The Mousetrap and Other Plays (77 page)

JUDGE
. Sir Wilfrid, I don't understand this piece of evidence at all. What is a cat brush?

LEONARD
. It's a brush for brushing cats.

JUDGE
. Oh!

LEONARD
. A sort of brush and comb combined. Miss French kept cats—eight of them she had, and the house smelt a bit . . .

SIR
WILFRID
. Yes, yes.

LEONARD
. I thought the brush might be useful.

SIR
WILFRID
. Did you see Janet MacKenzie?

LEONARD
. No. Miss French let me in herself.

SIR
WILFRID
. Did you know Janet MacKenzie was out?

LEONARD
. Well, I didn't think about it.

SIR
WILFRID
. At what time did you leave?

LEONARD
. Just before nine. I walked home.

SIR
WILFRID
. How long did that take you?

LEONARD
. Oh, I should say about twenty minutes to half an hour.

SIR
WILFRID
. So that you reached home . . . ?

LEONARD
. I reached home at twenty-five minutes past nine.

SIR
WILFRID
. And your wife—I will call her your wife—was at home then?

LEONARD
. Yes, of course she was. I—I think she must have gone mad. I . . .

SIR
WILFRID
. Never mind that now. Just go on with your story. Did you wash your coat when you got in?

LEONARD
. No, of course I didn't.

SIR
WILFRID
. Who did wash your coat?

LEONARD
. Romaine did, the next morning. She said it had got blood on it from a cut on my wrist.

SIR
WILFRID
. A cut on your wrist?

LEONARD
. Yes. Here. (
He holds out his arm and shows his wrist.
) You can still see the mark.

SIR
WILFRID
. When was the first you heard of the murder?

LEONARD
. I read about it in the evening paper the next day.

SIR
WILFRID
. And what did you feel?

LEONARD
. I was stunned. I could hardly believe it. I was very upset too. The papers said it was a burglary. I never dreamed of anything else.

SIR
WILFRID
. And what happened next?

LEONARD
. I read that the police were anxious to interview me, so of course I went along to the police station.

SIR
WILFRID
. You went along to the police station and made a statement?

LEONARD
. Yes.

SIR
WILFRID
. You were not nervous? Reluctant to do so?

LEONARD
. No, of course not. I wanted to help in any way possible.

SIR
WILFRID
. Did you ever receive any money from Miss French?

LEONARD
. No.

SIR
WILFRID
. Were you aware that she had made a will in your favour?

LEONARD
. She said she was ringing up her lawyers and going to make a new will. I asked her if she often made new wills and she said, “From time to time.”

SIR
WILFRID
. Did you know what the terms of this new will were to be?

LEONARD
. I swear I didn't.

SIR
WILFRID
. Had she ever suggested to you that she might leave you anything at all in her will?

LEONARD
. No.

SIR
WILFRID
. You have heard the evidence that your wife—or the woman whom you considered as your wife—has given in Court.

LEONARD
. Yes—I heard. I can't understand—I . . .

SIR
WILFRID
. (
Checking him
) I realize, Mr. Vole, that you are very upset, but I want to ask you to put aside all emotion and to answer the question plainly and simply. Was what that witness said true or untrue?

LEONARD
. No, of course it wasn't true.

SIR
WILFRID
. You arrived home at nine-twenty-five that night, and had supper with your wife?

LEONARD
. Yes.

SIR
WILFRID
. Did you go out again?

LEONARD
. No.

SIR
WILFRID
. Are you right or left handed?

LEONARD
. Right handed.

SIR
WILFRID
. I'm going to ask you just one more question, Mr. Vole.
Did you kill
Emily French?

LEONARD
. No, I did not.

(
SIR
WILFRID
sits.
)

MYERS
. (
Rising
) Have you ever tried to get money out of anybody?

LEONARD
. No.

MYERS
. How soon in your acquaintance with Miss French did you learn that she was a very wealthy woman?

LEONARD
. Well, I didn't know she
was
rich when I first went to see her.

MYERS
. But, having gained that knowledge, you decided to cultivate her acquaintance further?

LEONARD
. I suppose that's what it looks like. But I really liked her, you know. Money had nothing to do with it.

MYERS
. You would have continued to visit her, no matter how poor she'd been?

LEONARD
. Yes, I would.

MYERS
. You yourself are in poor circumstances?

LEONARD
. You know I am.

MYERS
. Kindly answer the question, yes or no.

JUDGE
. You must answer the question, yes or no.

LEONARD
. Yes.

MYERS
. What salary do you earn?

LEONARD
. Well, as a matter of fact I haven't got a job at the moment. Haven't had one for some time.

MYERS
. You were recently discharged from your position?

LEONARD
. No, I wasn't—I quit.

MYERS
. At the time of your arrest how much money had you in the bank?

LEONARD
. Well, actually only a few pounds. I was expecting some money in, in a week or two.

MYERS
. How much?

LEONARD
. Not very much.

MYERS
. I put it to you, you were pretty desperate for money?

LEONARD
. Not desperate. I—well, I felt a bit worried.

MYERS
. You were worried about money, you met a wealthy woman and you courted her acquaintance assiduously.

LEONARD
. You make it sound all twisted. I tell you I liked her.

MYERS
. We have heard that Miss French used to consult you on her income tax returns.

