“Yes, I killed Estelle,” Mrs. Atholl replied tonelessly. “And it still didn’t make any difference. Even with her gone, you still don’t love me.”
“What did you do to her, Diana?” the conductor asked, voice breaking. “What did you do to my Estelle?”
“We’ll talk about that at the station,” Maggie interposed, motioning for Mark to hurry. “Will you be coming, Mr. Atholl?”
He was staring at his wife as if he’d never seen her before. “No. No, I won’t be coming.”
“Richard!” Diana half screamed, half moaned. “Please! I’m your wife!” The harp music stopped. Everyone in the tearoom waited, on edge, to see what would happen.
“Not anymore,” he told her. “Our sham of a marriage is over.”
Diana Atholl’s eyes were wild. She was still for just a moment, like a startled bird, and then she broke from Mark’s hold, lunged to her feet, and began to run.
“I’ve got this,” Maggie called, setting out.
The women’s heels clattered on the floor. Mrs. Atholl slammed into a startled waiter, then staggered into a potted palm. But she kept running.
Maggie dodged a woman swathed in furs and reeking of perfume and leapt forward at Diana. Both women slammed to the marble floor. She straddled Diana’s facedown body, forcing her hands behind her back.
“You nearly killed one of my best friends,” Maggie growled in her prisoner’s ear. “Two women are dead because of you. Why is Mildred Petrie dead and Sarah Sanderson in the hospital, Mrs. Atholl?”
“Mildred,” she gasped, “Mildred bought the flowers for me. I didn’t want to be spotted. I never thought she’d touch them after I’d left them for Estelle …”
“So Mildred touched the bouquet after you poisoned it. And Sarah accidentally touched it, too,” Maggie finished. “Revenge didn’t bring back your husband, but it did kill two, maybe three, women.”
Diana began to cry. “I’m sorry,” she sobbed. “I’m so, so sorry …”
Mark handcuffed her and brought her to her feet, then looked to Maggie, who stood and brushed herself off, ignoring the shocked looks of the hotel guests and staff. “Are you all right?”
“Yes,” Maggie answered. “But if you wouldn’t mind taking her to St. Leonard’s, I’d like to get back to Sarah.”
Chapter Fourteen
Dr. Carroll continued to update Frain with telephone calls. Elbows propped on his desk, he watched the union Jack snap in the stiff breeze outside his window.
“I consider this a visit to the mad tea party, Dr. Carroll,” Frain said. “Frau Hess is playing you.”
The doctor shook his head. “I’m no Sigmund Freud, but I don’t think she is.”
“You don’t know Clara Hess.”
“I know her better than you do.”
“You know what she chooses to show you.”
“I’ve done my research. The woman we know as Clara Hess was born Agna Frei—Agna Clara Frei. She changed her name to Clara Schwartz when she began her opera career, and became Clara Hope when she married Edmund Hope, and then became Clara Hess when she returned to Germany and married the conductor Miles Hess.”
“So she knows her name,” Frain deadpanned. “Remember, she’s an actress—she knows how to create a role and how to perform it brilliantly.”
“I don’t believe this is a performance, Mr. Frain.”
“You have a few more days. If she doesn’t start talking and giving us information, she’ll be executed.”
The doctor looked at his desk calendar. It was December 3. Four days left until her execution. “I think that would be a terrible mistake.”
“Get some intel out of her that I can use—or just flip her to our side. Unless you can do that, she’s going to end up like Josef Jakobs—dead.”
“I want books, Dr. Carroll.” This time, Dr. Carroll was visiting her in her room at the Tower. He had ordered the cage and the restraints removed.
“I’m sorry, Frau Hess, but prisoners do not have the privilege of receiving books.”
“What do you think I’m going to do with them? Make paper airplanes? Pinprick code? It’s not as if everyone wouldn’t be on the lookout for that.” Clara rose from her chair and stretched.
Then, she doubled over in pain, clutching her stomach. It was the telltale sign of another personality coming to the fore.
“Frau Hess?”
“I’m—I’m—” She struggled to speak. When she did, a different voice came from her mouth.