Read Online A Man Lay Dead by Ngaio Marsh - Free Book Online Page A

for aspirin.”
    “Where is the bathroom you used?”
    “Opposite my bedroom. We both used it — I first.”
    “And you merely crossed the passage to this bathroom and back to your own room?”
    “Yes.”
    “Did you go anywhere else while you were upstairs?”
    “No. I came down after the alarm.”
    “You, Miss North? What were your movements?”
    “I came up with Rosamund. While she bathed I read in my own room. On my return from the bathroom I went in to her and after that to my uncle’s room for the aspirin. I had just got back to Rosamund’s door when the lights went out”
    “Where is Mr. Rankin’s room?”
    “Next mine and immediately opposite the entrance of the top passage into the corridor. May I complete the sketch there?” Alleyn pushed the sheet of paper along to her and she traced in the remaining rooms.
    “Thank you very much,” said Alleyn. “That completes the positions of the characters. It also brings to a close the opening phase of the reconstruction of the game. Before we go I should like to speak to Florence, your maid, Miss North. I am sure you will all see that it is most important to establish the positions of Mr. and Mrs. Wilde and Mr. Bathgate.”
    Angela got up and crossed to a push-bell by the mantelpiece. The others moved back their chairs and Wilde began a low-voiced conversation with Handesley.
    The bell was answered, not by Vassily, but by a small agitated maid. She looked as if she belonged to the back stairs and had got into the drawing-room by mistake.
    “Will you ask Florence to come in for a moment, Mary?” said Angela.
    “Yes, miss.”
    “Oh, just a second, Mary,” said Alleyn, with a glance at Angela, “were you in the hall last night when Mr. Wilde went upstairs and Mr. Rankin was left alone?”
    “Oh — yes, yes, sir, I was. Mr. Roberts don’t usually send me to the front of the ’ouse, sir, but last night—”
    “Did Mr. Wilde speak to you?”
    “He arst me the time and I says ‘ten to’ and he says, ‘Hell, I’m late,’ and skedaddles upstairs.”
    “What was Mr. Rankin doing?”
    “Smoking a cigarette sir, quite happy like. I say, ‘Shall I take away the cocktail tray?’ and he says, ‘Don’t do that,’ he says, ‘I’ll have a quick one,’ he says, ‘and spoil that schoolboy complexion.’ So I goes away, sir, and then only a few seconds later, sir, the lights went out and — oh, isn’t it awful?”
    “Terrible. Thank you, Mary.”
    After a hesitating glance at Handesley the maid went out.
    “Doesn’t the butler usually answer that bell?” asked Alleyn after a pause.
    “Yes,” said Angela vaguely, “yes, of course, Mary’s the between-maid. She never answers the bell. I don’t know why he didn’t come — everyone is so upset, I suppose Vassily—”
    She was interrupted by the entrance of Florence, a darkish wooden-faced individual of about thirty-five.
    “Florence,” said Angela, “Mr. Alleyn wants to ask you something about last night.”
    “Yes, miss.”
    “Will you tell me, please,” began Alleyn, “which of the rooms you went into last night when the guests were upstairs dressing?”
    “Very good, sir. I went first to Miss Angela’s room.”
    “How long were you there?”
    “Only a few minutes. Miss Angela wished me to ask Mrs. Wilde if I could assist her.”
    “So you went to Mrs. Wilde’s room?”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “What happened there?”
    “Madam asked me to fasten her dress. I fastened it,” said Florence sparsely.
    “Did Mrs. Wilde speak to you?”
    “Madam was speaking to Mr. Wilde who was in the bathroom next door to the dressing-room.”
    “Did Mr. Wilde answer?”
    “Yes, sir. He was speaking to Mrs. Wilde and also to Mr. Bathgate who was in his own room beyond.”
    “When you left Mrs. Wilde where did you go?”
    “To Miss Grant’s room.”
    “How long were you there?”
    “I waited a moment, sir. Miss Grant was not there. She came in a few minutes later and said she did not require