Chapter 22 Chapter Twenty Two

Chief Inspector Davy waited patiently for Mrs Melfords to finish, and the conversation was exceptionally fruitless.Cousin Mildred spoke incoherently, believed in nothing, and was a little dull.Either this is "Dad's" private opinion.Her account of Elvira's charming manners, good nature, dental troubles, and strange excuses spoken on the phone raises questions about whether Elvira's friend Bridget is really a good friend for her. serious doubts.All these circumstances presented themselves to the Chief Inspector like hastily stirred pudding.Mrs. Melfords knew nothing, she heard nothing, she saw nothing, and apparently she made no inferences.

A brief telephone call with Colonel Luslam, Elvira's guardian, was even less fruitful, but luckily not so lol. "They are all Chinese monks." He put down the phone and murmured to his superintendent, "See no wrongdoing, listen no wrongdoing, and speak no wrongdoing." "The trouble is that anyone who has anything to do with this girl is too nice—if you know what I mean. Too many nice people who know nothing about evil. Not like my old lady." "The one at Bertram's Hotel?" "Yes, that's the one. She's had that experience for a long time—noticing evil, fantasizing about evil, suspecting evil, and fighting against evil. Let's see if we can get something out of my girlfriend Bridget."

Bridget's mom inconvenienced the conversation at the beginning, at the end, and most of the time in between.Chief Inspector Davy did everything in his power to talk to Bridget without her mother's help.Bridget, it must be admitted, subtly helped him.After a period of question-and-answer sessions and Bridget's mother's horror at hearing about Elvira's near-death experience, Bridget said, "You know, it's time for you to go to that committee meeting, Mom. .You said that was very important." "Oops," said Bridget's mother. "You know they'd all be overwhelmed and messed up without you, Mom."

"Oh, they will, of course they will. But, maybe I should—" "That's all right, ma'am," said Chief Inspector Davy, with a fatherly look on his face, "you needn't worry about it, just go ahead. I've done all the important things. You've actually told Everything I want to know. I have only one or two routine inquiries concerning people in Italy, and I thought your daughter, Miss Bridget, might be able to help me with that." "Well, if you think you can do it, Bridget..." "Oh, I can do it, Mom," said Bridget. Finally, in great haste, Bridget's mother left for her committee.

"Oh my God," sighed Bridget, closing the door and coming back, "really! I do find mothers difficult." "That's what they tell me," said Chief Inspector Davy. "A lot of the little girls I meet don't get on well with their mothers." "I thought you'd say something else," said Bridget. "Oh, yes, yes," said David, "but the little girl doesn't see it that way. Now you can tell me a little more." "I can't really be honest in front of my mother," Bridget explained, "but I do feel, of course, that it's important that you know as much about this as possible. I do know Elvira was terribly frightened about something. She didn't want to fully admit that she was in danger, but she was."

"I think that might be the case. Of course, I don't like to ask you too much in front of your mother." "Oh no," Bridget said, "we don't want mum to hear that. She's going to be terrified and tell everybody. I mean, if Elvira doesn't want something like this to be known if……" "First," said Chief Inspector Davy, "I want to know something about a box of chocolates in Italy. I think she received a box of chocolates that might have been poisoned." Bridget's eyes widened. "Poisoned?" she said. "Oh no, I don't think so. At least..."

"What happened?" "Oh, yes. There came a box of chocolates, and Elvira ate a lot, and that night she was very sick and very ill." "But she didn't suspect poisoning?" "No, at least—oh, by the way, she did say someone tried to poison one of us, so we checked the chocolate, you know, to see if something had been injected into it." "Have it?" "No," said Bridget, "at least, as far as we can tell, no." "Perhaps your friend, Miss Elvira, might still think so?" "Well, maybe—but she never said it again."

"You think she's afraid of someone?" "I didn't think so at the time and didn't notice anything. It was here, later." "Is this the man, Guido?" Bridget giggled. "He had a huge crush on Elvira," she said. "Do you and your friends see him often?" "Well, I don't mind telling you," Bridget said, "you're a policeman after all. This sort of thing doesn't matter to you, I hope you understand. Contesa Martinelli was extremely strict—or we felt She was too harsh. Of course, we have all kinds of countermeasures. You know, we both cover each other."

"Tell some well-placed lies, I guess?" "Well, I suppose so," said Bridget, "but what can you do when everybody's so suspicious?" "So you really met Guido and used him to frighten Elvira?" "Oh, not seriously, I don't think so." "Then maybe she's in regular contact with someone else." "Oh... that... well, I don't know." "Please tell me, Miss Bridget. It may be—important, you know." "Yes, I can tell. There's someone there. I don't know who, but there must be someone else—she's very concerned about it. She's serious about it. I mean, it's a very important thing matter."

