The Maze

by Philip MacDonald

  You may.

  You had no suspicion that Mr Brunton resented you or your presence in any way whatsoever?

  He was far too good a host and generous-minded a man.

  Thank you, Mr Hargreaves. Now, as you have told me that you have followed all the previous evidence, you must be aware that I have been inquiring into the possibility of Mr Maxwell Brunton’s having conducted, during the time immediately prior to his death, an undiscovered intrigue with some woman at least temporarily under his roof?

  Yes.

  Very well, then! I shall now ask you what I have been asking every witness—if, Mr Hargreaves, such an intrigue had in fact been going on, whom would you select as the most likely partner to such an intrigue?

  I’m sorry, sir, I can’t possibly answer that question. Please consider my position. I was a guest of short standing in this house. Save for Mrs Bayford, I knew none of the family intimately. I certainly knew none of the family history or private affairs. I was not even aware, until I heard the evidence, that Mr Brunton had the reputation of being—er—unwise in his dealings with women. In the circumstances, how can I possibly answer such a question as that put to me? Any conjecture, I mean, would not be based on anything solid enough to be worth making.

  I see. Thank you, Mr Hargreaves … You have nothing, I suppose, to add to this last answer, on consideration?

  Nothing whatsoever.

  Very well, then … Did you notice, Mr Hargreaves, throughout your visit any unusual atmosphere in the family circle?

  I’m afraid my answer to this question must be the same as the last. Not knowing the family intimately, how can I possibly tell whether the atmosphere was usual or unusual?

  Let me put my question in another form, Mr Hargreaves: Did you, as a visitor and a temporary member of the household, become aware, either upon the day preceding his death or at any other time, that Mr Brunton was in disagreement with—or had been quarrelling with—any member of the household?

  No.

  You are sure?

  Certain.

  Perhaps you could tell me, Mr Hargreaves, whether at any time during your visit and up to the time of his death Mr Brunton appeared to you to be in any way upset or unlike himself?

  So far as I knew him, no.

  That is a considered answer, Mr Hargreaves?

  It is.

  Thank you. Unless the jury have any further questions which they would like me to put to you at this stage … You have not, gentlemen? Thank you. I think, Mr Hargreaves, we can ask you to stand down, at least for the present …

  Call Jeannette Bokay … One moment—one moment! … Yes, Dr Fothergill?

  I wish to inform you, Mr Coroner, that Miss Lamort having made a rapid recovery, I would be willing to let her now give her evidence.

  I see. Thank you, Doctor …

  Call Mary Elizabeth Lamort.

  XI

  MARY ELIZABETH LAMORT

  WHAT is your full name?

  Mary Elizabeth Lamort.

  Will you please take the oath?

  Please speak up, Miss Lamort! I’m afraid your words are inaudible.

  I swear by … Almighty God that what I shall … say in evidence … in this Court … shall be … shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

  Thank you. Now, Miss Lamort, I understand that you have been for some time a close friend of the Brunton family’s?

  Yes … Or rather, that is, Enid … that is, Mrs Brunton and I are old friends.

  Did you say, Miss Lamort, that Mrs Brunton and you are old friends? I’m afraid I can’t hear you very distinctly.

  Yes, that was what I said.

  I see. And you were staying at 44 Rajah Gardens on the night of the death of Mr Maxwell Brunton?

  Yes.

  I am sorry, Miss Lamort, but I am afraid I must ask you again to speak up. I can only just hear your replies myself, and the foreman has just told me that several members of the jury can hardly hear you at all.

  My … my … Please may I have … My mouth’s so dry.

  Please take the witness a glass of water.

  Thank you so much! There! I’m all right now.

  Miss Lamort, when did you last see Mr Maxwell Brunton alive?

  At the same time as the others. I was in the drawing-room. He came in. If they say it was eleven, it must have been. I don’t know the time. He stood and talked a little and went away. I never saw him again.

  And you went to bed, Miss Lamort, at what time?

  Again I’m afraid I don’t know the time … But I went up with all the others.

  According to the other witnesses it was approximately eleven-thirty. Is that in agreement with your recollection?

