The telephone on the desk began to ring. Sands said, “Excuse me,” and lifted the receiver. Prye could distinguish none of the words which came over the line but the voice seemed vaguely familiar, high-pitched and excited.
Sands grunted once or twice and said, “Thank you. Fifteen minutes ago? I’ll see about it.”
He replaced the receiver and looked around at Prye. His eyes were cold. “Your thought processes may be tenuous, Dr. Prye, but they’ll do.”
Prye recognized the voice then, and said, “That was the hospital, I gather. It was atropine?”
“Yes. I knew that before I came here. I was at the hospital. Where were you fifteen minutes ago, Prye?”
“Talking to Sergeant Bannister in the hall.”
“Fortunate.”
Prye leaned forward, frowning. “What does that mean?”
“It means,” Sands said, “that fifteen minutes ago an anonymous male voice informed the hospital that Miss Stevens was an atropine case. Your hypothetical poisoner seems to have materialized.”
Sands’ small gray eyes remained fixed on Prye.
“Materialized,” he repeated.
Prye’s smile was careful. “I mustn’t have any more hunches, must I? No indeed.”
“You couldn’t have made the telephone call?”
“No.”
“And you wouldn’t want to stop your own wedding?”
“No.”
“Who would?”
There was a long silence. “No one,” Prye said at last.
“No tricky wills, no trust funds and the like bearing on Miss Shane’s marriage?”
“Nothing,” Prye said.
“Miss Shane is an only child, is she not?”
“Yes.”
“Possibly her mother would prefer her to remain single?”
Prye smiled. “I think not.”
“Her maiden aunt?”
“Perhaps. But she would hardly choose this bizarre method of keeping her single. Besides, Jane is her favorite niece. Aspasia would have chosen some other member of the party. Did you see Jane? Is she conscious?”
“Conscious but sacrosanct,” Sands said sourly. “Guarded by a cordon of young and consequently earnest and ignorant interns. Is the girl pretty?”
“Very pretty. Later on she’ll be fat, faded, and stupid. Right now she’s curved, blond, and stupid.”
“Is she? Her brother, Duncan, seemed bright enough. I saw him waiting in the corridor outside her room. He seems devoted to his sister. He was extremely nervous.”
“That’s a hangover. He was celebrating the wedding last night. I was not aware that he was devoted to Jane.”
The inspector affected surprise. “Really? But then you saw him yesterday for the first time. Devotion between members of a family has its ups and downs.”
“In that case Duncan must have hit a new low last night. When he was drunk to the point of eloquence he told me he disliked me and disliked weddings and that the only reason he’d come at all was to prevent Jane from raping any of the ushers.”
“Sad,” the inspector said.
“Rape,” Prye said, “is always sad.”
“No, the other, the lack of feeling and respect for his sister. Unless, of course, the girl is actually a nymphomaniac. Would you say that?”
“No, I wouldn’t,” Prye said dryly. “I’m marrying into the family.”
“Still, she has a weakness in that direction?”
“Oh yes, decidedly.”
“And the anonymous telephone call came from a man. It’s a small point but—” Sands rose and made a gesture of dismissal. “That’s all for now, Dr. Prye.”
Prye lingered. “Any chance of my seeing Miss Stevens when you do?”
“If it will interest you.”
“It will.”
“In that case you’d better have some lunch now. I’m expecting an O.K. call from the hospital at any time.”
At the door Prye turned to say, “I forgot to tell you that Mrs. Revel hasn’t returned. She left the church before the ambulance arrived.”
“Why?”
“Mrs. Shane told her to.”
“I’ll see Mrs. Shane now. Will you bring her?”
Prye crossed the hall and opened the drawing-room door. Mrs. Shane looked up from her work. Dennis remained slumped in a chair with a book in his hands.
“Inspector Sands would like to see you,” Prye said to Mrs. Shane.
“Well, I should think so,” she replied crisply. She flashed a look at Dennis. “I am a perfect mine of information.”
Dennis slapped his book shut and yawned, too casually. “I’ve got nothing to lose. Not for anything would I poison a blonde.”
“I’m aware of that,” Mrs. Shane said. As she passed behind his chair she put her hand on his shoulder for a moment. “I do think you might do something about finding Dinah, however.”
“She’ll come home,” Dennis said, “dragging her tail behind her. My guess is, she’s tight as a tick already. We can only wait and find out.”
“Very well.”
Mrs. Shane closed the door with unnecessary firmness and went into the library. Sands was standing at the window looking out. Without turning he said, “Fine maples, Mrs. Shane.”
She was pleased. “They are, aren’t they? My husband planted them thirty years ago. This was all country then.”
He turned around very gradually and smiled at her. She liked him at once because he looked tired.
“You haven’t had any lunch,” she said instantly. “Will you stay?”
“No, thank you. Policemen and doctors become accustomed to missing meals.”
“Yes, I suppose.” She arranged herself in a deep leather chair. “How is Jane?”
“She will recover,” he said.
“I thought she would.”
He looked surprised. “Why?”
She gave him a confidential smile. “Because I’m lucky. That must sound very silly indeed. Does it?”
“No. Some people are lucky. It’s partly because they believe in their luck. Tell me about your other niece, Mrs. Revel.”
“Tell you what?”
“Where she is, first.”
“I don’t know,” Mrs. Shane replied. “Dinah is a free soul. She manages her own life very badly, I’m afraid. But I’m wasting your time.”
“No. There’s nothing I can do until I talk to Miss Stevens. You are not worried about Mrs. Revel, are you?”
She hesitated. “Not exactly worried. But it’s after lunch time and Dinah is dieting again, which means that she goes without breakfast and then appears early for lunch. And it isn’t like Dinah to go into hysterics as she did this morning.”
“She may be staying with friends.”
“No. I don’t think she has friends in Toronto. Dennis Williams thinks she is getting drunk. It’s not improbable.”
“You are admirably frank,” he said.
She smiled. “At my age one has no reason not to be.”
“You understand that this is likely a case of attempted homicide?”
“Yes. It’s not pleasant, but it’s better than accomplished homicide. It is puzzling. Jane is an innocuous creature, very like my sister, Aspasia. You will be gentle with Aspasia, I hope. She has a habit of fainting.”
“Habit?”
“I think so,” Mrs. Shane said firmly.
“More frankness,” Sands said with dry emphasis. “You are going to be a very suspicious person indeed.”
“I expect so. Are you going to do anything about Dinah?”
“If you want me to, certainly. You might describe her.”
Mrs. Shane sat up straight in her chair. “It’s not quite fair to ask a woman to describe another woman. We are too realistic about each other. Allow for that. Dinah is tall and thin, about five feet seven, and one hundred and ten pounds. Her eyes are pale blue. She has bright red hair, rather long and curly. I haven’t seen her natural complexion for years but she uses Rachel powder. She wears no rouge but a lot of lipstick and eyebrow pencil. All very heathenish but rather attractive.”