“Baybe Tish gave ger the wrog bedicide,” Aggie whispered to me, “ad she died because of it, so Tish had to——”
But the policeman was watching us, and I motioned her to be silent.
The house was full of people by that time. Two or three doctors were working with Will upstairs. And some neighbors had come in and were digging a hole in the cellar. All they found was the still Will had buried there, but the horrible sound of their spades about drove me crazy. And still Tish did not come.
Charlie Sands arrived at eleven o’clock. They were bringing the still up the cellar stairs just as he got there. And he seemed quite calm and not at all worried.
“For some reason that reminds me,” he said, “that a little blackberry cordial would not go amiss. I’ve had a long trip.”
And not until he had had a generous dose of this tonic did he make a statement which set the whole house in a turmoil.
“By the way,” he said, “if you want Miss Carberry, she will be here in a few moments. She would have arrived sooner, but one of the garage men had taken her car out for a joy ride and she is waiting, to use her own words, to give him a piece of her mind.”
Never shall I forget the scene when Tish arrived, and, walking quietly into the hall, asked for a cup of tea, as she had had no supper. Will, supported by two of the doctors, was waiting on the stairs, and he tried to throw himself at her.
“Supper!” he screeched. “You—you murderess! What have you done with her? Let me loose! I want to kill her,” he shouted.