  |
She was really such a child, a naif. A brilliant artist, but a little fool! Just like her to try and pull off some elopement with a "Darling"! That's not sour grapes because she cut off our affair a year ago, even if that move was wasteful and unwise. It was the doing of that evil little worm, Martin Vole. He was insanely jealous of us, Eva and me, and he was positively livid that I could paint circles around him, so he launched a campaign of character assassination by innuendo. What kinds of things? Oh, I was a parasite, I was simply using her for artistic ideas. That my own muse had dried up, that I was a has-been, that sort of thing. Listen, Eva del Sarto was a nobody until I started introducing her around town. I even found clients for her, and good commissions too! I lavished attention on her, praise on her, and we shared, well, a certain style of intimacy... Of course, I knew she had been seeing someone else. I don't mean that astronomical slug, Ragnarok. The man's as boring as an asteroid! No, "Darling" was somebody special, somebody who brought this dreamy look into her eyes that I had never seen there before. She dropped a hint. Said he carried a gun. So immediately I thought a soldier back from the war. | |
Yes, I stopped round to see her that night. We had a glass of brandy and I left, about 7 p.m. But I didn't kill her, if that's what you're trying to infer. She seemed very distracted. And now I know why. On the way out, I saw a suitcase by the door. But I'll tell you this, and it's something I didn't tell the police. For my own reasons. As I was descending the stairs, guess who was on his way up? That's right. Mr. Martin Vole. I took the pleasure of tripping him as I passed. He let out a little whimper of fear. Someone should toss him out of a window someday, except that the bag would burst and the guts get on somebody's shoes. | |
Ivan was chilling all right, and he had motive. The problem was the autopsy established Eva was murdered around 10 p.m., long after he was gone. That was if his story checked out... |
 |
