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“Will you please take up your positions?” said Alleyn. “Mr. Mandrake, you are not here yet. Mr. Compline, you are in the next room. Sergeant Bailey is there, and I’ll get you to tell him, as well as you can remember, exactly where you were and what you and your brother did.”
Alleyn opened wide the door into the smoking-room. The red leather screen still hid the interior, which seemed to be very dimly lit. Nicholas hung back, white and nervous.
“Not too pleasant,” he muttered, and then: “It wasn’t dark like that.”
“The small shaded lamp by the fireside is turned on,” said Alleyn. “There are no bulbs in the other lamps.”
“Why?” Nicholas demanded.
“Because we’ve removed them,” said Alleyn blandly. “Will you go in?”
From behind the screen Bailey gave a slight cough. Nicholas said: “Oh, all right, and went into the smoking-room. Alleyn shut the door. At the same moment Fox came in with Hersey Amblington. Evidently he had explained the procedure, because she went straight to a chair opposite Jonathan’s and sat down. “That’s what I did when I came in,” said Hersey. “I’d left Nicholas and William in the smoking-room, and I came here by way of the hall. Is that what you wanted to know, Mr. Alleyn?”
“The begi
“In a few minutes,” said Jonathan, “Aubrey came in. He went to that chair on the far side of the fire. Miss Wy
Alleyn looked at Mandrake, who at once walked to the chair. “I’d come directly from the ‘boudoir’ by way of the hall, leaving Dr. Hart alone in the ‘boudoir,’ ” he said.
“And then?”
“We discussed the situation,” said Hersey. “I reported that I’d left the two brothers talking quite sensibly, and then Mr. Mandrake told us how Dr. Hart and Nicholas had had a row over the wireless and how Nicholas had slammed the door, between the ‘boudoir’ and the smoking-room, in Dr. Hart’s face.”
“We talked for perhaps a minute and then Nicholas came in.” She looked from Jonathan to Mandrake. “It wasn’t longer, was it?”
“I should say about a minute,” Mandrake agreed.
Fox tapped on the door into the smoking-room. There was a pause. Hersey Amblington caught her breath in a nervous sigh. Mandrake heard his own heart-beat in the drums of his ears.
The door opened slowly into the smoking-room and Nicholas stood on the threshold, his face like parchment against the dim scarlet of the screen. Bailey came past him and sat on a low stool just inside the door.
“Did you come straight in?” Alleyn asked Nicholas.
“I don’t know. I expect I did.”
“Does anyone else remember?”
“I do,” said Mandrake. “I remember, Compline, that you came in and shut the door. I suppose you paused for a moment with your hand on the knob.”
“Is it agreed that Mr. Compline shut the door?” Alleyn asked.
“Yes, yes, yes,” Jonathan cried out shrilly. “It was shut.”
“Then will you please go on?” said Alleyn quietly.
“Will somebody be very kind,” said Nicholas in a high voice, “and tell me precisely what I did next? It would be a pity if I stepped off on the wrong foot, wouldn’t it?”
“We may as well keep our tempers, Nick,” said Hersey.
“You made a face as if to say Bill was still pretty tricky. I did ‘Thumbs up?’ and you did ‘Thumbs down,’ and then you sat in that chair by the door and we talked about Bill. After a bit, Jo offered you a drink.”
“Agreed?”
“Agreed,” said Mandrake. Jonathan uttered an impatient sound and added very querulously: “Yes. Oh, yes.” Nicholas said: “Oh, by all means, agreed,” and laughed.
“There’s the chair,” said Alleyn.
Nicholas dropped into the armchair on the opposite side of the door from Bailey’s stool.
“Jonathan asked me to ring for drinks,” said Mandrake, “but, before I could do so, we heard a clink of glasses in the hall and—”.
He stopped short. Fox had opened the door into the hall and in the complete silence that followed they all heard the faint jingling of glasses.
Thomas came in with the grog tray.
He set it on the table and went out, shutting the door behind him.
“He is now tidying the hall,” said Alleyn.
“I’m not enjoying this,” said Hersey Amblington loudly. “I’m hating it.”
“It will not be much longer,” said Alleyn. Mandrake heard his own voice saying: “But it is horrible. We’re creating it all over again. It’s as if we were making something take form — in there.”
“Oh, don’t,” Hersey whispered.
“There is no one in the smoking-room,” said Alleyn, and he spoke with unexpected emphasis. “The other doors are locked. There is no one in there. Please go on. Did you have your drinks?”
Nobody answered. At last Mandrake forced himself to speak. “Jonathan poured them out and then he said: ‘What about William?’ ”
“One moment. You should be at the table, then, Mr. Royal.”
Jonathan went to the table. Mandrake’s voice went on: “He said: ‘What about William?’ meaning would he like a drink, and Compline stuck his head in at the door and sang out: ‘Coming in for a drink, Bill?’ ”
Nicholas reached out and opened the door. He made an attempt to speak, boggled over it, and finally said: “I asked him to come in. I think he sort of grunted. Then I asked him to turn on the news. Mandrake had suggested that we might listen to it.”
“What exactly did you say?”
“I can’t remember the precise words.”
“I can,” said Mandrake. “Or pretty nearly. You said: ‘D’you mind switching on the wireless? It’s time for the news and we’d like to hear it.’ Then there was a slight pause.”
Nicholas said: “I waited, and heard someone walk across the floor; and I called out: ‘Thanks!’ ”
Another heavy silence fell upon the room. Fox stood motionless by the door into the hall, Bailey by the door into the smoking-room, Alleyn close to Jonathan by the table.
“And then?” Alleyn asked.
“And then we heard the wireless,” said Mandrake.
Bailey’s hand moved.
And in the empty smoking-room a voice roared —
“… out the barrel,
Roll out the barrel again.”
Jonathan Royal screamed out an oath and backed away from the table, his hand to his mouth.
He was almost knocked over. Nicholas had stumbled towards the door, where he was checked by Bailey. He struck at Bailey, turned, and made for the door into the hall, where Alleyn barred the way. Nicholas mouthed at him.
“Steady,” said Alleyn. Nicholas stretched out his uninjured arm, pointing back to the empty room: “I didn’t touch it,” he gabbled, “I didn’t touch it. Hart did it. It’s the second booby-trap. Don’t look at me like that. You can’t prove anything against me.” He fell back a pace. Alleyn made a move and Nicholas sprang at him. Bailey and Fox closed in on Nicholas Compline.