Behold Here's Poison Read online

  Miss Matthews did not come down to luncheon, so Mrs Matthews, who with the passing of every hour her sister-in-law had spent in bed had become more martyr-like, sighed, and told Stella to run up and ask her aunt if she was going to get up, or if she would like a tray sent to her room. ‘I must say, I do think it’s just a little inconsiderate of Harriet to elect to be ill at a moment when she must know that it’s all I can do to keep going without having all her work thrust on to my shoulders,’ she said.

  Stella, who knew the processes of her mother’s mind too well to waste her breath in pointing out that it was she, and not Mrs Matthews, who had performed Harriet’s duties that morning, merely winked at Guy, and went off to visit her aunt.

  There was no answer to her gentle tap on the door, so after waiting for a moment Stella softly turned the handle, and went in.

  The curtains had been drawn across the windows to shut out the light, and the room was dim. Miss Matthews was lying on her side with her eyes closed, and did not stir. Stella went to the bedside, wondering whether to wake her or not. It struck her all at once that Miss Matthews looked very ill; she bent over her, laying her hand cautiously on the slack one that rested on the sheet.

  It was not hot with fever, but on the contrary oddly chilly. Stella recoiled with a sobbing gasp of fright and shock. With her eyes fixed on her aunt’s motionless form she backed to the door, her knees shaking under her, and pulled it open, and called: ‘Mother! Guy! Oh, come here, quickly! Quickly!’

  Terror vibrated in her voice; it brought Guy up the stairs two at a time. ‘What’s up?’ he demanded. ‘Good God, what’s the matter?’

  ‘Aunt Harriet!’ Stella managed to say. ‘Aunt Harriet … !’

  He stared at her white face for an instant, and then thrust past her into Miss Matthews’ room.

  Stella tried to pull herself together, but she could not bring herself to go farther into the room than the doorway, where she stayed, leaning against the wall, her handkerchief pressed to her mouth. She saw Guy put his hand on Miss Matthews’ shoulder, and shake it, and heard him say in a voice sharp with alarm: ‘Aunt Harriet, wake up! Aunt Harriet!’

  ‘Oh don’t!’ Stella whispered. ‘Can’t you see?’

  He strode to the window, and wrenched the curtains back, with a clatter of rings along the brass rod. Across the room his eyes met Stella’s. ‘Stella …’ he said. ‘Stella … What are we going to do?’

  She looked back at him, her own eyes widening as she read the thought in his. Then, before either of them could speak, Mrs Matthews came into the room. ‘Well, Harriet, how are you feeling?’ she said. ‘My dear child, what in the world is the matter?’

  Stella said baldly: ‘Mother, Aunt Harriet is dead.’

  ‘Dead?’ repeated Mrs Matthews. ‘Nonsense! You don’t know what you’re talking about! Let me pass at once! Really, your love of the dramatic –’ She broke off, feeling Miss Matthews’ hand as Stella had done. Her make-up was too perfect to allow of her changing colour, but her children saw her stiffen. One swift glance she shot at them, then she said in a carefully controlled voice: ‘Your aunt must have had a stroke. We must send for a doctor. Guy, go at once and ring up Dr Fielding. Now please don’t stand there in that silly way, Stella dear! Of course it’s only a stroke!’

  ‘She’s dead,’ Stella repeated. ‘Like uncle. You know she’s dead.’

  Mrs Matthews went to her, and took her hand. ‘Darling, you’ve had a shock, and you’re a little overwrought. You mustn’t say things like that. Now, the best thing you can do is to go to your own room, and lie down for a bit. You can’t do anything for your aunt till Dr –’

  ‘No one can. Oh, why didn’t you send for Deryk when she said she felt ill? Why didn’t you, mother?’

  ‘My dear little Stella, there was no question of sending for a doctor. You must try and pull yourself together, my pet. No one could have foreseen this. It was nothing but a slight stomach-upset; in fact, your aunt said herself that all she wanted was to lie down and keep quiet for a while. Now I am going to give you a little sal volatile to pull you round, and then you shall go to your own room till you are more yourself.’

  Stella allowed herself to be led away to her mother’s room, and she obediently swallowed the dose poured out for her, but she would not go to her own room. She sat down in a chair on the landing, and gritted her chattering teeth together.

  Dr Fielding had come home to lunch, and within five minutes he was at the Poplars, following Guy upstairs to Miss Matthews’ room. Mrs Matthews was standing at the foot of the bed, and greeted him with composure, but in a hushed voice. ‘I think my sister-in-law must have had a stroke, doctor. I haven’t tried to do anything for her, as I thought it would be wiser to wait until you came. I have thought for some little while that she wasn’t quite herself, but of course I never dreamed of anything like this happening. Poor Harriet! I’m afraid my brother-in-law’s death was –’

  Dr Fielding straightened himself. ‘Mrs Matthews, your sister-in-law is dead,’ he said harshly. ‘She has been dead for as much as two hours, I should say. Why was I not called in before?’

  ‘Dead!’ Mrs Matthews repeated, and bowed her head slightly, covering her eyes with one hand.

  Guy said: ‘We’d no idea! How could we have had? She said she felt seedy. We thought she’d eaten something that had disagreed with her. I tell you, there didn’t seem to be anything the matter with her, did there, mother?’

  ‘Nothing,’ Mrs Matthews said in a low voice. ‘A trifle bilious. I gave her some of my own medicine, and put her to bed. She just wanted to be quiet.’

  ‘What did she complain of ?’ Fielding asked.

  ‘Nothing that could lead one to suppose – She said she felt giddy, and that her head ached.’

  ‘Any sickness?’

  ‘She had a slight feeling of sickness, which was why I gave her my medicine. It is an excellent prescription –’

  ‘Did she complain of any sensation of cramp? Any shivering in the extremities, or creeping in the arms? Did she seem to you to have difficulty in breathing?’

  Mrs Matthews shook her head. ‘Oh, no, no! If there had been anything like that I should have sent for you at once! She seemed better after taking the medicine. She was drowsy, and I tucked her up, and left her to have a sleep. I am such a firm believer in the healing qualities of –’

  ‘Fielding, what did she die of ?’ Guy demanded.

  The doctor looked from one to the other of them, his own face set into hard lines. ‘It is impossible for me to answer that question without performing a post-mortem examination.’

  Mrs Matthews laid her hands on the bed-rail, and grasped it nervously. ‘Surely that cannot be necessary!’ she said. ‘It is so obvious to me that she must have had a stroke! The shock of her brother’s death –’

  ‘It is not obvious to me, Mrs Matthews. I am sorry, but I cannot undertake to sign a certificate. This is a case for the Coroner.’

  ‘Oh, my God!’ groaned Guy.

  Mrs Matthews said in a shaking voice: ‘It’s absurd! My sister-in-law has been through a great deal, and she was not a young woman. Moreover, I myself have noticed signs of failing health in her for some time past.’

  ‘Look here, you’ve got to tell us!’ said Guy, taking a step towards the doctor. ‘What do you suspect?’

  Fielding met his angry stare with cold severity. ‘I suspect that Miss Matthews has been poisoned,’ he replied.

  ‘It’s a damned lie!’ said Guy.

  ‘Hush, Guy!’ Mrs Matthews said mechanically. ‘It is ridiculous, of course, quite ridiculous. Who could have wanted to poison poor Harriet? If it were not so terrible it would be almost laughable! But to subject us all to the horror of another inquest – really, doctor, don’t you think you are letting yourself –’

  ‘Mrs Matthews, I must decline to discuss it with you. I was not attending your sister-in-law at the time of her death; I was not called in when she was first taken ill. I could not reconcile it with