‘I’m a man’s woman,’ Inspector,’ she told him with a flirtatious little giggle. ‘To be honest, if I hadn’t seen her watching me during the evening I’d have barely noticed this Mrs Bignall. She struck me as one of those little mice with nothing to say for themselves who vanish into the wallpaper on social occasions. It’s not even as if she seemed to enjoy herself at all during the few times I noticed her. I didn’t see her mingling with the other guests or anything. Still, thank her for me, won’t you? And tell her I’m sorry I can’t give her an alibi in return.’As Rafferty said goodbye and replaced the receiver, he reflected that the flirty waitress’s words indicated that Dorothea Bignall – ‘“one of those mice who vanish into the wallpaper”’- could have skewered Seward at her leisure without the busty waitress or anyone else noticing she’d moved from her wallflower’s position.And if Mrs Bignall had left her mouse’s corner, who was to vouch for Samantha herself?