"Does she see him often?" "I think so. I mean, she said to see Guido but it wasn't Guido, it was the other guy." "Can you guess who it is?" "No." Bridget sounded hesitant. "Could it be a racing driver named Ladislas Malinowski?" Bridget stared at him with his mouth open. "So you know?" "Am I right?" "Yes—I think so. She has a picture of him, cut out of a newspaper. She hides it in her stocking." "That's probably just an icon hero, right?" "Of course it is, but I don't think it is."

"Did she meet him here, in this country? Did you know?" "I don't know. You know, I actually don't know what she's been up to since she got back from Italy?" "She went to the dentist in London," Davy reminded her, "or so she said. But she came to you instead. She called Mrs. Melfords and told her about an old governess. " Bridget chuckled slightly. "That's not true, is it?" said the Chief Inspector, smiling. "Where did she actually go?" Bridget hesitated and said, "She went to Ireland." "She went to Ireland, didn't she? Why?" "She wouldn't tell me. She said she had to find out the truth about something." "Do you know where she went in Ireland?" "Not exactly. She mentioned a place, Bally or something, Ballygoland, I think it's this place." "I see. Are you sure she went to Ireland?" "I saw her off at Kensington Airport. She was on a Lyngers flight." "When did she come back?" "the next day." "A flight too?" "yes." "Are you sure? She came back by plane?" "Well, I think she is!" "Does she have a return ticket?" "No, she didn't take it. I remember." "Is it possible that she returned by another way?" "Yes, I think it is possible." "Perhaps she came, say, by the Irish Mail?" "She didn't say." "But she didn't say she came back by plane, did she?" "Yes," agreed Bridget, "but why did she come back by boat and train instead of by plane?" "Well, if she has found out the truth of what she wants to know and has no place to stay, she may find it easier to come back by the evening mail." "Yes, I think it's possible for her to do that." David smiled slightly. "I suppose you little girls these days," he said, "think of traveling only when you think of flying, isn't it?" "I guess we really are," agreed Bridget. "Anyway, she came back to England. Did something happen then? Did she ever come to your place or call you?" "She called." "What time of day?" "Oh, sometime in the morning. By the way, I think it must be eleven or twelve o'clock." "What did she say?" "Well, she just asked if everything was okay." "Is everything normal?" "No, it's not normal, because, you know, Mrs. Melfords's phone call was answered by my mother, and it got really bad, and I didn't know what to say. So Elvira said she wouldn't Come to Onslow Square, but she'll call up her cousin Mildred and try to make up as many excuses as she can." "That's all you can remember?" "That's all," said Bridget, with some reservations.She thought of Mr. Pollard and the bracelet.That was, of course, something she didn't want to tell Chief Inspector Davy. "Dad" knew full well that there were things he hadn't told him, and he could only hope that those things had nothing to do with his investigation.He asked again: "Do you think your friend is really afraid of someone or something?" "yes." "Did she mention it to you or did you mention it to her?" "Oh, I asked her straight up. At first she said no, then she admitted she was scared. I know she was," Bridget continued emotionally. "She was in danger, and she was convinced of it." . But I don’t know why this is happening, how this happened, I don’t know anything about it.” "You're so sure of it that it had something to do with that morning, wasn't it, the morning of her return from Ireland?" "Yes, yes. That's when I felt so sure." "Could she have come back by the Irish Mail that morning?" "I don't think she could do that. Why don't you ask her?" "I'll probably ask her eventually. But I don't want to draw attention to it, not yet. It might just make her more dangerous." Bridget rolled her eyes. "What do you mean?" "You may not remember, Miss Bridget, that the Irish Mail Robbery took place on that very night—early morning, really." "You mean that Elvira went through that without telling me anything about it?" "I hope that's unlikely, too," said Father, "but it occurred to me that she might have seen something or someone or something about the Irish Mail. She might have seen someone she knew, for example. , which puts her in danger." "Oh!" said Bridget, thinking it over. "You mean—someone she knew was involved in the robbery." Chief Inspector Davy stood up. "I guess that's all I'm asking," he said. "Are you sure you have nothing more to tell me? Did your friend go somewhere else that day? Or the day before?" Bridget saw Mr. Pollard and the shops on Bond Street again. "No," she said. "I think there's more you haven't told me," said Chief Inspector Davy. Bridget grasped gratefully at the straw. "Oh, I forgot," she said, "yes. I mean she did go to some lawyers--they're trustees--to find out something." "Oh, she went to some lawyers, who are trustees. I don't think you know their names?" "They're called Egerton—Forbes, Egerton, whatever," said Bridget. "Lots of names. I think that's about it." "I see. She's trying to find out something, isn't she?" "She wanted to know how much money she had," Bridget said. Chief Inspector Davy raised his eyebrows. "Really!" he said, "interesting. Why doesn't she know it herself?" "Oh, because people never talk to her about money," Bridget said. "They seem to think it's not good for you to know how much money you actually have." "She wants to know very much, doesn't she?" "Yes," Bridget said, "I think she thinks it's an important question." "Well, thank you," said Chief Inspector Davy, "you have been a great help to me."