The Clock Strikes Twelve

Chapter 23

You have brought a detective here-here?” Miss Paradine was quite white, quite controlled, but her eyes blazed and her voice had a cutting edge.

Mark, standing just inside the door of her sitting-room, contemplated his assembled family and said,

“Yes.”

They were all there except Albert Pearson, and they were all looking at him-Frank Ambrose with a heavy frown; Brenda paler than usual, her eyes bolting; Irene with her mouth hanging open; Phyllida startled; Dicky, his lips pursed for an inaudible whistle; Elliot grim; and Grace Paradine with a look of anger which he had seen once or twice before, but not for him. Only Lydia ’s face held any encouragement. She met his eyes, smiled into them with hers, and then looked quickly away. She thought, “It’s going to be a dog fight. Oh, my poor Mark!”

They were all standing. Grace Paradine said,

“I don’t know what you were thinking about. You must send him away at once!”

Mark stayed where he was by the door. He said,

“No.” And then, “It’s a woman, Aunt Grace- Miss Silver.”

She said again, and with no less anger,

“You must send her away!”

“I can’t do that. I’m sorry you don’t like it, but I’ve quite made up my mind. None of you will like it, but there’s been a murder. As I see it, the only person who can reasonably object is the murderer. I’m not saying it’s one of us. The police are quite sure that it is. I hope it isn’t. I’ve brought Miss Silver here because I think that’s our best chance of getting at the truth-I think we’ve got to get at the truth. At the moment we’re all under suspicion. It doesn’t seem possible to us because we’re right in the middle of it-we can’t see what it looks like from outside. The police are going to suspect everyone who hasn’t an alibi. They’re going to dig about until they can turn up a motive. Miss Silver said just now that a murder case was like the Day of Judgment. She’s absolutely right. Most people have got something they don’t want to have ferreted out. Well, it’s no good-we shan’t be able to hide anything. It’s damnable, but there’s something worse, and that is all going on suspecting one another and being suspected by everyone we know. We’ve got to find out who did it, and we’ve got to find out quickly.”

There was a dead silence, broken by a burst of tears from Irene. To her sobbed-out “How-how can you say such things?” Mark replied curtly,

“Everyone’s going to say them.”

Grace Paradine said in her voice of cold anger,

“You’re very ready to accuse your relations of murder, Mark. Perhaps you will tell us whom you suspect.”

He straightened himself up and turned a look of bitter amusement on her.

“Well, I gather that the police favour me.”

This time Dicky’s whistle was audible. Frank Ambrose said, “Why?”

“Oh, this and that. I’m not expected to give evidence against myself, am I?”

“The police will want to know the terms of the will. Do you know them?”

“Do you?”

Frank Ambrose said, “No,” and said it rather quickly. After a short pause he went on. “I suppose you do. And I suppose from the way you’ve taken over that they’re very much in your favour.”

“That’s one of the reasons why the police are going to suspect me.”

Frank went on doggedly.

“Don’t you know how you stand? I think the rest of us ought to know too.”

“Here and now?”

“I think we’re entitled to know as much as you do. I’m not asking how you know.”

Mark said, “That’s damned offensive, Frank.” Then, in a curiously abstracted voice, “He gave me a draft. I can’t remember everything. Phyllida gets five thousand-he was very fond of her. Dicky gets ten and the Crossley shares. Aunt Clara’s diamonds are to be divided between Dicky and myself-two thirds to me and a third to him. Albert gets a thousand pounds free of legacy duty. You and Brenda get two thousand each as a mark of affection. He said he’d settled money on both of you when you came of age. That’s all I can remember offhand.”

Frank looked heavily at him.

“Who gets the rest?”

“I do. I’m the residuary legatee.”

“You get the house?”

Mark nodded.

“Yes. You see why the police are going to suspect me. Let’s get back to the question of Miss Silver. She’s been extraordinarily successful in other cases. She’s easy to get on with-nothing aggressive about her. I’m asking you all to make things as easy for her as possible. I can see how it looks to you, Aunt Grace, and I’m sorry, but you must want this cleared up as much as any of us. As I said before, there’s only one person who doesn’t want it cleared up. I don’t suppose anyone wants to fit that cap on, so I take it you’ll all do what you can to help.”

Nobody answered him.

When the silence had lasted long enough to make it clear that nobody was going to answer he turned and went out of the room, almost running into Albert upon the threshold. A collision having been narrowly avoided, Albert advanced and approached Miss Paradine.

“Mr. Moffat is below. He asked whether you would see him.”