  Yes … I suppose that must have been the time …

  Did you go straight to your bedroom after leaving the drawing-room, Miss Lamort?

  Yes.

  Did you leave your bedroom again at any time between this and the time you were roused by Mr Harrison and the police sergeant?

  No.

  Did you hear any unusual noises during that time or any noises at all in the house?

  . . . . . .

  Please speak up, Miss Lamort!

  I’m sorry. No, I heard no noises—no unusual noises … There may—there may have been just a few sounds like doors shutting or—you know the sort of noise I mean—but that was only immediately after I went to my room … If there were any more … I don’t suppose I should have heard them …

  Do you mean, Miss Lamort, that you were in bed and asleep very soon after you retired?

  Yes.

  And the next thing you knew was that Mr Harrison and the police sergeant were knocking at your door?

  Yes.

  I see. How long, Miss Lamort, had you been staying in the house?

  Let me see … about a fortnight … No, it was more … I’m sorry, I have no head for dates and things like that, and my head’s feeling so queer. I could find out if … No, I know—wait … Three weeks exactly to—to—to—that day!

  Were you a constant visitor at the house, Miss Lamort?

  I had often been there before—but not to stay … You see, I live in London, and so when I went there before it was just in the afternoon or to dinner perhaps—that sort of thing.

  You had never stayed in the house before? Would you please explain, Miss Lamort, how it was that you were actually living in the house for this three weeks?

  Yes. My flat is being done up. I had been putting it off and putting it off, and one day when I was having tea with Enid, Mrs Brunton, I told her about it and she—she is always so kind—she suggested that I should go and stay with her while—while—until the decorators had finished my flat.

  I see. How long exactly have you known the Brunton family, Miss Lamort?

  I’ve known Enid—Mrs Brunton—I should say, all my life … We are second cousins … She used to be very nice to me when she was at Girton and I was a little schoolgirl.

  And you kept up this friendship throughout the whole of the intervening years?

  Yes.

  I suppose, then, Miss Lamort, that you knew Mr Maxwell Brunton very well?

  Yes—I suppose, though, it all depends on what you mean by ‘very well.’ It was Enid, of course, that I went to see … I met Maxwell, of course, many times … but somehow I don’t think he liked me very much.

  Miss Lamort, I take it from your evidence that you were, as well as a cousin and an acquaintance, an intimate friend of Mrs Brunton?

  Yes.

  Did Mrs Brunton ever confide in you? Did she, I mean, ever reveal to you any of the troubles she had with her husband in regard to his various intrigues with other women?

  Never. Enid—Mrs Brunton—adores—adored Maxwell. Whatever she may have felt she would never, never, never have told anything to anyone … Never!

  I see. But as a friend of Mrs Brunton’s and a fairly constant visitor to the house I take it, Miss Lamort, that you must have been aware of Mr Brunton’s unf
ortunate failing?

  Only … only … vaguely. I mean, well, one hears things, of course, but I can’t say that I ever … I always try not to listen … There’s so much scandal and backbiting in the world that I’ve always done my best to keep myself away from all that sort of thing … It’s very difficult, of course, in my profession, but …

  I see. I think you mean, Miss Lamort, that while you naturally had heard remarks about Mr Brunton’s infidelities, you had never taken much notice of them or their implication?

  Yes, that’s right.

  It is now my painful duty, Miss Lamort, to ask you this question: Were you at any time on terms of intimacy with the deceased?

  I … What do you mean! I’ve told you, I knew Maxwell just as Enid’s husband … What do you mean?

  If you wish me to put my question more clearly, Miss Lamort, I must ask you whether you were ever on terms of sexual intimacy with Mr Brunton.

  My God! My God! … How dare you sit there and ask me … and put me your foul questions! …

  Am I to take it that your answer is in the negative, Miss Lamort?

  You are! No, no, and no!

  Can you explain to the Court how, then, although you were on merely acquaintanceship terms with Mr Brunton, as you have told the jury, yet you have obviously experienced such a terrible shock in the matter of his death?

  . . . . . .

  Please get Miss Lamort another glass of water.

