The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon [19]
I replied, “Yes. I don't tell lies.”
And she said, “I apologize. I didn't mean to suggest that you were lying. I just wondered if I heard you correctly. I'm a little deaf sometimes.”
And I said, “I remember. You told me.” And then I said, “I'm the first person to do an A level from my school because it's a special school.”
And she said, “Well, I am very impressed. And I hope you do get an A.”
And I said, “I will.”
Then she said, “And the other thing I know about you is that your favorite color is not yellow.”
And I said, “No. And it's not brown either. My favorite color is red. And metal color.”
Then Ivor did a poo and Mrs. Alexander picked it up with her hand inside a little plastic bag and then she turned the plastic bag inside out and tied a knot in the top so that the poo was all sealed up and she didn't touch the poo with her hands.
And then I did some reasoning. I reasoned that Father had only made me do a promise about five things, which were
1. Not to mention Mr. Shears's name in our house
2. Not to go asking Mrs. Shears about who killed that bloody dog
3. Not to go asking anyone about who killed that bloody dog
4. Not to go trespassing in other people's gardens
5. To stop this ridiculous bloody detective game
And asking about Mr. Shears wasn't any of these things. And if you are a detective you have to Take Risks, and this was a Super Good Day, which meant it was a good day for Taking Risks, so I said, “Do you know Mr. Shears?” which was like chatting.
And Mrs. Alexander said, “Not really, no. I mean, I knew him well enough to say hello and talk to a little in the street, but I didn't know much about him. I think he worked in a bank. The National Westminster. In town.”
And I said, “Father says that he is an evil man. Do you know why he said that? Is Mr. Shears an evil man?”
And Mrs. Alexander said, “Why are you asking me about Mr. Shears, Christopher?”
I didn't say anything because I didn't want to be investigating Wellington's murder and that was the reason I was asking about Mr. Shears.
But Mrs. Alexander said, “Is this about Wellington?”
And I nodded because that didn't count as being a detective.
Mrs. Alexander didn't say anything. She walked to the little red box on a pole next to the gate to the park and she put Ivor's poo into the box, which was a brown thing inside a red thing, which made my head feel funny so I didn't look. Then she walked back to me.
She sucked in a big breath and said, “Perhaps it would be best not to talk about these things, Christopher.”
And I asked, “Why not?”
And she said, “Because.” Then she stopped and decided to start saying a different sentence. “Because maybe your father is right and you shouldn't go around asking questions about this.”
And I asked, “Why?”
And she said, “Because obviously he is going to find it quite upsetting.”
And I said, “Why is he going to find it upsetting?”
Then she sucked in another big breath and said, “Because . . . because I think you know why your father doesn't like Mr. Shears very much.”
Then I asked, “Did Mr. Shears kill Mother?”
And Mrs. Alexander said, “Kill her?”
And I said, “Yes. Did he kill Mother?”
And Mrs. Alexander said, “No. No. Of course he didn't kill your mother.”
And I said, “But did he give her stress so that she died of a heart attack?”
And Mrs. Alexander said, “I honestly don't know what you're talking about, Christopher.”
And I said, “Or did he hurt her so that she had to go into hospital?”
And Mrs. Alexander said, “Did she have to go into hospital?”
And I said, “Yes. And it wasn't very serious at first, but she had a heart attack when she was in hospital.”
And Mrs. Alexander said, “Oh my goodness.”
I said, “And she died.”
And Mrs. Alexander said “Oh my goodness” again, and then she said, “Oh, Christopher, I am so, so sorry. I never realized.”
Then I asked her, “Why did you say ‘I think you know why your father doesn't like Mr. Shears very much'?”
Mrs. Alexander put her hand over her mouth and said, “Oh dear, dear, dear.” But she didn't answer my question.
So I asked her the same question