Twenty-two
T HE T RUTH
W hen the Inspector¹ turned on Edmund Swettenham, Mitzi had crept quietly out of the room and back to the kitchen.
She was running water into the sink when Miss Blacklock entered.
Mitzi gave her a shamefaced sideways look.
“What a liar² you are, Mitzi,” said Miss Blacklock pleasantly. “Here—that isn’t the way to wash up. The silver first,and fill the sink right up. You can’t wash up in about two inches of water.”
Mitzi turned the taps on obediently.
“You are not angry at what I say, Miss Blacklock?” she asked.
“If I were to be angry at all the lies you tell, I should never be out of a temper,” said Miss Blacklock.
“I will go and say to the Inspector that I make it all up, shall I?” asked Mitzi.
“He knows that already,” said Miss Blacklock, pleasantly.
Mitzi turned off the taps and as she did so two hands came up behind her head and with one swift movement forcedit down into the water-filled sink.
“Only I know that you’re telling the truth for once,” said Miss Blacklock viciously.
Mitzi thrashed and struggled but Miss Blacklock was strong and her hands held the girl’s head firmly under water.
Then, from somewhere quite close behind her, Dora Bunner’s voice rose piteously on the air:
“Oh Lotty—Lotty—don’t do it … Lotty.”
Miss Blacklock screamed. Her hands flew up in the air, and Mitzi, released, came up chocking and spluttering.
Miss Blacklock screamed again and again. For there was no one there in the kitchen with her….
“Dora, Dora, forgive me. I had to … I had to—”
She rushed distractedly towards the scullery door—and the bulk of Sergeant³ Fletcher barred her way, just as MissMarple stepped, flushed and triumphant⁴, out of the broom cupboard.
“I could always mimic⁵ people’s voices,” said Miss Marple.
“You’ll have to come with me, Madam,” said Sergeant Fletcher. “I was a witness of your attempt to drown thisgirl. And there will be other charges. I must warn you, Letitia Blacklock—”

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