On Monday morning Sergeant Foster went to
Roger’s office and asked some questions. And then he went to Albert’s house and
asked some more questions. Inspector Walsh sat in his office and he made phone
calls about Tom Briggs. And then he had some coffee and sandwiches.
At three o’clock the two detectives drove
to the Clarksons’ house.
‘I would like to see everyone,’ he told
Roger.
Everyone came into the sitting room and sat
down.
Inspector Walsh stood in front of the
windows and looked at them, one by one. ‘I want to talk to you. Someone killed
Molly Clarkson. Someone put sleeping tablets in her hot milk and killed her.
Nobody wanted to tell me the true story, but now I know the true story and I’m
going to tell you.
The two dogs came slowly into the room and
sat down at Diane’s feet. It was very quiet in the room.
The Inspector looked at Albert. ‘Mr King.
your wife is very ill and needs a nurse. You told me this. You didn’t tell me
about your house. You’re selling your house next month because you need the
money.’
Albert was angry. ‘Last year I asked Molly’s
husband for some money, and he said yes. But then he died in an accident.’
‘Accident!’ Diane cried. ‘That was no
accident Mother killed Daddy because she wanted his money!’
‘Let’s talk about you now, Diane,’ said
Inspector Walsh. ‘You visited your mother every month and you took money from
her. Last month she gave you money for your television. This month she gave you
money for your telephone. Every month you told your mother： “It was no accident；you killed
Daddy. I’m going to tell the police.” Your mother was afraid of the police and
so she gave you the money. But in the end she wanted to stop you. She told Dr
Pratt No more money, she told Dr Pratt on Thursday；and on Saturday she died. You took the hot milk to
your mother—what did she tell you?’
Diane began to cry. ‘I loved Daddy! He
always gave money to me；he loved me. It was Mother—she didn’t love Daddy and she didn’t love me.’ Diane
stopped. The dogs got up and went to the door. ‘It’s true, I took a lot of
money from Mother. On Saturday she told me—no more
money. I wanted to kill her, but I didn’t.’
The dogs came back and sat down again at
Diane’s feet.
Inspector Walsh looked at Roger. ‘Mr Clarkson
also needed money.’
Roger’s face went red. ‘Don’t tell them!
Please!’
‘Mr Clarkson lost his job last month. He
has no money. But he has an expensive house and an expensive car. He likes
expensive things.’
His sisters looked at him, but Roger put
his hand over his eyes. ‘Don’t talk to me!’
‘It doesn’t matter now!’ Diane said. ‘Mother
is dead and we have a lot of money. You don’t need a job.’
Roger’s face went red again. ‘Be quiet,
Diane!’
‘Now,’ Inspector Walsh began again. ‘Peter
Hobbs is a very angry young man. Mrs Clarkson was not very nice to him. He got
the sleeping tablets from the shop. But did he put the tablets in the hot milk?
I think not. Tom Briggs wanted half the garden for his farm. He was in the
kitchen that night. Did he put sleeping tablets in the hot milk? I think not.’
Suddenly it began to rain. For a minute
everyone watched it through the window. Jackie took a cigarette from her bag
and began to smoke.
‘But someone wanted Peter Hobbs to come
into the kitchen that night. She wanted everyone to see him, and listen to him,’
Inspector Walsh said.
‘She . . . ? I don’t understand,’ Roger
began, and stopped.
Inspector Walsh moved away from the window
and sat down. ‘I’m going to tell you the true story now. Miss Clarkson, you
wanted Peter Hobbs to come to the house that night. He was very angry with your
mother because of that letter. He said： “I want
to kill her.” And you wanted everyone to hear that. Why?’
Jackie’s face went white. ‘It’s not true!
What about Diane? You found the empty bottle in her bag!’
Diane stood up. ‘In my bag? Jackie! What
are you talking about?’
‘Be quiet, please, and sit down,’ Inspector
Walsh said. He looked at Jackie. ‘It’ s true：we found
the bottle in Diane’s bag. But how do you know that? We didn’t tell you.’
‘You did . . . before . . . you told me
before!’
‘No. We found the empty bottle in Diane’s
room. We told you that. You talked about Diane’s bag；we didn’t tell you. Sergeant Foster wrote it all down.’
Inspector Walsh looked carefully at Jackie. ‘A long time ago, you knew Tom
Briggs. He was the gardener here and you loved him. But your mother didn’t like
him.’
Jackie put her hands to her head. ‘No! No!’
‘We found your picture—an old one—in Mr
Briggs’ house. You were younger then, and your hair was long. Last year Tom
Briggs came back, and you wanted him. He loved you, too, but he had no money.
He wanted the garden for his farm, he wanted money, he wanted you. But your
mother said no. In the end, you wanted to kill your mother … and you did kill
her. Your mother went downstairs to see the dogs and you put the sleeping
tablets in her hot milk. Later, you put the empty bottle in Diane’s bag.’
Jackie stood up. Her eyes were dark and
afraid. ‘You don’t understand!’ she cried. ‘Mother gave me nothing … all those
years. I wanted to be happy … to be with Tom. That’s all. I love Tom, and he
loves me. But Mother said no. Always no.’ Then she began to cry. Nobody looked
at her.
Jackie left the
house in a police car. Inspector Walsh watched and then walked slowly to his
car. He felt tired and hungry. He stopped and looked back at the house.
‘Well,’ he said to Sergeant Foster, ‘in the
end, they got the money：Albert, Roger, Diane. They’re all rich now.
But are they going to be happy?’
He got into the car. ’Let’s go,’ he said. ‘I’m
hungry；I need a sandwich.’