Speedy Death

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paused.
    ‘Please go on,’ said Mrs Bradley. ‘Or shall I finish your sentence for you?’
    ‘I don’t think even you could manage to do that,’ he laughed. ‘But go on, if you think you know the rest.’
    ‘Well,’ said Mrs Bradley, promptly accepting the challenge, ‘you were going to say that, if I am right, then your conclusion as to the murderer’s identity must be wrong.’
    ‘Good heavens!’ cried Carstairs. ‘Is it clairvoyance?’
    ‘Merely applied psychology,’ replied Mrs Bradley, grinning. ‘So now do tell me who you thought it was, and when you made up your mind about it.’
    ‘I thought it was you,’ said Carstairs, without a smile. ‘And I came to that conclusion while I was talking to Bing just before you had slipped out of the room. It came upon me like a flash, and hit me clean between the eyes.’
    Mrs Bradley cackled with joy. ‘Oh, how too gorgeous!’ she cried, with unaffected delight. ‘And when, pray, did you conclude that you were mistaken?’
    ‘Well, about two seconds ago.’ He sighed. ‘And I’m glad.’
    ‘But why me? Although I am awfully flattered. It really was rather a neat method of putting out ofthe way a person one disliked. Only—
I
should not have forgotten that I’d left the bathroom window wide open. Besides’—she measured herself beside Carstairs—‘I am not
quite
long enough in the leg for that climb. I tried it this morning before anyone was up, and found I couldn’t quite manage it. I’ll show you, if you have any lingering doubts.’
    Carstairs shook his head.
    ‘A very obvious point which would certainly have occurred to me later, when I had had time to think over my conclusions,’ he said gravely. ‘But I assure you I am absolutely convinced now that you did not take Mountjoy’s life. You see, you are not mad, and you assure me that the murderer was.’
    ‘My
assurance ought to carry no weight,’ said Mrs Bradley, laughing. ‘What you really mean is that another aspect of the matter has struck you, and this new aspect leads to a conclusion which could not involve me—at least, not to the extent of my being implicated in the crime.’
    ‘How the deuce do you do it?’ asked Carstairs, half in awe, half in amusement.
    Mrs Bradley waved her hand non-committally.
    ‘You see,’ Carstairs went on, ‘whichever way you turn, you come up against this snag: who had a
motive
for killing Mountjoy? I can’t see that anybody had—anybody in this house, I mean. And I’m positive it
was
somebody in this house who drowned that poor woman. Nothing will convince me to the contrary.’
    ‘Poor—woman,’ said Mrs Bradley. ‘Poor—woman.’
    She looked at Carstairs expectantly, but he returned her gaze with a blank, inquiring stare.
    She grimaced, and shrugged her shoulders.
    ‘A nod or a wink——’ she said significantly.
    Carstairs laughed.
    ‘Yes, I’m afraid I’m a blind horse indeed, this time,’ he said.
    There was a sudden sharp knocking.
    ‘Come in,’ called Carstairs, and Dorothy put a laughing face round the edge of the door.
    ‘We’re all patiently waiting for our turns,’ she said. ‘And you’ve made poor Mr Bing quite cross. Oh, and the Chief Constable of the county is coming to dinner, and will probably stay a day or two. Do have us in and question us. I’m dying to have my turn.’
    ‘Come along in, then,’ said Mrs Bradley briskly. ‘Sit there, facing the light. Take this paper and pencil, and write the exact opposite of every word I say.’
    When the little farce had been played out, and Dorothy dismissed, Carstairs raised his eyebrows inquiringly.
    ‘Some clever creature will give the show away at dinner, either accidentally or on purpose,’ said Mrs Bradley, in answer to his unspoken question. ‘And once the Chief Constable gets wind of our suspicions there will be no peace for anybody, so you and I, my friend, may as well go out of business. I am rather glad.’
    ‘I am not,’ said Carstairs decidedly.

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