The Mousetrap Act 2 Flashcards
Learn the lines of Trotter
Start of Act 2.
Now, Mrs. Ralston, try and think - think.
I can’t think. My head’s numbed.
Mrs. Boyle had only just been killed when you got to her. You came from the kitchen. Are you sure you didn’t see or hear anybody as you came along the hallway?
No - no, I don’t think so. Just the radio blaring out in here. I couldn’t think who’d turned it on so loud. I wouldn’t hear anything else with that, would I?
That was clearly the murderer’s idea - or murderess.
how could I hear anything else?
You might have done. If the murderer had left the Hall that way he might have heard you coming from the kitchen. He might have slipped up the backstairs - or into the dining-room…
I think - I’m not sure - I heard a door creek - and shut - just as I came out of the kitchen.
Which door?
I don’t know.
Think, Mrs. Ralston - try and think. Upstairs? Downstairs? Close at hand? Right? Left?
Can’t you stop bullying her? Can’t you see she’s all in?
We’re investigating a murder, Mr. Ralston. Up to now, nobody has taking this thing seriously. Mrs. Boyle didn’t. She held out on me with information. You all held out on me. Well, Mrs. Boyle is dead. Unless we get to the bottom of this - and quickly, mind - there may be another death.
Another? Nonsense. Why?
Because there were three little blind mice.
A death for each of them? But there would have to be some connection - I mean another connection - with the Longridge Farm business.
Yes, there would have to be that.
But why another death here?
Because there were only two addresses in the notebook we found. Now, at twenty-four Culver Street there was only one possible victim. She’s dead. But here at Monkswell Manor there is a wider field.
nonsense. surely it would be a most unlikely coincidence that there should be two people brought here by chance, both of them with a share in the Long Ridge Farm case?
Given certain circumstances, it wouldn’t be so much of a coincidence. Think it out, Miss Casewell. Now I want to get down quite clearly where everyone was when Mrs Boyle was killed. I’ve already got Mrs. Ralston’s statement. You were in the kitchen preparing vegetables. You came out of the kitchen, along the passage, through the swing door into the hall and in here. The radio was blaring, but the light was switched off, and the hall was dark. You switched the light on, saw Mrs. Boyle, and screamed.
Yes. I screamed and screamed. And that last - people came.
Yes. as you say, people came - A lot of people from different directions - all arriving more or less at once. Now then, when I got out of that window to trace the telephone wire, you, Mr. Ralston, went upstairs to the room you and Mrs. Ralston occupy, to try the extension telephone. Where were you when Mrs. Ralston screamed?
I will still up in the bedroom. The extension telephone was dead, too. I looked out of the window to see if I could see any sign of the wires being cut there, but I couldn’t. Just after I close the window again, I heard Mollie scream and I rushed down.
Those simple actions took you a rather long time, didn’t they, Mr. Ralston?
I don’t think so.
I should say you definitely - took your time over then.
I was thinking about something.
Very well. Now then, Mr. Wren, I’ll have your account where you were
I’d been in the kitchen, seeing if there was anything I could do to help Mrs. Rolston. I adore cooking. After that I went upstairs to my bedroom.
Why?
It’s quite a natural thing to go to one’s bedroom, don’t you think? I mean - one does want to be alone sometimes.
You went to your bedroom because you wanted to be alone?
And I wanted to brush my hair - and - er - tidy up.
You wanted to brush your hair?
Anyway, that’s where I was!
And you heard Mrs. Ralston scream?
Yes. (heard Mrs. Ralston scream?)
And you came down?
Yes. ( And you came down?)
Curious that you and Mr. Ralston didn’t meet on the stairs.
I came down by the back stairs. They’re near to my room.
Did you go to your room by the back stairs, or did you come through here?
I went up by the back stairs, too.
I see. Mr. Paravicini?
I have told you. I was playing the piano in the drawing-room - through there, Inspector.
I’m not an Inspector - just a Sergeant, Mr. Paravicini. Did anybody hear you playing the piano?
You were playing Three Blind Mice.
Is that so?
And yet - it runs in people’s head. someone was whistling it, too.
Whistling it? Where?
