Morris Won’t Tell
BONYTOUCHEDAlighted match to the wick of the lamp on the bedside table. Replacing the glass, he stepped away.
“I can’t say how glad I am you’re here,” Mrs Leeper said, obviously recovering from the shock produced by his advent.
“Indeed! Why?”
“There’sbeen fine goings-on in this house tonight. They hid all the matches, and foxed me in the dark while I hunted high and low for one to make a light with. And Mary…”
“We will discuss it in the hall, Mrs Leeper. Take the lamp and lead the way.”
Her gaze held to the wire cat’s whisker, rose to meet his steady eyes. He looked very tall, and extremely sinister, and she almost snatched the lamp and hurried from the room. Arrived at the hall, he said:
“Light the large lamp, please.”
She brought a tall stool to stand upon, and he turned the handle of the old-fashioned wall telephone and raised the Edison Exchange. She heard him ask the operator to call Constable Mawson, and he waited while she lit the suspended lamp and returned the stool to its place under the stairs. Then he motioned her to sit down, and she heard him ask Mawson to come at once and bring Dr Lofty with him. That done, he sat opposite her.
“Now, Mrs Leeper, let us try to fit this story together. Did you go to bed after you retired to your room?”
“I did, Inspector. I blew out my lamp and went to sleep. What woke me, I don’t know. Something did, and I thought I heard a strange noise in the kitchen. I wasn’t afraid of burglars. The people here have been up to tricks before now, and, what with one thing and another, I sat up feeling more than suspicious. And anxious about my patient.
“I remembered that before blowing out my lamp I had no matches on the bedside table, but I didn’t trouble because I had my flashlight. I found the flashlight in the dark, but it wouldn’t work, and when I opened it I discovered that the battery had gone.
“Then I was sure someone was up to tricks. In the dark I went along to the kitchen, and rummaged in the cupboard where I always kept several packets of matches. They were all gone. There was always a box or two on the mantel, but there weren’t any then. As I’d left the lamp alight in Miss Mary’s room, I took my lamp there. But her lamp was out, and that made me uneasy. You see, she and Miss Janet hated one another, and I thought… I didn’t know what to think.
“Anyway, I knew there was a box of matches on her mantel. I went in and felt my way to the mantel, and the matches weren’t there. Then I realized I couldn’t hear Miss Mary, and I felt for her and found she’d gone. I was scared then, and sat on the bed and wondered what I’d do.
“Instead of swallowing the tablets Doctor ordered, she must have spat them out when my back was turned. That meant she was up to no good, and whatever it was took her from her bed must have been driving her, because she was in pain when I attended to her last thing.”
“You didn’t call for Miss Mary?” Mrs Leeper shook her head with returning confidence.“Why not?”
“You never let that kind think they’ve beaten you. You go after them, just to prove to them they’re not as cunning as they think. Once you let them think you are frightened of them, you might as well give up. I wasn’t really frightened tonight until I found Morris’s door unbolted and the door ajar. Then I was. But I had to go hunting for a match. I went into Miss Janet’s bedroom, and into Miss Mary’s bedroom, and everywhere I thought I might find a box. They’d taken every one.
“It wasn’t long before I knew that the three of them were playing with me. If I went to my room and locked myself in, they’d probably end up by murdering each other. If I kept on, one might murder me. But I’ve learned how to take care of myself.
“I did, too, when Mary collided with me in the hall. At first I didn’t know which one it was. And I didn’t pause in finding out. Anyway it was Mary, and I had her rocking in a second, and I kept the pressure on her while I carried her back to bed and lashed her to it like a starfish.”
“You carried her! A woman of her weight!”
“Oh yes, Inspector, it’s easy when you know how.”
“Did you cause all that crashing noise?”
“No.”
“Did you collide with Miss Janet?”
“No. Otherwise I’d have spread-eagled her on her bed, too. Then I found that Morris’s door had been bolted and locked, and I felt easier. I thought that it must have been Miss Janet who had taken all the matches, and probably hid them in her room, so I went there again, and then you found me. And I’m telling you, Inspector, I was very, very glad. After tonight, I’m finished with the place. They got me to be Morris’s guardian if anything happened to them, told me I’d be well off for the rest of my life while I looked after him. But I’m not waiting for that.”
“H’m! We’ll look in on Miss Mary. You take the lamp.”
Mary Answerth was very much awake. Her dark eyes glared at them, and either she fought to find words or waited for one of them to speak. At the foot of the bed, Bony removed the lamp glass. The wick was turned too low to take the flame from his match. The oil reservoir was more than half full.
“Release Miss Answerth,” he said.
“What in hell are you doing here?” Mary asked, icily furious.
“To ask you a few questions, Miss Answerth.”
Mrs Leeper first freed the woman’s feet. When she came to her hands, she looked at Bony, and he nodded. Freed, Mary, with genuine difficulty, sat up, and swung her legs from under the clothes. Her face was distorted with anger.
“Get out of my room, you. Goon, get out before I heave you through the window.”
She stood, and Bony drew forward a lounge chair.
“Please be seated. I have questions to ask concerning the murder of your sister.”
