The Mousetrap and Other Plays (127 page)

(
He turns to Elsa
) Amyas?

ELSA
. (
crossing to the door up
C
) There's something he wants to finish.

(
ELSA
exits up
C
.
MEREDITH
follows her off
)

ANGELA
. (
off
) He hates stopping for lunch.

(
The paintbrush drops from
AMYAS
'
hand. The
LIGHTS
slowly dim to
BLACK
-
OUT
.
A spotlight comes up on Justin down
L
)

JUSTIN
. They all went in to lunch, leaving Amyas painting on the terrace. After lunch, Miss Williams and Mrs. Crale went out with coffee. Miss Williams?

(
The spotlight fades.
MISS
WILLIAMS
'
voice can be heard in the darkness
)

MISS
WILLIAMS
. Mr. Crale often refused lunch and went on painting. It was nothing out of the ordinary. He liked a cup of coffee brought to him, though. I poured it and Mrs. Crale took it out to him, and I followed. At the trial I told what we found. But there was something else—something I have not told anyone. I think it right that I should tell it now.

(
The
LIGHTS
come up.
AMYAS
lies prostate on the ground below the easel.
CAROLINE
and
MISS
WILLIAMS
are in the room, standing at the stool, on which there is a tray of coffee.
MISS
WILLIAMS
is
R
of the stool, pouring out a cup of coffee, which she gives to Caroline.
CAROLINE
takes the coffee on to the terrace
)

CAROLINE
. (
as she goes on to the terrace
) Amyas. (
She sees Amyas on the ground. Horrified
) Amyas! (
She stands for a moment, puts the coffee-cup on the bench, rushes to Amyas, kneels beside him and picks up his hand
)

(
MISS
WILLIAMS
comes quickly on to the terrace and moves to
L
of Caroline
)

He's—I think he's dead. (
She is distracted
) Well, go on. Quick. Telephone for a doctor or something.

(
MISS
WILLIAMS
goes quickly into the room. As soon as Miss Williams reaches the french windows,
CAROLINE
gives a furtive look round, takes out her handkerchief, picks up the beer bottle, wipes it, then presses Amyas' hand round it.
MEREDITH
enters up
C
)

MISS
WILLIAMS
. (
to Meredith
) Get Dr. Fawcett, quickly. It's Mr. Crale. He's been taken ill.

(
MEREDITH
stares at Miss Williams for a moment, then moves to the telephone and lifts the receiver.
MISS
WILLIAMS
goes on to the terrace in time to see Caroline pressing Amyas' fingers round the bottle.
MISS
WILLIAMS
freezes.
CAROLINE
rises, crosses quickly to the trolley, puts the bottle on it, then stands facing
L
.
MISS
WILLIAMS
turns slowly and goes into the room
)

MEREDITH
. (
into the telephone
) Four-two, please . . . Dr. Fawcett? . . . This is Alderbury . . . Can you come at once? Mr. Crale has been taken seriously ill . . .

MISS
WILLIAMS
. He's . . .

MEREDITH
. (
to Miss Williams
) What? (
Into the telephone
) Just a moment. (
To Miss Williams
) What did you say?

(
ELSA
enters up
C
.
PHILIP
follows her on. They are laughing and joking
)

MISS
WILLIAMS
. (
in a clear voice
) I said he's dead.

(
MEREDITH
replaces the receiver
)

ELSA
. (
staring at Miss Williams
) What did you say? Dead? Amyas? (
She rushes on to the terrace and stares down at Amyas
) Amyas! (
She draws in her breath, runs and kneels above Amyas and touches his head
)

(
CAROLINE
turns. The others are motionless
)

Quietly Amyas!

(
There is a pause.
PHILIP
runs on to the terrace and stands below the bench.
MISS
WILLIAMS
comes on to the terrace and stands below the french windows.
MEREDITH
follows her on and stands up
L
of the bench
)

(
She looks up at Caroline
) You've killed him. You said you'd kill him, and you've done it. Sooner than let me have him, you've killed him. (
She jumps up and goes to throw herself at Caroline
)

(
PHILIP
moves quickly, stops Elsa and propels her round to Miss Williams.
ELSA
is hysterical and screams.
ANGELA
enters up
C
and stands beside the sofa
)

MISS
WILLIAMS
. Be quiet. Control yourself.

ELSA
. (
in a frenzy
) She killed him. She killed him.

PHILIP
. Take her inside—get her to lie down.

(
MEREDITH
takes Elsa into the room
)

CAROLINE
. Miss Williams, don't let Angela come—don't let her see.

(
MEREDITH
takes
ELSA
off up
C
.
MISS
WILLIAMS
looks at Caroline for a moment, then sets her lips firmly and goes into the room.
PHILIP
kneels beside Amyas and feels his pulse
)

ANGELA
. Miss Williams, what is it? What's happened?

MISS
WILLIAMS
. Come to your room, Angela. There's been an accident.

(
MISS
WILLIAMS
and
ANGELA
exit up
C
)

PHILIP
. (
looking up at Caroline
) It's murder.