I am not sure. Perhaps in the front hall - perhaps on the stairs - perhaps even upstairs in the bedroom.
Who was whistling Three Blind Mice?
Are you making this up, Mr. Paravicini?
no, no, Inspector - I beg your pardon - Sergeant, I would not do a thing like that.
Well, go on, you were playing the piano.
With one finger - so… And then I hear the radio - playing very loud - someone is shouting on it. It offended my ears. And after that - suddenly - I hear Mrs. Ralston screen.
Mr. Ralston upstairs. Mr. Wren upstairs. Mr. Paravicini in the drawing-room. Miss Casewell?
I was writing letters in the library.
Could you hear what was going on in here?
No, I didn’t hear anything until Mrs. Ralston screamed.
And what did you do then?
I came in here.
At once.
I - think so.
You say you were writing letters when you heard Mrs. Ralston scream?
Yes.- Miss Casewell (Heard Mrs. Ralston scream?)
And you got up from the writing table hurriedly and came in here?
Yes. -Miss Casewell (got up from the writing table hurriedly and came in here?)
And yet there doesn’t seem to be any unfinished letter on the writing desk in the library.
I brought it with me.
Dearest Jessie - h’m - a friend of yours, or relation?
That’s none of your damned business.
Perhaps not. You know if I would hear someone screaming blue murder when I was writing a letter. I don’t believe I’d take the time to pick up my unfinished letter, fold it and put it in my handbag before going to see what was the matter.
You wouldn’t? How interesting.
Now, Major Metcalf, what about you? You say you were in the cellar. Why?
Not at all. Crypt of an old Monastery, I should say. Probably why this place is called “Monkswell.”
We’re not engaged in antiquarian research, Major Metcalf. We’re investigating a murder. Mrs. Ralston has told us that she heard a door shut with a faint creek. that particular door shuts with a creek. It could be, you know, but after killing this is Boyle, the murderer heard mrs. Ralston coming from the kitchen and slipped into the cupboard pulling the door after him.
Mine are there alright. But most criminals are careful to wear gloves, aren’t they?
It’s usual. But all criminals slip up sooner or later.
Look here, aren’t we wasting time? There’s one person who…
Please, Mr. Ralston, I’m in charge of this investigation.
oh, very well, but…
Mr. Ralston!
Thank you. We’ve got to establish opportunity, you know, as well as motive. And now let me tell you this - you all had opportunity. There are two staircases - anyone could go up by one and come down by the other. Anyone could go down to the cellars by the door near the kitchen and come up by flight of steps that leads up through a trapdoor to the foot of the stairs over there. The vital fact was that everyone of you was alone at the time the murder was committed.
But look here, Sergeant, you speak as though we were all under suspicion. That’s absurd!
In a murder case, everyone is under suspicion.
It’s all right, Chris. Nobody’s against you. Tell him it’s all right.
We don’t frame people.
Tell him you’re not going to arrest him.
I’m not arresting anyone. To do that, I’ve got to have evidence. I haven’t got any evidence - yet.
Wait, Giles, wait. Sergeant Trotter, can I - can I speak to you a minute?
Certainly, Mrs. Ralston. Will the rest of you go into the dining-room, please.
Please.
Yes, Mrs. Ralston, what is it you want to say to me?
Sergeant Trotter, you think that this - this crazy killer must be the - eldest of those three boys at the Farm - but you don’t know that, do you?
We don’t actually know the thing. All we’ve got so far is that the woman who joined with her husband in ill-treating and starving those children, has been killed, and that the woman magistrate who was responsible for placing then there has been killed. The telephone wire that links me with the police headquarters has been cut…
You don’t even know that. It may have been just the snow.
No, Mrs. Ralston, the line was deliberately cut. It was cut just outside the front door. I found the place.
I see.
Sit down, Mrs. Ralston.
But, all the same, you don’t know…
I’m going by probability. It all points one way; mental instability, childish mentality, desertion from the Army and the psychiatrist’s report.
Oh I know, and therefore it all seems to point to Christopher. But I don’t believe it it’s Christopher. There must be other possibilities.
Such as?
Well - hadn’t those children any relations at all?
The mother was a drunk. She died soon after the children were taken away from her.
What about their father?
