I said: “And the rope in the bushes?”
She nodded. “You always went that way. Why does everything go right for you? Why did Billy have to come along that path just then?”
“Rough justice,” I said.
“I was watching. I shouted when I saw who it was but I was too late and I didn’t have time to get him away when you came so I had to leave him… and the rope and everything.”
“So you were watching?”
“I wanted to see you fall.”
“I understand. And then after I’d gone for help you came out and took him away. You removed the rope…”
“It wasn’t easy. I had to get him on his horse. Then I took the rope away and I took Billy to the boat house and looked after him. He’d cut his forehead but he hadn’t broken anything. He’d fallen into the bushes and they’d saved him. He was all right after a little while.”
“I had no idea that you could be so devious,” I said.
She looked rather pleased with herself. “Billy said I was making a mess of it. He said it was too important to be managed by an amateur. He said he’d help me to do it in a better way. He’d show me how to get you and I’d help him get the man. You’ve both got to die… for Evie. He knows too much, Billy says. He’s going to finish him and help me with you. When you’re both dead we’re going to put weights on you and throw you into the sea. You’ll just be a mysterious disappearance.”
“And you, Dolly, what are you going to do? How are you going to feel when you know yourself to be a murderess?”
“I’m an avenger. That’s different. We’re not ordinary murderers. I’m doing what has to be done for Evie, and Billy… he’s doing his duty.”
“I don’t think a court of law would recognize it that way.”
“Aren’t you frightened, Mrs. Frenshaw?”
“A little. I don’t want to die. And, Dolly, somehow I feel you weren’t meant to be a murderess.”
“I’m going to kill you,” she said. “I wish I could do it now and get it over.”
“You don’t like the idea of it, do you?”
She said: “I’ve sworn… for Evie.”
“Untie my hands, Dolly.”
She shook her head. “That would spoil everything. I’ve promised Evie. I’ve promised myself. Why should you break the seventh commandment and get away free while my sister Evie… She didn’t break the commandment because she wasn’t married. It was only because she loved Alberic. They would have been married and lived happily ever after… and I should have been with them.”
“You couldn’t do this to me, Dolly. How will you feel when people are asking where I am? Suppose somebody saw you with me? They would say, ‘The last time we saw her she was riding away with you.’”
“Nobody did see us.”
“How can you be sure? And when they started asking you questions…”
“They wouldn’t. Billy said it would be all right. You’re trying to frighten me.”
I laughed mirthlessly. “And what are you doing to me?”
“You deserve what you’re getting.”
“Whatever I’ve done I have not murdered…”
“Yes you have. You murdered Evie. My dear sweet lovely Evie.”
“Evie killed herself.”
“If you say that again I’ll shoot you now. I won’t wait for Billy.”
“Why do you wait for him?”
“Because… because… You must not ask questions.”
“You have already told me all it is necessary to know. I am sorry about Evie. It was such a cruel waste of life.”
She turned away from me to hide her grief, and just at that moment I heard a shrill whistle.
“It’s Billy,” she said.
She went out and there followed the sound of voices.
I heard him say: “I’ll keep an eye on her. She can’t get away. Take something of hers…. something he’d know. He’s a suspicious devil and he’s on the trail.”
“All right,” said Dolly.
She came back into the boat house. She was no longer carrying the gun.
“I want a ring or something… something he’d know,” she said.
“Something who would know?”
“Your lover, of course. The one you met at Enderby, the one you broke the seventh commandment for.”
“Why do you want this?”
“Because I’m going to take it to him and tell him where you are.”
“Dolly!”
“Then he’ll come, won’t he? He’ll come to rescue you.”
“And then?”
“Billy will be lying in wait for him.”
“Dolly, you must not do this.”
“It’s part of the plan. Billy and I are helping each other. It was his idea. That’s why he doesn’t want you dead till after he is. You get the idea. Billy doesn’t trust me. He thinks that if I killed you I mightn’t help him bring Mr. Frenshaw here. I would though… because although you’re both Evie’s murderers, he was the one who actually killed Alberic.”
I was more afraid now. I saw the plan clearly. Jonathan would come riding onto the beach and Billy Grafter would be lying hidden waiting for him. Jonathan would be an easy target. It must not happen. I suddenly thought of a world without him and I could not bear it. If ever I knew that I loved Jonathan it was in that moment.
I began to plead for Jonathan’s life as I had not pleaded for my own.
“Dolly, please… listen to me. You must not do this. Jonathan has done no wrong. He is working for his country. He had to kill Alberic. Alberic was a spy.”
“Alberic was going to be Evie’s husband.”
“Listen, Dolly.”
“I won’t listen any more. Billy will be angry. He gets very angry. He wants me to go at once. I’ve got to bring him here. Now… give me something. That scarf. That’ll do. Oh yes. It has your initials worked on it in silk. He’ll know that.”
“Dolly, please don’t do this thing.”
She laughed, and snatching the scarf, ran out of the boat house.
It seemed like hours that I lay there. There was a deep silence broken only by the gentle swishing of the waves as they ran lightly up the sand; and now and then I heard the melancholy cry of a gull.
What could I do? I was powerless. Must I lie here trussed up like a fowl for the oven, unable to move? I looked at my wrists which were firmly bound together and I wondered if I could hope to release them. If I could do that… unbind my ankles and get out of here… I could find a way. Billy Grafter was watching out there. He would be at some vantage point, ready to kill Jonathan as he arrived.
It was hopeless. My hands were firmly tied and I could not break free.
I thought: What chance will he have? He will walk straight into the trap.
I should have been more astute. I should have tried to find out more about Evie and her sister. I should have tried to discover who was watching me, who had tried to bring me down on the bridle path. It seemed that I had been obsessed by Jonathan and I had thought it was Millicent’s jealousy when it had been a much more sinister cause.
What was the time? Would she find him? I knew that when she showed him my scarf he would believe that I had sent it. What would she tell him? Some plausible story. She was quite inventive. She would say that I was Billy Grafter’s prisoner in the boat house, that she had seen him bring me here, that she had slipped in and been unable to free me and I had begged her to go to him for help.
I guessed that in the circumstances, because of his fear for me, Jonathan would not pause to consider the story closely. He would come at once.
How long had she been away? It must be more than half an hour. These could be my last minutes on earth. I had seen purpose in Dolly’s eyes; she had loved her sister devotedly. Evie had been all that she was not… pretty, attractive—and she had lived for Evie.