“All who were here at the time of the murder. Several of the actors and
assistants left at five-thirty and Joe Tracy, one of the company at a
quarter to seven.”
“You saw them go?”
“I saw the first lot go. I didn’t see Tracy. But,” he looked at Anne,
“this is his sister, Miss Tracy. She probably did.”
“Did you, Miss Tracy?” said Rawson.
Her voice was very low but steady and clear:
“Yes, he went.”
“Well, that disposes of them,” said Rawson, and drawing up a chair, sat
down facing the line of solemn people.
There were a few formalities to go through. A general agreement on the
time of the murder--a few minutes before seven disposed of that, and
the interrogation of Mrs. Stokes, the one eyewitness, followed.
She began well, telling the story she had told Bassett. When she
described her first view of Sybil running to the edge of the Point,
Rawson interrupted with a question:
“Was she running fast, as if some one was after her, as if she was
frightened?”
“Yes, she was running fast but I don’t know whether she was frightened.
I wasn’t close enough to see anything like that, and I didn’t have time
to see. Just as I was looking at her the shot came.”
“Did you notice the direction it came from?”
“No--it was like a sort of loud snap in the air. I heard it and she
staggered along a few steps and went over.”
“Did you hear any sounds--footsteps? A person makes a noise on this
rocky ground.”
“I didn’t hear a thing.” She leaned toward Rawson with haggard
insistence. “I _couldn’t_ hear anything. I was stunned. Mr. Bassett
asked me that and you all seem to think I ought to have heard the
person--the murderer--or tried to catch him. But I hadn’t any sense, I
just stood there paralyzed, not grasping what had happened.”
“Mr. Bassett says you went out on the rocks and tried to catch the
body.”
“Oh, yes. _Then_ I came back to life. I ran down into the hollow and
out on the rocks as far as I could go. And she was going by on the
current--her hair and her dress all whirled about. Oh God, why was I
the one to see it!”
Stokes addressed her, his voice low and urgent:
“Flora, just try to answer quietly.”
She paid no attention to him, her eyes riveted on Rawson.
“And then you came back to the house?”
“Yes, but I stood there watching her for a few minutes. I don’t know
how long, desperate, not knowing what to do. And then I started to run
back here and I fell down. I suppose I was shaking so and the rocks
were slippery. I think I fell twice, but I don’t know. I seemed to be
half-crazy.”
“You saw or heard nothing on your way back?”
“No, no, I keep telling you,” her voice grew higher. “I _never_ saw
anybody. If anybody was there he must have been hiding. They could
have heard me--I was screaming.” She turned to the others. “Wasn’t I
screaming?”
Bassett confirmed her statement and she went on, her voice still
higher, the cords in her neck starting out:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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