He was an Army sergeant, serving abroad. If he’s alive, he’s probably discharged from the Army by now.
You don’t know where he is now?
We’ve no information. To trace it may take some time, but I can assure you, Mrs. Ralston, that the police take every eventuality into account.
But you don’t know where he may be at this minute, and if the son is mentally unstable, the father may be unstable, too.
Well, it’s a possibility.
If he came home, after being a prisoner with the Japs, perhaps, and having suffered terribly - if he came home and found his wife dead and that his children had gone through some terrible experience, and one of them had died through it, he might go off his head a bit and want - revenge!
That’s only surmise.
But it’s possible?
Oh yes, Mrs. Ralston, it’s quite possible.
So the murderer may be middle-aged, or even old. When I said the police had wrong up, Major Metcalf was frightfully upset. He really was. I saw his face.
Major Metcalf?
Middle-aged. A soldier. He seems quite nice and perfectly normal - but it might not show, might it?
No, often it doesn’t show at all.
So, it’s not only Christopher who’s the suspect. There’s Major Metcalf as well.
Any other suggestions?
Well, Mr. Paravicini did drop the poker when I said the police had wrong up.
Mr. Paravicini.
I know he seems quite old - and foreign and everything, but he might didn’t really be as old as he looks. He moves like a much younger man, and he’s definitely got makeup on his face. Miss Casewell noticed it, too. He might be - oh, I know it sounds very melodramatic - but he might be disguised.
You’re very anxious, aren’t you, that it shouldn’t be young Mr. Wren?
He seems so - helpless, somehow. And so unhappy.
Mrs. Ralston, let me tell you something. I had all possibilities in mind ever since the beginning. The boy Georgie, the father - and someone else. There was a sister, you remember.
oh - the sister?
It could have been a woman who killed Maureen Lyon. A woman. The muffler pulled up and the man’s felt hat pulled well down, and the killer whispered, you know. It’s the voice that gives the sex away. Yes, it might have been a woman.
Miss Casewell?
She looks a bit old for the part. Oh yes, Mrs. Ralston, there’s a very wide field. There’s yourself, for instance.
Me?
You’re about the right age.
No, no. Whatever you tell me about yourself, I’ve got no means of checking it at this moment, remember. And then there’s your husband.
Giles, how ridiculous!
He and Christopher Wren are much of an age. Say, your husband looks older than his years, and Christopher Wren looks younger. Actually age is very hard to tell. How much do you know about your husband, Mrs. Ralston?
How much do I know about Giles? Oh, don’t be silly.
You’ve been married - how long?
Just a year.
And you met him - where?
At a dance in London. We went in a party.
Did you meet his people?
He hasn’t any people. They’re all dead.
They’re all dead?
Yes - but, oh you make it sound all wrong. His father was a barister and his mother died when he was a baby.
You’re only telling me what he told you.
Yes - but…
You don’t know it of your own knowledge.
It’s outrageous that…
You’d be surprised, Mrs. Ralston, if you knew how many cases rather like yours we get. Especially since the war. Home broken up and families dead. Fellow says he’s been in the Air Force, or just finished his Army training. Parents killed - no relations. There aren’t any backgrounds nowadays and young people settle their own affairs - they meet and marry. It’s parents and relatives who used to make the inquiries before they consented to an engagement. That’s all done away with. Girl just Mary’s Herman. Sometimes she doesn’t find out for a year or two that he’s an absconding bank clerk, or an Army deserter or something equally undesirable. How long had you known Giles Ralston when you married him?
Just three weeks. But…
And you don’t know anything about him?
That’s not true. I know everything about him! I know exactly the sort of person he is. He’s Giles. And it’s absolutely absurd to suggest that he is some horrible crazy homicidal maniac. Why, he wasn’t even in London yesterday when the murder took place.
Where was he? Here?
He went across country to a sale to get some wire netting for our chickens.
Bring it back with him?
No, it turned out to be the wrong kind.
Only thirty miles from London, aren’t you? Oh, you got an ABC? Only an hour by train - a little longer by car.
I tell you Giles wasn’t in London.
Just a minute, Mrs. Ralston. Is this your husband’s coat?
Yes.
