|
|
|
|
|
|
her while she tried to make everyone believe you were tryin' to kill herto give her an excuse to kill you, I guess. But she was gettin' worse, Peter, not better. Stop rippin' yourself up for what had to happen. Take the gel back to the house." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
At last Peter pulled his eyes from his aunt's still face. Linda put her arm around his waist, and he responded by pulling her to him so fiercely that she thought her ribs would crack. Then he sighed and released her, and they started to walk down the path. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The shock Linda had suffered had been violent, but as it receded, it seemed to have cleared her mind. So many unreasonable little things became quitewell, not reasonable, but explicablein terms of Mrs. Bates casting suspicion on Peter. That stumble on the stairs that had started Linda wondering: when she saw Linda on the stairs in a position to catch her, Mrs. Bates had just let herself slip. Maybe it was Peter's shadow Linda had seen, but he had to have been in the drawing room with the light behind him, not out on the landing. And the candy that had made Gert so sleepy |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Peter was breathing oddly. Linda thought he might be crying. It would be a good thing if she could distract his mind from his "guilt" in letting his aunt run up the hill, but she knew she could never get him to think about anything but Mrs. Bates right now. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"Peter, where did your aunt get the drug she put in the candy and gave Gertrude on the ship?" Linda asked. |
|
|
|
|
|