Page:The Black Camel (IA blackcamel0000earl).djvu/312
Her eyes flashed. “No—I’m not. I’m glad. I planned it all out. Last night—during the party—that was the time. Plenty of people about—plenty of people who might have done it. I planned the alibi of the watch—I remembered it from a play in which Denny once acted. I was in the kitchen from twenty minutes before eight until ten after the hour. Jessop and the cook were there too. At eight-fifteen I located Shelah Fane in the pavilion—she was waiting there—waiting to make a good entrance on her party—as she always did. She was like that.
“I went to her room and got a knife—one she had bought in Tahiti. I wanted something to wrap it in—a handkerchief—a big one. The door of the blue room was open—I saw a man’s clothes. I went in and took the handkerchief from the pocket of the coat—Mr. Bradshaw’s coat, I think.”
“As, yes,” remarked Jimmy Bradshaw grimly. “Thanks for the ad.”
“I went to the pavilion,” Anna continued. “She didn’t suspect. I came close to her——” The woman buried her face in her hands. “You won’t make me tell that part. Afterward I broke the watch in the handkerchief, put it back on her wrist. But there was no other evidence of a struggle, so I tore off the orchids and trampled them under foot. I went out and buried the knife deep in the sand—I heard voices on the beach—I was frightened. I ran to the house, and went up to my room by way of the back stairs.”
“And the handkerchief?” Charlie inquired. “You gave that to Mr. Tarneverro when he arrived?”
“Just a moment,” said the fortune-teller. “Anna—when did you and I last talk together alone?”