The outline went into considerable detail. It was very neatly printed. And it was very well organized. “6:45 to 7:05—MAJORITY OF PEOPLE ARRIVE AT PARTY,” it said, and then:
7:00 to 7:05—SHEILA KASHINIAN HEARS MOAN FROM SECOND FLOOR (?)
7:00 to 7:20—EVERYBODY EATS AND TALKS
7:22—CANDIDA DEWITT ARRIVES
7:27—HANNAH BURSTS INTO TEARS AND RUNS UPSTAIRS
7:33—PAUL HAZZARD RUNS UPSTAIRS AFTER HANNAH
7:36—MARY OHANIAN GOES UPSTAIRS TO CHECK ON THE SITUATION
7:39—MARY OHANIAN COMES DOWN
7:33 TO 7:48—CANDIDA DEWITT TALKS TO GREGOR DEMARKIAN
7:42—HELEN TEVORKIAN GOES UPSTAIRS TO CHECK
7:48—HELEN TEVORKIAN COMES DOWNSTAIRS
7:48 TO 7:50—DISCUSSION IN THE PARTY ABOUT WHAT TO DO NEXT
7:50—CANDIDA DEWITT GOES UPSTAIRS TO CHECK
7:52—HANNAH KREKORIAN STARTS SCREAMING
7:52:02—EVERYBODY RUNS UPSTAIRS TO SEE WHAT’S GOING ON
Gregor folded the page in his hands. “I’d like to keep this, if the two of you wouldn’t mind.”
“We made it for you to keep,” Helen Tevorakian said. “It isn’t as complete as it might be. I have Hannah over at my apartment, of course, but the doctor’s given her a sedative. And I wouldn’t have felt right about questioning her.”
“I’ll talk to Hannah myself later,” Gregor said. “Let me just clear up a couple of points here. Mary went upstairs right after Paul Hazzard did.”
“That’s right. Practically on his heels. Except not quite. If you see what I mean.”
“What I’m interested in is what you found when you got there,” Gregor said. “Was the door to Hannah’s bedroom open?”
“Oh, yes.” Mary nodded.
“Where was Hannah?”
“In the bathroom.”
“No,” Mary said. “The bathroom door was closed. And locked.”
“How do you know that?”
“I saw Paul Hazzard try it. He rattled the knob and then he called out to Hannah. To Mrs. Krekorian.”
“Did Hannah answer?”
“Not really,” Mary Ohanian said. “She was crying, you know. She was totally hysterical. I could hear her.”
“All right,” Gregor said. “Did Paul Hazzard see you? Or hear you? Did he know you were there?”
“I don’t think so, Mr. Demarkian. He never turned around. And Hannah was making a lot of noise.”
“All right,” Gregor said again. “That’s clear enough, I suppose. Helen, let’s go to you. You went up later. Why?”
Helen Tevorakian shot him a dry, self-deprecating smile. “Why isn’t the question here, Krekor. The question is how we all managed the admirable self-restraint it took not to install ourselves outside Hannah’s bedroom door the minute after Paul Hazzard ran upstairs. We were all itching to get up there.”
Gregor laughed. “Noted. I’ll take that as an explanation. You did go up there though. What did you find?”
“Nothing, really,” Helen said. “The bedroom door was locked by the time I got there. I couldn’t see anything.”
“You’re sure it was locked.”
“Absolutely sure. I tried it myself.”
“Then what did you do?”
“I listened. I stood very still outside in the hallway and listened hard.”
“What did you hear?”
“Paul Hazzard pacing in the bedroom. Hannah crying. Still behind the bathroom door.”
“Can you really be sure about either of those things?”
Helen Tevorakian considered it. “I can be sure about Hannah’s crying. It was really very, very muffled. It would have been much clearer if there had been nothing between us but that one bedroom door.”
“But you can’t be sure about the pacing,” Gregor prodded.
“I can be sure I heard somebody walking around in there. That was unmistakable. And Hazzard was in there, Gregor. I remember wondering if he was pacing around like that to keep warm,” Helen said. “It was terribly cold in the hall. Frigid.”
Gregor played with the piece of paper in his hands and frowned. “Mary, when you came upstairs and saw Paul Hazzard in Hannah’s bedroom, was there a window open in that bedroom?”
Mary was alert. “You mean the window that was open later when we found the body? Oh, no, Gregor, it wasn’t open when I went up. I could have seen the curtains blowing from where I was standing.”