Read Online Some Lie and Some Die by Ruth Rendell - Free Book Online
Authors: Ruth Rendell
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Dawn’s dead. It seems so fantastic’
‘It’s good of you to come, Miss Miall. I shall have a great deal to ask you so I think we’ll go upstairs to my office where we can be more comfortable.’
In the lift she didn’t speak but she lit another cigarette. Wexford understood that this heavy smoking was an antidote to shock. He approved her plain knee-length skirt and scarlet shirt, the healthy fine-boned face which, scarcely touched with make-up, was framed in shining hair, long and parted in the centre. Her hands were ringless, the nails short and lacquered pale pink. The pleasant, semi-living room appointments of his office seemed to set her more at ease. She relaxed, smiled and stubbed out her cigarette. ‘I smoke too much.’
‘Maybe,’ he said. ‘You were very fond of Dawn?’
She hesitated. ‘I don’t know really. I shared a flat with herfor four years. We saw each other every day. We worked together. It was a shock.’
‘You both worked at the Townsman Club?’
‘Yes, that was where we met. We’d both been through a bit of a bad time. Dawn had been living with a man who was almost pathologically jealous and I’d been sharing with my sister. My sister was terribly possessive. Dawn and I decided to take a flat together and we made a pact not to fuss each other and not to worry if the other one didn’t always come home. That’s why I wasn’t worried. Not until Saturday. Then, I …’
‘You’re running on a bit, Miss Miall,’ Wexford interrupted her. ‘Tell me about last Monday first.’
The slight strain this called for demanded a fresh cigarette. She lit one, inhaled and leant back in her chair. ‘Dawn had started a week’s holiday the Saturday before, Saturday, June fourth. She couldn’t make up her mind whether to go away or not. Her boy friend—he’s called Paul Wickford and he keeps a garage near us—he wanted her to go touring in Devon with him, but she still hadn’t decided by that Monday morning.’
‘You expected her back on Monday evening?’
‘Yes, in a way. She went off in the morning to catch the train for Kingsmarkham and she wasn’t very cheerful. She never was when she was going to see her mother, they didn’t get on. Dawn got on better with her grandmother.’ Joan Miall paused and seemed to consider. ‘Paul came round at about six, but when she hadn’t come by seven he drove me to the club and then he went back to our flat to wait for her. Well, when she wasn’t there on the Tuesday or the Wednesday and I didn’t see anything of Paul, I thought they’d gone off to Devon together. We never left notes for each other, you see. We had this non-interference pact.’
‘She told her mother she was working that night.’
Joan smiled slightly. ‘I expect she did. That would just be an excuse to get away. Four or five hours in her mother’s companywould be as much as she could stand.’ She stubbed out her cigarette, flicking ash fastidiously from her fingers. ‘On Saturday—last Saturday, I mean—Paul appeared again. He hadn’t been in Devon. His mother died that very Monday night and he’d had to go up north to the funeral and to see about things. He didn’t know where Dawn was any more than I did.
‘Then yesterday when we were both getting really worried—Dawn was due back at work tonight—the police came and told me what had happened.’
‘Miss Miall, when Dawn was found she was wearing a dark red dress.’ He noted her quick glance of surprise but ignored it for the moment ‘Now we have that dress here,’ he said. ‘It’s rather badly stained. I’m going to ask you if you will be very brave and look at that dress. I warn you that you could find it upsetting. Will you look at it?’
She nodded.
‘Yes, if you think it’ll help. I can’t remember Dawn ever wearing red. It wasn’t her colour. But I’ll look at it.’
The dress was made of a dark red rayon fabric with cap sleeves, a shaped waist and self belt. Because of its colour, the
‘It’s good of you to come, Miss Miall. I shall have a great deal to ask you so I think we’ll go upstairs to my office where we can be more comfortable.’
In the lift she didn’t speak but she lit another cigarette. Wexford understood that this heavy smoking was an antidote to shock. He approved her plain knee-length skirt and scarlet shirt, the healthy fine-boned face which, scarcely touched with make-up, was framed in shining hair, long and parted in the centre. Her hands were ringless, the nails short and lacquered pale pink. The pleasant, semi-living room appointments of his office seemed to set her more at ease. She relaxed, smiled and stubbed out her cigarette. ‘I smoke too much.’
‘Maybe,’ he said. ‘You were very fond of Dawn?’
She hesitated. ‘I don’t know really. I shared a flat with herfor four years. We saw each other every day. We worked together. It was a shock.’
‘You both worked at the Townsman Club?’
‘Yes, that was where we met. We’d both been through a bit of a bad time. Dawn had been living with a man who was almost pathologically jealous and I’d been sharing with my sister. My sister was terribly possessive. Dawn and I decided to take a flat together and we made a pact not to fuss each other and not to worry if the other one didn’t always come home. That’s why I wasn’t worried. Not until Saturday. Then, I …’
‘You’re running on a bit, Miss Miall,’ Wexford interrupted her. ‘Tell me about last Monday first.’
The slight strain this called for demanded a fresh cigarette. She lit one, inhaled and leant back in her chair. ‘Dawn had started a week’s holiday the Saturday before, Saturday, June fourth. She couldn’t make up her mind whether to go away or not. Her boy friend—he’s called Paul Wickford and he keeps a garage near us—he wanted her to go touring in Devon with him, but she still hadn’t decided by that Monday morning.’
‘You expected her back on Monday evening?’
‘Yes, in a way. She went off in the morning to catch the train for Kingsmarkham and she wasn’t very cheerful. She never was when she was going to see her mother, they didn’t get on. Dawn got on better with her grandmother.’ Joan Miall paused and seemed to consider. ‘Paul came round at about six, but when she hadn’t come by seven he drove me to the club and then he went back to our flat to wait for her. Well, when she wasn’t there on the Tuesday or the Wednesday and I didn’t see anything of Paul, I thought they’d gone off to Devon together. We never left notes for each other, you see. We had this non-interference pact.’
‘She told her mother she was working that night.’
Joan smiled slightly. ‘I expect she did. That would just be an excuse to get away. Four or five hours in her mother’s companywould be as much as she could stand.’ She stubbed out her cigarette, flicking ash fastidiously from her fingers. ‘On Saturday—last Saturday, I mean—Paul appeared again. He hadn’t been in Devon. His mother died that very Monday night and he’d had to go up north to the funeral and to see about things. He didn’t know where Dawn was any more than I did.
‘Then yesterday when we were both getting really worried—Dawn was due back at work tonight—the police came and told me what had happened.’
‘Miss Miall, when Dawn was found she was wearing a dark red dress.’ He noted her quick glance of surprise but ignored it for the moment ‘Now we have that dress here,’ he said. ‘It’s rather badly stained. I’m going to ask you if you will be very brave and look at that dress. I warn you that you could find it upsetting. Will you look at it?’
She nodded.
‘Yes, if you think it’ll help. I can’t remember Dawn ever wearing red. It wasn’t her colour. But I’ll look at it.’
The dress was made of a dark red rayon fabric with cap sleeves, a shaped waist and self belt. Because of its colour, the
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