“Now I’m going to ask each of you, in order, to describe where he or she was at midnight. Before I start, I should say for those who are newcomers to this house that on the second floor there are seven bedrooms, each with its own bath. The hall runs down the center of the floor with a window at either end. On the west side is the staircase and three bedrooms. On the north, fartherest from the stairs, is Mr. Sargeant’s room. Next to him is Miss Lung. Next to her is an empty room and south of that of course is the stairs. Three bedrooms and a stairwell on the west side." He paused a moment; then: “All contiguous bedrooms open into one another, by connecting doors in the rooms themselves . . . not through the bathrooms which do not connect.”
“I can’t see what all this has to do with what’s happened,” said Mrs. Veering irritably.
“It has a great deal ... as I hope to show you in a few minutes.” Greaves made some marks none of us could see on the tablet. “Now, on the other side of the hall, the east side overlooking the ocean, there are four bedrooms. The north bedroom belongs to Mr. Randan. The next to Mrs. Veering. The next to Miss Claypoole and the last to Mr. Brexton. Both Mr. Brexton and Mrs. Veering are in bedrooms which have doors which open into Miss Claypoole’s room.”
“The door in my room is locked,” said Brexton suddenly. His voice made us all start.
“That’s correct,” said Greaves quietly. “It was locked this morning by me, from Miss Claypoole’s side of the door. The key was not in the lock, however.”
“What do you mean by that?” Brexton’s voice was hard.
“All in good time. And don’t interrupt, please. Now I hope you will all be absolutely honest. For your own safety.”
There was a grave silence. Greaves turned to me. “Where were you at midnight?”
“In bed, or maybe just waking up.”
“Do you always sleep fully dressed?”
“Not always. I just dozed off. I hadn’t intended to go to sleep but I did, probably around eleven or so.”
“I see. And you say you woke up at twelve.”
“That’s right. I looked at my watch. I was surprised I’d been asleep. I turned on the light and decided that a drink of brandy might be just the thing to get me back to sleep.”
“And you went downstairs?”
“As you know.” I was aware that, while I talked, Greaves was recording everything in shorthand; this was an unexpected talent. I described to him what had happened.
He then turned to Miss Lung. “We'll move from room to room, in order,” he said. “Yours is next. Where were you at midnight?”
“I ... I was in Rose’s ... in Mrs. Veering’s room, looking for her.”
“Are you sure it was midnight?"
“No, not exactly but I guess it must’ve been because I was only in there a few minutes and I saw Mr. Sargeant right afterwards. I was terrified when I didn’t find her. Then, when I knocked on Allie's door and got no answer, I knew something must be wrong; I rushed off to find the nurse. The policeman on duty saw me.”
“Unfortunately, he didn’t see you go in. He did see you come out. He was standing on the top stair, it seems, talking to the nurse going off duty, his back to the hall when you went into Mrs. Veering’s room, at ten minutes to twelve."
“I ... I was only in there a very few minutes.
“Yet the nurse went off duty at ten minutes to, or rather left Mrs. Veering's room at that time to meet her relief who was arriving downstairs. She paused to chat with the man on duty. While this was happening, you went across the hall from your room to Mrs. Veering’s, isn’t that right?”
“Well, yes. I did notice the policeman was talking to somebody on the stair. I couldn’t see who it was...”
“Miss Lung, did you try to open the door between the two rooms?” There was a tense silence. Miss Lung was white as a sheet. Brexton sat on the edge of his chair. Mrs. Veering’s eyes were shut, as though to blot out some terrible sight.
“Miss Lung did you or did you not try to open that door?”
The dam broke. The cord of silence snapped. Miss Lung wept a monsoon. In the midst of her blubbeiings, we learned that she had tried to open the door and that it was locked, from the other side.
It took several minutes to quiet Miss Lung. When she was at last subdued, Greaves moved implacably on. “Mr. Randan, will you tell me where you were at midnight?”
Reluctantly, Randan tore his gaze from the heaving mound which was Mary Western Lung. “I was in my room.”
“What time did you come back to the house?”
“I don’t know. Quarter to twelve or so. The night nurse and I arrived at the same time. We came in the house together. We both went upstairs; she met the other nurse who was on duty and I went to my room. I was just about to get undressed, when the commotion started.”
“When were you aware of any commotion?”
“Well, I thought something was up even before I heard anything definite. I heard Sargeant’s door open and close. It’s right opposite mine so I could tell he was up. Then I heard somebody stirring next door to me ... it must’ve been Miss Lung. I didn’t pay much attention until I heard them all running up the stairs.”
“What did you do then?’’
“I went out in the hall and asked the man on duty what was happening. He said he didn’t know. Then you appeared and..."
“Ail right.” Greaves turned to Mrs. Veering. “And where were you at...”
“I was sitting on the toilet.” The crude reply was like an electric shock. Miss Lung giggled hysterically.
“You were there from ten minutes to twelve until twelve o’clock?”
“I don’t carry a stop watch, Mr. Greaves. I was there until I finished and then I went back to bed. The next thing I knew, three maniacs were in my room.” This was a fairly apt description of our invasion.
“Did you see or hear anything unusual during those ten minutes?”
“No, I didn’t.”
Evidently Greaves hadn’t been prepared for such prompt negatives. He started to ask her another question; then he decided not to. She was looking dangerously angry. I wondered why.
Greaves turned to Brexton and put the same question to him he to the rest of us.
“At twelve o’clock I was sound asleep.”
“What time did you go to bed?”
“I don’t know. Eleven . . . something like that.”
“You heard nothing unusual from the next room, from Miss Claypoole’s room?”
“Nothing in particular.”
“Then what in general?”
“Well . . . moving around, that’s about all. That's before I went to sleep.”
“And when you awakened?”
“It was around midnight: I thought I heard something.” “Something like people running? or shutting doors?”
“No, it was a groan ... or maybe just my imagination or maybe even the noise of the surf. I don’t know. It’s what awakened me though. Then of course everybody started to rush around and I got up.”
“This sound that you heard, where did it come from?”
“From Allie’s room. I thought it was her voice too. I think now maybe it was.”
“What did you do when you heard it?”
“I . . . well, I sat up. You see there was only a few seconds interval between that and everyone coming upstairs.”
Greaves nodded; his face expressionless. “That’s very interesting, Mr. Brexton. You didn’t by any chance try to open the door did you? the door between your room and Miss Claypoole’s?”