Виктория Холт - The Pride of the Peacock

“So it was you who played, and you escaped by way of the stairs and then you arranged for me to have an accident and if I was killed you would have seen that my husband was suspected?”

“It was not really the Flash’s idea. That was mine. It wasn’t very good. It was hardly likely that a fall down those stairs would have been the end of you … and there was all that playing to get you up there and I could easily have been caught at that. But if you’d had a bad accident it would have stopped your prying for a bit and it would be a sort of preliminary if you know what I mean. Lilias spoilt it. She got hysterical about my playing the spinet and she and Jimson tried to stop me. They were always watching me closely. They didn’t know I had the Flash, of course, but they thought I’d changed and they got frightened.”

I must stay awake and keep her talking so I said: T$y this . time had you given up the idea of Lilias’s marrying my husband? “

Well, it could have been a good idea but the main thing . was to keep the Flash. When I came into my room that night and saw Ezra Bannock looking into my workbox I knew he had guessed. There was something in his face which told me. ”

” So you killed him? “

“Yes, I did. I waited for him at Glover’s Gully and I shot him and buried aim there. He’d have stayed there hidden for y, years if it hadn’t been for that horse. And you were the one who found him. That was it … The idea came to me that you were Danger. The Flash put it into my mind so I knew it was right’ ” And the letter from Jeremy Dickson ? “

“I spent hours copying his writing on his acceptance to the invitation to the treasure hunt. I think I did well. There again it was the Flash. I thought that would have done it. (( And Lilias … my own daughter stopped it. She found that letter. What was she doing prying in your room? She was jealous of you with Jeremy. Well, she found it and she swore it wasn’t his writing. She went into the town with the letter and it was all spoiled again. Now of course something’s got a to be done.”

Her face puckered and she looked as though she were going to burst into tears.

“I could see it in Mr. Madden’s face. I could see he wasn’t going to let it rest. Someone had threatened you and he’ll find out too much.

He’s like Mr. Henniker. He’ll go on and on until he gets to the bottom of things . and I’ve got stop him. ”

"You will never be able to.”

She looked cunning. The Flash has the answer. The Flash always has the answer. There’s no beating the Flash. It’s only when I don’t let myself listen that I go wrong . like burying that purse. That was silly. I took it because I wanted them to think it was for robbery. I should have thrown it away in the Bush somewhere. Then it wouldn’t have mattered if it had been found. So then I had to get it back and that was wrong . ,. I won’t act without the Flash again. The Flash is all-powerful. No one can go against it. ” You tried to kill me and you didn’t. Twice you’ve failed.”

“I didn’t Understand what the Hash was telling me.”

“And you think you do now ?”

"yes. I’ve got it all clear now.

Oh God, I prayed, help me to fight off this overwhelming desire to shut my eyes and escape into oblivion, help me to keep awake. While I’m awake I’m safe. I’ve got to keep her talking.

“It won’t work, Mrs. Laud,” I said.

She looked startled.

“You have drugged me. You’ve got so far and you think you’re going to kill me.”

She nodded, smiling benignly. She looked down at her hands and stretched her fingers, flexing them.

“Suppose you kill me,” I went on.

“I shall be in this room. How will you explain what happened to me? You’ll be exposed as a murderess.

They don’t let murderesses live, Mrs. Laud. So what good will it do you ? “

“You won’t be here,” she said.

“You’ll disappear.” She laughed and it was a demoniacal laughter that sent cold shivers down my spine. It reminded me that I was fighting for my life with a woman who was mad and yet had the strength to kill me. One false step could be the end of me. I could see no way of escape. I felt trapped.

In the palm of her hands she still held the Green Flash. She seemed as though she could not put it down, as though she were afraid that if she let it go some power would leave her.

All these months when I had been living in this house with her she had been mad.

I did not speak because while she forgot my presence, as she appeared to now, I was gaining precious moments. She would not touch me while I was conscious. She was not by nature a violent woman; it was only this thing which had possessed her which could make her capable of perpetrating acts of violence.

I thought of Joss . I could not stop thinking of Joss. I was still tingling with memories of our encounter. There was so much explaining to do . but one fact surpassed all others. He had come down into the mine to bring me up. He had risked his life to save me. He had come riding to the mine with all speed when he had seen the letter. He loved me. He wanted me. Those steps in the corridor had been his. He had given Isa Bannock the Harlequin to sting me into awareness of my true feelings and he had done so, because it was after this that I had realized my need of him. We had both been foolish; we had refused to see the truth. Ben had been wiser than we had. auu iiuw wiicii i saw n cic any I was in deadly danger of losing it. Our pride had kept us apart-mine no less than Joss’s; and now in his ignorance he had left me! alone with the murderess.

Death faced me and if it was victorious I would never know ou the life Joss had promised me. I could see two roads stretch-ring out before me-one ended abruptly in death and the other was full of exciting twists and turns which life with Joss ‘, would be. I should long ago have started down that road.

Why had I been such a fool as to fear it ? Oh, where are you now. Joss? I wondered. I want us to start to live. now.

Where would it end? He was off on a false trail, hunting for Jeremy Dickson who was no doubt sitting in his Sydney office discussing the properties of certain stones which had recently been found in the Fancy mines. Mrs. Laud was remembering.

“Everything is ready. It’s in the garden … I shall bury you ( there and no one will think to look. I shall hide your travelling bag and some of your clothes will be missing.”

“You couldn’t do it, Mrs. Laud. Think what happened to Ezra Bannock’s purse. The Flash wasn’t very clever about that, was it?”

“I told you that it did not want that. It was where I went wrong. I wouldn’t mock it, if I were you. It’d never forgive you. It was warning me then. It was saying: ” Bury her deep. No one must find her like she found the purse . “

“Still you were wrong about the purse.”

“It was meant as a warning to me. It was a preparation for this. That’s how it happens sometimes.”

“It seems strange to be sitting here discussing my burial.”

“What are you getting at, Mrs. Madden? You’ve always been one for a joke. But this is no joke. I shall tell them that you have the Green Flash, that you showed it to me, that I tried to persuade you to give it up. That you’ve gone right away with the Flash.”

“It wouldn’t be possible. Unless you are going to kill Wattle and bury her too.”

“Oh no. You’ll have gone away with someone who came for you. He brought horses and you rode away together.”

“Jeremy Dickson, I suppose.” That could do for a start. “

“And when he comes back?” The Flash will know. Why don’t you go to sleep? It’s better if you do. Then we can get it over “I’m not going to sleep.”