Harvey quoted, ‘“The police won’t shoot if there’s a baby in the house.”‘
‘Yes, why did you bring that up?’ said Ruth. ‘Was it necessary? They’re suspicious enough —’
‘I didn’t suggest it to them.’
‘Well, neither did I,’ said Ruth. ‘The inspector asked me if it was true you’d made that remark. I said I believed so. Edward told me, of course —’They’re quite clever,’ Harvey said. ‘How did they treat you?’
‘Very polite. They were patient about my
‘How many?’
‘Two plain-clothes men and a glamorous policewoman. Did you see the policewoman?’ said Ruth.
‘I saw one, from the window, playing with Clara.’
‘They were very decent about Clara.’
Harvey’s interrogators had been three, one after the other, then starting in the late afternoon with the first again.
Ruth and Harvey described and identified their respective policemen, and in a euphoric way compared a great many of their experiences of the day, questions and answers. Finally Ruth said, ‘Do you really think Effie’s in it?’
‘Up to the neck,’ said Harvey.
‘Can you blame them for suspecting us?’
‘No. I think, in fact, that Effie has chosen this district specifically to embarrass me.
‘So do I.’
He sat on the sofa beside her, relaxed, with his arm round her. She said, ‘You know, I’m more afraid of Effie than the police.’
‘Did you tell them that?’
‘No.’
‘Did they come and look round the chateau while you were at the headquarters?’
‘I don’t think so, because when they brought me back they asked if they might have a look round. I said, of course. They went all over, attics, cellars, and both towers. Actually, I was quite relieved that they didn’t find anything, or rather anyone. It would be easy to hide in this house, you know.’
‘Did you tell them you were relieved?’
‘No.’
‘Now tell me about Nathan.’
‘It’s a long story,’ said Ruth. ‘He’s in love with Effie. He’d do anything she asked him.’ Her voice had changed to a mumble.
Harvey said, ‘But when did you know —’ Then he stopped. ‘My God,’ he said, ‘I’m becoming another interrogator. I expect you’ve had enough.’
‘Quite enough.’
It was he who had the idea to go and make breakfast, which he brought in on a tray. ‘I had a lousy pizza for supper,’ he said.
She said, ‘Nathan must have left last night. He didn’t sleep here. He wasn’t here when I came up from the cottage this morning. His bed wasn’t slept in.’
‘Did Anne-Marie see him?’ Anne-Marie was a local woman who had been coming daily to help in the house for the past two weeks.
‘No, he wasn’t here when she arrived at eight. He’d taken nothing special that I could see. But he had a phone call yesterday. He said it was from London. I was annoyed at the time, because I’d told him not to give anyone your number.’
The telephone at the chateau operated through an exchange for long distance. ‘One could easily find out if it came from London,’ Harvey said.
‘The police say there was no call from London,’ Ruth said.
‘Then it might have been a national call. He could have been in touch with Effie.’
‘Exactly,’ she said.
‘How much did you tell them about Nathan?’
‘Everything I know.’
‘Quite right.’
‘And another thing,’ Ruth said, ‘I told them —’
‘Let’s forget it and go to bed.’
Clara woke up just then. They shoved a piece of toast into her hand, which seemed to please her mightily.
It was nine-fifteen when the telephone rang. This time it was from London. At the same time the doorbell rang. Harvey had been dreaming that his interrogator was one of those electric typewriters where the typeface can be changed by easy manipulation; the voice of the interrogator changed like the type, and in fact was one and the same, now roman, now elite, now italics. In the end, bells on the
