‘You …’
‘Yes, Captain Jesty?’
‘You mustn’t be afraid of me,’ he said in a low voice.
That was not what he intended to say, but the idea that she might be afraid of him was unbearable. He was anxious to reassure her.
‘I am not afraid of you. Whatever gave you the idea?’
‘You know perfectly well what.’
‘I believe there has been a misunderstanding—’
‘I want you to know that your secret is safe with me.’
‘What secret?’
‘The capsule, dammit. The little box. At Claridge’s. You poisoned your husband,’ he blurted out.
There was a pause. Her expression did not change.
‘You believe I poisoned my husband.’ Her voice was oddly uninflected. She had leant slightly forward and at the same time put her hands on her lap. Out of my reach, he thought with a pang, also out of my sight. This saddened him—it saddened him so much, he felt the sudden urge to blub. Then he felt annoyed, with himself, as well as with her. He felt blood rushing into his face. He pursed his lips.
‘I am convinced of it,’ he said.
‘Well, you are very much mistaken. I am afraid you’ve got the wrong end of the stick altogether,’ she said briskly. ‘My husband is alive. He is fine. You could go and check, if you like. I could give you the address.’
‘You mean he didn’t take the capsule?’ Damn, he thought.
‘As a matter of fact he did take the capsule. Last night, after dinner. I specifically asked him about it.’ She gave a little smile. ‘Seymour can be a bit absent-minded, it’s his age, I suppose, but it was important that he complete the course. That was what the doctor said.’
‘What course?’
‘Antibiotics. The capsules contained an antibiotic. There are no more capsules now. He took them for his big toe.’ She was speaking slowly now, as though to a child. ‘Seymour’s had a bad infection, but he has managed to recover. He is no longer in pain. He is enjoying his stay at Mayholme Manor immensely. He said so.’
‘Mayholme Manor,’ Jesty echoed.
‘Yes. Also known as Dutton’s Retreat. Place in Dulwich. I personally think it is the spookiest of places, but that’s neither here nor there.’ She smiled again. ‘I spoke to Seymour on the phone just before I came here. He’s had a good English breakfast and been for a walk. He still uses his stick, but he said he could have done without it. He was looking forward to a game of chess with the Master. He believes the antibiotics have done the trick, that was how he put it. You don’t seem to believe me?’
‘You swapped the capsules,’ he said stubbornly. ‘I saw you do it. You did it the moment your husband’s back was turned. You glanced round first. You did it fast. You opened the silver box which your husband had left on the table, then you took a capsule from your bag. You looked furtive as hell.’
‘Why were you spying on me?’
‘When you realized I had seen you,’ he went on, ‘you panicked. You looked terrified. Your face was a picture of guilt.’
‘You don’t think you might have imagined things?’
He felt anger surge through him. Good! That was a damned sight healthier than moping over her. ‘Payne saw you too,’ he said.
‘Payne? Oh yes. Your fellow soldier. He also saw me exchange the capsules?’
‘No. No. He turned up a couple of minutes later. After you had done the substitution. I told him about it. But he saw the guilty expression on your face all right.’
‘Both of you had been to a regimental reunion,’ she said. ‘It was a regimental reunion, wasn’t it? That was what one of the waiters told us. You were making such a dreadful noise that I asked what was going on. You all seemed to have had a little bit too much to drink, correct?’
‘What are you driving at?’
‘You were a little the worse for wear. The evidence of your eyes was perhaps not particularly reliable? It’s a well-known fact that—’
‘What absolute rot! Neither of us was drunk. Are you suggesting we had some kind of hallucination? The two of us? At the same time?’
‘Mass hallucinations happen more often than people imagine.’
This infuriated him. By now they should have been on first-name terms, he thought bitterly—he should have been holding her hand and making arrangements for later on!
‘I could get you into trouble if I chose and you know it perfectly well.’ Jesty spoke through gritted teeth. He tried hard not to raise his voice. ‘I could destroy you. All right. Say, your husband didn’t take the poison, for whatever reason. I could still tell him exactly what I saw.’
