The Memory of Blood(80)

‘What sort of signs?’

‘The ones that tell you when a man is about to become infatuated again. We were there going over our scenes on the night Robert first met her. And we could tell from the first moment what was going on. You could see the sparks from the stage.’

‘Who is his mistress?’

‘Gail Strong,’ said Crofting, as if it was obvious. ‘She set her cap at him. A disgraceful display. I suppose he was flattered, a man of his age.’

‘When was this?’

‘Oh, a couple of months ago, way before she joined the play. I think she’d been introduced to him through her father. And then at the party I remember Mona saying something that struck me as odd, just before everything went wrong.’

‘What was that?’

‘She said, That completes the circle. You know, like La Ronde. And I asked her to explain but she wouldn’t.’

‘She meant exactly what she said,’ said May. ‘Gail Strong was seeing Robert Kramer, Kramer’s wife was seeing Marcus Sigler, and then we think Marcus and Gail had sex at the party.’

‘But did Marcus and Judith know about Gail?’

‘Perhaps not, but somebody does. Did Mona Williams have any enemies?’

‘Mr May, you reach a certain age when you don’t have enemies anymore, just people who find you mildly annoying. You become invisible. Mona had got to the point where she only existed onstage.’

‘You can’t think why anyone would want to kill her?’

‘No, of course not.’

May sat back with a sigh. ‘Arthur, is there anything you want to ask?’

Bryant was rooting through his pockets, and looked as if he’d been caught out. ‘Ah, yes—I have this written down somewhere but I can’t find it—bladder complaints.’

‘I’m sorry?’

‘You said she talked to you about her innards. Any bladder complaints?’

‘Well, I suppose the usual, at that age.’

‘Only it would make sense if she had.’

‘Arthur, you’re not making any sense, as usual,’ said May.

‘It’s very simple,’ said Bryant impatiently. ‘The only reason Mona Williams was threatened was because she knew the killer’s identity. Now, she didn’t know it before the party because the first death hadn’t yet occurred. Maybe she worked it out later, but she saw or heard something at the party that revealed the killer’s identity to her. And at some point this realisation also hit the killer. I seem to remember from the chart Janice gave me that Mona Williams visited the bathroom three times. On several occasions during the evening, there was a queue in the hall. In those kind of situations, people tend to talk to each other. I’m wondering if somebody told her something they shouldn’t have.’

‘Well, Mr Crofting, I think we can let you go for now,’ said May. ‘You’ve been very helpful.’

Bryant watched the old actor don his coat. ‘I thought you were marvelous in The Crucible. I saw you when I was a child.’

Crofting eyed Bryant coldly. ‘No, I don’t think it was that long ago,’ he said, and left.

Bryant trotted off to the kitchen to brew tea, chatting to May as he went. ‘We’re missing something very obvious in this tangle, aren’t we? Something in plain sight. I should have been able to figure it out in an instant. After all, we’re not dealing with a particularly sophisticated killer. Rather the reverse. A baby shaken to death, an accountant knocked over the head and hung, an old woman intimidated. And the crude symbolism of the dolls, everything intended to frighten Robert Kramer—but nothing ever does. Have you spoken to him in the last twenty-four hours?’

‘He’s annoyed about the theatre being closed but has negotiated it down to three days. They’ll reopen Tuesday.’

‘You see? Nothing touches him. And he leaves nothing to chance. Which brings me to Gail Strong’s father.’

‘Her father? What about him?’

‘Kramer’s not a nice man, we agree on that? He was horrible to his first wife, he cheats on his second and he has a string of compliant girlfriends who can be relied upon to keep their mouths shut. So why would he choose Gail Strong? She has a high media profile and seems physically incapable of behaving herself. She’s a liability.’

‘He’s probably just infatuated with her.’

‘He may well be, but if she proved to be a nuisance he’d drop her like a hot brick. He’ll have made sure she knows nothing about his business dealings, but she could still make life very difficult for him.’

‘Unless he needs something from her,’ May suggested.