But her self-assurance was all around her now like a steel wall.
“I’m sure you must have many interesting stories to tell,” she said bitingly. “However, to save you the trouble, I ought to tell you I majored in sociology.”
I’d have to try something more direct.
“Mrs. Prince, we could go on like this all day. When I came here, I had strong doubts whether you could tell me anything which would help very much. By being deliberately evasive, you’re beginning to make me wonder.”
“I can scarcely be responsible for what you think.”
I set my face into lines of disapproval.
“So you refuse to tell me what you know?”
“Not at all,” she was quite unflustered. “It is simply that I don’t have anything to tell you.”
“And you never heard of a man named Brookman?” I pressed.
That was when she overdid it.
“Brookman?” she puzzled. “No, I don’t believe so. What does he do?”
“He doesn’t do anything,” I informed her. “Except lie around on a slab in the city mortuary. If you’ll forgive my mentioning such things in this lovely neighborhood.”
She stood up and walked to the door.
“This is my house, and we don’t have a police state. You can’t force your way in and bully people like this.”
I got up and made a half-bow.
“I was invited in,” I reminded her. “And I was only following up a routine enquiry. If you’d cooperated, you would have been rid of me in five minutes. Now, we’ll have to start to dig. I don’t know what we’ll come up with, but clearly there’s something to be found.”
I walked past her to the street door.
“Mr. Preston.”
She had followed me, and now placed a hand on my arm.
“Yes?”
“Please come back.”
So there we were again, sitting looking at each other. But this time her hands were pressed tightly together over her knees.
“What is it you want to know?”
“I’ve no idea,” I said flatly. “Just anything you happen to know about this, which may or may not be useful.”
She nodded absently, staring beyond me to the book-lined wall. When she spoke, her voice was far away.
“Life can be very lonely for a woman with no husband. She has to develop interests, things which will get her out of the house. Without them, she’d spend all her time alone. When she lets that happen, she may as well shrivel up and die.” That didn’t seem to call for much comment from me. I avoided her eyes and waited.
“But, on the other hand,” she continued, “Such a woman has also to be very careful about her activities. She is a natural readymade subject for scandal. I can’t afford to run the least risk with my reputation, Mr. Preston. I have a position to maintain here, and a son to consider.”
She had suddenly switched from the abstract lecture and started talking about herself.
“There’s always somebody with a nasty tongue.” I replied sympathetically.
There was a quick grateful look on her face.
“I try to find interests where there are a number of other people concerned, so that I’m always merely one of a crowd. I feel it makes me less vulnerable. Play readings, organised tours, things of that nature. That was how I became involved with that man.”
“I see. What were the circumstances, Mrs. Prince?”
She got up and went to the window. She was probably hoping that when she looked round I’d be gone. I wasn’t.
“I was invited to a private recital, a piano recital. There was this young man who was rumoured to be another Paderewski. I am interested in anything like that, so I went. I didn’t much like the look of some of the people there when I arrived, but I couldn’t see that it mattered very much. After all, we were all there to listen. Well, we had this so-called recital. The brilliant soloist turned out to be a barely adequate performer, and had it not been a private affair, quite frankly I would have walked out. Since then, I’ve always regretted not doing so.”
She paced up and down a couple of times, then came and sat down again.
“Mr. Preston, this is terribly difficult for me. I suppose—I suppose you have to make out a report about everything?”
I shook my head.
“Not at all. The only things I’m interested in are those which have a direct bearing on this murder. The rest I forget.”
She nodded uncertainly, as though anxious to believe me, but finding it difficult.
“I see. Well, as you may know, the usual thing after an event of this kind is for everyone to stay on for a while. There may be a glass of sherry and a sandwich perhaps, and everyone discusses the performance. I expected something of the kind to happen. I can scarcely bring myself to remember what really happened.”
“Things got a little out of hand?” I suggested tactfully.
She laughed briefly and bitterly.
“I’m not going into any details. Everyone seemed to go mad. It was like one of those old Roman orgies one reads about. Some man, I’d never even seen him before, started to. . . .” her voice trailed away. Then she gritted her teeth and inspected the floor. Each word now was uttered slowly and distinctly. “This man began to undress me. I was so shocked and frightened, I lost control of myself. I kicked him, punched him, heaven knows he didn’t seem at all put off by my reaction. In fact he quite obviously enjoyed it. Nobody else in the place, there must have been twenty or twenty-five people there, none of them took the slightest notice. I don’t remember when I’ve been so frightened.”
She broke off for a moment, and there was an uncomfortable silence. I sat absolutely wooden, because Eve Prince was wound up tight, and the slightest distraction from me might cause her to break down.
“The man was wearing me down,” she resumed “And then another man came up and spoke to him. I don’t know what he said, but it was certainly effective. The big one just let go of me
