The Mousetrap and Other Plays (110 page)

KARL
. Inspector Ogden! Come back. I must speak to you.

(
He moves
RC
)

OGDEN
. (
off
) Wait in the hall, Sergeant.

SERGEANT
. (
off
) Yes, sir.

OGDEN
enters up
C
.
The
DOCTOR
crosses to
LC
.

OGDEN
. Yes, Professor Hendryk?

KARL
. (
moving to
L
of the sofa
) I have something to tell you. I know who killed my wife. It was not Miss Koletzky.

OGDEN
. (
politely
) Who was it, then?

KARL
. It was a girl called Helen Rollander. She is one of my pupils. (
He crosses and sits in the armchair
) She—she formed an unfortunate attachment to me.

The
DOCTOR
moves to
L
of the armchair.

She was alone with my wife on the day in question, and she gave her an overdose of the heart medicine.

OGDEN
. (
moving down
C
) How do you know this, Professor Hendryk?

KARL
. She told me herself, this morning.

OGDEN
. Indeed? Were there any witnesses?

KARL
. No, but I am telling you the truth.

OGDEN
. (
thoughtfully
) Helen—Rollander. You mean the daughter of Sir William Rollander?

KARL
. Yes. Her father is William Rollander. He is an important man. Does that make any difference?

OGDEN
. (
moving below the left end of the sofa
) No, it wouldn't make any difference—if your story were true.

KARL
. (
rising
) I swear to you that it's true.

OGDEN
. You are very devoted to Miss Koletzky, aren't you?

KARL
. Do you think I would make up a story just to protect her?

OGDEN
. (
moving
C
) I think it is quite possible—you are on terms of intimacy with Miss Koletzky, aren't you?

KARL
. (
dumbfounded
) What do you mean?

OGDEN
. Let me tell you, Professor Hendryk, that your daily woman, Mrs. Roper, came along to the police station this afternoon and made a statement.

KARL
. Then it was Mrs. Roper who . . .

OGDEN
. It is partly because of that statement that Miss Koletzky has been arrested.

KARL
. (
turning to the
DOCTOR
for support
) You believe that Lisa and I . . .

OGDEN
. Your wife was an invalid. Miss Koletzky is an attractive young woman. You were thrown together.

KARL
. You think we planned together to kill Anya.

OGDEN
. No, I don't think you planned it. I may be wrong there, of course.

KARL
circles the armchair to
C
.

I think all the planning was done by Miss Koletzky. There was a prospect of your wife's regaining her health owing to a new treatment. I think Miss Koletzky was taking no chance of that happening.

KARL
. But I tell you that it was Helen Rollander.

OGDEN
. You tell me, yes. It seems to me a most unlikely story. (
He moves up
C
)

KARL
crosses and stands down
R
.

Is it plausible that a girl like Miss Rollander who's got the world at her feet and who hardly knows you, would do a thing like that? Making up an accusation of that kind reflects little credit on you, Professor Hendryk—trumping it up on the spur of the moment because you think it cannot be contradicted.

KARL
. (
moving to
R
of
OGDEN
) Listen. Go to Miss Rollander. Tell her that another woman has been arrested for the murder. Tell her, from me, that I know—know—that with all her faults, she is decent and honest. I swear that she will confirm what I have told you.

OGDEN
. You've thought it up very cleverly, haven't you?

KARL
. What do you mean?

OGDEN
. What I say. But there's no one who can confirm your story.

KARL
. Only Helen herself.

OGDEN
. Exactly.

KARL
. And Dr. Stoner knows. I told him.

OGDEN
. He knows because you told him.

DOCTOR
. I believe it to be the truth, Inspector Ogden. If you remember, I mentioned to you that when we left Mrs. Hendryk that day, Miss Rollander remained behind to keep her company.

OGDEN
. A kind offer on her part. (
He crosses to
R
of the
DOCTOR
) We interviewed Miss Rollander at the time and I see no reason to doubt her story. She stayed for a short time and then Mrs. Hendryk asked her to leave since she felt tired. (
He moves above the armchair
)

KARL
. Go to Helen now. Tell her what has happened. Tell her what I have asked you to tell her.

OGDEN
. (
to the
DOCTOR
) Just when did Professor Hendryk tell you that Miss Rollander had killed his wife? Within the last hour, I should imagine.

DOCTOR
. That is so.

KARL
. We met in the street. (
He moves below the sofa
)

OGDEN
. Didn't it strike you that if this was true, he would have come to us as soon as she admitted to him what she had done?

DOCTOR
. He's not that kind of man.

OGDEN
. (
ruthlessly
) I don't think you're really aware what kind of man he is. (
He moves to
KARL
's coat on the desk chair
) He's a quick and clever thinker, and he's not over scrupulous.

KARL
starts towards the
INSPECTOR
, but the
DOCTOR
crosses quickly to
L
of
KARL
and restrains him.

This is your coat and an evening paper, I see. (
He draws the evening paper from the pocket
)

KARL
moves down
R
of the sofa. The
DOCTOR
moves up
L
of the sofa.

