she spoke, Faith suddenly understood exactly what it had to do with killing them. She knew what Eleanor would say now. She owed Tom a dinner. And the sooner the better.
“ My grandmother always intended the money to be shared equally, no matter what the will said. But when she died Hattie got everything. Elnora, for whom I am named, never married and lived with them, so she never needed any money. I suppose in a way she did get her share. But my poor mother, Rose, didn 't get anything much.' Eleanor was beginning to speak a bit dreamily. Faith watched and waited for her chance.
“You know I didn't grow up in Aleford, Faith. Oh, no. My father was just a poor country doctor who worked hard every day of his life for us. We had to move to this house when he died. It belongs, or I should say, belonged to Patricia. We have life tenancy. Tenants ! ' Eleanor spat the word out.
“You never knew Mother, of course. She was much more suited for the Captain 's house than the Moores. After Hattie died, it should by rights have gone to her and that was what grandmother had intended. Patricia and Polly 's mother, Phoebe, was nice enough, but she wasn't a real lady like mother. And her husband, Lewis, was just a common boy.
“Mother died two years after we moved here and I think part of what caused her death was seeing what had happened to all her things and having to live in this pokey little house. Then everything went to Polly, but she just wanted the money. So much for Grandfather 's idea. She was happy to let Patricia and Robert live inthe house while she and that husband of hers flitted all over the place. I remember when my sister Rose and I heard the news that they had been killed. Rose just looked at me from where you are sitting now and I knew what she meant. There is some justice in this life after all.' Eleanor sat up straighter with a complacent smile on her face.
“ You know I am a very devout woman, Faith, but it did give me just the tiniest bit of pleasure to kill Cindy. She was an extremely wicked girl and she hurt Rose's feelings terribly one time. No, it was necessary to kill her so I could inherit, but it wasn 't exactly a disagreeable thing to do. I used to see her go up there,' Eleanor waved the gun toward the belfry, then swung it immediately back toward Faith.
“That Friday when I saw her, I knew she would be meeting somebody and I'd have to go quickly, so I just nipped off one of my roses and slipped out the kitchen door. She was inside on one of the benches and didn 't even bother to get up when I entered.”
Eleanor was indignant and Faith resolved if she ever got out of this to teach Benjamin all the social amenities. One never knew when manners might save one 's life.
“Really,' Eleanor sounded surprised, 'she made it so easy. I didn't have to think. I just stabbed her. I have been studying father 's medical books, so I could get it right and I did,' Eleanor sounded proud. 'The rose was in memory of Rose, and Mother too, of course. I wish I had thought to do all this when they could have been here to enjoy it with me. I know Rose especially would have been glad that Cindy was dead.'
“But Patricia ? I thought you liked her ? '
“Of course I liked Patricia. She was a very good woman, but Faith, dear, don't you see, I wouldn't get the money if Patricia was alive. I didn 't want to hurt her, so I just put the snail killer in her tea. Dave Sven- son was in the back talking to her about her garden. Not that he ever thought to help me with mine. I knew the police would suspect him again. It was really very lucky.”
Faith saw everything now and spoke aloud a thought better left alone, ' So you plan to kill Jennifer as well ?' Eleanor was quiet for a few moments.
“ I don't think you ought to be asking so many questions. You know I saw you go up the hill that day and was glad we hadn 't met. I certainly never intended for you to be involved in all this. And sweet little Benjamin. It never concerned you.' Eleanor looked at Faith reproachfully, using the tone of voice she might have if Faith had been asking her for whom she was going to vote in the next election.
“ And now it's too late.'
“So you sent me that rose to stop me from getting involved,' Faith said, hoping to distract her from the implications of that last remark.
“ Rose, what rose ? I never sent you any roses, Faith, although it was a splendid year for them.' She glanced out to the garden where the stalks stood stripped of leaves and flowers in lethal thorniness.
“You didn 't put a pressed rose in my mailbox ! ?' Eleanor looked at Faith kindly, 'No, of course not. What an odd notion!”
Odd notions seemed to be on a rampage.
Faith could not resist one more question before she acted.
“But why do you need the money ?”
Eleanor looked at her as if to say, You of all people.
“ Why does anyone `need' money ? I want to buy nice things and travel and mostly get out of this house. You have no idea how noisy it is living so near the green and the center. Plus it's very damp. No, the Captain's house is much healthier.”
At the word healthier,' Faith seized her chance. She leaped up suddenly and overturned the loaded tea table directly onto Eleanor's lap. Then she sprinted for the door. As she raced down the hall to the front door she could hear Eleanor 's enraged cries behind her.
At the door, she grabbed the lock, twisted the bolt free, and reached for the ornate brass door knob. She turned hard, heard a click, but the door wouldn 't budge. In vain she pulled with all her strength as she realized that Eleanor must have locked the door with another key and taken it.
There was still the kitchen door, which might not be locked at all. Faith turned and ran down the hall. Eleanor was presumably buried under a mound of broken English ironstone and
She quickly pulled the kitchen door behind her. Damn, there was no way to lock it. The outside door was also locked, but Faith could see through the door that a key hung conveniently on a nail under the porch eaves, well within reach if she smashed the glass. Eleanor's shadowy backyard and Belfry Hill behind it never looked better and she grabbed an iron skillet from the top of Eleanor's stove to break the pane.
It was too late. Eleanor, wet and furious, strode rapidly across the room and shoved the gun against the small of Faith 's back. It did not feel pleasant and Faith began to sob in fear and frustration.
“Put that pan down, Faith. You have made a horrible shambles and broken some of my treasures. Now it appears you are about to cause further damage.' She nudged Faith toward the other end of the kitchen. Faith put the pan down on the table, abandoning any thought of using it to smack Eleanor over the head. The gun would surely go off and the bullet travel straight through her body into Benjamin's. Eleanor herself seemed to have grown a foot and any previous hint of frailty had disappeared. Faith began to suspect Eleanor was both a lot younger and a lot stronger than she had thought.
“I should have done this immediately and not let you sit and talk so long. Now, open the door on my left slowly and go down the stairs,' Eleanor said in a commanding voice, 'Remember, I will shoot you both if you try anything else.”
Faith was crying again as she moved toward the door she knew must lead to Eleanor's basement. There didn't seem to be anything else to do, although she had little hope of melting Eleanor's heart with her tears. Slowly they moved down the steep wooden stairs.
Faith figured she had nothing more to lose and when they got to the bottom, resolved to throw herself against Eleanor and try to get the gun. But at the foot of the stairs, Eleanor suddenly leaned forward and turned on a light switch. Faith was momentarily disoriented and it was enough time for Eleanor to push her along into another room.
The basement was a rabbit warren of rooms, each for a distinct purpose : the laundry room, the lumber room, the trunk room, the furnace room, and so on. Before she could think what to do and with Eleanor 's pistol jabbing her in the back, Faith was standing outside a sturdy-looking door with the key in the lock.
“ I told you I didn 't enjoy the killing part, Faith, and have no wish to shoot you and dear Benjamin.' Faith couldn't believe her ears. Hope sprang anew. 'But you will have to die.' Eleanor sounded unpleas- antly definite.
She turned the key and pushed Faith into a pitch-dark closet.
“Now dear, I have to go upstairs and clean up all the mess you made.”
It looked like that was to be Faith's epitaph. Eleanor Whipple had locked them in her airless preserves cupboard and left them to die. She wasn't going to kill them. She would let time do it for her and since this was perhaps the last place anyone would think to look in the search that would undoubtably take place, time was on her
