Chapter Sixteen
APPLEBY HAD COME UP trumps. The fibres taken from the desk were an exact match with those of the dress that Rafferty had obtained from Chez Sophie, identical in every way to the one which Mrs Astell had worn on the night of Moon's murder. Even the umbrella found in the gutter the morning after his death had been identified as hers. The net was closing in, and now Rafferty felt he had enough proof of her guilt to charge her. She was out of hospital and was presumably physically well enough to face arrest. Even if, as seemed probable, her mental state was less than healthy, at least, in custody, she was unlikely to be able to attempt a second suicide in order to escape justice, if such was her intention.
Now that he had the evidence of Moon's will, Rafferty tried to contact