Evening news. Yesterday’s. Sold on the streets about 3:30 yesterday afternoon.
I don’t believe it!
Don’t you? Don’t you?
No, of course not.
Mr. Ralston - Mrs. Ralston, have you removed my skis from the cupboard back there where we put them?
Certainly not.
Somebody’s taken them.
What made you happen to look for them?
The snow is still lying. I need help here, reinforcements. I was going to ski over to the police station at Market Hampton to report on the situation.
And now you can’t - dear, dear… Somebody’s seen to it that you certainly shan’t do that. But there could be another reason, couldn’t there?
Yes, what?
So our young architect has hooked it, has he? Very, very interesting.
Is this true, Mrs. Ralston?
Oh, thank goodness. You haven’t gone, after all.
Did you take my skis, Mr. Wren?
Your skis, Sergeant? No, why should I?
Mrs. Ralston seemed to think…
Exercise?
Now, listen, you people. This is a serious matter. Somebody has removed my only chance of communication with the outside world. I want everybody here - at once.
Hullo, wanting me?
It’s a question of my skis.
Mr. Ralston!
Did either of you two remove a pair of skis from the cupboard near the kitchen door?
Good Lord, no. Why should I?
And I didn’t touch ‘m.
Nevertheless they are gone. Which way did you go to your room?
By the back stairs.
Then you passed the cupboard door.
If you say so - I’ve no idea where your skis are.
You were actually in that cupboard today.
Yes, I was.
At the time Mrs. Boyle was killed.
At the time Mrs. Boyle was killed I’d gone down to the cellar.
Were the skis in the cupboard when you passed through?
I haven’t the least idea.
Didn’t you see them there?
Can’t remember.
You must remember if those skis were there then?
No good shouting at me, young fellow. I wasn’t thinking about any damned skis. I was interested in the cellars. Architecture of this place is very interesting. I opened the other door and I went on down. So I can’t tell you whether the skis were there or not.
You realize that you, yourself, had an excellent opportunity of taking them?
Yes, yes, I grant you that. If I wanted to, that is.
The question is, where are they now?
Ought to be able to find them if we are all set to. Not a case of “Hunt the Thimble.” Whacking great things, skis. Supposing we all set too.
Not quite so fast, Major Metcalf. That may be, you know, what we are meant to do.
Eh, I don’t get you?
I’m in the position now where I’ve got to put myself in the place of a crazy cunning brain. I’ve got to ask myself what he wants us to do and what he, himself, is planning to do next.
I’ve got to try and keep this one step ahead of him. Because, if I don’t, there’s going to be another death.
You still don’t believe that?
Yes, Miss Casewell. I do. Three blind mice. Two mice cancelled out - a third mouse still be dealt with. There are six of you here listening to me. One of you’s a killer!
One of you’s a killer. I don’t know which yet, but I shall. And another of you is the killer’s prospective victim. That’s the person I’m speaking to. Mrs. Boyle held out on me - Mrs. Boyle dead. You - whoever you are - are holding out on me. Well - don’t. Because you’re in danger. Nobody has killed twice is going to hesitate to kill a third time. And as that is, I don’t know which one of you it is who needs protection.
Come on, now, anybody here who has anything, however slight, to reproach themselves for in that bygone business, had better come out with it.
Alright - you won’t. I’ll get the killer - I’ve no I’ve no doubt of that - but it may be too late for one of you. And I’ll tell you another thing. The killer is enjoying this. Yes, he’s enjoying himself a good deal…
Alright - you can go.
I must go - the food - dinner - prepare the spinach - and the potatoes all going to pieces - please, Giles.
What did you say to the lady to upset her, sir?
Me, Sergeant? Oh, just a little innocent fun. I’ve always been fond of a little joke.
There’s nice fun - and there’s fun that’s not so nice.
Now I do wonder what you mean by that, Sergeant?
I’ve been doing a little wondering about you, sir.
Indeed?
I’ve been wondering about that car of yours, and how it happened to overturn in a snowdrift so conveniently.
Inconveniently, you mean, don’t you, Sergeant?
That rather depends on the way you’re looking at it. Just where were you bound for, by the way, when you had this - accident?
Oh - I was on my way to see a friend.
In this neighborhood?
