The Mousetrap

(Officially) Will you all pay attention, please? (He sits Centre on the refectory table.) You may remember that after the murder of Mrs. Boyle, I took statements from you all. Those statements related to your positions at the time the murder was committed. These statements were as follows: (He consults his notebook.) Mrs. Ralston in the kitchen, Mr. Paravicini playing the piano in the drawing room, Mr. Ralston in his bedroom. Mr. Wren ditto. Miss Casewell in the library. Major Metcalf (He pauses and looks at MAJOR METCALF) in the cellar.

MAJORMETCALF. Correct.

TROTTER. Those were the statements you made. I had no means of checking these statements. They may be true—they may not. To put it quite clearly, five of those statements are true, but one is false—which one? (He pauses while he looks from one to the other.) Five of you were speaking the truth, one of you was lying. I have a plan that may help me to discover the liar. And if I discover that one of you lied to me—then I know who the murderer is.

MISSCASEWELL. Not necessarily. Someone may have lied—for some other reason.

TROTTER. I rather doubt that.

GILES. But what’s the idea? You’ve just said you had no means of checking these statements.

TROTTER. No, but supposing everyone was to go through these actions a second time.

PARAVICINI. (Sighing) Ah, that old chestnut. Reconstruction of the crime.

GILES. That’s a foreign idea.

TROTTER. Not a reconstruction of the crime, Mr. Paravicini. A reconstruction of the movements of apparently innocent persons.

MAJORMETCALF. And what do you expect to learn from that?

TROTTER. You will forgive me if I don’t make that clear just at the moment.

GILES. You want—a repeat performance?

TROTTER. Yes, Mr. Ralston, I do.

MOLLIE. It’s a trap.

TROTTER. What do you mean, it’s a trap?

MOLLIE. It is a trap. I know it is.

TROTTER. I only want people to do exactly what they did before.

CHRISTOPHER. (Also suspicious) But I don’t see—I simply can’t see—what you can possibly hope to find out by just making people do the things they did before. I think it’s just nonsense.

TROTTER. Do you, Mr. Wren?

MOLLIE. Well, you can count me out. I’m too busy in the kitchen. (She rises and moves up Right.)

TROTTER. I can’t count anybody out. (He rises and looks round at them.) One might almost believe that you’re all guilty by the looks of you. Why are you all so unwilling?

GILES. Of course, what you say goes, Sergeant. We’ll all cooperate. Eh, Mollie?

MOLLIE. (Unwilling) Very well.

GILES. Wren?

(CHRISTOPHER nods.)

Miss Casewell?

MISSCASEWELL. Yes.

GILES. Paravicini?

PARAVICINI. (Throwing up his hands) Oh yes, I consent.

GILES. Metcalf?

MAJORMETCALF. (Slowly) Yes.

GILES. Are we all to do exactly what we did before?

TROTTER. The same actions will be performed, yes.

PARAVICINI. (Rising) Then I will return to the piano in the drawing room. Once again I will pick out with one finger the signature tune of a murderer. (He sings, gesturing with his finger.) Tum, dum, dum—dum dum dum . . . (He moves down Left.)

TROTTER. (Moving down Centre) Not quite so fast, Mr. Paravicini. (ToMOLLIE) Do you play the piano, Mrs. Ralston?

MOLLIE. Yes, I do.

TROTTER. And you know the tune of Three Blind Mice?

MOLLIE. Don’t we all know it?

TROTTER. Then you could pick it out on the piano with one finger just as Mr. Paravicini did.

(MOLLIE nods.)

Good. Please go into the drawing room, sit at the piano, and be ready to play when I give you the signal.

(MOLLIE crosses Left below the sofa.)

PARAVICINI. But, Sergeant, I understood that we were each to repeat our former roles.

TROTTER. The same actions will be performed, but not necessarily by the same people. Thank you, Mrs. Ralston.

(PARAVICINI opens the door down Left. MOLLIE exits.)

GILES. I don’t see the point.

TROTTER. (Moving up to Centre of the refectory table) There is a point. It is a means of checking up on the original statements, and maybe one statement in particular. Now then, will you all pay attention, please. I will assign each of you your new stations. Mr. Wren, will you kindly go to the kitchen. Just keep an eye on Mrs. Ralston’s dinner for her. You’re very fond of cooking, I believe.