‘Seymour wouldn’t believe you.’
‘If you’d been innocent, you wouldn’t have agreed to meet me. It makes no sense. Why did you agree to meet me?’
‘I believe in clearing up misunderstandings.’
‘There’s been no misunderstanding.’
She bowed her head. Several moments passed. He wondered what she would come up with now. Would she get up and leave without another word? Had he blown his chances with her? What should he do next, if that did happen? Great heaviness descended upon him. He couldn’t really see himself making his way to the police station and reporting the capsule-swapping incident at Claridge’s. They would make him write it all down, which would be a bore. They would ask him all sorts of questions. And what exactly were you doing behind the potted palm, Captain Jesty? He knew he didn’t invite immediate trust—
He started up. Penelope Tradescant was speaking.
‘Very well. I see you are a determined man, Captain Jesty, so I will tell you the truth. I’ll tell you the whole truth. I don’t think I have any other option. I am afraid you misread the situation completely. No, listen, please. I don’t blame you. It is rather a complicated story. I hope you understand. Some of it is quite distressing. There are other people involved.’ She gave a weary sigh. ‘I was rather hoping I wouldn’t have to tell anyone about it.’
‘You admit that you swapped the capsules?’ He picked up his glass. The tide had turned! He resisted stroking his moustache.
‘I swapped the capsules, yes. There were two of them. One capsule contained the antibiotic Seymour had been prescribed for his infected toe. The other capsule contained deadly poison. Yes. You were right. I did exchange them. But—it was the other way round.’
There was a pause.
‘The other way round?’ Jesty stared at her. ‘What the hell do you mean?’
‘The poison capsule was already in the box. The capsule with the antibiotic was in my bag. Outwardly the two capsules were identical.’ Her eyes, he noticed, were very bright now. ‘I managed to replace the poison capsule with the antibiotic. I had been waiting for an opportunity to do so. I had been worried silly about it. I had started panicking. I knew Seymour was going to take the poison capsule later on, you see. After dinner that night. I knew my husband would die moments after he swallowed it.’
Jesty frowned. ‘You aren’t suggesting he intended to commit suicide?’
‘No. Seymour had no idea the capsule contained poison. He didn’t know that someone was trying to kill him.’
‘Are you saying it wasn’t you who filled the capsule with poison, if that was the way the damned thing was done?’
‘Of course it wasn’t me!’ Penelope Tradescant spoke with great vehemence. It crossed his mind she might be telling the truth after all.
‘Did you know what the poison was?’
‘It was nicotine.’
‘You didn’t want your husband to swallow it?’
‘I didn’t. I didn’t want Seymour to die.’
‘You wanted him to live?’
‘I wanted him to live,’ she said patiently. ‘That’s why I exchanged the capsules.’
‘Wouldn’t it have been easier if you’d told him about it? Warned him against swallowing the capsule?’
‘That seems the logical thing to have done, doesn’t it? Well, I didn’t tell Seymour because I didn’t want him to know that someone was trying to kill him. I didn’t want to have to explain. I was afraid of complications. There were certain factors—’ She broke off. ‘I am a coward. Seymour is an extremely difficult man. There would have been all kinds of complications, believe me. I thought I’d do the exchange quietly and then—then all would be well. That’s God’s truth.’ Penelope Tradescant’s eyes met his steadily. ‘It was most unfortunate that you saw me.’
There was another pause.
‘Do you know who the person is? I mean the person who tried to poison your husband?’
He went on watching her carefully. Damned odd, the whole bloody thing. She sounded as though she were telling the truth, but of course he couldn’t be certain. It might be just acting. She might be a bloody good actress. Beautiful women usually were. It occurred to him that she might have started playing some game with him.
‘I know who it is. Yes. I saw her switch round the capsules. She had no idea I’d seen her.’
‘She? It was a woman?’
‘I see I’ll have to tell you the whole story …’