Mrs Leeper didn’t move. Mary advanced to stare malevolently at Bony. Almost carelessly he indicated the chair. Then she sat, and said:
“You’re the first man who hasn’t feared me. What’s this about Janet being murdered? Seems too good to be true. I hope it is.”
“Why did you leave your room and go upstairs in the dark?”
“Because, early in the evening, Janet had come here and done her smoodging about my neck, and she thought I didn’t see her take the matches from the mantel. The way she done it told me she was up to her schemes. And I went upstairs to find out if she’d let Morris loose, and she had.”
“What did you do then, Miss Answerth?”
“Went in and found he wasn’t in bed. I went down the back stairs lookin’ for him. I went up to Janet’s room, and she wasn’t in bed. I went lookin’ for her. Good job I didn’t lay me hands on Janet. I might have squeezed the life out of her if I had. I met up with Leeper instead, and she wouldn’t fight fair, not her. Still, I can wait, Leeper.”
“Did you make that startling clatter?”
The anger vanished. Mary Answerth chuckled.
“I fell into a booby trap,” she admitted.“Outside Janet’s sitting-room door. I’ll forgive Morris if he rigged it up. It was a beaut.” The chuckle ended, the look of anger returned. That gave place to conquering weariness. “I think I’ll lie down again. You’ve bent me neck or something, Leeper. But just you wait.”
She refused assistance to rise from the chair, but the hospital training lost none of its power on Mrs Leeper. She had the bedclothes straightened, and insisted on helping the patient into bed. Mary said, pointedly:
“To hell with the pair of you.”
“Of course, Miss Mary,” agreed Mrs Leeper, and Bony left the Voice in charge.
Later, he opened the front door to Mawson and Lofty and Blaze. They arrived with the dawn. He told them where the body lay and issued particular instructions. Blaze he asked to remain in the hall and prevent Mrs Leeper from going to the kitchen. Taking a lamp, he went up to Morris.
“Hullo, Morris, not in bed?” he asked, placing the lamp beside the toy engine.
The bearded man blinked at the light. He forced his eyes to accept it before turning to Bony.
“I was frightened. I found Janet. She was all quiet. Her head wouldn’t stay right.”
“I know, Morris.”
“Is she dead, Bony?”
“ ’Fraidso. Who unbolted your door tonight?”
The blue eyes pleaded. One large hand stroked the yellow beard.
“I mustn’t tell.”
“Then I’ll tell you. It was Janet.”
“Yes. She told me she wanted me to go with her over the causeway.”
“Why?”
“To run away from Mary. Mary was going to beat me because you gave me the lamp. She said Mary was coming up to beat me, and she said if she tried to I must break her neck like a carrot. We went to the passage and Janet ran away.”
“What did you do then?” asked Bony.
“I tried to find her, and I made the booby trap for her by balancing a set of trays on top of a door I left open. Did you hear it? Wasn’t it a lovely crash? I don’t know who set it off. Mary could have, you know. Mary didn’t find me. You will tell her not to come and beat me, won’t you?”
“She will never do that, Morris. I’ll not let her. When you went out that night with Janet, and went over the causeway, and met that man Janet knew, what happened?”
“I… I mustn’t tell.”
“Then I’ll tell you. You beat him hard. And then you carried him into the water and held him down under it. Janet was with you all thetime, and she told you what to do.”
“Yes, Bony, she told me what to do.”
“And when you came back to the house, your mother saw you and Janet. And Janet wouldn’t let her speak to you. But your mother did speak to you, didn’t she? She went round to your window to speak to you. And she asked you what you did when you went out that night with Janet, and you told her.”
“Yes, Bony.”
“Of course you did. Anyway, it doesn’t matter now. I know everything.”
“Are you pleased, Bony?”
“Yes. I am pleased you didn’t have to break any promises.”
“So am I. Janet always tells me I must never break a promise. Do you think now she is dead I might have another lamp like the one you gave me?”
“Yes, I think so. Do you remember that night you climbed out from your window after you and your mother had been talking, and you saw Janet lasso your mother?”
“Yes. But she didn’t see me.”
“What did you do?”
Morris chuckled.
“Janet didn’t know about me climbing down from the window,” he said. “I told her I saw her kill Mother and drag her away to the Folly, told her I saw her from that window.” Morris pointed to the window from which he fished… the window but one from the porch.
“Weren’t you sorry, Morris?”
“Oh yes. I told Janet she shouldn’t have done it, but Janet said Mother had made up her mind to have me taken away to the place where they stick red-hot bodkins into people.” He abruptly grasped Bony’s arm. “You won’t let them do that to me, will you? Now that Janet is dead?”
Bony placed his hand over the other gripping his arm.
“No, Morris,” he said. “I’ll never let anyone do that to you. Now I must go away, but I will come to see you again. By the way, did Janet play lassoes with you?”
“Oh yes, Bony.”
“H’m! Well, I really must go now, Morris. I’ll give you my other lamp to play with.”
“Oh! Oh, thank you ever so much, Bony.”
The new day reduced the power of Bony’s spare torch, but not the joy in the heart of Morris Answerth.