  . . . . . .

  Are you feeling sufficiently recovered, Miss Lamort, to answer my question, or would you prefer that I call Dr Fothergill to give an opinion as to whether you should have a respite?

  No! No! I’ll go on. Ask your question.

  I must repeat my last question—why is it that, although you say you were not even on very friendly terms with Mr Maxwell Brunton, his death has caused you so obviously great a shock?

  How could I tell you? Some people have their feelings, their nerves, their souls under restraint—restraint, restraint, always restraint! Some people are so like that, that even if the world were to come to an end under their feet they would still smile and talk silly small talk! … I am not like that—I’m not! I’m not! … I live on my nerves … I hate death! I loathe death! I am terrified, terrified of death! And then in that quiet house death comes and leers at all of us! … How can I help … How could I help … I thought I should die too!

  You are meaning us to understand, Miss Lamort—I am sorry to keep harping on this question—you are meaning us to understand that it was the fact of the death and the way it had come about that so seriously shocked you? The fact and not the subject?

  Yes. Put it any way you like. You know what I mean.

  I see. We have nearly come to an end, now, Miss Lamort. One question which I want to put to you now is this: Did you, in your stay in the house, notice any particularly strained atmosphere among the family or observe that Mr Brunton was in any way unlike himself? I want you to answer this question with reference to your whole stay and particularly with reference to the day preceding his death.

  No, I noticed nothing unusual at all …

  You have considered that answer, Miss Lamort?

  Yes.

  Has any member of the jury any further questions which he wishes me to put to this witness? … Thank you, Miss Lamort. You may stand down.

  Call Jeannette Bokay.

  XII

  MARIE JEANNETTE BOCQUET

  WHAT is your full name?

  Your pardon, m’sieu?

  I said what is your full name?

  My full name?

  Yes, yes—your first name and your second name.

  Oh, pardon, m’sieu! My name they are Marie Jeannette Bocquet.

  Thank you. Now, Mamzel Bokay, will you please take the oath?

  Pardon, m’sieu? I do not understand.

  Will you swear on the Bible, mamzel, that what you say in evidence here shall be truthful?

  Certainement, m’sieu. Why should I not swear? I never lie, me! I am ’ere to say the truth. How would it serve? …

  Thank you … Please hand the witness the Book and show her the form of oath.

  I swear by the Almighty God that what I shall say in évidence in this … this Court shall be the truth, the ’ole truth and nosing but the truth.

  Your full name is Marie Jeannette Bokay and you are employed as lady’s maid to Mrs Maxwell Brunton?

  But yes, that is certain.

  You are not a newcomer to the Brunton household?

  Pardon, m’sieu?

  You have not just recently taken up your duties as lady’s maid to Mrs Brunton?

  Oh no, m’sieu. I have been with Madame a long, long time. I ’ope that I ’ave give’—

  Thank you, mamzel. That will do at the moment. Now then: Were you in the house on the night of the death of Mr Maxwell Brunton?

  But certainly, m’sieu! I ’ave tol’ the gendarme not once but … two ’undred time.

  Yes, yes! But what you have told the police has not at the moment anything to do with this Court, Mamzel Bokay.

  Oh!

  Now, Mamzel Bokay, will you please tell the jury what time you last saw your employer alive.

  Yes, m’sieu, I last see ’im at half-past after eleven on Thursday night. I have just finished—

  One moment, Miss Bokay, one moment! If I look at the police notes which I have here I find that you said to the police that you last saw Mr Brunton at five minutes past eleven. Will you please explain the discrepancy between that statement and the one you have just made?

  You mean, m’sieu, how was it that I say one thing Thursday night and another now? It is that since I talk to the officer I was—how do you call it?—all of a dither. After, when I think, I remember that it was at half-past after eleven that I last see M’sieu Broonton. I am coming out of Madame’s room, and I see M’sieu Broonton just going into the study. I think that he has just been to she bathroom.

  Did Mr Brunton speak to you?

  Non, m’sieu, he did not speak. Mr Broonton and I, we did not speak much, you see.

