“...and I tell you, it’s the same woman!

”
Captain Haydock looked at his friend and sighed, he wished his friend Evans
wouldn’t be so positive and joyful. In his many years on the seas, the captain had
learned to just leave things alone. But his friend, Evans, an inspector, had a different
philosophy- “act on information received.” Even though he had retired from the police,
Evans’ mind was still active and on alert.
“I never forget a face, that is Mrs. Anthony for sure,” Evans said, “when you said
Mrs. Merrowdene, I knew her at once.”
“It’s been a long time though,” said Haydock.
“Nine years…you remember the case, right? Mr. Anthony turned out to be an
arsenic eater and the jury acquitted her.”
“It’s over and done with, it’s unfortunate that Mrs. Merrowdene could be tried and
acquitted of murder. But it’s none of our business, she was innocent, you said so,”
Haydock said.
“I never said she was innocent, I said she was acquitted.”
“It’s the same thing.”
“Not always…You think she was innocent?”
“I don’t know, Mr. Anthony was in the habit of taking arsenic, his wife would get it
for him, and then one day he took too much. Was the mistake his or his wife’s? Nobody
could tell and the jury gave her the benefit of the doubt, but I would like to know for sure.
But either way, we should just leave it alone.”
“I’m not so sure about that,” replied Evans. “Remember this evening with Mr.
Merrowdene was in his lab and mentioned Marsh’s test for arsenic, said I would know
something about it, said it’s in my line of work. He wouldn’t have said that if he knew.
They’ve been married what, six years now? I bet he has no idea that his wife was once
Mrs. Anthony!”
“Well he certainly won’t know about that from me!”
“You interrupted me just now. Mr. Merrowdene was conducting tests in his lab
and it made me think. There are also tests in my profession. Apart from witnesses and
evidence, there is one other test. A murderer is hardly satisfied with just one murder.
Suppose they were acquitted, would they try to murder again, years later?”
“What a horrible idea! There’s no reason to think that Mrs. Merrowdene is
anything about an innocent woman,” replied Haydock.
The ex-policeman said, “I did look into her past though. When she was younger,
she had a boyfriend of whom her stepfather did not approve. He insisted the two not
see each other. One day she and her stepfather went for a walk and got too close to a
cliff. He went over the edge and died!”
“You don’t believe…”
 “It was an accident. Accident! You have the stepfather and Mr. Anthony. Two
“accidents.” No one would have suspected her of Anthony’s death if it wasn’t revealed
that there was another man! Wherever this woman is, I’m afraid of another “accident.”
Haydock shrugged his shoulders, “well that affair was nine years ago. Why
should there be another “accident” now, as you put it.”
“I didn’t say ‘now,’ I said some day or other.”
“I don’t think any good would come out of butting in other people’s business.”
But that advice didn’t mean anything to the ex-policeman. He left and walked
into town, thinking about this new possibility. As luck would have it, Evans ran right into
Mr. Merrowdene, literally. The impact caused Mr. Merrowdene to drop the letters he
was holding, and Evans was quick to help Merrowdene pick up the dropped mail.
Evans noticed that one of the letters was from a well-known insurance company.
Evans’ mind was made up. This Mr. Merrowdene was known to be kind, but
absent-minded. Evans was quick to bring up the topic of life insurance, and found out
that Merrowdene had increased his life insurance for his wife’s benefit.
“I’ve made some bad business decisions, and if I were to die, my wife would be
left badly off. This new policy will insure that she’ll be left with plenty of money if I were
to suddenly die,” Mr. Merrowdene explained.
“She wasn’t against the idea? You know some women might think it unlucky to
do such a thing.”
“Oh no, Margaret is very practical, not superstitious at all. In fact, it was her
idea!”
Evans left with all of the information he needed. The late Mr. Anthony had
insured his life right before his death too. It looked like a pattern was forming. Evans
made his way to a local carnival, and after playing some games, he thought it would be
fun to meet Zara, the fortune teller. He ignored her sing-songy voice for most of the
telling, but he did catch her final sentence, “...and very shortly, you will be involved in a
matter of life or death…Life or death to one person.”
“Eh? What was that?” he asked.
“You have to make a decision, a very important decision. If you were to make a
mistake, the smallest mistake..”
