A Maze of Murders Read Online Free Page B

wasn’t slurred or his movements uncoordinated?’
    â€˜If you ask me, at that stage they were very coordinated.’ She began to giggle, then stopped abruptly. ‘I shouldn’t say things like that, should I, in case he is dead?’
    â€˜Señorita, it seems very likely he would prefer to be remembered with a laugh … Was Señor Sheard drunk?’
    â€˜He was like Neil, still talking normal and all that sort of thing. Only he wasn’t able to…’
    Alvarez waited. Finally, he said: ‘Tell me again what happened after Señor Lewis opened the second bottle.’
    For a moment it seemed she might question the need for the repetition, then she spoke quickly and, as before, without any trace of embarrassment. Sheard had drunk his whisky quickly, she’d sipped hers. Cara and Lewis, on the starboard settee, had started to explore each other’s attractions and so they’d done the same. Sheard had yawned as he’d fondled her and become annoyed when she’d laughed. Then, as he took off his trousers and pants, he’d suddenly complained of dizziness; that was when she’d also first felt a bit dizzy. He’d tried to show further interest in her, but failed. To her surprise, and it had to be admitted annoyance, he’d fallen asleep. She’d looked across the cabin to see if the other two were laughing at her, but they were both asleep. Then she’d felt overwhelmingly tired and she’d fallen asleep.
    â€˜The last drink was from the second bottle?’
    â€˜That’s right.’
    â€˜And Señor Lewis opened it. Will you describe how he opened it?’
    â€˜What d’you mean? There’s only one way, isn’t there?’
    â€˜If it was a full bottle, the cap should have been sealed. Did he have to exert force to break the seal?’
    â€˜He must have done.’
    â€˜What I’m asking,’ he said patiently, ‘is whether you can recall his having to use such force? The cap can be sealed so firmly that it’s quite a struggle to free it.’
    â€˜I see what you mean … As I remember, he just unscrewed. What’s it matter?’
    â€˜I’m not sure that it does,’ he answered casually. ‘Presumably, Señor Lewis poured out a drink for himself as well as for the rest of you?’
    â€˜He’s not the one to forget himself.’
    He was silent for a few seconds, then said: ‘You woke up yesterday morning, discovered the señor was missing and decided to return to the port to find out if he had been playing a silly joke; if not, to report his disappearance. Do you by any chance remember what happened to the second bottle of whisky?’
    â€˜Not really.’
    â€˜I have just one more question. From the moment you fell asleep on the boat to the time when you woke up, can you remember anything at all?’
    â€˜No.’ She began to fiddle with the hem of her T-shirt. ‘That is…’
    He said nothing.
    â€˜It sounds so silly.’
    â€˜I assure you I will not find it so.’
    â€˜It’s just … I seem to remember thinking I could hear someone moving around. I don’t know why, but this had me so scared that I was desperate to escape, only I couldn’t move and it was as if I’d been paralysed. Then the sounds stopped and things went all black again. When I told Cara about this, she said it was a stupid nightmare. I suppose it must have been. Only I can’t stop wondering…’ She paused, then spoke in a rush. ‘Wondering that maybe it was Neil I’d heard and if only I’d managed to wake up properly I could have tried to save him if he did fall over the side. But it was like I was in a dense fog…’ She became silent, her expression strained.
    â€˜Señorita, it is most likely that your friend is right and it was a nightmare.’
    But a waking nightmare?

CHAPTER 5
    The sign prohibited a left