B004M5HK0M EBOK by Unknown

Dr. Muriel’s meaty-looking shoulders and that cane with the silver head on it. ‘Assuming that’s not a confession,’ she said, ‘I’ll go and look in the cellar. Unless you want to save me the trouble and tell me where you hid the body?’
    Dr. Muriel laughed and waved her cane. Emily set off towards the cellar – and Joe.
    ‘Was that Zizi you were talking to?’ she asked Joe. There was no sign of Chris or Zizi. Or Zsa-Zsa.
    ‘She’s not very happy with me,’ he said. He looked embarrassed.
    ‘I’m going to the cellar, Joe. I think Zsa-Zsa may be in there.’
    ‘Really? You think Chris locked her in there with that dog? He’s not such a bad man as you make out.’
    ‘I saw the three of you arguing. I wish I could talk to Zizi.’
    ‘She’s leaving,’ said Joe. ‘Maybe she already left.’
    ‘Just Zizi?’
    ‘They’re leaving. Isn’t that what I said? Their mother is sick in Hungary. She has Alzheimer’s. They have to go back.’
    ‘The thing is, Joe...’ How to put this? ‘I really want to know what happened tonight. You dragged a dead body out of there after the knife throwing. And then, miraculously, she seemed to come to life.’
    ‘What you talking about, Emily?’
    ‘I told you about my dog?’
    ‘Emily, tonight you told everybody.’
    ‘She was old and I knew she was going to die. I was really worried about it. I hoped that she would die in her sleep. But she got more and more frail, and more and more old, and in the end I had to get the vet to come round. And it was actually a peaceful death – so much so that, in my emotional state, I felt that I could almost enjoy going round with the vet, from house to house, watching as animals are killed peacefully.’ Emily was getting a bit off-track here. ‘But of course that sounds a bit weird. What I mean, Joe, is that I watched as she died. And she just ceased to be.’
    Not surprisingly, Joe looked bemused. ‘I’m sorry about your dog, Emily.’
    ‘I watched and saw exactly the same thing with Zsa-Zsa. I know she died. So what happened? Was it an accident? Did Zizi throw inaccurately? Did someone throw a kitchen knife from the balcony?’
    ‘It was a stunt, Emily. But Zizi threw a bit hard. Her sister fainted. I pinched her ears in the corridor and she stood up and took her bow.’
    ‘You pinched her ears?’
    Joe smiled. He leaned forward and took hold of the outer edge of her left ear with his right hand. He didn’t pinch it. He touched her, and then he let go. ‘Try it,’ he said. ‘It really works. You know?’
    ‘Zsa-Zsa fainted?’
    ‘It was a bit emotional. They had a row today.’
    ‘Ah. I thought so.’
    ‘They look identical. When a man’s tired... When a man’s tired and a girl gets into bed with him... Maybe the sister plays a trick and it gets out of hand.’
    ‘Chris! The weasel! I saw that lipstick in his bedroom. I can’t believe I missed such an obvious clue. He slept with both of them? No wonder they were angry.’
    ‘Emily, maybe it’s not the man’s fault.’
    ‘It’s always the man’s fault, Joe. So Zizi killed her? She stabbed her sister out of jealousy? I’d been trying to find a motive – people smuggling, drugs, diamonds...’
    Joe had been looking worried but he laughed at Emily’s list. ‘Emily, nothing happened. There wasn’t a murder.’
    ‘I saw it happen.’
    ‘I know you feel sad about your dog. Everything doesn’t relate back to that. You know?’
    ‘And Chris is implicated. I know you’re covering up for them but you’ll get in trouble if you don’t go to the police, Joe.’
    ‘But somebody already called the police – they came here and saw for themselves there wasn’t a murder.’
    ‘Yes. That’s the clever bit. Now if we call again and tell them what happened they’ll never believe us. We need evidence. All I have is theories but I know Chris put something in Midori’s drink and poisoned her. He set fire to Elise because she tried to give me a