âBut this brucine, Charlie. Please go on.â
Charlie, like the others, was looking at the old man oddly.
âWell,â said Charlie, âthe queer thing is that a common or garden police sergeant should ever have heard of it.â
âDâyou mean,â said Toby, getting up and coming nearer to the group, âthat Gurr said he thought sheâd taken brucine?â
âHe suggested it might be brucine,â said Charlie. âYou see, I was up there with the sergeant and inspector, telling them about how Iâd found her, and I said I should make aâguess at its having been strychnine sheâd taken. And then the sergeant, who doesnât look a particularly educated man, does he?âI mean, I shouldnât think heâs ever seen the inside of a laboratoryâanyway, he said, âMightnât it be brucine?â I think thatâs really veryâcurious.â
Toby nodded. âAbout the most curious thing thatâsâââ But just then there occurred the violent movement that sooner or later was bound to come from Eve Clare.
Actually it was the crash of glass that interrupted Toby. To the accompaniment of an explosive curse she had flung the empty glass she had been holding down onto the stone terrace outside the French window.
âGod, I wish people wouldnât do that sort of thing,â muttered Toby, and moved away, rubbing the back of his head as if that were where the sound had struck him.
Eve spun round. âWhenâs all this going to be finished with?â she cried. âWhen are things going to be normal again? When are we going to get rid of policemen? Donât stare at me all like a lot of dummies!â
âEve dear,â said Lisbeth Gask drily, âitâs a bad idea to drink as much as you do, but since youâve got the habit, suppose you have another.â
âBut when? When , I want to know!â Eveâs voice was high and grating. âHow long have we got to go on feeling as if we were bugs under a microscope?â
âGoodness me,â said the little man in shorts, âyou donât need a microscope to see a bug, Eve. Theyâre simply enormous things. Why, in the flat I had in Regentâs Squareâââ
âEve,â said Lisbeth with brisk authority, âwhy donât you ring up Max and tell him to come round?â
âIn the flat I had in Regentâs Square,â said Reginald Sand, âI practised throwing darts at them. Between about three and five of a summer morning there were nearly always several on view. So I used to leave a bunch of darts by my bed and if I happened to wake upâââ
âItâs no use ringing him up,â said Eve. âHeâs in London tonight. Heâs doing a lecture each Wednesday and Saturday for the next month. But I did ring up and leave a message.â She crossed to the cocktail cabinet and poured herself another drink. âAnyone else?â She strolled back to the window. âThis is about the most damnable thing that could have happened.â
Lisbethâs contemplation of Eveâs slim figure was more than usually sardonic. She remarked: âDrunaâs just been telling us an odd thing she noticed. It was an odd thing. I noticed it, too, only I hadnât connectedââHullo, Roger.â She smiled up at Roger Clare as he strode in.
âGillett,â he said, âthey want Gillett next. Where is he?â
They all looked round.
âWhy, heâs not here,â said Druna. âBut he was, just a little while ago.â
âWhereâs he got to?â said Roger impatiently.
âHow should we know?â said Lisbeth.
âBut the inspector wants him.â
âThen tell the inspector to find him.â
Roger went out.
Toby spoke softly to Druna: âGillettâs the young man in the torn shirt, is he?â
âYes.â
âI knew