Authors: Evelyn Piper
Hanno’s Doll (19 page)
Oh, God, what had she done, that had made Hanno want to poison her?
Anni jumped up, with the champagne, with the Montaigne, hurrying to tell Ernie, to save Ernie. She started down the hall, seeing the knot of them there, nurses and doctors and Ernie with his hand on the girl's shoulder as she sat on the bench, and the young man, Mr. Starter, there too.
Ernie said, “She shouldn't talk now. Later.”
The nurses and the doctors went away. Ernest picked up the girl's hand and patted it.
Instead of showing herself to the three on the bench, Anni went into the washroom at the end of the corridor and locked the door against them.
Ernest said, “Where's the other glass? Where's the glass of champagne Hanno poured for Puppchen? We forgot about the other glass.”
“Y-y-your m-m-mother took it.”
“Mom? Where's Mom? My God, where's Mom?”
“In the s-sunroom. Where are you g-g-going?”
Ernest called above his pounding feet, “Mom! Mom! Oh, God, suppose even in death Hanno couldn't leave Puppchenâsupposeâin the other glassâ”
Anni heard Ernest's feet go pounding past the washroom door.
Ernest called out, “She's not in the sunroom!”
“J-J-Iesus, I g-g-gave it to h-h-her.”
“You couldn't suspect, Mr. Starter.”
That was the girl speaking. No, Mr. Starter couldn't have suspected; but the girl had suspected. That was why she had arranged that Ernest should not be there in the hall outside Hanno's door to take the poisoned champagne in exchange for the ginger ale, made sure of that; but if Mr. Starter, that nice young man, had drunk it, what did the girl care? And if she had drunk it ⦠as the girl was now hoping she had ⦠that would be killing two birds with one stone. Hanno where he couldn't harm her, and Anni where she couldn't try to interfere between the girl and Ernie.
“Ernest, Mr. Starter couldn't have guessed!”
“Did my mother come past? Did she go downstairs somewhere? We must find her.”
Ernie thought she was lying dead. She could not let him suffer and called out from behind the locked door. “Ernie, I'm in here. What is it?”
He rattled the doorknob. “Are you all right, Mom?” His voice trembled with relief.
“Of course all right. What is it?”
“Mom, did you drink the champagne?”
“What?” She looked down at the champagne in her hand. “Yes, I drank it. Why not, son?”
“Come out, Mom.”
“Moment,” she said, and pressed her ear to the door.
Ernie said, “I was so sure Hanno planned toâtake Puppchen with him. Then when you said Mom had taken it ⦔
“You h-had m-me thinking the s-s-same thing.”
Anni smiled and, tiptoeing, poured the champagne into the toilet bowl and flushed it. She turned on the water tap and washed the glass very carefully and thoroughly.
Outside Ernest tapped on the door. “Mom!”
She said, above the running water, “I am washing my face. In a minute, Ernie.”
“We'll be in the sunroom, Mom. Puppchen better sit down.”
She left the water running while she went to the window and opened it wide; then she lit a match and tore the pages which had been glued together from the book and burned them. Sooner or later, Mr. Starter would remember that Hanno had kept this book with him while the room had been searched, and might just think that poison could be hidden between the leaves of a book. Then he would remember that Hanno had given the Montaigne to her. She would have to give them the book. For good measure, she tore out another page, roughly, charred the edge with the flame so that they would think it had been burned by Hanno's cigar.
She let the ashes drop from the window. If there was any smell, why she had been smoking a cigarette. She put the Montaigne into her squashed, old woman's purse, and then took out a cigarette and lighted that.
She came out of the washroom with the purse in one hand and the clean champagne glass in the other. The cigarette she let hang from her lower lip, the smoke curling up. (Hanno used to hate it when she allowed a cigarette to droop from her lower lip that way.)
The girl was sitting on the wicker chair where she had sat when Hanno had called her a dirty Judas. Ernest stood behind the chair with his hand on the girl's shoulder. Mr. Starter jumped up when he saw her. Such a nice young man, and he might have drunk the champagne and be dead now, that nice young man.
