“I understand,” I said.
“She’s so sympathetic. After all… terrible things happened to her too, didn’t they?”
“Yes.”
“Can you smell the sea, Mrs. Frenshaw?”
“Oh yes. I just got a whiff. I always like that… when you know it’s not far off.”
“Evie used to like it, too.”
I was wondering what it was she had to tell me, but I decided to leave it to her to do it in her own time and her own way. I fancied she could easily return to the secretive Dolly I had always known.
We broke into a gallop and went like the wind over the green fields. Dolly was a good rider and she seemed to gain confidence in the saddle.
Then we saw the sea. It was a grey, quiet, November sea with hardly a ripple on the water and not even the slightest breeze in the air.
“Shall we go down to the beach?” she said. “I love it there.”
I followed and as our horses’ hoofs touched the sand I saw the boat lying there on the beach.
“Oh look,” said Dolly. “Shall we go and see the boat?”
We galloped across the sand to where the boat lay.
Dolly turned and looked at the boat house.
“Oh, I think someone’s there.”
“The owner of the boat perhaps,” I said.
“Shall we go and see? Let’s tie our horses there… on the rock. That’s where Evie and I used to leave ours when we came here.”
“All right,” I said. I dismounted and tethered my horse. Dolly was already making her way to the boat house.
“Is anyone there?” she called.
There was no answer.
“I did think I saw someone,” she said. “Let’s take a peep inside.”
Cautiously she pushed open the door and went in. I followed.
The door shut suddenly and I was in darkness. Something had been put over my head. I felt a sharp blow on the head and then there was darkness.
When I opened my eyes the first thing I saw was Dolly. She was sitting on a three-legged stool watching me.
I was lying on the floor; I felt dazed and there was a pain in my head. My wrists and ankles were firmly tied together.
“Dolly…” I stammered. “What… what’s happened?”
She said: “You’ll soon come round. It’s ten minutes since we came in here. I’ve brought you here to kill you, Mrs. Frenshaw.”
I should have thought she was being ridiculous if she had not been holding a gun.
She saw my eyes on it and said: “I know how to use it. It’s one of the things I’ve been taught.”
“Dolly! What is this? Some game?”
“Oh no, it’s very serious. Death is.”
“Do you really mean…?”
She said: “Oh yes. You’ve got to die. You murdered Evie and you’re going to die… as she did.”
“You’re mad. Nobody murdered Evie. She killed herself.”
“She killed herself because others made her. That’s murder… and murderers have to die.”
“Dolly, try to be sensible. Talk to me. What do you mean? What is all this about?”
“I’ll tell you. We’ve got time because I’m not going to kill you until Billy gets here. That’s part of the contract.”
“Billy? Billy Grafter?”
“Yes, Billy Grafter.”
“So you and he are friends.”
She nodded. “Well, he was Alberic’s friend, wasn’t he?” She smiled. “You can’t move, can you? You’re well tied up. Billy did that.”
“He’s here?”
She nodded. “He’s going to get him. That’s what he’s going to do. And I’m going to get you. He helped me… and I’ll help him. You don’t understand, do you? Billy will be here in a moment. Then we’ll just go ahead.”
She caressed the gun and I thought: She really means it. She’s mad.
“Why should you go free with your sins… when my sister Evie…” Her face puckered as though she was going to cry.
“Dolly,” I said, “let’s talk.”
“We are talking, aren’t we? You see, you committed adultery. You broke the seventh commandment. You were married to the nice one and you committed adultery with the wicked one. It was in Enderby when it was empty before Mademoiselle came in. We knew you were there with him. We frightened you, didn’t we, when we spoke through the tube?”
“So that was you.”
“Yes… Evie and me. You were so scared. We laughed about it. And then… Evie was in love, and she said that when you loved it was the most wonderful thing… and then she was going to have the little baby. I wanted that little baby, Mrs. Frenshaw. Oh, I would have taken such care of it. And then she killed herself.”
“She should never have done that. We could have done something. We could have helped her.”
“It was you, Mrs. Frenshaw. You started it and he finished it. You betrayed him and he shot him… and he was drowned. Between you you killed Alberic. Oh, you are puzzled, aren’t you? You thought Evie’s baby’s father was Harry Farringdon. She never cared for him. It was our Granny who wanted that. It was Alberic for Evie. They loved each other and I loved them both. They were going to take me to France with them. I was going to look after the little baby… because they would be married and it was all going to be wonderful. Then suddenly it all changed. He went to London and when he came back in a hurry he told us that you’d seen him and you’d told that wicked Mr. Frenshaw, who was your lover, and Alberic said he had to get away quickly… because they were after him. He promised to send for us… Evie and me. He told us we were to go to France. We would have gone. We knew how to get there. We were up here… hiding when it happened. So we saw it all. You came along and that wicked man shot Alberic and Alberic drowned and everything was different after that.”
“You must know that Alberic was a spy.”
“Alberic was a wonderful man.”
“It is men such as him who brought terrible trouble to France.”
“That had to be. That was injustice. Alberic talked about it to us.”
“And he was trying to do to this country what he had done in his own. He had to die, Dolly. He always knew that he was taking that risk.”
“And my sister… my Evie… she killed herself. She couldn’t face Granny. She was always on about Evie marrying well, telling her she really belonged at Eversleigh and how pretty she was and how she would get a rich husband. She said she didn’t try hard enough for Harry Farringdon.”
“Oh Dolly… what a tangle of troubles! It need not have been.”
“Evie couldn’t face… having a bastard.”
“People do…”
“You did… perhaps.”
“Dolly!”
“That makes you angry. Of course you’re angry. It makes me angry. Poor Evie had to kill herself and you… you did the same… only you were worse because you had a good husband. Evie never had that. She had to die… and you’re the lady at the big house… with everyone being respectable while my poor Evie…”
“Oh, Dolly, I’m so sorry. It’s such a waste of a life… a waste of happiness…”
“Not for you. You get what you want and nobody knows.”
“Did you take the baby from Eversleigh?”
“Yes. I was going to kill it.”
I caught my breath with horror.
“Well, Evie’s baby was killed wasn’t it?”
“Oh Dolly.” I felt quite sick thinking of that terrible time when Jessica had been taken from us.
“I kept her in my room at Grasslands. I was afraid someone might see her, but we managed. Then I knew I’d taken the wrong one. How was I to know which was which? There was all that fuss. I had her with me all the time. She’s a lovely little baby.” Her face creased into a smile. “She laughed at me and grabbed my finger and wouldn’t let go. She was a dear little baby. I’m glad I didn’t have to kill that one.”