  You saw Mr Brunton, then, entering the study? Did he close the door behind him?

  Yes, m’sieu.

  And that was the last time you ever saw him alive?

  Yes, m’sieu.

  At what time, Mamzel Bokay, did you yourself go up to your room to bed?

  At that time I tell you, m’sieu. At that time I was coming out of Madame’s room and I see M’sieu Broonton going into the study. I am then, you see, going to my bed. I go at once to my bed, and I go to sleep also at once.

  I see. And that is all you knew, Mamzel Bokay, until your awakening by Mr Harrison and the police sergeant?

  Yes, m’sieu. Ah, it is ’orrible, that—’orrible. that! I hear the boom, boom, boom, on the door. I think it is just a dream, and then it continue, boom, boom, boom, like that, and I wake—

  That will do, Mamzel Bokay. I want you just to answer my questions.

  I see, m’sieu, pardon!

  Now, Mamzel Bokay, you say that you went straight to bed and straight to sleep; that you were on your way up to bed when you saw Mr Brunton at eleven-thirty and therefore you must have been in bed and asleep, shall we say, about a quarter to twelve?

  That is right, m’sieu.

  And you were not awakened from your sleep until the arrival of Mr Harrison and the police sergeant?

  That is right, m’sieu.

  Now, Mamzel Bokay, please call to mind as fully as you can the quarter of an hour that elapsed after your leaving Mrs Brunton’s room—and seeing Mr Brunton at the door of his study—and the time when you got into bed.

  Yes, m’sieu, I remember the time. I do not forget, I!

  During that quarter of an hour, Mamzel Bokay, did you hear any unusual sounds in the house?

  Non, m’sieu.

  Did you hear any sound at all in the house?

  Oui, m’sieu. Yes, I hear doors open and shut; I do not hear any voices, just doors open and shut.


  But that was a normal noise in the household at that time?

  Yes, m’sieu.

  You heard nothing else?—no voices, for instance?

  Non, m’sieu.

  Thank you. Now perhaps you will tell these gentlemen and myself, first, how long you had been in service with Mrs Brunton, and second, what your duties were?

  But certainly, m’sieu. I have been with Madame now one, two, let me see, four years not quite. What I have to do, it is to be lady’s maid to Madame, and also I have—it is extraordinaire this, but there is not the place in the house for another servant, so that is why—what I have to do is to be lady’s maid to Madame and to give my help in some of the work like, you see, the making of the beds; the looking out, the how do you say, linen, and, oh, how shall I say?—you know, all like that … that …

  I quite understand … During your four years in the house, did you find Mrs Brunton a good mistress to work for?

  Ah, oui! … But yes, m’sieu! Yes, yes.

  You were happy in your work there?

  Yes, I am happy to work for Madame. I was not always happy all over, but what is that?

  Now, Mamzel Bokay, you have heard the evidence given by the other witnesses—

  Yes, m’sieu, I have heard what the people who come and sit here where I sit—I have heard what they all say. Mon Dieu, have I not heard what they say! and have I not thought; le Bon Dieu, il—

  Please just answer my questions: if there are any other statements you wish to make, you will have an opportunity to do so later on. Now, then: if you have heard the evidence of all the other witnesses, you must have heard that of Mr Adrian Brunton—

  Mon Dieu, ce—

  Mamzel Bokay! I had not yet reached my question. In evidence Mr Adrian Brunton made a statement to the effect that you had been on—er—intimate terms with Mr Maxwell Brunton. Is that statement correct?

  M’sieu, je regarde ce salle … Oh, I must speak in English. I am sorry. M’sieu, I have heard what that Adrian he say. I have heard and I have just wait, wait, wait, until this time! M’sieu, what Adrian he say, it is true, mais je ne pense pas—

  Please calm yourself, and I am afraid I must ask you not to break into your own language. I can realise how difficult it must be to speak under circumstances like this in a foreign tongue, but still, since you can speak English, I must ask you to do this. Now let us continue. I understood you to say just now that you corroborate Mr Brunton’s evidence, that is to say, you agree that at some time you were intimate with Mr Brunton—you realise what I mean?