Fifteen
I NQUIRY C ONTINUED
I“C an we have a word with you, Mr. Kendal?”
“Of course.” Tim looked up from his desk. He pushed some papers aside and indicated chairs. His face was drawnand miserable¹. “How are you getting on? Got any forwarder? There seems to be a doom² in this place. People arewanting to leave, you know, asking about air passages. Just when it seemed everything was being a success. Oh Lord,you don’t know what it means, this place, to me and to Molly. We staked everything on it.”
“It’s very hard on you, I know,” said Inspector³ Weston. “Don’t think that we don’t sympathize.”
“If it all could be cleared up quickly,” said Tim. “This wretched girl Victoria—Oh! I oughtn’t to talk about her likethat. She was quite a good sort, Victoria was. But—but there must be some quite simple reason, some—kind ofintrigue, or love affair she had. Perhaps her husband—”
“Jim Ellis wasn’t her husband, and they seemed a settled sort of couple.”
“If it could only be cleared up quickly,” said Tim again. “I’m sorry. You wanted to talk to me about something, askme something.”
“Yes. It was about last night. According to medical evidence Victoria was killed some time between 10:30 pm andmidnight. Alibis⁴ under the circumstances that prevail here are not very easy to prove. People are moving about,dancing, walking away from the terrace, coming back. It’s all very difficult.”
“I suppose so. But does that mean that you definitely consider Victoria was killed by one of the guests here?”
“Well, we have to examine that possibility, Mr. Kendal. What I want to ask you particularly about, is a statementmade by one of your cooks.”
“Oh? Which one? What does he say?”
“He’s a Cuban, I understand.”
“We’ve got two Cubans and a Puerto Rican.”
“This man Enrico states that your wife passed through the kitchen on her way from the dining room, and went outinto the garden and that she was carrying a knife.”
Tim stared at him.
“Molly, carrying a knife? Well, why shouldn’t she? I mean—why—you don’t think—what are you trying tosuggest?”

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