exaggerating one bit when I say that she was gripped with an hysterical sort of terror.”
“Really. As bad as that?”
“Why, I was almost afraid even to let her stay in the room with the patient. The poor creature actually seemed to blame Mrs. Endicott in some fashion for what had happened. Just imagine this, Lieutenant: when I came in she was literally leaning over the bed and shaking her fist at Mrs. Endicott.”
“You are quite certain of this, Miss Vickers?”
“I saw it with my own eyes, Lieutenant.”
“And was Roberts saying anything?”
“Just the jumble that people go in for when they’re hysterical.”
“You couldn’t catch anything connected?”
“I didn’t try, Lieutenant. I had to get her away from the bed and calm her down.”
“You were able to?”
“I was. She calmed down quite suddenly and became perfectly normal again. I persuaded her to run downstairs and make herself a good bracing cup of tea.”
“Possibly carrying the pistol with her,” Lieutenant Valcour thought bitterly, “to hide it in some place where it might never be found.”
“Did she come back into the room afterward?” he said.
“Well, not really, Lieutenant. I know how particular you police officers are about the littlest details. She just stopped at the door to tell me she