Murder Most Foul Page #6

All you care about

is your play and your stupid old self

and no, I won't play the housekeeper!

All right, Miss Marple.

Cyanide gas, but how?

- I think I can explain that.

- No doubt.

I take it from your tone that

you did not have second thoughts

about seeing

the Chief Constable yesterday.

- If you can explain, please do so.

- Very well.

Now!

So what? My wife has one.

Presumably

she doesn't cook candle wax.

No, she doesn't.

There is a little

at the bottom of that saucepan.

This is what happened.

The murderer set the dials

so that the gas

came on at 12:
55 precisely

under this saucepan that

contained a small wax cup of acid

and a pellet of sodium cyanide.

The wax melted,

the acid flowed over the pellet.

Result:
a sudden release

of cyanide gas. Lethal.

I see.

At one o'clock precisely,

the gas turned itself off...

..now!

Leaving nothing

but an innocent saucepan on the hob.

Yes. That means whoever we're looking

for must have specialist knowledge.

Oh, no.

Exactly the same murder method

is employed in our play on Monday -

Out Of The Stewpot.

Any one of the company

could have done it.

The way things are now I am tempted

to arrest the whole lot of them.

- Really?

- Yes, really.

What you've found out, what we've

found out... look at what we've got.

Cosgood.

He told you he'd only

just written Remember September

and yet we know

it was produced in 1951.

Victim one,

Mrs McGinty was in it.

This fellow Summers,

we know he took Mrs McGinty out

when the company was in Milchester,

the week she was murdered.

His wife, Maureen, knew

about this and she didn't like it.

Then there's this spooky girl, Eva.

She was having a romance with victim

number two, George Rowton,

and he tossed her aside like a...

- Worn-out glove, sir?

- Yes.

Then there's young Arthur -

that note was typed on his typewriter

and as a result, victim number three.

There is a point here.

In 1951, the younger members of the

company would have been children.

Yes, by George.

If that performance

of Remember September in 1951

started this whole thing,

then none of those youngsters -

Eva, Bill, Sheila, Arthur -

could have anything to do with it.

Anyone could have gone into Arthur's

room and used the typewriter.

- He's here.

- What?

- He's here, sir.

- Oh, yes.

- Would you wait here a moment?

- Wait?

Please. Sergeant.

I wonder why the iron was hot?

- What are you doing here?

- Well, I...

You asked me to drop in

the cast list when I passed.

You know, Remember September.

You were passing

at 2:
30 in the morning? Come now.

Yes.

As a matter of fact, the Inspector

was kind enough to send a car.

He thought I might succeed where

he had failed to persuade you...

- To desert my post?

- This is a dangerous place.

- These are dangerous people.

- Only one of them.

- The time has come for plain speak.

- Please, Jim, I'm thinking.

It's here that the answer lies.

Driffold Cosgood, Ralph Summers,

Margaret McGinty, Rose Kane.

Rose.

Rose.

Mr Stringer, we have here

in addition to Margaret McGinty,

an actress called Rose Kane.

I don't understand.

Don't you see? "A rose

by any other name would smell".

- The blackmail note.

- Oh!

Mr Stringer,

tomorrow I must do some digging.

- Digging?

- Yes, into the past.

You mean this Rose Kane?

Yes.

You seem

to remember her well, Mr Tumbrill.

- What is your interest in her?

- I simply want to trace her.

I've been outside

the profession for many years now

and so the only way l...

If you're an old friend of hers,

I'm afraid you're in for a shock.

- Oh?

- Poor Rosie was hanged.

- What?

- Yes.

A terrible business,

terrible business.

Will you?

Not so soon after breakfast,

thank you. You were saying?

Oh, yes, terrible.

I shall never forget it.

She opened in this play

somewhere in the sticks.

It was a unique flopperoo,

it didn't even run the night.

Anyhow on the same night, believe it

or not, she poisoned her husband.

- Did she indeed?

- Yes, she did.

She sent her kid out to buy

half a pound of garlic sausage

and then doctored it

with weedkiller.

There was a child?

Must have been

- Boy or girl?

- Never saw the kid myself.

Can't even remember its name.

Some friend took it in for a bit

then popped it into an orphanage.

That friend, was her name McGinty?

Yes, that's right.

Maggie McGinty, blonde, flighty.

Why ever did Rose do it?

- Usual thing - another man.

- Who was he?

He never came forward

and she never named him.

Then it could be

the lover or the child.

Eh?

I wonder if I might have

this photograph as a keepsake?

Oh, by all means. Yes, by all means.

One of mine

that got away, you might say.

I won't take up

any more of your time.

Allow me.

- Evelyn!

- I beg your pardon?

Rose's kid.

Evelyn, that was the name.

Evelyn.

Nothing like champagne

for a champagne occasion.

Uncommonly civil of you, dear lady.

- What about a toast?

- Of course, of course.

To success, to us, all of us

and particularly to our hostess, long

life, dear lady.

Oh, Mr Cosgood, such lovely flowers.

- Who's that?

- What?

She was an actress

called Rose Kane.

Why do you ask?

I don't know,

but somehow she means death.

It's something to do with George.

Five minutes, boys and girls.

The party's over.

All you have to do

is speak your lines clearly,

try not to trip over and we'll

run longer than The Mousetrap.

See you on stage, dear lady.

Don't forget,

it's Rona La Plante who's dead.

Well, Driffold, tonight's the night.

- It most certainly is. Got the gun?

- Yes.

What does

she want to see us about, sir?

I don't know.

Come in.

Well, Miss Marple?

Good evening, Inspector.

There's something you should know

before you go in to see the play.

Oh, what?

I think our murderer

will try to kill me again tonight.

Again?

The first attempt failed.

Poor Dorothy perished instead.

What are you talking about?

The iron was hot, you see.

I burnt my hand.

No, I don't see.

When I went into

Dorothy's room earlier that night

there was washing on the line.

I think she did her ironing later and

forgot to switch off.

Then in the middle of the night

she remembered

and went to the kitchen to do so.

She walked into a trap meant for you?

That note was left outside my door

deliberately to lure me down.

We are going to stay right here

and not let Miss Marple

out of our sight.

You mustn't do that.

We must put no obstacle in the way.

- You can't be serious?

- Never more so.

You see, our murderer

set a trap for me.

I have just returned the compliment.

- Miss Marple, I've brought the...

- Let me have it, Mr Stringer.

- Thank you.

- What's that?

Life insurance, Inspector.

Life insurance.

Beginners on stage, please. Beginners

on stage.

Will you please excuse me, gentlemen?

We've been through that before.

You know that I have committed myself

to this way of life

and I won't give it up.

You're living here, a son of mine!

I live where I choose.

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