CAROLINE
. (
shrinking back; suddenly indecisive
) No. No—he did it himself.

PHILIP
. (
quietly
) You can tell that story—to the police.

(
The
LIGHTS
slowly dim to
BLACK
-
OUT
.
A spotlight comes up on Justin down
L
)

JUSTIN
. In due course the police arrived. They found the missing phial of conine in a drawer in Caroline's room. It was empty. She admitted taking it—but denied using it and swore she had no idea
why
it should be empty. No fingerprints but Meredith's and her own were found on it. On the terrace, a small eye-dropper was found crushed underfoot. It contained traces of conine and shows how the poison was introduced into the beer. Angela Warren told how she got a fresh bottle of beer from the refrigerator. Miss Williams took it from her and Caroline took it from Miss Williams, opened it and gave it to Amyas, as you have just heard. Neither Meredith nor Philip Blake touched it or went near it. A week later Caroline Crale was arrested on a charge of murder.

(
The spotlight fades. After a moment, the
LIGHTS
come up showing the scene as it was at the beginning of the Act. The coffee, lemonade, trolley, easel, etc., have been removed. The picture on the wall is again that of Elsa.
PHILIP
stands
R
of the sofa.
MEREDITH
is seated on the sofa at the left end.
ANGELA
is seated on the left arm of the sofa.
ELSA
stands in front of the door up
C
.
MISS
WILLIAMS
is seated on the right end of the stool.
CARLA
is seated in the armchair
R
.
JUSTIN
is just inside the french windows with a notebook in his hand. They are all dressed for outdoors with coats and hats.
ELSA
is in mink. She appears excited.
MEREDITH
is crushed and miserable.
PHILIP
is aggressive.
MISS
WILLIAMS
sits with lips set firm.
ANGELA
is upright, interested and thoughtful
)

PHILIP
. (
irritably
) Well, we've been through this extraordinary performance which must have been most painful to some of us. (
He crosses above the stool to
R
of Justin
) And what have we learnt? Nothing that we did not know before. (
He glares at Justin
)

(
JUSTIN
smiles.
PHILIP
goes on to the terrace, stands by the bench and lights a cigarette.
MISS
WILLIAMS
rises and moves
R
)

JUSTIN
. (
thoughtfully
) I wouldn't say that.

MEREDITH
. It's brought it all back—just as though it happened yesterday. Most painful.

ELSA
. (
crossing to the sofa and sitting on it,
R
of Meredith
) Yes, it brought it all back. It brought
him
back.

ANGELA
. (
to Justin
) What have you learned that you did not know before?

JUSTIN
. We shall go into that.

(
PHILIP
comes into the room and crosses to
C
)

PHILIP
. May I point out something that does not seem to be recognized by anybody? (
He moves to
R
of Justin
) What we have been listening to—and supplying—can only be recollections, and probably faulty ones at that.

JUSTIN
. As you say.

PHILIP
. And therefore quite useless as evidence. (
He turns away up
LC
) We haven't heard
facts
at all, only people's vague recollections of facts.

JUSTIN
. (
moving to
L
of Philip
) What we have heard has no evidential value as such—but it
has
a value, you know.

PHILIP
. In what way?

JUSTIN
. Shall we say, in what people choose to remember? Or, alternatively, choose to forget.

PHILIP
. Very clever—but fanciful.

ANGELA
. (
to Philip
) I don't agree. I . . .

PHILIP
. (
overriding Angela
) And I will point out something else. (
He crosses below the stool and stands between Miss Williams and Elsa
) It's not just a question of what people remember, or do not remember. It might be a question of deliberate lying.

JUSTIN
. Of course.

ANGELA
. That's just the point, I rather imagine. (
She rises and moves
C
) Or am I wrong?

JUSTIN
. You are thinking on the right lines, Miss Warren.

(
ANGELA
crosses to the armchair
L
)

PHILIP
. (
exasperated
) Look here, what is all this? If somebody is deliberately lying—why then . . .

ANGELA
. (
sitting in the armchair
L
) Exactly.

PHILIP
. (
crossing to Justin; angrily
) Do you mean you have got us here with the idea—the preposterous idea, that one of us could be guilty of murder?

ANGELA
. Of course he has. Have you only just realized it?

PHILIP
. I never heard such offensive nonsense in my life.

ANGELA
. If Amyas didn't kill himself, and if his wife didn't murder him, then one of us must have done so.

PHILIP
. But it has already been made perfectly clear, in the course of what we've heard, that nobody but Caroline
could
have killed him.

JUSTIN
. I don't think we can be as certain as all that.

PHILIP
. (
crossing below the stool to
R
) Oh, God!

JUSTIN
. (
not heeding
) There is the question you yourself raised, the question of lying.

(
There is a slight pause.
PHILIP
sits on the right end of the stool, with his back to the audience
)

When one person's evidence is corroborated or acquiesced in by another person—(
he moves down
C
) then it can be regarded as checked. But some of what we have heard is vouched for by only one person. (
He crosses below the stool and moves up
C
) For instance, at the very beginning, we had to rely solely on Mr. Meredith Blake here for what passed between him and Caroline Crale.