By contrast, the professor, standing by the mantelpiece, appeared to be as cool as a cat and about as uncaring. As if to emphasize this, Raffles wandered into the room in the wake of the two police officers, and sat by the fire, looking like a bored Egyptian cat-god.
D. I. Curran courteously asked Antonia to explain precisely what had happened tonight, from around six o’clock up to the time she had found Greg Foster’s body. In her own words, if she would be so good. Sergeant Blackburn would make notes, and they would prepare a statement for her to sign.
Antonia had to grip her hands very tightly together in case they began to shake again. Even to her own ears the account of tonight’s incident sounded like the wildest flight of fantasy. When she reached the part about following the prowler through the park and finding the body, she broke off to say defensively, ‘I do know how ridiculous this must seem, but truly inspector, I’ve been the victim of several macabre tricks since I came to Amberwood.’
‘We meet stranger things in our working day, Miss Weston. Is it Miss, by the way?’
‘I believe it’s Doctor if you want to be precise,’ said a voice from the fireplace. Antonia felt as if someone had picked her up and dropped her into a pit filled with ice-cold water. ‘I don’t see why Doctor Weston shouldn’t be given that courtesy, at least, do you?’ said Oliver, looking at the inspector. ‘I expect she worked extremely hard to acquire it.’
Antonia supposed that as nightmares went, this was about as bad as it could get. She stared miserably at the floor, but was still aware of Sergeant Blackburn impassively making a note. She thought Godfrey Toy turned to stare at her. She wondered if Oliver Remus was watching her with that cool dispassionate regard, so to counteract this, she said angrily, ‘You’d better all stay with Miss. I’m not entitled to the Doctor part any longer.’
Curran studied her thoughtfully, and then said, ‘Presumably you’re going back to Charity Cottage tonight?’
‘Yes, of course.’
‘In that case, I’ll walk across the park with you. Blackburn, see if they’re still searching the grounds, will you? And check whether they’ve nearly finished downstairs while you’re about it. Dr Toy–Professor Remus–stay here for the moment, will you?’
‘Do we have a choice about that?’ said Oliver.
‘No, but you asked me to be courteous. I’m doing my best.’
‘Are you?’
‘I’ll be back shortly,’ said Curran, ignoring the sarcasm in the professor’s voice. ‘Miss Weston, shall we go?’
After they had gone, Godfrey demanded of Oliver what on earth that had been about.
‘You mean why was I rude to D. I. Curran?’
‘I don’t care if you insult the whole of Cheshire,’ said Godfrey, who would have been torn apart before he would have committed any kind of discourtesy himself. ‘I mean Antonia Weston. Is she a doctor?’
‘She was,’ said Oliver, refilling his brandy glass. ‘But she was struck off. Did you really not recognize her?’
‘I really did not. Will you stop being so melodramatic and mysterious, and tell me what’s going on.’
‘I can’t recall the details,’ said Oliver. ‘But I’m fairly sure Antonia Weston was convicted of murdering one of her patients.’
‘How? An overdose or something?’
‘No. She was a psychiatrist and there was a young man she was treating. He killed her brother, and she went for him with a knife or something like that. I told you, I don’t remember it all. I think there was a plea for self-defence and mitigating circumstances, but they still found her guilty.’
‘She was sent to gaol?’
‘Yes, I’m sure she was. The boy was her patient–that was what really damned her.’
Godfrey, still trying to absorb this bombshell, asked how long ago this had all taken place.
‘About five years.’ Oliver said it in a remote voice, and nothing in his tone so much as hinted that anything that had happened in that year was memorable because of Amy’s death. He said, ‘And if I was rude to the inspector, it was because I didn’t like some of the questions he was asking her.’