Not so very far from here.
And what was the name and address of this friend?
Now really, Sergeant Trotter, does that matter now? I mean, it has nothing to do with this predicament, has it?
We always like the fullest information. What did you say this friend’s name was?
I didn’t say.
No, you didn’t say. And it seems you’re not going to say. Now that’s very interesting.
But there might be - so many reasons. An amour - discretion. These jealous husbands.
Rather old be running around with the ladies at your time of life, aren’t you?
My dear Sergeant, I am not, perhaps, quite so old as I look.
That’s just what I’ve been thinking, sir.
What?
That you may not be as old as you - try to look. There’s a lot of people trying to look younger than they are. If somebody goes about trying to look older - well, it does make one ask oneself why.
Having asked questions of so many people - you ask questions of yourself as well? Isn’t that over doing things?
I might get an answer from myself - I don’t get many from you.
Well, well - try again - that is, if you have any more questions to ask.
One or two. Where were you coming from last night?
That is simple - from London.
What address in London?
I always stay at the Ritz Hotel.
Very nice, too, I’m sure. What is your permanent address?
I dislike permanency.
What’s your business or profession?
I play the markets.
Stockbroker?
No, no, you misunderstand me.
Enjoying this little game, aren’t you? Sure of yourself, too. But I shouldn’t be too sure. You’re mixed up in a murder case, and don’t you forget it. Murder isn’t just fun and games.
Not even this murder? Dear me, you’re very serious, Sergeant Trotter. I always have thought policemen have no sense of humor. Is the Inquisition over - for the moment?
For the moment - yes.
Thank you so much. I shall go and look for your skis in the drawing room. Just in case someone has hidden them in the grand piano.
Just a minute, please.
Were you speaking to me?
Yes. Perhaps you’d come and sit down.
Well, what do you want?
You may have heard some of the questions I was asking Mr. Paravicini?
I heard them.
I’d like to have a little information from you.
What do you want to know?
Full name, please.
Leslie Margaret Katherine Casewell
Katherine..
I spell it with a “K.”
Quite so. Address?
Villa Mariposa, Pine d’or, Majorca.
That’s in Italy?
It’s an island - a Spanish island.
I see. And your address in England?
Care of Morgan’s Bank, Leadenhall Street.
No other English address?
No.
How long have you been in England?
A week.
And you have been staying since your arrival…?
At the Ledbury Hotel, Knightsbridge.
What brought you to Monkswell Manor, Miss Casewell?
I wanted somewhere quiet - in the country.
How long did you - or do you - propose to remain here?
Until I have finished what I came where to do.
And what was that?
And what was that?
Eh?
What was it you came here to do?
I beg your pardon. I was thinking of something else.
You haven’t answered my question.
I really don’t see, you know, why I should. It’s a matter that concerns me alone. A strictly private affair.
All the same, Miss Casewell…
No, I don’t think we’ll argue about it.
Would you mind telling my your age?
Not in the least. It’s on my passport. I am twenty-four.
Twenty-four?
You were thinking I look older. That is quite true.
Is there anyone in this country who can - vouch for you?
My bank will reassure you as to my financial position. I can also refer you to a solicitor - a very discreet man. I am not in a position to offer you a social reference. I have lived most of my life abroad.
In Majorca?
In Majorca - and other places.
Were you born abroad?
No, I left England when I was thirteen.
You know, Miss Casewell, I can’t quite make you out.
Does it matter?
I don’t know. What are you doing here?
It seems to worry you.
It does worry me… You went abroad when you were thirteen?
Twelve -thirteen - thereabouts.
Was your name Casewell then?
It’s my name now.
What was your name then. Come on - tell me.
What are you trying to prove?
I want to know what your name was when you left England?
It’s a long time ago. I’ve forgotten.
There are things one doesn’t forget.
Possibly.
Unhappiness - despair…
I daresay…
What’s your real name?
I told you - Leslie Margaret Katherine Casewellwell.
Katherine…? What the hell are you doing here?
I… Oh God… I wish to God I’d never come here.
I always thought the police weren’t allowed to give people the third degree.
I have merely been interrogating Miss Casewell.
