Chapter 1
The Clarkson family lived in the country near Cambridge.Jackie came in from the garden.Just then the phone rang.She felt angry because her sister Diane always asked for money.Just then the back door opened, and her mother Molly came in.'Mother,' she said. 'Diane phoned. She wants money for her train ticket and Peter Hobbs came here this morning. He's very angry with you about that letter. He lost his job, you know. Why did you write to his office? He wants to talk to you about it.He's very, very angry. He says... he says he's going to kill you!'Molly did not answer.
Chapter 2
It was seven o'clock on Saturday evening.A car drove slowly up to the front door and stopped.It was Albert, the husband of Molly's sister.Albert came in and went at once to Molly.'Everyone is here now. Let's go in to dinner,' Molly said.Albert sat down next to Roger. Roger was Molly's son, her second child.They are talked about Peter but Molly said nothing.'How is Aunt Annie?' Jackie asked.'She's much worse now,'Albert looked at Molly,'It's very difficult and very expensive, you know. Annie feels very unhappy because you don't visit her, Molly. She loves you very much. You are her little sister, you know.'Molly closed her eyes for a minute.'Well, we can talk about it later.'Molly never liked talking about her sister Annie and she did not like visiting her because she was very ill.'I’m going to need more money soon. I want to go to America.'Diane said,'Mother always helps me. Mother loves me best.' She suddenly smiled, a quick, beautiful smile. But her eyes were cold.Molly's face was white. Jackie did not understand. Was her mother afraid of Diane?'Would you like to meet Mr Briggs this weekend, Roger?' Jackie asked quickly. 'He's the new man at the farm. He wants to meet you.''Briggs?' Molly said, suddenly angry. 'Don't talk to me about that man. I don' t like him. He wants half my garden for his farm.'Molly stood up.'I know you all want my money. You come here for a free dinner, you don't want to see me. You don't love me. You want my house, and my money. Well, you can all wait. Nobody is getting more money from me, not before I die!'Molly walked across the room to the door. 'I feel ill now. I'm going upstairs to bed.''One day I'm going to kill that woman,' Diane said quietly.
Chapter 3
Early next morning the house was quiet.Roger got out of bed and opened the door quietly. At the same time the door of his mother's room opened and Diane came out.'Roger! It's Mother! I brought a cup of coffee for her and I found her dead. She's dead...dead in her bed,' she cried.The window was open but the room was warm. Molly was on the bed, one hand under her head.On the little table next to the bed was a hot cup of coffee and an empty cup.'I'm going to call the doctor,' Diane said,'Dr Pratt, this is Diane Clarkson. It's my mother—she's dead. Can you come quickly?'Diane put the phone down.'Don't cry, Diane,' Roger said. 'Let's go upstairs and tell Uncle Albert and Jackie.''No! You tell them! Nobody loved Mother. You aren't sorry. Look at you! You want her money. That's all.'Diane said.She went into the kitchen and at once the dogs got up and came to her.She opened the back door and went out with the dogs.Dr Pratt was the family doctor and he knew all the Clarkson family very well. He went upstairs at once and looked at Molly's body. He looked carefully at the cup of coffee and the empty cup on the table next to her bed.'I'm going to phone the police, Roger.'Dr Pratt said,'Your mother wasn't ill. I saw her on Thursday and she was very well. Why did she die? I don't understand. I want to find out.'Roger felt worse and worse.'Your mother took sleeping tablets,' Dr Pratt said. 'Did you know? On Thursday she had a new bottle of tablets, but I can't find it here in her room.'Roger went into the kitchen and made some coffee. Just then Diane came in with the dogs.'Dr Pratt is phoning the police. Did you know Mother took sleeping tablets? Well, the bottle is not in her room.'Roger said.'What? I don't understand.' Diane said.Just then Dr Pratt came into the kitchen. 'They're coming at once,' he said.'Dr Pratt, I want to tell you about last night. Everyone was very angry...'Diane said,'Last night Mother went to bed early because everyone...''Don't tell me,' Dr Pratt said. 'You can tell the police.''I'm going upstairs,' Roger said. 'I'm going to tell Uncle Albert and Jackie about Mother... and about the police.'
