Paula set the turn-table spinning and lowered the needle on the record.
Everyone was transfixed when my voice came out of the box with a clearness that was almost painful.
When Serena’s voice said: You can name your price, s he started out of her chair and made a dart at the gramophone but Paula blocked her off.
‘Stop it!’ Serena cried. ‘I don’t want to hear any more! Stop it!
I nodded to Paula, who lifted the needle.
‘Better let it run through, Mrs. Dedrick,’ Mifflin said gently. ‘Or are you withdrawing the charge?’
She drew herself up. She made quite a regal figure. For a couple of seconds she stared right at me, her eyes glittering dangerously, then she walked to the door, opened it and went out, leaving the door open.
No one moved or said anything until her footfalls died away down the stone passage.
‘Take the cuffs off,’ Mifflin said shortly.
MacGraw took them off, looking like a tiger who had lost its dinner.