Body in the Library - Agatha Christie [49]
“Do you think he will alter it?”
“You’d be more likely to know that, sir, than I would. What do you say?”
“I don’t know. Before Ruby Keene came on the scene I happen to know that he had left his money between Mark Gaskell and Mrs. Jefferson. I don’t see why he should now change his mind about that. But of course he might do so. Might leave it to a Cats’ Home, or to subsidize young professional dancers.”
Superintendent Harper agreed.
“You never know what bee a man is going to get in his bonnet—especially when he doesn’t feel there’s any moral obligation in the disposal of his fortune. No blood relations in this case.”
Sir Henry said:
“He is fond of the boy—of young Peter.”
“D’you think he regards him as a grandson? You’d know that better than I would, sir.”
Sir Henry said slowly:
“No, I don’t think so.”
“There’s another thing I’d like to ask you, sir. It’s a thing I can’t judge for myself. But they’re friends of yours and so you’d know. I’d like very much to know just how fond Mr. Jefferson is of Mr. Gaskell and young Mrs. Jefferson.”
Sir Henry frowned.
“I’m not sure if I understand you, Superintendent?”
“Well, it’s this way, sir. How fond is he of them as persons—apart from his relationship to them?”
“Ah, I see what you mean.”
“Yes, sir. Nobody doubts that he was very attached to them both—but he was attached to them, as I see it, because they were, respectively, the husband and the wife of his daughter and his son. But supposing, for instance, one of them had married again?”
Sir Henry reflected. He said:
“It’s an interesting point you raise there. I don’t know. I’m inclined to suspect—this is a mere opinion—that it would have altered his attitude a good deal. He would have wished them well, borne no rancour, but I think, yes, I rather think that he would have taken very little more interest in them.”
“In both cases, sir?”
“I think so, yes. In Mr. Gaskell’s, almost certainly, and I rather think in Mrs. Jefferson’s also, but that’s not nearly so certain. I think he was fond of her for her own sake.”
“Sex would have something to do with that,” said Superintendent Harper sapiently. “Easier for him to look on her as a daughter than to look on Mr. Gaskell as a son. It works both ways. Women accept a son-in-law as one of the family easily enough, but there aren’t many times when a woman looks on her son’s wife as a daughter.”
Superintendent Harper went on:
“Mind if we walk along this path, sir, to the tennis court? I see Miss Marple’s sitting there. I want to ask her to do something for me. As a matter of fact I want to rope you both in.”
“In what way, Superintendent?”
“To get at stuff that I can’t get at myself. I want you to tackle Edwards for me, sir.”
“Edwards? What do you want from him?”
“Everything you can think of! Everything he knows and what he thinks! About the relations between the various members of the family, his angle on the Ruby Keene business. Inside stuff. He knows better than anyone the state of affairs—you bet he does! And he wouldn’t tell me. But he’ll tell you. And something might turn up from it. That is, of course, if you don’t object?”
Sir Henry said grimly:
“I don’t object. I’ve been sent for, urgently, to get at the truth. I mean to do my utmost.”
He added:
“How do you want Miss Marple to help you?”
“With some girls. Some of those Girl Guides. We’ve rounded up half a dozen or so, the ones who were most friendly with Pamela Reeves. It’s possible that they may know something. You see, I’ve been thinking. It seems to me that if that girl was really going to Woolworth’s she would have tried to persuade one of the other girls to go with her. Girls usually like to shop with someone.”
“Yes, I think that’s true.”
“So I think it’s possible that Woolworth’s was only an excuse. I want to know where the girl was really going. She may have let slip something. If so, I feel Miss Marple’s the person to get it out of these girls. I’d say she knows a thing or two about girls—more than I do. And, anyway, they’d be scared of the police.