Johnny Swanson - Eleanor Updale [85]
Mrs Langford carried on taunting Dr Howell, whose shouts were still muffled by Bennett’s grip. ‘I really can’t think of any reason to keep you alive, you know,’ she said, with an air of exaggerated calm. ‘It must be worrying for you. What a pity you can’t move your arms. You could nibble those nails of yours even shorter. Maybe even make them bleed.’
‘Come on then, woman, let’s get it over with,’ said Bennett, as Howell squealed and grunted. ‘I can’t hold him for ever.’
Johnny pictured Mrs Langford advancing on Howell with the loaded syringe.
Suddenly Bennett swore. Howell had bitten his hand and twisted out of his grip. Johnny heard more bumps and thrashing as the two men jostled with each other, lashing out and cursing. Howell threw Mrs Langford across the room, and Johnny stifled a gasp as one of her high-heeled shoes rolled under the desk, only inches away from him. He heard her pulling herself up again, panting. Then she let out a bizarre shriek and Dr Howell gave a desperate cry of resistance that was strangled into an agonized gargle, a wheeze and a cough. His rigid body thumped against the desk and onto the floor next to Johnny. Everything was still.
In the theatre, twelve chimes rang out as Cinderella ran away from the ball.
Chapter 41
COVER-UP
Johnny could sense frozen panic in the room.
Bennett spoke first. ‘It’s all right. It’s all right,’ he repeated as if trying to reassure himself. Then his tone shifted from distraction to resolution. ‘I’m going,’ he said.
‘Take me with you,’ said Mrs Langford, with a breathy coolness. ‘Let’s leave now, while there’s no one around.’
‘No. Someone would come looking for you. I couldn’t risk having you in the car. The panto’s nearly over. We wouldn’t have time to get far before the body was discovered. We might even meet the police coming the other way.’
‘Then stay. Stay and help me talk my way out of this. I can say that Howell attacked me, and you fought him off. We could make it look like self-defence.’
‘No, I’m getting out of it. No one knows I’ve been here. There’s no reason for me to be mixed up in this at all.’
Mrs Langford barred the door. Her tone had turned from pleading to menace. ‘Unless I say something. After all, Howell’s not around now to keep an eye on me. There’s nothing to stop me telling everyone that you killed my husband.’
‘Is that a threat?’ Bennett sounded panicky.
Mrs Langford kept her spiteful calm. ‘Take it how you like. I’m simply being practical. We’re in this together, that’s all. Keep your head, and we can come up with a story that puts us both in the clear.’
‘How are you going to explain the poison? Isn’t it a bit fishy that it just happened to be to hand?’
‘I’ll say Howell brought it with him. To kill me. To shut me up because I knew he killed Giles.’
There was a pause. When Bennett spoke, it sounded as if he was happy to go along with the plan. ‘You should look a bit more roughed up,’ he said. ‘You’ll have to play the victim a bit. A sweet little lady in the power of a homicidal brute.’
‘Don’t worry. Being a quiet, kind old woman is my speciality.’
Exactly, thought Johnny. I was certainly taken in.
Bennett and Mrs Langford stood in silence. Johnny was terrified that they would hear him breathing, and felt a rush of relief when the band in the theatre started playing ‘Happy Days Are Here Again’ and all the children in the audience joined in, filling the room with song.
‘Maybe we should raise the alarm,’ said Bennett. ‘That’s what you’d do, isn’t it? If you’d really been attacked?’
‘Yes, I’ll call the police,’ said Mrs Langford, limping round the desk to reach the phone.
Johnny’s heart