No, it’s nothing. It’s just- all this - murder - it’s so horrible. It came over me suddenly. I’ll go up to my room.
It’s impossible… I can’t believe it…
What can’t you believe? Six impossible things before breakfast like the Red Queen.
Oh yes. It’s rather like that.
Dear me - you look as though you’d seen a ghost.
I’ve seen something I ought to have seen before. Blind as a bat, I’ve been. But I think now we may be able to get somewhere.
The police have a clue.
Yes, Mr.Wren - at last the police have a clue. I want everyone assembled in here again. Do you know where they are?
Giles and Mollie are in the kitchen. I’ve been helping Major Metcalf look for your skis. We’ve looked in the most entertaining places - but all to no avail. I don’t know where Paravicini is.
I’ll get him. You get the others. Mr. Paravicini. Mr. Paravicini. Paravicini!
What is all this?
Sit down, Major, Mrs. Ralston…
Must I come now? It’s very inconvenient.
There are more important things then meals, Mrs. Ralston. Mrs. Boyle, for instance, won’t want another meal.
That’s a very tactless way of putting things, Sergeant.
I’m sorry, but I want co-operation and I intend to get it. Mr. Ralston, will you go and ask Miss Casewell to come down again? She went up in her room. Tell her it will only be for a few minutes.
Have your skis been found, Sergeant?
No, Mrs. Ralston, but I may say I have a very shrewd suspicion of who took them, and of why they were taken. I won’t say any more at the present moment.
Please don’t. I always think explanations should be kept to the very end. That exciting last chapter, you know.
This isn’t a game, sir.
What is happening?
Sit down, Miss Casewell, Mrs. Ralston…
Will you all pay attention, please? You may remember that after the murder of Mrs. Boyle, I took statements from you all. Those statements related to your positions at the time the murder was committed. These statements were as follows: Mrs. Ralston in the kitchen, Mr. Paravicini playing the piano in the music room, Mr. Ralston in his bedroom. Mr. Wren ditto. Miss Casewell in the library. Major Metcalf in the cellar.
Correct.
Those were the statements you made. I had no means of checking these statements. They may be true - they may not. To but it quite clearly, five of those statements are true, but one is false - which one? Five of you were speaking the truth, one of you was lying. I have a plan that may help me to discover the liar. And if I discover that one of you lied to me - then I know who the murder is.
Not necessarily. Someone may have lied - for some other reason.
I rather doubt that.
But what’s the idea? You’ve just said you had no means of checking these statements.
No, but supposing everyone was to go through these actions as second time.
that’s a foreign idea.
Not a reconstruction of the crime, Mr. Paravicini. A reconstruction of the movements of apparently innocent persons.
And what do you expect to learn from that?
You will forgive me if I don’t make that clear just at the moment.
You want - a repeat performance?
Yes, Mr. Ralston, I do.
It’s a trap.
What do you mean, it’s a trap?
It is a trap. I know it is.
I only want people to do exactly what they did before.
But I don’t see - I simply can’t see - what you can possibly hope to find out by just making people do the things they did before. I think it’s just nonsense.
Do you, Mr. Wren?
Well, you can count me out. I’m too busy in the kitchen.
I can’t count anybody out. One might almost believe that you’re all guilty by the looks of you. Why are you all so unwilling?
Are we all to do exactly what we did before?
The same actions will be performed, yes.
Then I will return to the piano in the drawing room. Once again I will pick out with one finger the signature tune of a murderer. Tum, dum, dum - dum, dum, dum…
Not quite so fast, Mr. Paravicini. Do you play the piano, Mrs. Ralston?
Yes, I do.
And do you know the tune of Three Blind Mice?
Don’t we all know it?
Then you could pick it out on the piano with one finger just as Mr. Paravicini did. Good. Please go into the drawing-room, sit at the piano, and be ready to play when I give you the signal.
But, Sergeant, I understood. that we were each to repeat our former roles.
The same actions will be performed, but not necessarily by the same people. Thank you, Mrs. Ralston.
I don’t see the point.
