The Figure in the Dusk Read Online Free PDF

any news?”
    It wasn’t the first time he’d had to tell a woman he didn’t know that her husband was dead; and it wasn’t the first time he had wondered, before telling her, whether she already knew, or guessed.
    â€œSome news, Mrs. Arlen. Did you tell anyone else that your husband was late last night?”
    â€œI—”
    â€œDid you?”
    â€œNo!”
    He thought she was lying. She was frightened, and the nurse had been quick to see it; was she frightened of what might be discovered?
    â€œWe shall deal with everything in strict confidence, Mrs. Arlen, but we must know the truth.” Roger drew nearer the bed. She sat up a little straighter, staring at him; he thought that she already had an intimation of the news he brought. Did she know? “I’m really sorry. I’ve bad news for you.”
    Her hands clutched the sheet; she didn’t speak.
    â€œWe’ve found your husband,” he said.
    She closed her eyes, and he thought that she was going to faint; yet he hadn’t said that they’d found the body. His manner was enough to unnerve her, but hers wasn’t a normal reaction, but that of someone who was frightened.
    â€œMurdered.” He flung the word out.
    It sounded brutal; he was being brutal. He watched her closely, and saw the way she sat rigid, as if she had been prepared for the blow. She didn’t open her eyes for a long time. After a while, the tense way in which she clutched the sheet eased, and she leaned back.
    â€œThe murderer obviously stole his keys,” Roger said. “Do you know of anyone who would want to kill your husband, Mrs. Arlen?”
    She opened her eyes. “No!” She spoke too abruptly, too emphatically, and there was no easing in her fear. It had not been fear of the news she would get, but of something else. “No, of course not! He’d no enemies.” When Roger didn’t speak, she went on hoarsely: “Why should anyone want to kill him? Why? Unless that man—”
    â€œDid Mr. Arlen keep anything except jewels and money and his securities in the safe?”
    â€œI don’t know.”
    â€œDid you know everything about his business life?”
    â€œIf—”
    â€œDid you?”
    â€œNo!”
    â€œDidn’t he talk much about it?”
    â€œNo, he said it ought to be kept out of the home, he—”
    â€œSo you don’t really know if he had any enemies,” said Roger.
    â€œNo! No, that’s it.” She was suddenly and wildly anxious to make that point. “I was thinking of his friends—social friends; I don’t know his business friends!” She was clutching at a straw, to save herself from the deep waters of fear; the fear that still remained. “It’s—dreadful,” she said.
    â€œI’m more than sorry to have to tell you about it.”
    â€œWas he—in pain?”
    â€œNo, it happened very quickly.”
    â€œThank God for that,” she said. “He—but who did it? Who killed him?”
    â€œThat’s what we have to find out,” Roger said quietly. “Have you friends or relatives to come and help you? Children? I know about Peter, that’s all. You’ll need company, Mrs. Arlen.”
    â€œI—I’ve a sister, in Manchester,” said Muriel Arlen. “She’ll come. I—I’ll telephone her. My daughters are at school; they—” She broke off, and caught her breath.
    â€œTell me the name of the school, and I’ll talk to the head mistress,” said Roger, now all friendly. “That will save them from discovering it from the newspapers. I’d advise you to let them stay where they are for today, anyhow, and probably until it’s all over.”
    â€œYou’re—very kind. They’re at Saldean, near Brighton.” She closed her eyes again. “Will you—ask my sister to come? She’s at …”
    Roger made