Sleuth Page #10

You didn't do that yourself, did you ?

I am a hairdresser, don't forget.

I do have friends in the, uh, arts.

I suppose you, uh, sneaked--

slipped in here yesterday

while I was in Salisbury.

- Yes.

- Dumped your clothes into my wardrobe...

and sprinkled a little sacrificial

blood onto the bannisters, hmm ?

It wasn't my blood, I know

you'll be relieved to hear.

I got it from a pig's liver.

I suppose you could've used

almost any dago wine.

- Oh, I'll have that drink now.

- Of course.

- Gin and tonic, I think.

- You richly deserve it, my dear fellow.

Come along.

You know, I haven't congratulated you yet...

on your, uh, game.

- Oh ?

- It was jolly good.

You really think so ? Good.

I must say, I was rather

delighted with it myself.

I say, did you really think...

your last moment on earth had come ?

Yes.

You're not cross, are you ?

Cross ? I don't understand.

That's one of your words.

Look, as I explained to you,

when you were playing Doppler,

I had to test your mettle

to see if, as I suspected,

you really were my sort of person.

A games-playing sort of person ?

- Exactly !

- And am I ?

There's no question about it.

Compare your experience this weekend,

my dear Milo, with any

other moments in your life.

Now, if you're honest with yourself,

you'll have to admit...

that you lived more intensely in

my company than in anybody else's.

Now, even with Marguerite.

Now, we know what it is

to play a game, you and I.

That's so rare.

Two people brought together,

equally matched, having the courage...

and the talents...

to make of life a continuing

charade of bright fancies,

happy invention;

to face out its emptiness...

and its terrors by playing.

By just playing.

Haven't you forgotten

the jumped-up pantry boy...

who doesn't know his place ?

We are from different worlds,

you and me, Andrew.

In mine, there was no time...

for bright fancies and happy inventions.

No stopping for tea.

The only game we played was to survive...

or go to the wall.

If you didn't win, you just didn't finish.

Loser lose all.

You probably don't understand that.

Understand or not, nothing

you've said disproves my point.

Look at the way you chose to get back at me--

by playing Inspector Doppler.

Simple revenge.

Paying back in kind.

Every wop knows about that.

- Well, is honor satisfied ?

Score even ? One set all ?

"Honor" ?

That's another one of your words.

I know...

that you've stripped me...

more than naked.

I know... that you actually...

terrified me to death.

I stood on those stairs looking down...

and realizing that my-my coat sleeve button,

the bannister,

the nail on my fourth finger...

were absolutely the last things

I was gonna see...

ever.

Then, I heard...

the sound... of my own death.

Now, that changes you, Andrew,

believe me, and I still owe you for that.

It'll pass. It's shock, my dear fellow.

Here, let me give you--

I don't want an even score !

And don't you give me any of that

one-set-all, it's-enough-to-take-part crap.

My father just took part,

and his father,

and his father.

Losers, as far back as you can go !

Well, it stops with me !

With me, the Tindles start winning !

And others start losing.

You, for example.

Me ? Lose what ?

A new game--

My kind, my rules, played my way.

And to start it, I have killed someone.

- You've killed someone ?

- Murdered someone.

Committed murder.

- You're not serious.

Deadly.

It's a real game and a real murder.

There's absolutely no point in playing

another pretend game. Isn't that right ?

- Absolutely.

- We're past pretending now.

We'll leave that to the amateurs--

the gentleman players like you.

Uh, look, Milo, I think perhaps another time--

- It can't wait !

- All right. All right.

We'll play your game.

Now, whom did you kill ?

"Whom" ? "Whom" ?

Who, besides yourself,

is the closest to being

someone you care about ?

Would it be your girlfriend, Tea ?

Possibly.

Why ?

- She's the one.

You killed Tea ?

She, whose cobalt eyes...

were the secret forest pools of Finlandia.

I closed them.

- You--

- Yes, I strangled her,

right over there on that rug.

I strangled her.

And-- oh, yes,

I screwed her first.

You raped and strangled--

No, not rape.

She wanted it.

- You're lying !

You can't take me with

a crude game like this.

Honestly, Milo, I gave you

credit for better sport.

When I was here yesterday...

planting the blood and

clothes for old Doppler,

Tea showed up looking for you.

So I "pitched her a little woo,"

as you would've said in your day,

and we danced cheek to cheek to those

cornball, big-band oldies of yours.

I mean, who but you would have them ?

Anyway, it worked.

She got itchy, and I had to scratch,

didn't I ?

And afterwards she got sleepy,

and that's when I did it, old boy.

I wrung her neck.

She was under that freshly-dug mound of earth...

that old Doppler took such a fancy to.

- "Was" ? She's not now ?

- No, I moved her.

- Where to ?

The flooded gravel pit ?

Fu Manchu's abandoned glue factory ?

It doesn't matter where to.

The Police will find her in due course

if they haven't found her already.

- The Police ?

- Yes.

I phoned them about an hour ago...

and asked them to meet me here at 10:00.

They should arrive in about 15 minutes.

I'm sure they will too.

Led, no doubt, by intrepid,

downy Inspector Doppler.

- Nope.

It'll be a real cop, all right.

Detective Sergeant Tarrant

Is his name.

Check it, if you like.

I told him a lot about you, Andrew.

I said I knew you to be a man

obsessed with games-playing...

and murder considered as a fine art.

Your life's great ambition, I said,

of which you'd often spoken...

was to commit an actual, real life murder,

hide the body,

then leave clues linking you with

the crime scattered about the house,

convinced that the poor,

simple minded Police...

would never recognize 'em for what they were.

"Please, sir, Andrew wyke can't rest

until he's committed a real murder,

but he's gonna make fools

out of all you coppers."

Honestly ! Tell that to

the average desk Sergeant,

and you'll find yourself strapped

right into the giggle jacket.

Not so, in fact.

I told them that if they didn't believe me,

one look at your books and the

furnishings of your house...

would confirm what I said

about your obsessions.

Go on.

I also told them that two days ago,

your girlfriend came to my house in great

distress, saying that you suspected her...

of having affairs with other men

and threatened to kill her.

I bet they believed every word of that !

In the end, yes, they did.

My dear boy.

I do appreciate that

in spite of your denials,

you've been captivated by

the spirit of games-playing...

and the need, as you see it,

to win at any cost.

But frankly, you are trying too hard...

to be a big boy too soon.

Hello-- hello, Joyce ?

It's Andrew.

Can I speak to Tea ?

She-- what ?

Been strangled--

Well, where was this ?

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