There is a point. It’s a means of checking up on the original statements, and maybe one statement in particular. Now then, will you all pay attention, please. I will assign each of you your new stations. Mr. Wren, will you kindly go into the kitchen. Just keep an eye on Mrs. Ralston’s dinner for her. You’re very fond of cooking, I believe. Mr. Paravicini, will you go up to Mr. Wren’s room. By the back stairs is the most convenient way. Major Metcalf, will you go up to Mr. Ralston’s room and examine the telephone there. Miss Caswell, would you mind going down to the cellars? Mr Wren will show you the way. Unfortunately, I need someone to reproduce my own actions. I’m sorry to ask it of you, Mr. Ralston, but would you go out by that window and follow the telephone wire round to near the front door. Rather a chilly job - but you’re probably the toughest person here.
And what are you going to do?
I am enacting the part of Mrs. Boyle.
Taking a bit of a risk, aren’t you?
You will all stay in your places and remain there until you here me call you.
No objection to my wearing a coat?
I should advise it, sir. Take my torch, sir. It’s behind the curtain. Mrs. Ralston, count twenty and then begin to play. Mrs. Ralston! Mrs. Ralston!
Yes, what is it? You’re looking very pleased with yourself. Have you gotten what you wanted?
I’ve got exactly what I wanted.
You know who the murderer is?
Yes, I know.
Which of them?
You ought to know, Mrs. Ralston.
I?
Yes, you’ve been extraordinarily foolish, you know. You’ve run a very good chance of being killed by holding out on me. as a result, he’s been in serious danger more than once.
I don’t know what you mean.
Come now, Mrs. Ralston. We policemen aren’t quite so dumb as you think. All along I’ve realized you had first-hand knowledge of the Longridge Farm affair. You knew Mrs. Boyle was the magistrate concerned. In fact, you knew all about it. Why didn’t you speak up and say so?
I don’t understand. I wanted to forget - forget.
Your maiden name was Waring?
Yes. (Maiden name)
Miss Waring. You taught school - in the school where those children went.
Yes. (taught in school)
It’s true, isn’t it, that Jimmy, the child who died, managed to get a letter posted to you? The letter begged for help - help from his kind young teacher. You never answered that letter.
I couldn’t. I never got it.
You just - didn’t bother.
That’s not true. I was ill. I went down with pneumonia that very day. The letter was put aside with others. It was weeks afterwards that I found it with a lot of other letters. And by then that poor child was dead… Dead - dead… Waiting for me to do something - hoping - gradually losing hope… Oh, it’s haunted me ever since… If only I hadn’t been ill - if only I’d known… Oh, it’s monstrous that such things should happen.
Yes, it’s monstrous.
I thought the police didn’t carry revolvers…
The police don’t… I’m not a policeman, Mrs. Ralston. You thought I was a policeman because I rang up from a call box and said I was speaking from police headquarters and that Sergeant Trotter was on his way. I cut the telephone wires before I came to the front door. I’m Georgie - I’m Jimmy’s brother, Georgie.
Oh.
You’d better not scream, Mrs. Ralston - because of you do I shall fire this revolver… I’d like to talk to you a little. I said I’d like to talk to you a little. Jimmy died. That nasty cruel woman killed him. They put her in prison. Prison wasn’t bad enough for her. I said I’d kill her one day… I did, too. in the fog. It was great fun. I hope Jimmy knows. “I’ll kill them all when I’ve grown up.” That’s what I said to myself. Because grown-ups can do anything they like. I’m going to kill you in a minute.
You’d better not. You’ll never get safely away, you know.
Someone’s hidden my skis! I can’t find them. But it doesn’t matter. I don’t really mind if I get away or not. I’m tired. It’s all been such fun. Watching you all. And pretending to be a policeman.
That revolver will make a lot of noise.
It will rather. Much better to do it the usual way, and take you by the neck. The last little mouse in the trap.
Georgie, Georgie, you know me, don’t you? Don’t you remember the farm, Georgie? The animals, that fat old Pig, And the day the bull chased us across the field. And the dogs.
Dogs?
Yes, Spot and Plain.
Kathy?
Yes, Kathy - you remember me now, don’t you?
Kathy, it is you. What are you doing here?
I came to England to find you. I didn’t recognize you until you twirled your hair the way you used to do. Yes, you always did it. Georgie, come with me. You’re coming with me.
Where are we going?
