The Murder of Miranda
- Автор: Миллар Маргарет
- Серия: Tom Aragon #2
- Год: 1979
- Язык: английский
- Год: Random House
- ISBN: 978-0-394-50509-1
- Жанр: Криминальные детективы
Электронная книга - «The Murder of Miranda». Краткое содержание книги:
Tom Aragon, the engaging lawyer who solved the bizarre mystery in Ask for Me Tomorrow, has to undertake an even stranger case in Margaret Millar’s new tragicomedy. Aragon has the dubious assistance of nine-year-old Frederic Quinn, who boasts of his Mafia connections at private school. Adding to the confusion is Mr. Van Eyck, who, under cover of age and convenient spells of deafness, eavesdrops on his fellow members and commits his findings to paper in the form of anonymous letters.
Margaret Millar’s new novel is one of her best, and certainly her funniest. Its structure is as dazzling as its prose is witty. The author contrives to postpone the full solution until the last words of the final sentence, when the elements of the plot come together and the characters who sustain it, living and dead, are shown in tragic relation to each other.
The Admiral moved to the witness stand with the brisk no-nonsense walk he’d learned at Annapolis fifty years previously. He gave the appearance of wearing a uniform, though it was only a dark grey suit with a white cuff-linked shirt and black tie and shoes. His face had the slightly jaundiced color that accompanies a fading suntan.
His reluctance to testify would have been apparent to the jury without any previous warning. He glanced at them with obvious distaste before responding to the District Attorney’s first question.
“Will you state your name and address for the record, please?”
“Cooper Randolph Young, 122 °Camino Grande, Santa Felicia.”
“And your occupation?”
“Vice-Admiral, United States Navy, Retired.”
“What was the nature and duration of your relationship with Iris Van Eyck Young?”
“She was my wife for thirty-five years.”
“Was it a happy relationship?”
“Yes.”
“Would you say that your household was, by and large, a congenial one?”
“Yes.”
“I realize this must be a painful experience for you. I wouldn’t have asked you to go through it if it weren’t necessary. Do you understand that?”
“I hear you talking.”
“I can’t very well apologize for doing my duty, Admiral.”
“No. Such an apology would not be accepted anyway.”
“Very well, let’s proceed. Would you tell the jury where you were in the late afternoon and early evening of July the Fourth of this year?”
“At home with my family — my wife and my two daughters.”
“Anyone else in the house?”
“Mrs. Norgate, our housekeeper, who was cooking dinner.”
“And Mrs. Shaw?”
“Yes.”
“What was Mrs. Shaw doing?”
“I’m not sure, but she was probably fixing the table for dinner, arranging the centerpiece, the flowers, and so on.”
“And candles?”
“And candles, yes.”
“Were your dinners usually formal?”
“Yes, as part of my daughters’ social education.”
“Was there anything different about the dinner that night?”
“It was quite a bit earlier than usual because Mrs. Norgate had an engagement and I had promised my daughters to take them to a display of fireworks at the club. Mrs. Shaw was invited to go along but she refused.”
“She refused on what grounds?”
“She didn’t want to leave Mrs. Young alone.”
“But she did leave her alone.”
“Only to walk the dog.”
“That was long enough, wasn’t it?” The D.A. glanced pointedly at the table of exhibits. “Wasn’t it?”
“Mrs. Shaw is not responsible for what happened. She was always very gentle and kind to my wife.”
“And vice versa?”
“And vice versa, yes.”
The District Attorney had been sitting back in his chair until this point in the questioning. Now he leaned forward and wrote on the legal pad in front of him, And vice versa?!
“Did you know Mrs. Shaw before you hired her, Admiral?”
“Yes. She and her husband were members of the same beach club my wife and I belonged to. All four of us knew each other, though not very well.”
“What was the name of the club?”
“The Penguin Club.”
“That’s pretty well restricted to people in the upper financial brackets, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“Was Mrs. Shaw still a member when she came to you seeking employment?”
“She was not a member and she didn’t come to me seeking employment. The possibility of such a job was suggested to her by Miss Brewster, the club secretary, who then spoke to me about Mrs. Shaw’s predicament.”
“Predicament?”
“Her husband had died leaving a great many debts.”
“And so you took her into your house, like a good Samaritan?”
“No, not like that at all. My wife and I needed help with our daughters.”
“Would you care to elaborate on that?”
“No.”
“All right. Now—”
“Am I permitted to make a statement?”
“Go ahead.”
“I want to protest my two daughters’ being given subpoenas to testify.”
“Do you have any reason to object to their testimony, Admiral?”
“I simply feel they’re not equipped to deal with stressful situations like this.”
“They’re of legal age, are they not?”
“Yes.”
“And represented by legal counsel?”
“Yes, but they won’t listen to his advice.”
“I talked personally with both your daughters and they exhibited no signs of stress and no aversion to testifying. Your paternal concern is admirable but perhaps not justified in this instance.”
“I have registered my protest.”
“It will be on the record, Admiral... Now, when did Mrs. Shaw start working for you?”
“Sometime in January.”
“Did she fit in well with the other members of your household?”
“Yes.”
“Right from the start?”
“There was the usual period of adjustment under such circumstances.”
“What was your own relationship with Mrs. Shaw?”
“Relationship?”
“Was it strictly one of employer and employee?”
“She was an employee certainly but I considered her more like a friend. And vice versa, I believe.”
“You were friends?”
“Yes.”
“More than casual friends?”
“We were friends.”
“Close friends?”
“No, I wouldn’t say we were — look, she lived in my house, we saw each other every day, we talked, we ate at the same table. What does that make us?”
“A good question, Admiral.”
Once again the District Attorney leaned forward to write on the yellow pad in front of him What does that make us? He didn’t hurry. He wanted to be sure the jury had plenty of time to supply their own answer to the Admiral’s question.
“Tell me, Admiral, did Mrs. Shaw go out socially?”
“What exactly do you mean?”
“Did she have dates?”
“I don’t know.”
“What percentage of her evenings would you say she spent at home? Fifty percent?”
“I didn’t keep track.”
“Seventy-five percent? Ninety percent?”
“She spent most of her evenings in the house with the family. Dinners usually lasted until quite late because they were, as I said before, part of my daughters’ social education.”
“You and your wife, your two daughters and Mrs. Shaw, was this a happy group?”
“Happy is a pretty strong word.”
“I agree, happy is a pretty strong word. I’ll amend the question. Did the five of you get along in a reasonably civilized manner?”
“Yes.”
“That will be all, Admiral.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“I have no more questions. You’re free to leave.”
The old man didn’t move.
“Admiral? You may step down now.”
“Before I do I would like to make another statement.”
“Go ahead.”
“If this is all you wanted from me, you might have spared me the embarrassment of a subpoena. I haven’t told you anything you didn’t already know and I haven’t cast any new light on the situation...”
“Perhaps you have, Admiral. Thank you very much.”
“You didn’t even ask me about my wife’s death, how it must have happened.”
“We know how it happened, Admiral. Please step down.”
It was the second most important occasion in Cordelia’s life — the first being the Singapore incident — and she had prepared for it by buying a new outfit, a red and white polka-dot pantsuit and genuine red snakeskin shoes. (“Whoever heard of a genuine red snake?” Juliet said. “You were had.”) She put on her best wristwatch, three rings, a bracelet made of carved ivory elephants and as a last-minute addition the ruby necklace, formerly Miranda’s, which she’d bought from Mr. Tannenbaum a year ago. She hadn’t worn it since Miranda moved into the house and she didn’t know why she suddenly decided to wear it today, keeping it hidden under the collar of her jacket until she got into her car and on her way to the courthouse.