Her voice trailed off. To encourage her, Bourke said, “And he didn’t suspect anything was wrong?”
Her mouth twisted. “He’d never think I’d be a threat to him. Do you know what we talked about? The treatment he was having for the virus. The new drugs he’d had sent from overseas. He told me how great it was to be able to discuss it with someone who understood. I was glad he was saying these things because it made it so much easier for me. He started to get sleepy and I persuaded him to lie on the bed. He was still talking, slurring his words, when Lloyd knocked in a code we’d agreed on. I put on the cotton gloves and let him in. Collis was very vague, but he still wanted to know what Lloyd was doing there, though he didn’t seem to mind when we didn’t answer. Lloyd put on his gloves and I gave him the sleeping tablet solution and the copy of The Euthanasia Handbook in its plastic wrap. Then I washed the glass I’d used and checked my list to make sure I’d done everything.”
Carol said, “Did you take his journal?”
Alanna flushed with anger. “It was open on the table because he’d been writing in it. When I left I took it, because I thought it might mention me and Lloyd.”
“Did it?”
“I’ve burnt the journal, Inspector, but I’m glad I read it. It made me sure that we were doing the right thing.”
“You put the Do Not Disturb on the door?”
“Yes. Then I went back to the Museum. I’d been away for a bit over an hour, but there were so many people there I was fairly sure I hadn’t been missed, and I made sure I was seen from then on.”
“Now it’s my narrative,” said Lloyd with a sketchy attempt at a smile. “It was just after nine when I ordered coffee and had all calls to the room stopped. Naturally it was assumed I was Collis. I waited until the coffee was left outside, poured him a cup, added some of Alanna’s solution and held it while he had some. As soon as he was completely unconscious I took out my checklist and put it on the bedside table so I wouldn’t forget anything. I remember thinking how awful it would be if I killed him, shut the door behind me, then remembered the list was still there… Anyway, I wiped the whiskey bottle and his glass, in case Alanna had touched either of them, and put his fingerprints on each of them. I took the handbook out of its plastic and did the same with it. By now he was breathing in great, slow, snoring gasps… it was horrible and I wanted him to stop. I took the plastic bag I had folded in my pocket, found one of his neckties, and put the bag over his head and tied it.”
“You got all these details from the handbook?” He sighed at Bourke’s question. “In the book it sounded so clinical. I hadn’t realized how awful it would be, Collis lying there with his head wrapped in plastic and the heat of his breath steaming it up inside. He coughed and made a choking noise. He was lying completely still and I waited for him to start breathing again, but he didn’t. I made sure I hadn’t left anything, picked up the list and checked the room about three times. And then I looked at him and it was horrible, him with his head in a bag. I saw he’d vomited, and though I hated him, I couldn’t leave him like that. I took off the tie and stuffed it in my pocket, then eased off the plastic bag-the air in it was hot, so damp and smelly and I thought I’d vomit too. Collis was dead, but I found I just had to wash his face. Dampened one of his handkerchiefs and cleaned him up, put the handkerchief with the plastic bag and the book wrapping in my pocket, tipped over the glass of whiskey and scattered the pills across the carpet. I left his bottle of painkillers in the bathroom cabinet and I took any other medication he had.”
His smile was completely without humor. “Alanna and I thought, you see, that there was no reason for anyone to discover he was HIV-positive, unless they found Collis had drugs to treat it.”
Carol said gently, “It’s standard in a post mortem to do a blood test for it.”
“We didn’t know that. There were a lot of things we didn’t take into account.”
“You dropped the tie,” said Carol, almost regretfully.
“Yes, I was in such a hurry to get out of there-I was panicking because I couldn’t stand to be in the room with him. I turned on the television and the air-conditioning, and I ran. The tie wasn’t in my pocket when I chucked everything else into a litter bin, but of course I couldn’t go back because I had to leave his key inside the room.”
“Tell me,” said Carol with real curiosity, “did you arrange him so his hand was draped artistically?”
Lloyd looked down, obviously embarrassed. “I’m afraid I did. It didn’t look right to me, the way he was lying. I thought it would be more convincing the way I arranged it.”
That’s the trouble, thought Carol, you were trying too hard to be certain it looked like suicide.
Later, over subdued case-closed drinks at the nearest pub, Bourke said, “No wonder they caved in, Carol. Your manner even convinced me you knew every detail-and I knew you didn’t.”
Anne added her own admiring nod.
Carol swirled the whiskey in her glass. “I was sure two people were involved because of the phone calls. Obviously, whoever waited for Raeburn to die, then removed the plastic bag from his head, knew the murder was successful… so who was the second person ringing the paper and the hotel manager to make certain?”
Anne said, “Someone who wasn’t sure Raeburn was dead.”
“Yes, Anne, but why would you not know he was dead? The person must have left the hotel room before Raeburn died and then had no way of finding out exactly what had happened. This meant there must be some reason why these two people would make strenuous efforts not to be linked together-so I was looking for a couple who had a strong joint motive, but who appeared to be quite separate from each other.”
“Right,” Anne said, “but why did it have to be Lloyd Clancy and Alanna Brooks?”
“Look at any other possible combination. Raeburn and his daughter?”
“Supportive of each other,” supplied Bourke.
Carol nodded. “Nicole and Welton-they’re friends who even saw me together. And who and why would anyone want to combine with Corinne Jawalski?”
“Well, what about Welton and Livingston?” argued Anne. “Welton attacked Edward Livingston, and they both had a motive over Dingo.”
Again Carol nodded, pleased with the young constable. “It was a possibility, but the motive didn’t seem strong enough. Other combinations, such as Raeburn with Welton, didn’t work either. But Lloyd and Alanna did.” She ticked off her points. “They had the opportunity-the reception they attended was near Raeburn’s hotel and Pat told me it was very crowded, with people coming and going all night. They had the motive. Although Alanna had renewed her relationship with Collis, she denied it after his death because she knew of his HIV status and that she was infected. She also denied, as did Lloyd, that they had had a relationship-why bother to do this unless they had something to hide?”
“And both of them attacked each other to show how alienated they were,” said Anne, raising her wineglass in salute to Carol.
Bourke grinned at Anne. “Mind like a steel trap, Constable. Make a detective out of you yet.” He grew more serious as he said to Carol, “Collis Raeburn’s sex partners are in for an awful shock when this hits the papers-and there’s no way that it won’t.”