Death Has Deep Roots by Michael Gilbert

ropes.
    “I think, therefore, that you are safe in assuming that this flight of stairs was the only method of approach to Major Thoseby’s room. This flight of stairs was closely commanded by the reception desk, and the desk itself—” Mr. Summers demonstrated with his pointer—“was under observation from the lounge, the door of which was usually kept open. In this way we have a cross check. The closed box to which I referred just now really was closed – not by locks, and bars, and bolts – but by human observation. You will hear one of the guests, Colonel Trevor Alwright, state that he was in the lounge from eight o’clock that evening until about half-past ten, and that during that time, as he was able to observe, the waiter, Camino, was at the reception desk. The only times, in fact, when Camino left the desk were when Colonel Alwright asked him to fetch a drink for him. Mrs. Roper, another guest, was in the lounge until ten o’clock. She then went up to her room – duly observed by Camino in the reception desk. She herself left the lounge only once, to have a word with Monsieur Sainte in his office and will confirm Colonel Alwright’s observations that Camino did not leave the reception desk during this period. This was the situation, then, between half-past nine and half-past ten. At half-past ten, the prisoner returned from her evening out. It was in accordance with normal arrangements that she would be back by half-past ten to take over Camino’s duty at the reception desk. This was to release the waiter, who had other things to see to. He had to prepare the breakfast trays, bank the fires and do a number of other jobs in and around the kitchen – jobs which usually took him the best part of an hour – before he could go to bed himself.
    “At about twenty to eleven, therefore, if I may again recapitulate briefly, the position was as follows. The lounge was by this time empty. Colonel Alwright had retired to his room – he slept in the main part of the building – Mrs. Roper was in her room, and the other guests had not yet returned. Camino was in the kitchen, the manager, Monsieur Sainte, was in his office, the prisoner was on duty at the reception desk. There is no dispute about all that. You will hear each of those persons testifying to it. There are, however, two radically different versions as to what happened next. It will be your duty to choose which one you will believe. I will come back to that in a moment.
    “The next fact about which all parties are agreed is that at about a quarter to eleven, there was a very loud scream. The scream came from Major Thoseby’s room. Mrs. Roper, who occupies, as you will see, the next room, ran into the passage. She saw that the door of Major Thoseby’s room was ajar. Further screams came from inside the room. She says that they were so loud and so panic-stricken that she had no shadow of doubt that some awful tragedy had taken place. She pushed the door open and looked in. The prisoner was standing in the middle of the room looking down at the floor. On the floor was Major Thoseby’s body.”
    “It really is quite astounding,” said Macrea suddenly to Mr. Rumbold, “how Summers does it—have you noticed?—without a single note. It impresses the jury, no doubt about it. I never could get the trick of it. I tried a scheme once of writing out the headings of what I wanted to say – a sort of mnemonic. Tried it out in a seduction case I was doing. I intended to start off by saying ‘On the night of the sixth my client, the plaintiff, then a mere girl of nineteen, was induced to visit the defendant’s room.’ What I actually said was ‘On the night of the nineteenth my client, a mere girl of six’ – ruined the whole effect.”
    “The screams,” said Mr. Summers, “had by now attracted others. Monsieur Sainte had heard them in his office and was running up the side stairs. Camino, coming from the kitchen, was a few steps behind him. At the