Miss Withers Regrets Read Online Free PDF Page B

the bar in the dining room. The only contribution he could make was that Cairns had seemed nervous and in a hurry when he arrived home, though that may have been the lateness of the hour and the fact that the man had to rush through a roomful of cocktails without getting one.
    That ended that list, to the obvious relief of the sheriff. “We already got statements from the hired help,” Sergeant Fischer told him in a whisper. “Name of MacTavish, Jeff and Beulah MacTavish, colored. They been with the Cairnses about four months, and they don’t know nothing and they ain’t saying nothing, except that they got along fine with Cairns. And here’s another list, of the people that were here earlier but left before the body was discovered. They all went away by twos and threes, so I guess we can cross them off.”
    Sheriff Vinge glanced at the second list, noticed the name of Colonel Wyatt, and was very glad indeed that the colonel had departed earlier enough so that he wouldn’t have to be questioned. He did, however, regret not meeting the pair of twins named Leilani and Aloha Linton.
    “I guess that’s about all,” he said to the group. “I suppose, though, I ought to have a word with the widow.”
    “Naturally my daughter isn’t here,” Thurlow Abbott said hoarsely. “She’s up in her room, completely collapsed.”
    “Of course, of course. All I was going to ask her was if her husband was in the habit of taking time for a swim before he changed for dinner.”
    Nobody spoke up to answer that question, although the sheriff looked first at Thurlow Abbott and then at Lawn, who was studiously contemplating the silver knob on her riding crop. Then there came the sound of a thin, strained voice behind them. “How could Huntley have any habits?” cried Helen from the head of the stairs. “Remember, we’d just moved into this house, and the pool was only filled day before yesterday!”
    Everybody stared, but Helen was her own mistress again, giving nothing away. She came into the room like a determined sleepwalked and sat down on the edge of a chair. It happened to be the chair in which Dr. Radebaugh was sitting, and he leaned over to touch her arm, but she gave no answering smile.
    Officer Lunney came up to the sheriff and whispered for a moment.
    Vinge listened and started to shake his head. “But somebody’s going to ask that question sometime, Sheriff.”
    Vinge sighed and turned to Helen. “We weren’t going to bother you, Mrs. Cairns. But now that you’re here—can you tell us if your husband owned a bathing suit? We were wondering why he went swimming in a sort of corset thingamajig?”
    “A—a corset?” she repeated blankly.
    “Yes, ma’am. He was wearing it when he was murdered—”
    Helen stood up suddenly, her soft mouth drawn into a humorless grin of shock. “Did you say—” Here she tried to catch herself, but her voice spilled over. “You mean it wasn’t an accidental drowning? Are you trying to say that Huntley was actually murdered?”
    Sheriff Vinge’s voice was very gentle. “I’m sorry, ma’am. But that’s the way it looks. The story the gardener tells, it won’t hold water for a minute. He made it up to cover himself—”
    “What does Searles say?” Helen demanded breathlessly.
    “Oh, he claims to have seen a strange young man in a blue suit bending over the swimming pool in the very act of killing your husband. According to his story, he locked the killer in the bathhouse—”
    Adele Beale took a breath and opened her mouth to speak but shut it again promptly as her husband sank a thumb and forefinger into her left thigh. She glared at Midge, but he was staring off across the room at Helen.
    It must be Helen who was making that quick, gasping noise, like a strangled sob. Her eyes were muddy and colorless now, dark-rimmed like holes burned in a blanket. Obviously she had forgotten that they were all staring at her; she was blind to her father’s warning glance and to