She said, “It was your fault that I killed your woman.”
Duffy said, “It’s best you should go like this.” He couldn’t bring himself to say anything else.
“No other man’s ever turned me down,” she said. “Remember I offered myself?”
“Yeah, I remember. I guessed you’d want to settle that score.”
“If you wrote down everything, I could sign it,” she said. “I’d like that.”
Duffy took a quick step to the writing-desk, found a pad and came back. She said, in a low voice, “You’ll be quick?”
Duffy said, “Sure. You killed Cattley, didn’t you?”
“Yes, Cattley was double-crossing Gleason, who was my husband. No one knew about that. Gleason was bad, but he was making money. I had to have that. I learnt that Cattley was taking half, so I pushed him down the lift shaft. He was a little man, it was quite easy. You came along and covered me on that. Then Max. You see, they all bothered me. I tried once just to see, but none of them were any good. So after that I didn’t want them again. Max was always pressing me. Then he got the photos, and asked me up to his flat to trade them in the usual way, so I went and I killed him too.”
Duffy wrote quickly. He gave her another drink. Shep came in and stood behind him. He said, “English is coming.” Duffy raised his hand for silence.
Annabel went on, “I hated you. When I went out to the Shann woman’s villa to find the book, I thought you’d both be out. I saw you drive the car away, and I thought she was with you. Then I went inside and she started getting excited, so I killed her too.”