Ernest came around the chair. “Mom ⦔
“What is it, Ernest?” He took the glass from her and led her to another wicker chair and gently pushed her into it. “What is it, Ernie?”
“Mom ⦠be calm now.⦠Hanno is dead, Mom.”
“What are you telling me? How dead? How is Hanno dead?”
“He took poison, Mom.”
Ernest nodded, the nice Mr. Starter nodded sadly, the girl, the doll, looked at her without moving. “He took poison? He took poison?”
“Cyanide, I think. That's a painless death, believe me, Mom. It's all over in a second.”
She thought, is it? Is it all over? Ah, not so quick, she thought. She said stubbornly, “I don't believe you.”
Ernest put his hand on her shoulder, but she shook it off.
“I don't believe you. Why would Hanno do such a thing?”
“Mom ⦠I know this is hard to believe, but Mom, maybe it could be the best way out. That's what I'm trying to tell Puppchen, Mom. The best way out.”
“You can tell Puppchen, but not me, my son. Oh, no,” she said, “oh, no! You can't tell me that this is the best way because that means a confession of guilt. That's what you're saying, my son, isn't it? Well, you can say it from now to doomsday and I won't believe you.” She whirled away from Ernest's unhappy face and turned on Mr. Starter. “How did Hanno get this poison to commit suicide with? He told me you searched his room today; how did he get this poison?”
Mr. Starter could only shake his head. He did not know. This had already been troubling him, she saw. Good.
“Did
you
leave poison in his room, Mr. Starter? Did the
nurse
leave poison?”
Ernest said, “Mom, why are you blaming him? He doesn't know where Hanno got the cyanide.”
“It's his business to know. Police business. It's his business to find out. You think I'm blaming him? I will tell you whom I am blaming.” She turned and pointed. “Herl Puppchenl Puppchen sitting there. She was in there with Hanno ⦠the last one. The room was searched, yes, but was she searched when she went in? How do you know she didn't bring the poison in with her?”
“Mom, my God!”
“How else? How else? Does poison drop from the skies, my son?”
“Shut up, Mom! You ⦠you're out of your mind! Why would Puppchen want to poison Hanno?”
“I will tell you why, Ernest. I will tell you why it could be. You listen to me! They made an autopsy on that dead man and they say he was poisoned. But Hanno said he pushed him. Well, I believe Hanno. The young man was poisoned, so someone else poisoned him, and who else was there to do it?”
“Mom!”
“Who else was there in the house to do it?”
“She was sleeping, Mom! This is the wildest ⦔
“It is easy to say you are asleep. I am not the Sleeping Beauty, but I could say I was asleep. Who could say no?”
“B-b-but why, Mrs. Leopold? Where's the m-m-motive?”
“I don't know. That is for you to find out. For the police to find out.”
“Mom, if you say one more thing, Mom, I'll never ⦠I'll never ⦔
“Never, never, never! Why couldn't it be her who did it? I would believe it of her much quicker than of Hanno. I would believe she poisoned this boy and she was afraid they might find out in the courtroom. But with Hanno dead there is no courtroom, is there? You're all ready to say he suicided because he was guilty, aren't you, Ernie? No! He did not! Never, never, never!”
Ernest had his back to her; he was looking at the Puppchen. She knew just how he was looking at the Puppchen, but that was all right because Mr. Starter was looking at her too. Mr. Starter was looking at her with a big question on his face, and it would be answered before he was through with her.
About the Author
Merriam Modell, pen name Evelyn Piper, was born in Manhattan, New York, in 1908. She is known for writing mystery thrillers of intricate, suspenseful plotting that depict the domestic conflicts of American families. Her short stories have appeared in the
The New Yorker
and two of her novels,
Bunny Lake Is Missing
and
The Nanny
, were adapted into major Hollywood films.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 1961 by Evelyn Piper
Cover design by Julianna Lee
ISBN: 978-1-5040-1618-6
This 2016 edition published by
MysteriousPress.com
/Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
345 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10014
EBOOKS BY EVELYN PIPER
FROM
MYSTERIOUSPRESS.COM
AND OPEN ROAD MEDIA
