The albatross

The albatross is the German title of a 1957 published Kriminalerzählung (original title: The Albatross ) by Charlotte Armstrong . The German first edition was published by Diogenes Verlag under the title Conspiracy against Miss Pomeroy along with five other stories, the story The Albatros making up more than a third of the entire text of this edition.

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The Gardner couple stayed in a motel on their way home . While Tom is still studying the map, Esther falls asleep. When she wakes up, a strange man is standing next to her bed. When she screams, Tom comes to her aid from the next room and knocks the intruder down, who is then passed out for a moment. It turns out that it is a drunk roommate of the motel who eventually apologizes and withdraws. When they got home, the Gardners read in the newspaper a few days later that shortly after being at home the day after they met, the man suddenly collapsed dead for no apparent reason. Believing he was the victim of unnoticed injuries caused by the knockdown, they visit this man's widow, Audrey Caldwell, and her disabled sister, Joan. Audrey understands Tom's actions and doesn't blame him. But since she seems to be destitute after the death of her husband, Tom and Esther take the two women into their house. Tom is plagued with guilt, which is symbolized in the picture of an albatross. In a children's story Tom and Esther are familiar with, a child had to carry this albatross with them as punishment for killing the bird.
Esther gradually creeps into the suspicion that Audrey is taking advantage of Tom's guilt feelings and wants to get between him and her. When she tells Tom about it, he doesn't believe her and takes sides with Audrey. Esther, who fears losing her husband and being pushed out of the house, starts an investigation. So she learns that Audrey's husband died not from the injuries that Tom had inflicted on him when he knocked him down, but from the jealous Joan who knocked Audrey's husband over in a wheelchair. The Gardeners happened to arrive at just the right time shortly thereafter to take the blame and also provide for Audrey and Joan's upkeep.
After Joan has tried to kill Esther with her wheelchair, Esther finally manages to convince both the investigating police officer and Tom of her version and to set a trap for the two women.
Tom can use his "Albatros", i. H. Cast off his guilt, Joan commits suicide, and Audrey is now under investigation for incitement to murder.

German first edition

The Albatross , published in: Conspiracy against Miss Pomeroy , Diogenes Verlag Zurich, 1994, ISBN 3-257-22652-7