LEONARD
. Yes, she did. You know what those forms are. You can't make head or tail of them—or she couldn't.

MYERS
. Janet MacKenzie has told us that Miss French was a very good business woman, well able to deal with her own affairs.

LEONARD
. Well, that's not what she said to me. She said those forms worried her terribly.

MYERS
. In filling up her income tax forms for her you no doubt learned the exact amount of her income?

LEONARD
. No.

MYERS
. No?

LEONARD
. Well—I mean naturally, yes.

MYERS
. Yes, very convenient. How was it, Mr. Vole, that you never took your wife to see Miss French?

LEONARD
. I don't know. It just didn't seem to crop up.

MYERS
. You say Miss French knew you were married?

LEONARD
. Yes.

MYERS
. Yet she never asked you to bring your wife with you to the house?

LEONARD
. No.

MYERS
. Why not?

LEONARD
. Oh, I don't know. She didn't like women, I don't think.

MYERS
. She preferred, shall we say, personable young men? And you didn't insist on bringing your wife?

LEONARD
. No, of course I didn't. You see, she knew my wife was a foreigner and she—oh, I don't know, she seemed to think we didn't get on.

MYERS
. That was the impression you gave her?

LEONARD
. No, I didn't. She—well, I think it was wishful thinking on her part.

MYERS
. You mean she was infatuated with you?

LEONARD
. No, she wasn't infatuated, but she, oh, it's like mothers are sometimes with a son.

MYERS
. How?

LEONARD
. They don't want him to like a girl or get engaged or anything of that kind.

MYERS
. You hoped, didn't you, for some monetary advantage from your friendship with Miss French?

LEONARD
. Not in the way you mean.

MYERS
. Not in the way I mean? You seem to know what I mean better than I know myself. In what way then did you hope for monetary advantage? (
He pauses.
) I repeat, in what way did you hope for monetary advantage?

LEONARD
. You see, there's a thing I've invented. A kind of windscreen wiper that works in snow. I was looking for someone to finance that and I thought perhaps Miss French would. But that wasn't the only reason I went to see her. I tell you I liked her.

MYERS
. Yes, yes, we've heard that very often, haven't we—how much you liked her.

LEONARD
. (
Sulkily.
) Well, it's true.

MYERS
. I believe, Mr. Vole, that about a week before Miss French's death, you were making enquiries of a travel agency for particulars of foreign cruises.

LEONARD
. Supposing I did—it isn't a crime, is it?

MYERS
. Not at all. Many people go for cruises
when they can pay for it.
But you couldn't pay for it, could you, Mr. Vole?

LEONARD
. I was hard up. I told you so.

MYERS
. And yet you came into this particular travel agency—with a blonde—a strawberry blonde—I understand—and . . .

JUDGE
. A strawberry blonde, Mr. Myers?

MYERS
. A term for a lady with reddish fair hair, my lord.

JUDGE
. I thought I knew all about blondes, but a strawberry blonde . . . Go on, Mr. Myers.

MYERS
. (
To
LEONARD
) Well?

LEONARD
. My wife isn't a blonde and it was only a bit of fun, anyway.

MYERS
. You admit that you asked for particulars, not of cheap trips, but of the most expensive and luxurious cruises. How did you expect to pay for such a thing?

LEONARD
. I didn't.

MYERS
. I suggest that you knew that in a week's time you would have inherited a large sum of money from a trusting elderly lady.

LEONARD
. I didn't know anything of the kind. I just was feeling fed up—and there were the posters in the window—palm trees and coconuts and blue seas, and I went in and asked. The clerk gave me a sort of supercilious look—I
was
a bit shabby—but it riled me. And so I put on a bit of an act—(
He suddenly grins as though enjoying remembrance of the scene.
) and began asking for the swankiest tours there were—all
de luxe
and a cabin on the boat deck.

MYERS
. You really expect the Jury to believe that?

LEONARD
. I don't expect anyone to believe anything. But that's the way it was. It was make-believe and childish if you like—but it was fun and I enjoyed it. (
He looks suddenly pathetic.
) I wasn't thinking of killing anybody or of inheriting money.

MYERS
. So it was just a remarkable coincidence that Miss French should be killed, leaving you her heir, only a few days later.

LEONARD
. I've told you—I didn't kill her.

MYERS
. Your story is that on the night of the fourteenth, you left Miss French's house at four minutes to nine, that you walked home and you arrived there at twenty-five minutes past nine, and stayed there the rest of the evening.

LEONARD
. Yes.

MYERS
. You have heard the woman Romaine Heilger rebut that story in Court. You have heard her say that you came in not at
twenty-five minutes
past nine but at
ten minutes past ten.

LEONARD
. It's not true!

MYERS
. That your clothes were bloodstained, that you definitely admitted to her that you had killed Miss French.

LEONARD
. It's not true, I tell you. Not one word of it is true.

MYERS
. Can you suggest any reason why this young woman, who has been passing as your wife, should deliberately give evidence she has given if it were not true?

LEONARD
. No, I can't. That's the awful thing. There's no reason at all. I think she must have gone mad.

MYERS
. You think she must have gone mad? She seemed extremely sane, and self-possessed. But insanity is the only reason you can suggest.

LEONARD
. I don't understand it. Ah, God, what's happened—what's changed her?