CHAPTER 12
‘Don’t be so ridiculous!’ said Rosemary, snatching her arm free.
‘What do you mean, ridiculous?’ Jarvis retorted. ‘You had the motive, the means and the opportunity. What more do you need?’
Rosemary snorted incredulously.
‘Dorothy Davenport was my friend!’ she exclaimed. ‘I was closer to her than I’ve ever been to anyone in my life. I could no more have killed her than I could kill my own child.’
‘Don’t start dragging psychology into it!’ snapped Jarvis. ‘You told me all I needed to do was observe the rules, spot the clues and make the appropriate deductions. Well I’ve done that, Miss Travis, and they lead straight to you.’
Rosemary smiled mischievously.
‘Ah, well as to that, you see, there’s one clue I haven’t told you about.’
She took a folded piece of paper from her pocket and handed it to him. Jarvis opened out the page. MISS ROSEMARY TRAVIS was written in blue ballpoint on one side. He turned it over and read the lines of wavery writing on the other side.
Rose my dear,
This is not easy, particularly after everyone has been so kind. But it is the only way. They say laughter is what distinguishes us from the animals, but this does too, and just as clearly. They kill each other, but never themselves. Mr Darwin’s law is their cage, but we’re free to enjoy this last laugh at the universe’s expense.
I can’t think of freedom without thinking of all those I am leaving behind, and especially you, Rose. What will become of you without me to fuss over and care for? I dread the idea of you ending up like the others, yet that’s what will happen if you stay here. You’re strong, Rose, but in the end they will grind you down.
One possibility, if you are clever enough to take advantage of it, would be to make it look as though I were the victim in one of our whodunnits. The details I leave to you, dear Rose, who were always so much better at them than me, but I can at least provide the body. The investigation will reveal that death was due to an overdose of morphine syrup and some sleeping tablets which I took from your room. Just to be on the safe side, I also propose to drink the contents of those hideous miniatures which someone gave me for Christmas years and years ago and which I have always kept, for a reason which is only now dear to me.
Don’t be afraid, Rose. I’m not.
Dot.
Jarvis folded the letter carefully.
‘For all I know, this could be another of your tricks.’
‘You can compare the handwriting with those letters of Dorothy’s which were never posted,’ Rosemary replied. ‘But you need have no fear, Inspector. Having achieved the aims laid down by Dorothy in her letter, I have broken my staff and drowned my book.’
She slumped down on the garden seat again.
‘Is it true about the will?’
‘You mean to say she didn’t tell you?’ Jarvis demanded incredulously.
Rosemary shook her head.
‘Of course not. Dorothy was much too considerate to have burdened the final days of our friendship with such an embarrassing revelation.’
Jarvis held up the letter.
‘Assuming this is genuine,’ he said heavily, ‘I can do you for conspiracy to pervert.’
Rosemary gave a refined shrug.
That’s up to you, Inspector. Personally speaking, I wouldn’t have thought that it would have made a very favourable impression. At all events, I take it that you are no longer proposing to “do” me for murder.’
Jarvis stared blankly at her for a moment, then abruptly burst out laughing.
‘Don’t tell me you fell for it!’
Rosemary flushed.
‘I beg your pardon?’
Jarvis sat down on the seat and slapped Rosemary’s knee familiarly.
’You really believed I was going to arrest you, didn’t you?’
‘I must admit you sounded awfully convincing,’ she replied.
Jarvis nodded.
‘So did you, Miss Travis, when you told me if I left without speaking to Mrs Hargreaves then you’d be the next to die. I didn’t believe you really were in danger, of course, but just a moment there I thought that you did. Well, now I’ve got my own back!’
Rosemary looked him in the eye.
‘I meant exactly what I said, Inspector.’
Jarvis waved Dorothy’s letter in her face.
‘You can’t have it both ways! You now admit you knew all along that Mrs Davenport hadn’t been murdered, so why on earth should you think you would be?’
Rosemary shook her head.
‘You weren’t paying attention, Inspector. You heard what you wanted to hear, not the actual words that were spoken. That’s why people fail to guess the solution to detective stories, even though they’ve been given all the clues.’
‘You told me you would be the next to die,’ insisted Jarvis. “Those were your very words.’
‘And you assumed that by “die” I meant “be murdered”.’
Jarvis narrowed his eyes.
‘You mean… You meant…’
Rosemary nodded.
‘If it had come to that, yes. I couldn’t let Dorothy’s sacrifice go for nothing.’
Jarvis looked at her.
‘I believe you would, too.’
Rosemary smiled.
‘But fortunately for both of us,’ she said, ‘it didn’t come to that. Dot meant well, but she was always a bit vague when it came to working out the details of the plot. Left to my own devices, I’d have led you a merry old dance! As it was, of course, I had to improvise. There was no time to attempt anything really interesting.’
Jarvis got out his notebook.
‘Right then, let’s have it from the beginning.’
Rosemary groaned.
‘Must we, Inspector? I must confess that my heart always sinks at the prospect of the scene where All Is Explained.’
There has to be one, though, doesn’t there?’
Rosemary nodded resignedly.
‘Very well, I shall try and be as concise as possible.’
Jarvis licked his pencil.
‘It was still early when I discovered Dorothy’s body,’ Rosemary began, ‘but I knew it would not be long before people were up and about, so I had to work quickly. First I went downstairs to the study and added some of that blue liqueur to the remnants of the morphine syrup.’
‘How did you know it was there?’ prompted Jarvis.
‘Miss Davis used to drink cocktails made with different-coloured liqueurs, including a blue one, arranged in layers. I don’t know how she managed to stop them all getting mixed up…’
‘Back of a spoon. One of Tomkins’s party tricks. They should get together, that pair. Talk about a marriage made in hell.’