Chapter 4
The police arrived very quickly.Some of them with cameras went upstairs to Molly's room. Two detectives talked to Dr Pratt in the kitchen. The family waited in the sitting room.Suddenly the door opened and the two detectives came in.'Last night someone put sleeping tablets in Mrs Clarkson's hot milk. We are going to question everybody, and we need a room.'Detective Inspector Walsh said.Roger stood up. 'You can have my father's old office.''I would like to talk first to your uncle, Albert King,' Inspector Walsh said.Albert came in and sat down.'Tell me about last night,' Inspector Walsh asked quietly. 'You were angry with Mrs Clarkson.'Albert looked at Inspector Walsh for the first time. 'Yes, I was. Everyone was angry.''What happened next?'Inspector Walsh asked.'Molly was angry with everyone and went upstairs. We went into the kitchen for coffee. Jackie wanted everyone to go up and say good night to Molly.At first Roger said no.'Albert said,'I was tired and I went upstairs first. I went to Molly's room and asked her for money again. But no—there was no money for her sister.'Inspector Walsh watched Albert for a minute. 'Did you hear noises after you went to bed?''Everyone went into Molly's room to say good night, I think. Later, I heard someone... He—or she—went downstairs. That was about midnight.'Albert said.Albert left the room.Jackie came in and sat down.'We found the empty bottle of your mother's sleeping tablets in Diane's room,' the Inspector said suddenly,'Tell me, did your mother get her tablets from the shop in the village?''My mother usually took a sleeping tablet every night so she needed a lot of tablets.On Thursday, I asked Peter Hobbs to get them.'Jackie said.'Did you see your mother in her room last night?'the Inspector asked.'Yes, everyone did. Diane made hot milk and took it to Mother. She usually drank a cup of hot milk before she slept.'Jackie said.'What did your mother say?'Inspector Walsh asked.'She wanted to go downstairs again. She remembered the dogs—she wanted to get some dinner for them. I went to my room and she went downstairs.This about midnight, I think.'Jackie said.'Did you need your mother's money?You wanted nothing?'Inspector Walsh asked.Jackie’s eyes were suddenly angry. 'Don't forget Peter Hobbs. He lost his job because of my mother. He wanted to kill her, you know. And what about Diane? You found the empty bottle in her bag.'Then Jackie said nothing for a minute.Jackie left the room.Inspector Walsh thought about her. Why was she suddenly angry?
Chapter 5
Roger came in and sat down.'Tell me about your job, Mr Clarkson. Your mother is dead and now you're rich. Do you need money?'the Inspector asked.Roger's face was suddenly afraid.'A friend and I want to build ten houses here, in this garden. We can get a lot of money for them. So. I wanted Mother to sell this house.''Tell me, what happened upstairs? You went to your mother's room?Did you talk about the house again?'the Inspector asked.'Yes, I did. Again, she said no.'Roger said.'We found the empty bottle of sleeping tablets, Mr Clarkson, in Diane's room.'Inspector Walsh said.Roger's face did not change. 'Oh? Someone put them there. Diane did not kill my mother, I know that. She found the body.'Roger got up and left the room.Why was Roger Clarkson afraid? Was it important?Diane came into the room and sat down.I want you to talk about last night.'Inspector Walsh said.'Mother went to bed early and I made hot milk for her. We were all in the kitchen, and Peter Hobbs came in. He nearly broke the back door down.He was very angry about a letter. He wanted to kill Mother.Tom Briggs came into the kitchen, too.'Diane said.'When did you take the milk upstairs?'Inspector Walsh asked.'I went up after Roger.I didn't like my mother, Inspector. She killed my father.Last winter, after Christmas, she drove the car into a tree and killed my father.'Diane said,'Everyone wanted Mother to die.Do you know that Jackie didn't like Mother? A long time age, a nice boy worked here. He was the gardener. Jackie loved him very much, but Mother said no. A gardener was not a good husband for a Clarkson girl!''We found the empty bottle of sleeping tablets in your room,' Inspector Walsh said quietly. He watched her face carefully.Diane stood up suddenly, her face angry. 'What? I didn't put it there! I'm not going to listen to this!' She ran out of the room.'Someone put sleeping tablets in Molly's hot milk,' the Inspector said. 'All the family were in the kitchen last night. Peter Hobbs and Tom Briggs were there, too. One of them killed Molly.'
