Death of a Doll by Hilda Lawrence

Author:Hilda Lawrence [Lawrence, Hilda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Agora Books
Published: 2019-03-06T16:00:00+00:00

8

He was surprised to find that he liked and pitied Jewel on sight; probably, he told himself, because her flat, stupid face was a pleasant change from that of her predecessor. And she was no talker. She leaned against the door and watched him with a sleepy look, her arms folded at her waist as if they were rolled in a kitchen apron. Domestic service, he guessed, and not too far back. She looked hopeless, but he couldn’t afford to send her away unheard. There would be no badinage with Jewel. He’d be lucky to get a yes or no.

“Sit down, Jewel. Do you know why I want to see you?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Were you a friend of Ruth Miller’s?”

“No, sir.”

“Mind if I ask you a few questions anyway?”

“No, sir.”

“Fine. Jewel, you’re a very important person for two reasons. You were the first girl to reach Ruth Miller’s body and you also operate the elevator. You see and hear things. Now, on the night of the party did you recognise Ruth when she rode in your car?”

“Yes, sir.”

“You did? That’s interesting. How did you know it was Ruth?”

“She was with April. You always know April.”

“Of course. I forgot about that. You couldn’t mistake Ruth when she was with April. But when she left the party and went up to her room, did you recognise her then?”

“I didn’t take her up.” Jewel looked over his head.

He heard the faint note of alarm in her voice. She heard it, too, and tried to cover it up with a tuneless little whistle.

“Jewel,” he said reproachfully, “stop kidding me. Of course you took her up, you can’t get in trouble for that. What’s the matter with you?”

“I didn’t take her up. She lived on seventh, and I never went to seventh after the party began. Other floors, but not seventh.” Only the big hands, gripping the raw, red elbows, betrayed her nervousness.

“You’re sure?”

“Yes, sir.” She whistled again, with elaborate indifference, and examined the room with a bored look. It said he was wasting his time as well as hers. “I made three trips, that’s all,” she went on carelessly. “Miss Small said I didn’t have to make any, she said the girls could run the car themselves, she said I was to enjoy myself. But I made three trips anyway. But not Ruth Miller.”

“Three, eh? How do you know one of your passengers wasn’t Ruth? If they all looked alike, and if she wasn’t with April that time.”

She looked over his head again. “Because I know where I went. I never went to seventh. The first trip was two girls for fourth. I remember it was fourth because they talked disguised and I had to ask the floor twice. And they wanted me to wait for them and I did. And the next trip was one girl by herself. To sixth. I don’t know who she was. I remember it was sixth because I went past the floor and had to go back.”

“Easy to walk from sixth to seventh, isn’t it?”

“If you want to.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.