Rudd's secretary, brought some of the others. We wanted to make it all pleasant and informal.'
'Were you here yourself at the time Mrs Badcock came up?'
'I'm ashamed to tell you, Chief-Inspector Craddock, that I just can't remember. I had a list of names, I went out and I shepherded people in. I introduced them, saw to drinks, then I'd go out and come up with the next batch. At the time I didn't know this Mrs Badcock by sight, and she wasn't one of the ones on my list to bring up.'
'What about a Mrs Bantry?'
'Ah yes, she's the former owner of this place, isn't she? I believe she, and Mrs Badcock and her husband, did come up about the same time.' He paused. 'And the mayor came just about then. He had a big chain on and a wife with yellow hair, wearing royal blue with frills. I remember all of them. I didn't pour drinks for any of them because I had to go down and bring up the next lot.'
'Who did pour drinks for them?'
'Why, I can't exactly say. There were three or four of us on duty. I know I went down the stairs just as the mayor was coming up.'
'Who else was on the stairs as you went down, if you can remember?'
'Jim Galbraith, one of the newspaper boys who was covering this, three or four others whom I didn't know. There were a couple of photographers, one of the locals, I don't remember his name, and an arty girl from London, who rather specialises in queer angle shots. Her camera was set right up in that corner so that she could get a view of Miss Gregg receiving. Ah, now let me think, I rather fancy that that was when Ardwyck Fenn arrived.'
'And who is Ardwyck Fenn?'
Hailey Preston looked shocked. 'He's a big shot, Chief-Inspector. A very big shot in the Television and Moving Picture world. We didn't even know he was in this country.'
'His turning up was a surprise?'
'I'll say it was,' said Preston. 'Nice of him to come and quite unexpected.'
'Was he an old friend of Miss Gregg's and Mr Rudd's?'
'He was an old friend of Marina 's a good many years ago when she was married to her second husband. I don't know how well Jason knew him.'
'Anyway, it was a pleasant surprise when he arrived?'
'Sure it was. We were all delighted.'
Craddock nodded and passed from that to other subjects. He made meticulous inquiries about the drinks, their ingredients, how they were served, who served them, what servants and hired servants were on duty. The answers seemed to be, as Inspector Cornish had already hinted was the case that, although any one of thirty people could have poisoned Heather Badcock with the utmost ease, yet at the same time any one of the thirty might have been seen doing so! It was, Craddock reflected, a big chance to take.
'Thank you,' he said at last, 'now I would like, if I may, to speak to Miss Marina Gregg.'
Hailey Preston shook his head.
'I'm sorry,' he said. 'I really am sorry but that's right out of the question.'
Craddock's eyebrows rose.
'Surely!'
'She's prostrated. She's absolutely prostrated. She's got her own physician here looking after her. He wrote out a certificate. I've got it here. I'll show it to you.'
Craddock took it and read it.
'I see,' he said. He asked, 'Does Marina Gregg always have a physician in attendance?'
'They're very high strung, all these actors and actresses. It's a big strain, this life. It's usually considered desirable in the case of the big shots that they should have a physician who understands their constitution and their nerves. Maurice Gilchrist has a very big reputation. He's looked after Miss Gregg for many years now. She's had a great deal of illness, as you may have read, in the last four years. She was hospitalized for a very long time. It's only about a year ago that she got her strength and health back.'
'I see.'
Hailey Preston seemed relieved that Craddock was not making any more protests.
'You'll want to see Mr Rudd?' he suggested. 'He'll be -' he looked at his watch, '- he'll be back from the studios in about ten minutes if that's all right for you.'
'That'll do admirably,' said Craddock. 'In the meantime is Dr Gilchrist in the house?'
'He is.'
'Then I'd like to talk to him.'
'Why, certainly. I'll fetch him right away.'
The young man bustled away. Dermot Craddock stood thoughtfully at the top of the stairs. Of course this frozen look that Mrs Bantry had described might have been entirely Mrs Bantry's imagination. She was, he thought, a woman who would jump to conclusions. At the same time he thought it quite likely that the conclusion to which she had jumped was a just one. Without going so far as to look like the Lady of Shalott seeing doom coming down upon her, Marina Gregg might have seen something that vexed or annoyed her. Something that had caused her to have been negligent to a guest to whom she was talking. Somebody had come up those stairs, perhaps, who could be described as an unexpected guest – an unwelcome guest?
He turned at the sound of footsteps. Harley Preston was back and with him was Dr Maurice Gilchrist. Dr Gilchrist was not at all as Dermot Craddock had imagined him. He had no suave bedside manner, neither was he theatrical in appearance. He seemed on the face of it, a blunt, hearty, matter-of-fact man. He was dressed in tweeds, slightly florid tweeds to the English idea. He had a thatch of brown hair and observant, keen dark eyes.
'Doctor Gilchrist? I am Chief-Inspector Dermot Craddock. May I have a word or two with you in private?'
The doctor nodded. He turned along the corridor and went along it almost to the end, then he pushed the door open and invited Craddock to enter.
'No one will disturb us here,' he said.
It was obviously the doctor's own bedroom, a very comfortably appointed one. Dr Gilchrist indicated a chair and then sat down himself.
'I understand,' said Craddock, 'that Miss Marina Gregg, according to you, is unable to be interviewed. What's the matter with her, Doctor?'
Gilchrist shrugged his shoulders very slightly.
'Nerves,' he said. 'If you were to ask her questions now she'd be in a state bordering on hysteria within ten minutes. I can't permit that. If you like to send your police doctor to see me, I'd be willing to give him my views. She was unable to be present at the inquest for the same reason.'
'How long,' asked Craddock, 'is such a state of things likely to continue?'
Dr Gilchrist looked at him and smiled. It was a likeable smile.
'If you want my opinion,' he said, 'a human opinion, that is, not a medical one, any time within the next forty-eight hours, and she'll be not only willing, but asking to see you! She'll be wanting to ask questions. She'll be wanting to answer your questions. They're like that!' He leaned forward. 'I'd like to try and make you understand if I can, Chief-Inspector, a little bit what makes these people act the way they do. The motion picture life is a life of continuous strain, and the more successful you are, the greater the strain. You live always, all day, in the public eye. When you're on location, when you're working, it's hard monotonous work with long hours. You're there in the morning, you sit and you wait. You do your small bit, the bit that's being shot over and over again. If you're rehearsing on the stage you'd be rehearsing as likely as not a whole act, or at any rate a part of an act. The thing would be in sequence, it would be more or less human and credible. But when you're shooting a picture everything's taken out of sequence. It's a monotonous, grinding business. It's exhausting. You live in luxury, of course, you have soothing drugs, you have baths and creams and powders and medical attention, you have relaxations and parties and people, but you're always in the public eye. You can't enjoy yourself quietly. You can't really – ever relax.'
'I can understand that,' said Dermot. 'Yes, I can understand.'
'And there's another thing,' went on Gilchrist. 'If you adopt this career, and especially if you're any good at it, you are a certain kind of person. You're a person – or so I've found in my experience – with a skin too few – a person who is plagued the whole time with diffidence. A terrible feeling of inadequacy, of apprehension that you can't do what's required of you. People say that actors and actresses are vain. That isn't true. They're not conceited