Chapter 6
They found Peter Hobbs under his car.'Why did you go to the Clarkson's house last night?'Inspector Walsh said.'Jackie wanted me to come and see her brother, Roger. "You're angry," she said. "Come and tell Roger."Old Mrs Clarkson wasn't there. But I told Roger.' Peter hit the car with his hand. 'I wanted to kill that woman. I lost my job,because of her.I wanted to kill her!''What happened next?'Inspector Walsh said.'Jackie gave me some coffee.'Peter said angrily. 'Then Tom Briggs came in.But Roger didn't listen to me.Jackie was very unhappy—she nearly cried. Then I went home.''Now tell me about the tablets.'Inspector Walsh said.'Jackie wanted me to get her mother's tablets from the village. I go to the village on my bicycle.'Peter said.'Thank you, Peter. That's all.'Inspector Walsh said.Tom Briggs' farm was about half a mile away.'Not much money here,' Inspector Walsh said.'What's wrong?'Tom Briggs said.'We want to ask one or two questions about last night.'Inspector Walsh said.'Come and wait in the front room,' Tom said and opened the door.Inspector Walsh looked at the things in the front room.There was a picture of a happy young girl with long brown hair on the table.Inspector Walsh looked at the picture for a long time. Who was the girl?Tom Briggs came back into the front room.'You know Mrs Clarkson is dead?'Inspector Walsh asked.Tom Briggs sat down suddenly on the nearest chair. 'What? How did she die? When did it happen? I was there last night.''She died last night or early this morning. What did you do last night?'Inspector Walsh said.'I went there to meet Mr ClarksonRoger. I'm losing money on this farm and I need more land. I want half Mrs Clarkson's garden.''You went into the kitchen. What did you do next?'Inspector Walsh asked.'I talked to Roger. He wants his mother to sell the house. But he wants the land. He doesn't want me to have it.'Tom said.Inspector Walsh got up and took the picture of the girl from the table. 'Who's this?'Tom's face went red. 'That's a friend.It was a long time ago.'The two detectives walked back to the Clarksons' house through the garden.Who killed Molly? He knew the answer now, but he needed to ask one or two more questions.
Chapter 7
On Monday morning Sergeant Foster went to Roger's office and asked some questions. And then he went to Albert's house and asked some more questions.Inspector Walsh made phone calls about Peter Hobbs and he made phone calls about Tom Briggs.At three o'clock the two detectives drove to the Clarksons' house.'I want to talk to you. Someone killed Molly Clarkson. Someone put sleeping tablets in her hot milk and killed her.Now I know the true story and I'm going to tell you.'Inspector Walsh said.'Someone wanted Peter Hobbs to come into the kitchen that night. She wanted everyone to see him, and listen to him.Miss Clarkson, you wanted Peter Hobbs to come to the house that night. He was very angry with your mother because of that letter. He said: "I want to kill her." And you wanted everyone to hear that. Why?'Jackie's face went white. 'It's not true! What about Diane? You found the empty bottle in her bag!'Inspector Walsh looked at Jackie,'It's true: we found the bottle in Diane's bag. But how do you know that? We didn't tell you.We found the empty bottle in Diane's room. We told you that. You talked about Diane's bag; we didn't tell you.' Inspector Walsh looked carefully at Jackie. 'A long time ago, you knew Tom Briggs. He was the gardener here and you loved him. But your mother didn't like him.We found your picture—an old one—in Mr Briggs' house. You were younger then, and your hair was long. Last year Tom Briggs came back, and you wanted him. He loved you, too, but he had no money. He wanted the garden for his farm, he wanted money, he wanted you. But your mother said no. In the end, you wanted to kill your mother... and you did kill her. Your mother went downstairs to see the dogs and you put the sleeping tablets in her hot milk. Later, you put the empty bottle in Diane's bag.'Jackie’s eyes were dark and afraid,'Mother gave me nothing... all those years. I wanted to be happy... to be with Tom. That's all. I love Tom, and he loves me. But Mother said no. Always no.'Jackie left the house in a police car.Inspector Walsh looked back at the house.'Well,' he said to Sergeant Foster, 'in the end, they got the money: Albert, Roger, Diane. They're all rich now. But are they going to be happy?'