“Yes?”
The fortune teller shivered. Evans knew it was all nonsense, but was impressed
anyway.
“You must not make a mistake, if you do- the result will be…death.”
How convenient of her to mention that!
“So if I make a mistake, there will be death, right?
“Yes.”
“Well in that case,” Evans said as he stood up and paid Zara, “I must not make a
mistake.”
 Evans decided then and there, he must not falter. A life depended on it. He was
alone, no one to help him. As he left the fortune teller, he saw Haydock across the way,
he was talking to a woman. The woman left Haydock and was walking toward Evans.
He recognized her immediately. It was Mrs. Merrowdene!
“I thought that was you Mrs. Anthony, I mean, Mrs. Merrowdene,” Evans said
purposefully. He watched her face as he noticed her eyes widen, and her skipped
breath.
“I was looking for my husband,” she said quietly. Evans pointed in the direction
of Mr. Merrowdene and they walked together, chatting. What a woman! What
self-control! Remarkable, but very dangerous, he thought.
He felt uneasy, but was happy that he called her by her old name. Now she will
be on her guard. She won’t try anything now with Evans around.
After they found Mr. Merrowdene, Margaret turned to Evans and asked, “would
you like to join us for a cup of tea?” Evans noticed a challenge in her voice.
“Thank you, Mrs. Merrowdene, I would love to.” They all walked to the house
together. When they arrived, Mrs. Merrowdene put the kettle on, walked to the fireplace
and grabbed three small bowls and saucers.
“We have some very special Chinese tea. And we always drink it in the
traditional Chinese way- out of bowls and not cups.”
She stopped and looked at one of the bowls with annoyance.
“George, have you been using these bowls again for your work again?”
“Sorry dear, these bowls are the perfect size, and the ones I’ve ordered haven’t
arrived yet.”
“One of these days you’ll kill us all,” she said with a half smile. “He brings these
back from the laboratory and forgets to wash them out sometimes,” she explained to
Evans. “George, you were using these for your potassium cyanide the other day!
Really, George. It’s dangerous. Go down to the laboratory and bring back all the bowls
so I can clean them.”
The professor got up, excused himself and went down to his laboratory
murmuring to himself.
Margaret smiled and poured the boiling water into the bowls. Evans was
confused. Was this the “accident” that was to occur? Was Mrs. Merrowdene preparing
his alibi? Was she going to force Evans to testify someday that the bowls may have
been used inadvertently for Mr. Merrowdene’s chemistry work?
Evans saw that Mrs. Merrowdene had poured three bowls of tea and placed one
in front of her, one in front of Evans and one on another saucer to the side for George.
When she set the third saucer down, she did so with a little smile.
He knew!
She was going to do it today! Right in front of Evans with him as a witness. How
clever of her. He wouldn’t be able to prove anything.
 “Mrs. Merrowdene, I’m a curious guy. Will you do something for me?”
She looked at him but didn’t say anything.
Evans stood up, took the bowl of tea from in front of Margaret, walked across the
room and substituted it for the other one.
“I want to see you drink this.”
Their eyes met. She reached for the bowl, raised it to her mouth. He held his
breath, thinking he had made a mistake. At the last second, she stopped, poured the
bowl into the pot of a nearby plant.
He sighed a sigh of relief.
“Well?” she said defiantly.
“You are a very clever woman, Mrs. Merrowdene. However, there must be
no..repetition. Do you understand me?”
“I do,” she replied, without emotion. Evans nodded his head in satisfaction. She
was a smart woman and didn’t want to be hanged.
He raised a bowl of tea and said, “to your long life and that of your husband,” and
took a sip.
Then his face changed…it froze…he tried to stand up, he tried to scream out, but
couldn’t. His body stiffened, his face turned purple.
Mrs. Merrowdene sat there, watching. She quietly said to him, “you made a
mistake Mr. Evans. You thought I wanted to kill my husband. How stupid of you, how
very stupid of you…”
She sat there a minute longer, looking at the dead man, the third man who tried
to come between her and the man she loved. She smiled…and then raised her voice
and called out:
“George! George! Come here! I’m afraid there’s been an accident! Poor Mr.
Evans…”