Part 15 (1/2)
”Why did you think she was in love with Mr. Webster, Mr. Russell? And please give us a direct answer. You can understand the importance of what you're about to say.”
”I do. I thought so because she had told me that he was in love with her, and because of her grief and anger when he dismissed her from his office. And she did everything to make me think so, except declaring it outright. She did that because she knew I hated to think she was in love with him.”
”All right, Mr. Russell. Now, tell us what happened during your--ah--shadowing Miss Brace the night she was killed.”
”I got off the car at Ridgecrest and walked toward Sloanehurst. It was raining then, pretty hard. I thought she had made an appointment to meet Mr. Webster somewhere in the grounds here. It was a quarter to eleven when I got to the little side-gate that opens on the lawn out there on the north side of the house.”
”How did you know that?”
”I looked at my watch then. It's got a luminous dial.”
”You were then at the gate near where she was found, dead?”
”Yes. And she was at the gate.”
”Oh! So you saw her?”
”I saw her. When I lifted the latch of the gate, she came toward me.
There was a heavy drizzle then. I thought she had been leaning on the fence a few feet away. She whispered, sharp and quick, 'Who's that?' I knew who she was, right off. I said, 'Gene.'
”She caught hold of my arm and shook it. She told me, still whispering, if I didn't get away from there, if I didn't go back to town, she'd raise an alarm, accuse me of trying to kill her--or she'd kill me. She pressed something against my cheek. It felt like a knife, although I couldn't see, for the darkness.”
The witness paused and licked his dry lips. He was breathing fast, and his restless eyes had a hunted look. The people in the room leaned farther toward him, some believing, some doubting him.
Hastings thought: ”He's scared stiff, but telling the truth--so far.”
”All right; what next?” asked Dr. Garnet, involuntarily lowering his voice to Russell's tone.
”I accused her of having an appointment to meet Webster there. I got mad. I hate to have to tell all this, gentlemen; but I want to tell the truth. I told her she was a fool to run after a man who'd thrown her over.
”'It's none of your look-out what I do!' she told me. 'You get away from here, now--this minute! You'll be sorry if you don't!' There was something about her that frightened me, mad as I was. I'd never seen her like that before.”
”What do you mean?” Garnet urged him.
”I thought she would kill me, or somebody else would, and she knew it. I got the idea that she was like a crazy woman, out of her head about Webster, ready to do anything desperate, anything wild. I can't explain it any better than that.”
”And did you leave her?”
”Yes, sir.”
”At once?”
”Practically. A sort of panic got hold of me. I can't explain it, really.”
Russell, seeking an illuminative phrase, gave vent to a long-drawn, anxious sigh. He appeared to feel no shame for his flight. His fear was that he would not be believed.
”Just as she told me a second time to leave her, I thought I heard somebody coming toward us, a slushy, dull sound, like heavy footsteps on the wet gra.s.s. Mildred's manner, her voice, had already scared me.
”When I heard those footsteps, I turned and ran. My heart was in my mouth. I ran out to the road and back toward Was.h.i.+ngton. I ran as fast as I could. Twice I fell on my hands and knees. I can't tell you exactly how it was, why it was. I just knew something terrible would happen if I stayed there. I never had a feeling like that before. I was more afraid of her than I was of the man coming toward us.”