room. Then the bell rings and I answer the door. Again and again I answer the door. It is degradingâbut I do it. And then I go back into the pantry and I start to polish the silver, and I think it will be very handy, that, because if someone comes to kill me, I have there close at hand the big carving knife, all sharp.â
âVery foresighted of you.â
âAnd then, suddenlyâI hear shots. I think: âIt has comeâitis happening.â I run through the dining room (the other doorâit will not open). I stand a moment to listen and then there comes another shot and a big thud, out there in the hall, and I turn the door handle, but it is locked outside. I am shut in there like a rat in a trap. And I go mad with fear. I scream and I scream and I beat upon the door. And at lastâat lastâthey turn the key and let me out. And then I bring candles, many many candlesâand the lights go on, and I see bloodâblood! Ach, Gott in Himmel, the blood! It is not the first time I have seen blood. My little brotherâI see him killed before my eyesâI see blood in the streetâpeople shot, dyingâIââ
âYes,â said Inspector Craddock. âThank you very much.â
âAnd now,â said Mitzi dramatically, âyou can arrest me and take me to prison!â
âNot today,â said Inspector Craddock.
III
As Craddock and Fletcher went through the hall to the front door it was flung open and a tall handsome young man almost collided with them.
âSleuths as I live,â cried the young man.
âMr. Patrick Simmons?â
âQuite right, Inspector. Youâre the Inspector, arenât you, and the otherâs the Sergeant?â
âYou are quite right, Mr. Simmons. Can I have a word with you, please?â
âI am innocent, Inspector. I swear I am innocent.â
âNow then, Mr. Simmons, donât play the fool. Iâve a good many other people to see and I donât want to waste time. Whatâs this room? Can we go in here?â
âItâs the so-called studyâbut nobody studies.â
âI was told that you were studying?â said Craddock.
âI found I couldnât concentrate on mathematics, so I came home.â
In a businesslike manner Inspector Craddock demanded full name, age, details of war service.
âAnd now, Mr. Simmons, will you describe what happened last night?â
âWe killed the fatted calf, Inspector. That is, Mitzi set her hand to making savoury pastries, Aunt Letty opened a new bottle of sherryââ
Craddock interrupted.
âA new bottle? Was there an old one?â
âYes. Half full. But Aunt Letty didnât seem to fancy it.â
âWas she nervous, then?â
âOh, not really. Sheâs extremely sensible. It was old Bunny, I think, who had put the wind up herâprophesying disaster all day.â
âMiss Bunner was definitely apprehensive, then?â
âOh, yes, she enjoyed herself thoroughly.â
âShe took the advertisement seriously?â
âIt scared her into fits.â
âMiss Blacklock seems to have thought, when she first read that advertisement, that you had had something to do with it. Why was that?â
âAh, sure, I get blamed for everything round here!â
âYou didnât have anything to do with it, did you, Mr. Simmons?â
âMe? Never in the world.â
âHad you ever seen or spoken to this Rudi Scherz?â
âNever seen him in my life.â
âIt was the kind of joke you might have played, though?â
âWhoâs been telling you that? Just because I once made Bunny an apple pie bedâand sent Mitzi a postcard saying the Gestapo was on her trackââ
âJust give me your account of what happened.â
âIâd just gone into the small drawing room to fetch the drinks when, Hey Presto, the lights went out. I turned round