Patricia Wentworth - Danger Point

Lisle sat there. She had asked Rafe if he hated her, and he had said yes – on the Wednesday night – just after Cissie had gone-

Dale went on speaking in a deep, troubled voice.

“I can’t imagine why that car smash didn’t kill you. He was down in the village waiting for it – do you remember that? – waiting to see you come down that hill and smash against Cooper’s barn. You know, Lisle, you were born lucky. Just imagine his feelings when the car went to glory without you. And that meant he had to try again. He wouldn’t give up – not with Tanfield at stake. Besides, once you start a thing like that, it gets you and you’ve got to see it through. He must have been thinking what he could do next when he saw Cissie on the cliff and took her for you. It must have looked like the most marvellous chance – and he took it. That’s how those prints of his got on the shoulders of the coat – he took her by the shoulders and pushed her over. And then he found he’d been tricked again. He hasn’t had much luck, has he? You’ve had it all. But you mustn’t try it too far – it might turn against you. That’s why I’m telling you this. I must tell him I know and send him away. And meanwhile you’ve got to be careful. Don’t let him drive you anywhere. Don’t be alone with him. Stick to Alicia or to me. I couldn’t do anything until this funeral was over – we mustn’t have talk. Besides, I only got the proof today.”

She had to try twice before she could say,

“What proof?”

Dale’s hand went into a pocket and came up with something bright. It dazzled as she looked at it, and she remembered the bright thing Alicia had tossed to him when she left them under the cedar. The bright thing lay on Dale’s palm. He held it out to her.

“Recognise this?”

It was the cigarette-case she had given to Rafe on his birthday, his name on it in her writing – “Rafe”.

“When did you see it last?” said Dale.

She knew that answer. All of them sitting on the terrace. Rafe’s case – this case – tossed down on the cushion of a vacant chair. And William coming out to say Cissie Cole was waiting to see her.

She said, “Wednesday – just before Cissie came-”

Dale nodded.

“You haven’t seen it since?”

“No.”

“Nor anyone else. He’s been using that old battered wreck we used to chaff him about. Do you know why?”

She moved a very little. The movement said, “No.”

Dale threw the case down on the end of the bed.

“Because this one’s been lying up on Tane Head where he dropped it when he pushed Cissie over the cliff. Alicia found it there this morning. She missed that diamond and emerald clasp of hers and she went up there to look for it. A complete fool’s errand of course. I don’t suppose she dropped it there at all – anyhow she didn’t find it. But she found Rafe’s cigarette-case. It was right on the edge, but it had slipped down into a sort of crack. I suppose that’s why the police didn’t find it – they must have been all over the ground.” He reached out for the case and put it back in his pocket again. “He must have been wondering where he dropped it. He won’t show much fight when I tell him – it gives me the whip hand all right. I’ll pay his passage, and he can pack off to Australia, and see whether that job he turned down is still going.”

Lisle put up her hand to her cheek in a forlorn gesture.

“What about Pell? You can’t -you can’t let him! Dale!”

Dale got to his feet, came over to her, and put an arm about her shoulders.

“Oh, we won’t let Pell hang,” he said, and bent to kiss her.

LISLE had the feeling that the day would never end. All this bright sun and blue sky, this inward strain and terror, this numbness dulling something which without it would be agony, seemed to her shocked sense to have neither beginning nor ending. It was like a dreadful travesty of eternity. She felt unable either to look forward or back.

There was a moment when Rafe asked her if she would like to go for a drive – “up over the downs to get some air. You look all in.” Dale said, “No – she’s too tired,” and the numbness was pierced by a jagged stab of pain. Just why that should have hurt so much, she could not have told. Rafe wanting her to go with him, his voice sounding kind. And Dale not giving her time to answer because he was afraid to let her go with Rafe as they had gone so innocently often before their natural world had changed into a nightmare. Afraid to let her go with Rafe… But she herself was not afraid. Perhaps that was just because she was too numb to feel afraid – too numb really to take in what Dale had told her. Only she couldn’t struggle any more. She let Dale speak for her, and sat there without a word to say.

The endless evening wore on, the four of them together. She thought that it would never end.

When she went up to dress Dale followed her into her room and put his arms round her.

“My poor darling – it’s been a horrible day for you, but it’s nearly over. And look here – I’ve got a plan. We’ll get away from the others and have a nice peaceful time just by ourselves. I never seem to see you now except in a crowd. I’m very fond of the family, but I do sometimes want my wife to myself. Funny – isn’t it?” There was the smile in his eyes which she used to think was for her alone. It had always charmed her, but now she was too tired. Her eyelids fell. She moved a little, but he held her.

“Wait a minute and I’ll tell you what I thought we’d do. I’m flying again tonight. I’ll say so, and at the same time I’ll tell you to get off to bed. That’ll be about half past nine, but I needn’t really get up to the aerodrome till nearly eleven. It’s not dark enough for proper night flying till well after that. And what I thought was this – we could slip down to the beach and get right away from everyone.”

Her lashes lay upon her cheek. She said very low,

“I’m so tired, Dale.”

“I know, darling, but that’s why. It will be cool down there, and right away from everyone – just you and me. Oh, Lisle, I want you to so much! You’ll really sleep afterwards.”

It wasn’t in her to struggle. She said, “Very well,” and moved away from him. This time he let her go.

When he spoke again he sounded as pleased and excited as a schoolboy.

“Look here, we won’t go off together – that won’t do at all. Lal-” he laughed a little – “well, I’m very fond of her, as you know, but she does butt in. I’ll get the car and drive out by the back gate. Then I can leave it a bit down the lane and cut through across the park – it’s no distance that way – and you can wait for me down by the sea wall.” He laughed again. “Rather fun having to make an assignation before you can have half an hour alone with your own wife! Better change into a short dress and put on beach shoes. I thought we’d go down by the rocks and see the tide come in. And you’ll have to slip away without being seen, or we’ll find we’ve got the family circle round us again. Will you do it?”

She said “Yes,” and was glad not to have to say any more than that.

He dropped a kiss on the top of her head and went off to his own room. She could hear him whistling as he moved about there.

Later, when she was in her room again taking off the dress she had worn at dinner, slipping back into her cotton frock, stripping off the thin silk stockings and fastening the beach shoes he had suggested, she could hear him there again, slamming a cupboard door, pulling out a drawer. But this time he didn’t whistle.

She sat down on the edge of the bed to wait. Because it was part of the plan that he should get away first, and of course he had to change. He took some time over it, but at last she heard him open the door to the corridor. And then, all in a hurry, he came running back to look in on her with a laughing, mischievous expression and a finger on his lips.