, she played her luck too far…'
'You are, I think, glad she is dead?'
'And that shocks you? Well, I will not deny it. I am glad she is dead.'
'Death is often a solution to problems.'
Edward Hillingdon turned his head slowly. Miss Marple met his eyes calmly and steadfastly.
'If you think-' he took a sharp step towards her.
There was a sudden menace in his tone.
Miss Marple said quietly: 'Your wife will be back with Mr. Dyson in a moment. Or Mr. Kendal will be here with Dr. Graham.'
Edward Hillingdon relaxed. He turned back to look down at the dead woman. Miss Marple slipped away quietly. Presently her pace quickened. Just before reaching her own bungalow, she paused. It was here that she had sat that day talking to Major Palgrave. It was here that he had fumbled in his wallet looking for the snapshot of a murderer…
She remembered how he had looked up, and how his face had gone purple and red… 'So ugly,' as Seсora de Caspearo had said. 'He has the Evil Eye.'
The Evil Eye… Eye… Eye…
Chapter 24
NEMESIS
I
Whatever the alarms and excursions of the night, Mr. Rafiel had not heard them.
He was fast asleep in bed, a faint thin snore coming from his nostrils, when he was taken by the shoulders and shaken violently.
'Eh- what- what the devil's this?'
'It's me,' said Miss Marple, for once ungrammatical, 'though I should put it a little more strongly than that. The Greeks, I believe, had a word for it. Nemesis, if I am not wrong.'
Mr. Rafiel raised himself on his pillows as far as he could. He stared at her. Miss Marple, standing there in the moonlight, her head encased in a fluffy scarf of pale pink wool, looked as unlike a figure of Nemesis as it was possible to imagine.
'So you're Nemesis, are you?' said Mr. Rafiel after a momentary pause.
'I hope to be- with your help.'
'Do you mind telling me quite plainly what you're talking about like this in the middle of the night.'
'I think we may have to act quickly. Very quickly. I have been foolish. Extremely foolish. I ought to have known from the very beginning what all this was about. It was so simple.'
'What was simple, and what are you talking about?'
'You slept through a good deal,' said Miss Marple. 'A body was found. We thought at first it was the body of Molly Kendal. It wasn't, it was Lucky Dyson. Drowned in the creek.'
'Lucky, eh?' said Mr. Rafiel. 'And drowned? In the creek. Did she drown herself or did somebody drown her?'
'Somebody drowned her,' said Miss Marple.
'I see. At least I think I see. That's what you mean by saying it's so simple, is it? Greg Dyson was always the first possibility, and he's the right one. Is that it? Is that what you're thinking? And what you're afraid of is that he may get away with it.'
Miss Marple took a deep breath.
'Mr. Rafiel, will you trust me. We have got to stop a murder being committed.'
'I thought you said it had been committed.'
'That murder was committed in error. Another murder may be committed any moment now. There's no time to lose. We must prevent it happening. We must go at once.'
'It's all very well to talk like that,' said Mr. Rafiel. 'We, you say? What do you think I can do about it? I can't even walk without help. How can you and I set about preventing a murder? You're about a hundred and I'm a broken up old crock.'
'I was thinking of Jackson,' said Miss Marple. ' Jackson will do what you tell him, won't he?'
'He will indeed,' said Mr. Rafiel, 'especially if I add that I'll make it worth his while. Is that what you want?'
'Yes. Tell him to come with me and tell him to obey any orders I give him.'
Mr. Rafiel looked at her for about six seconds. Then he said: 'Done. I expect I'm taking the biggest risk of my life. Well, it won't be the first one.' He raised his voice. ' Jackson.'
At the same time he picked up the electric bell that lay beside his hand and pressed the button.
Hardly thirty seconds passed before Jackson appeared through the connecting door to the adjoining room.
'You called and rang, sir? Anything wrong?' He broke off, staring at Miss Marple.
'Now Jackson, do as I tell you. You will go with this lady, Miss Marple. You'll go where she takes you and you'll do exactly as she says. You'll obey every order she gives you. Is that understood?'
'Yes, sir.'
'And for doing that,' said Mr. Rafiel, 'you won't be the loser. I'll make it worth your while.'
'Thank you, sir.'
'Come along, Mr. Jackson,' said Miss Marple. She spoke over her shoulder to Mr. Rafiel. 'We'll tell Mrs. Walters to come to you on our way. Get her to get you out of bed and bring you along.'
'Bring me along where?'
'To the Kendals' bungalow,' said Miss Marple. 'I think Molly will be coming back there.'
II
Molly came up the path from the sea.
Her eyes stared fixedly ahead of her.
Occasionally, under her breath, she gave a little whimper…
She went up the steps of the loggia, paused a moment, then pushed open the window and walked into the bedroom.
The lights were on, but the room itself was empty. Molly went across to the bed and sat down. She sat for some minutes, now and again passing her hand over her forehead and frowning. Then, after a quick surreptitious glance round, she slipped her hand under the mattress and brought out the book that was hidden there. She bent over it, turning the pages to find what she wanted.
Then she raised her head as a sound of running footsteps came from outside.
With a quick guilty movement she pushed the book behind her back.
Tim Kendal, panting and out of breath, came in, and uttered a great sigh of relief at the sight of her.
'Thank God. Where have you been, Molly? I've been searching everywhere for you.'
'I went to the creek.'
'You went-' he stopped.
'Yes. I went to the creek. But I couldn't wait there. I couldn't. There was someone in the water – and she was dead.'
