“You believed it?”
“No, not at first—not quite. But it bothered me dreadfully all the way home from the club—all the time that we were standing around in our living room waiting for the cocktails. I couldn’t get it out of my head. And then Pat came in.”
She paused, frowning a little at the memory of that sick perplexity.
“You say that Mr. Ives came in?”
“Yes. He was looking dreadfully tired and—excited. No, that’s not the word. Keyed up—different. Or perhaps it was just that I expected him to look different. I don’t know. Anyway, Elliot started to go then, and I went into the hall after him, because he’d been drinking a good deal more, and I was afraid that he’d talk as indiscreetly to someone else as he had to me. I couldn’t think very clearly yet, but I was quite sure that that ought to be stopped. So I asked him to be careful, and he said that he would.”
“Did you notice Melanie Cordier in the library?”
“No. I was watching Elliot. He looked so wretchedly unhappy that I was really worried about him. Well, anyway, he went off without even saying good-bye, and I went back toward the living room. Just as I came up to it I heard George Dallas say, ‘We can count on you for the poker party to-night, can’t we?’ And Pat said, ‘I’ll surely try to make it, but don’t count on me.’ Something inside my head went click, and all the pieces in the puzzle fell into place. I walked straight into the room and up to where he was standing. He’d gone over to the table and was pouring out another of those new cocktails. Everyone was making a dreadful racket, laughing and talking. I said, ‘Nell Conroy wanted us to go to the movies to-night. Don’t you think that it would be rather fun?’ And he said, ‘Sorry, but I told George that I’d run over for a poker game. Tell Nell that you’ll go, and then I won’t worry about you being lonely.’ I said, ‘That’s a good idea.’ And Pat said, ‘Be back in a minute. I have some papers I want to get rid of.’
“He went across the hall; I could hear his steps. I felt just exactly as though I’d taken poison and I stood there waiting for it to begin to work. Someone came up to me to say good-bye—I think it was the Conroys, and then everyone else began to go, too, the way they always do. I started to go out to the porch with them, and while I was passing through the hall I saw Pat standing by the desk. He was looking at some papers in his hand. I went on toward the porch, calling back over my shoulder that everyone was leaving. In a minute, he came out too. I looked to see whether he still had the papers in his hand, but he hadn’t. While we were both standing there watching them drive off, Melanie came out, announced dinner, and we went in. Pat stopped behind in the study for a moment, but he didn’t go near the desk drawer—I could see it from my place at the table.”
“Could you have seen him take a book from the corner shelf?”
“No—the screen between the rooms cut off that corner.”