Latter End

CHAPTER 20

Miss Silver heard the schoolroom door close behind her. That was Mr. Antony going away, an action she very much approved. She always preferred to be alone with a client, and in a case like this it was more than usually desirable.

Jimmy Latter was sitting at the schoolroom table. He had lifted his head from his hands when his cousin opened the door and said her name, but he had made no attempt to rise. She came forward with her hand out, saying, “How do you do, Mr. Latter?” and after a moment’s hesitation he took it. She was not prepared for a grip that was both painful and prolonged. She released herself at what she considered a suitable moment and took a chair on the other side of the table. He continued to stare at her with red-rimmed eyes which had a lost, bewildered look. His first words were those which he had used to her on the telephone.

“You said it was a trick-but she died. She’s dead, you know-last night. It seems much longer ago than that. Why did you say it was a trick? She’s dead.”

She looked at him kindly.

“Yes, Mr. Latter. I am deeply sorry for you. Since you have asked me to come down here, it seems that you think I can help you.”

He shook his head.

“Nobody can help me,” he said.

“Then why did you send for me, Mr. Latter?”

He put up a hand and rubbed his nose-the old gesture, but with something forlorn about it.

“I want it cleared up-I want to know how it happened. The police are here-from Scotland Yard. They seem to think-I don’t know what they think-” His voice trailed away.

Miss Silver looked at him very directly. She said in a clear, firm voice which held his attention,

“Mr. Latter, will you listen to me? I should like to help you. I will do so if I can. You say you want to know how this thing happened. That is, you desire to know the truth. Sometimes the truth is painful. It may be so in this case. Remember that there will be police officers in charge. If your wife did not die a natural death, I may be able to be of some assistance in discovering how it came about, but I can give no pledge that what I discover will not be painful to you, nor can I undertake to conceal any material evidence from the police. Do you really wish me to take the case?”

He said doggedly, “I want it cleared up.” And then, “It wasn’t natural. They say it was morphia-an overdose of morphia. She didn’t take things like that-she never took them. If she took it herself, it was done on purpose. If someone else did it, then she was murdered. It’s got to be cleared up.”

Those red-rimmed eyes had not moved from her face. They looked as if they had forgotten how to sleep. There were marks like bruises under them. All the rest of the skin had the ghastly pallor of a normally fair, freshly coloured complexion from which the blood was withdrawn. He kept his eyes on her and said without any change of voice,

“You see, I’ve got to know whether I killed her.”

In her time Miss Silver had heard more than one startling confession. She appeared undisturbed, though the gravity of her expression deepened. She said in a quiet voice,

“Would you like to tell me just what you mean by that?”

He nodded.

“That’s why I wanted you here. The police don’t care about that part of it, but it’s what matters to me. I’ve got to know whether I killed her.”

Miss Silver coughed.

“That has a strange sound, Mr. Latter.”

He nodded again.

“Yes, I suppose it has. You see, we had quarrelled. It hadn’t ever happened before. I don’t suppose that many people who have been married two years can say that. But all I ever wanted was for her to be happy and have things the way she liked them.”

“What did you quarrel about?”

He ran a hand through his hair and said vaguely,

“It was about one of the cottages. It must have been a misunderstanding, because she told me old Hodson wanted to go and live with his daughter-in-law in London. But it seems he didn’t, and of course I couldn’t turn him out-his family has always lived there. Lois was vexed because she’d promised the cottage to some friends of hers-for week-ends. Of course it was just that she didn’t understand. But she was angry with me-that’s how it all began.”

“Yes, Mr. Latter?”

He rumpled his hair again, thrusting nervously at it as if it was something that he would like to brush away. He said,

“Something happened after that. It’s not easy to tell you, but I’ve got to. The police know about it, because there was a girl who listened at the door-Joe Marsh’s wife. She’s no good, and I’m sorry for him. I don’t know what Lois saw in her, but she would have her here. I never cottoned to her myself-and she listened at the door-”

“What door, Mr. Latter?”

His eyes shifted. They looked past her.

“My cousin Antony ’s-the one who met you. He came down on business. I asked him to-made rather a point of it-so he was here. It was just after the quarrel. Lois was angry. She must have been very angry, or she wouldn’t have done it. Antony says so, and I think he’s right.”

Miss Silver coughed.

“What did she do?”

“I think she wanted to make me angry by flirting with him. He’d been in love with her, you know, but she refused him and she married me. I’m sure I don’t know why- Antony ’s a much better chap. I don’t want you to think any of it was his fault, because that wouldn’t be fair. He asked her to marry him, and she said no, and that was the end of it as far as he was concerned. He went away and got over it, and-well, now he’s engaged to someone else-to Julia-Julia Vane, you know.”

Miss Silver inclined her head.

“Pray continue.”

“So it wasn’t his fault,” said Jimmy Latter in a dead voice. “It was pretty late, but I hadn’t gone to sleep. I was wondering whether I would go and see if Lois was awake too. I thought perhaps we might make it up. Her room is the other side of the landing. I was just going to open my door, when I heard hers open. When you’ve lived a long time in a house you know just where a sound comes from, and I’ve got very quick ears. I thought perhaps she was coming to me, but she wasn’t. I came out of my room and saw the door of her big clothes-cupboard shutting on the far side of the landing. It’s a room really. It used to be the dressing-room of the room Antony has, and there’s a door through. I went after her. She didn’t hear me, because by the time I got there she was in Antony ’s room talking to him.” The dead voice fell a tone. It had no expression except that it began to drag on the words. “I heard her say, ‘It’s two years since you kissed me. Don’t you want to kiss me now?’ ” His eyes came suddenly back to her with a look of defiant misery. “The police have got it all written down. That girl was listening at the other door- she’s got it all pat. It wasn’t Antony ’s fault. He said she was my wife now, and he said he wasn’t in love with her any more. She said he usedn’t to be such an icicle, and she called him ‘Joseph,’ laughing at him. That’s when I went in. He was asking her if she liked the idea of being Potiphar’s wife. She was in her nightgown. I told her to go back to her room, and she went. That was the last thing I ever said to her.”

“When did this happen, Mr. Latter?”

He put his head in his hands.

“It must have been Tuesday-yes, Tuesday night. Today is Friday, isn’t it?”

She said, “Yes, Friday.”

“Then it was Tuesday. Antony went away in the morning before anyone was up. I went out all day and most of the next. I didn’t sleep-I couldn’t seem to think-I didn’t know what to do. Lois and I didn’t speak. We met at dinner, but we didn’t speak. I came into the drawing-room both evenings and took some of the coffee-because of what you said about her not taking anything that other people didn’t have. They were sending in two cups of coffee, and I was having one of them.”

Miss Silver coughed.

“Were the cups poured out before they came in, Mr. Latter?”

He nodded.

“I took one of them. That’s what the police keep harping on-how could anyone know which one I was going to take? The police have got it all down-they’ll tell you what happened. I went back to the study as soon as I’d drunk my coffee. Julia went for a walk. Ellie and Minnie went to bed. Lois stayed in the drawing-room. She was all alone. When Julia came in and found her it was too late. We got a doctor, but it was too late.” He lifted his head and stared at her. “It was a dreadful thing to happen to a woman, my coming in like that and finding her with Antony. And I let two days go by-I didn’t go near her, and I didn’t speak. I left her alone- even that last evening I left her alone. If that’s why she took the stuff, then I killed her, didn’t I? I don’t want you to tell me I didn’t if I did. I only want you to find out the truth.”

Miss Silver returned his gaze with a very steady one. She said,

“I will do my best, Mr. Latter.”