Page 57 of A Very Bookish Murder
They all nodded and began to write. Ally watched for a moment, wondering what her own bête noire would be. She didn’t like heights either, or snakes or any reptile. She left the room to give them a few minutes and re-entered to find them all chattering.
‘We’re all listing much the same things, I think,’ Millie said.
‘OK then,’ Ally said, taking a big breath. ‘Would you kill someone for a million pounds?’
A buzz of conversation followed a short silence before Penelope said, ‘Are you trying to find out which one of us might be the killer, Ally?’
‘No,’ Ally said, ‘I’mnot. I have no idea if any one of you is a killer. I’m leaving that to the police. I just want to know how you’d handle this situation. It’s anexercise, for goodness’ sake!’
Everyone was staring at the notepads on their knees.
Penelope, as usual, was ready to go. ‘Well,’ she said, ‘if someone paid me a million pounds, I’d do whatever they asked!’ She ignored the gasps. ‘Keeping my horses looked after throughout the winter doesnotcome cheap!’ She paused to let this fact sink in. ‘I’d probably find some poison or something, or crush up some pills to pop into their dinner.’ With that, she helped herself to a further couple of sandwiches.
Ally couldn’t quite believe what she’d heard because that was precisely what Penelope had been accused of, years ago, according to Hamish.
Almost as if she suspected what Ally was thinking, Penelope added, ‘I’m quite au fait with this, you know, but I’d need a couple more gins before I tell you more.’
‘Oh, do go on!’ said Millie and Brigitte in unison.
‘No, no,’ Penelope said firmly, then added, ‘Perhaps later.’
‘I couldn’t kill anyone,’ Morwenna said quietly, ‘not even for a million pounds. I could only do it to relieve someone of their misery.’ She looked around at their expectant faces. ‘Like a dog or cat,’ she added awkwardly.
Ally knew she wasn’t talking about that.
Morwenna thought for a moment. ‘Maybe, like Penelope, I could spike their drink or something, but if I had to do it, I certainly couldn’t do anything close up, like stabbing, because I couldn’t deal with the blood, ugh! Perhaps I could shootsomeone, but from a distance. Perhaps the heroine in my books could kill someone with a laser? Don’t forget I write fantasy.’ She sat back in her chair as if relieved to have got this off her chest.
Then Millie put up her hand a little hesitantly. ‘I could never have done what that wicked person did to Jodi. Like Morwenna, I’d have to annihilate someone from a distance. Maybe cut the brakes, if they had a car, or put some explosive device in their car, and then get away as quickly as possible.’ She turned to Brigitte. ‘Your turn.’
‘Help yourselves to top-ups!’ Ally encouraged them, seeing that the contents of all the glasses, including Millie’s, were fast disappearing. Could that be due to guilty consciences?
‘OK,’ said Brigitte, draining her glass. ‘I think I could kill someone close up if I had to.Of courseI would, if they were planning to kill me! I would try to wrestle from them whatever it was they planned to kill me with, and then kill them.’
‘But,’ Ally reminded them, ‘you were asked if you’d kill for a million pounds, not if your life was in danger.’
There was silence for a moment as Brigitte began scribbling on her notepad.
‘Could any of you strangle someone?’ Millie asked. ‘Like what happened to Jodi?’
There was a collective intake of breath.
Brigitte, apparently unfazed, stood up. ‘Of course I would, if they were trying to strangle me!’ She looked at the other three. ‘But Jodi Jones was not, repeatnot, trying to strangle me.’
‘I didn’t say she was,’ Millie said, on the defensive. ‘I’m just pointing out a method youcouldhave used if she had. That’s what Ally asked for, isn’t it, Ally?’ She turned to Ally, who was still standing by the door.
‘Well, not really,’ Ally replied, ‘because I was really thinking about money, but it’s very interesting how your ideas havedeveloped and you’ve all given very intriguing answers, which hopefully you can use in your writing.’
Penelope guffawed. ‘I suppose we must await Laura’s thoughts on the subject!’
‘You don’t thinkshedid it, do you?’ asked Morwenna.
‘Yes, I bloody well do! And if it wasn’t her, then it must have been Della,’ bellowed Penelope, looking around. ‘I can’t imagine any of us would do such things! I still think the police were extremely premature in permitting that Della woman to go, just because some bloke in the bar saw her at a distance. Bloody ridiculous!’
‘He had probably had a few drinks anyway,’ Brigitte added for good measure, draining her glass. ‘My God, I enjoyed that! But I must not get into the habit of drinking the alcohol at lunchtime.’
‘But you’reFrench!’ Penelope reminded her. ‘I thought the French drink all day.’
‘No, they do not!’ Brigitte snapped. ‘They drink with their food or for special occasions.’