KARL
. Yes, I bought it on the corner, just before I came in. I haven't had time to read it, yet.

OGDEN
. (
moving
C
) Are you sure?

KARL
. Yes—(
He moves
RC
) I am quite sure.

OGDEN
. I think you did. (
He reads from the paper
) “Sir William Rollander's only daughter, Helen Rollander, was the victim of a regrettable accident this morning. In crossing the road she was knocked down by a lorry. The lorry driver claims that Miss Rollander gave him no time to brake. She walked straight into the road without looking right or left, and was killed instantly.”

KARL
slumps on to the sofa.

I think that when you saw that paragraph, Professor Hendryk, you saw a way out to save your mistress by accusing a girl who could never refute what you said—because she was dead.

The lights
BLACK
-
OUT
as—

The
CURTAIN
falls.

Scene III

SCENE
:
The same. Two months later. Late afternoon.

When the
CURTAIN
rises, the lights come up.
KARL
is seated on the sofa. The
DOCTOR
is leaning against the table
RC
, reading the “Walter Savage Landor.”
LESTER
is pacing up and down
LC
.
The telephone rings. They all start.
LESTER
, who is nearest to the telephone, lifts the receiver.

LESTER
. (
into the telephone
) Hello? . . . No. (
He replaces the receiver
) These reporters never stop. (
He moves down
L
)

The
DOCTOR
crosses and sits in the armchair.
KARL
rises and circles the sofa to
C
.

KARL
. I wish I had stayed in court. Why didn't you let me stay?

DOCTOR
. Lisa specially asked that you shouldn't remain in court to hear the verdict. We've got to respect her wish.

KARL
. You could have stayed.

DOCTOR
. She wanted me to be with you. The lawyers will let us know at once . . .

KARL
. They can't find her guilty. They can't. (
He moves up
R
)

LESTER
. (
moving down
C
) If you'd like me to go back there . . .

DOCTOR
. You stay here, Lester.

LESTER
. If I'm any use. If there's anything I could do . . .

DOCTOR
. You can answer that damn telephone that keeps ringing.

KARL
. (
moving below the sofa
) Yes, my dear boy. Stay. Your presence here helps me.

LESTER
. Does it? Does it, really?

KARL
. She must be, she will be acquitted. I can't believe that innocence can go unrecognized. (
He sits on the sofa
)

LESTER
moves up
C
.

DOCTOR
. Can't you? I can. One's seen it often enough. And you've seen it, Karl, time and time again. Mind you, I think she made a good impression on the jury.

LESTER
. But the evidence was pretty damning. It's that fright
ful Roper woman. The things she said. (He sits
L
of the table
RC
)

DOCTOR
. She believed what she was saying, of course. That's what made her so unshakeable under cross-examination. It's particularly unfortunate that she should have seen you and Lisa embracing each other on the day of the inquest. She did see it, I suppose.

KARL
. Yes, she must have seen it. It was true. It's the first time I have ever kissed Lisa.

DOCTOR
. And a thoroughly bad time to choose. It's really a thousand pities that snooping woman never saw or heard anything that passed between you and Helen. “A very nice young lady”—that's all she had to say.

KARL
. It is so odd to tell the truth and not be believed.

DOCTOR
. All you've done is to bring down a lot of odium on yourself, for cooking up a scurrilous story about a girl who is dead.

KARL
. (
rising and moving up
C
) If I'd only gone to the police right away, the moment she'd told me . . .

DOCTOR
. If only you had. It's particularly unfortunate that you only came out with the story after you'd bought a paper containing the news that she's dead. And your reasons for not going to the police didn't sound credible in the least.

KARL
moves down
L
.

Though they are to me, of course, because I know the incredible fool you are. The whole set of circumstances is thoroughly damnable. The Roper woman coming in to find Lisa standing by the body and holding the bottle in gloved fingers. The whole thing has built itself up in the most incredible fashion.

KARL
crosses and stands down
R
.
The telephone rings.

KARL
. Is that . . . ? Can it . . . ?

There is a moment's agonizing pause, then the
DOCTOR
motions to
LESTER
who rises, goes to the telephone and lifts the receiver.

LESTER
. (
into the telephone
) Yes? . . . Hello? . . . Go to hell!

DOCTOR
. Ghouls, that's what they are, ghouls.

KARL
. (
moving up
R
) If they find her guilty, if they . . .

DOCTOR
. Well, we can appeal, you know.

KARL
. (
moving down
C
and then below the sofa
) Why should she have to go through all this? Why should she be the one to suffer? I wish I were in her place.

DOCTOR
. Yes, it's always easier when it's oneself.

KARL
. After all, I'm partly responsible for what happened . . .

DOCTOR
. (
interrupting
) I've told you that's nonsense.

KARL
. But Lisa has done nothing. Nothing. (
He moves down
C
, then goes up
R
)

DOCTOR
. (
after a long pause; to
LESTER
) Go and make us some coffee, boy, if you know how.