Murder in the Title by Simon Brett Page A

was a real tie to feel guilty about.
    â€˜But he wasn’t just being supported by the rope, was he, Nella?’
    â€˜Oh, no. Haven’t you ever been hanged, Charles?’
    â€˜No. I’ve been decapitated once or twice, and had unspeakable things done to me in
Edward II
, but never actually been hanged.’
    â€˜Well, it’s like flying.’
    â€˜Oh, I’ve done that. On the old Kirby wire.’
    â€˜Yes. Well, for hanging you wear the same sort of harness, you know, round the torso and under the crutch, and the wire clips on to the shackle in the same way. And the rope, the noose, is run up the wire into the flies.’
    â€˜Right.’
    â€˜Obviously the important thing is to get the relative tension between the rope and the wire right. It’s got to be the wire that takes the strain, but you can’t have the rope too slack or it sags and any illusion you might be creating is destroyed.’
    â€˜But for poor old Gordon it was the rope that took the strain?’
    â€˜Yes, with the wire slack. I don’t know how it happened. It was a terrible accident.’
    â€˜Yes.’ If that was the right word. ‘When did he get in position? Surely he didn’t dangle there through the entire Act?’
    â€˜No. He’d get there about ten minutes before his appearance . . . I forget what the cue was exactly . . . but then either Rick or I would clip on the wire and arrange the noose for him.’
    â€˜But why didn’t you notice there was something wrong then?’
    â€˜Ah, you see, he stood on a chair for that bit, so both the wire and the rope were slack. He only launched himself off on Kathy’s line, “Wilhelmina, have you seen Colonel Fripp this afternoon?” That was Tony’s idea – he reckoned it was more effective if the body was swinging when the audience saw it.’
    â€˜So Gordon was only being throttled for a few minutes?’
    â€˜Yes, that’s what saved his life – the fact that we were able to get him down so quickly. Mind you, he was lucky he didn’t break his neck when he left the chair. I suppose the wire must have taken a bit of his weight.’
    â€˜Yes. And then the rope just slowly tightened up.’
    â€˜Right.’
    â€˜How is he? Have you heard?’
    â€˜Still in Intensive Care, I gather. Still touch and go.’
    â€˜Hmm.’ Two accidents now. A stabbing which caused no casualty, and a hanging which might have been accidental and which might yet prove fatal. Charles’ mind struggled to detect a pattern to the sequence. And, with gloom worthy of Miss Laycock-Manderley, he wondered whether the sequence had ended or was going to get worse.
    â€˜And you’ve no idea how it happened?’
    Nella shrugged. ‘Rick fixed the rope up in the flies. I suppose he could have misjudged the tension, but it’s unlike him. He’s pretty careful about most things.’
    â€˜Yes.’ Rick Harmer, on the other hand, was one of the potential suspects for the stabbing, in the scenario that saw Antony Wensleigh as the intended victim. But the A.S.M. had a motive against the Director; and apparently none against the thespian bank manager.
    â€˜The only idea I’ve had,’ Nella offered hesitantly, ‘came from something Laurie said . . .’
    â€˜Yes?’
    â€˜Well, you saw that review in the
Gazette
?’
    â€˜Yes.’
    â€˜It upset quite a few people.’
    â€˜Everyone, I should think. Except me.’
    Nella smiled deliciously. ‘Well, Laurie was saying how upset Gordon had been about it, and I just wondered whether he . . . shortened the rope himself.’
    â€˜Gordon? Surely he wouldn’t over-react that much. I mean, I know it upset him, but he’s not a suicidal type.’
    â€˜No, I didn’t mean that. I meant that the review said he was unconvincing, and I wondered whether he said to himself, “Unconvincing, huh?