Hallowe'en Party - Agatha Christie [79]
‘The same kind of thing as they did to the child Joyce?’
‘Yes, yes. I can see it must be—it must be madness of some kind. And one doesn’t know who, that’s what’s so awful. One hasn’t the least idea. And I thought I knew. I really thought—I suppose, yes, it was a very wicked thing.’
‘You must tell me, Madame.’
‘Yes, I want to tell you. I came here to tell you. Because, you see, you came to me after you’d talked to Elizabeth Whittaker. After she’d told you that something had startled me. That I’d seen something. Something in the hall of the house, my house. I said that I hadn’t seen anything and that nothing had startled me because, you see, I thought–’ she stopped.
‘What did you see?’
‘I ought to have told you then. I saw the door of the library open, open rather carefully and—then he came out. At least, he didn’t come right out. He just stood in the doorway and then pulled the door back quickly and went back inside.’
‘Who was this?’
‘Leopold. Leopold, the child that’s been killed now. And you see, I thought I—oh, what a mistake, what an awful mistake. If I’d told you, perhaps—perhaps you’d have got at what was behind it.’
‘You thought?’ Poirot said. ‘You thought that Leopold had killed his sister. Is that what you thought?’
‘Yes, that’s what I thought. Not then, of course, because I didn’t know she was dead. But he had a queer look on his face. He’s always been a queer child. In a way you’re a little afraid of him because you feel he’s not—not quite right. Very clever and a high I.Q., but all the same not all there.
‘And I thought “Why is Leopold coming out of there instead of being at the Snapdragon?” and I thought “What’s he been doing—he looks so queer?” And then, well then I didn’t think of it again after that, but I suppose, the way he looked upset me. And that’s why I dropped the vase. Elizabeth helped me to pick up the glass pieces, and I went back to the Snapdragon and I didn’t think of it again. Until we found Joyce. And that’s when I thought–’
‘You thought that Leopold had done it?’
‘Yes. Yes, I did think that. I thought it explained the way he’d looked. I thought I knew. I always think—I’ve thought too much all my life that I know things, that I’m right about things. And I can be very wrong. Because, you see, his being killed must mean something quite different. He must have gone in there, and he must have found her there—dead—and it gave him a terrible shock and he was frightened. And so he wanted to come out of the room without anyone seeing him and I suppose he looked up and saw me and he got back into the room and shut the door and waited until the hall was empty before coming out. But not because he’d killed her. No. Just the shock of finding her dead.’
‘And yet you said nothing? You didn’t mention who it was you’d seen, even after the death was discovered?’
‘No. I—oh, I couldn’t. He’s—you see, he’s so young –was so young, I suppose I ought to say now. Ten. Ten—eleven at most and I mean—I felt he couldn’t have known what he was doing, it couldn’t have been his fault exactly. He must have been morally not responsible. He’s always been rather queer, and I thought one could get treatment for him. Not leave it all to the police. Not send him to approved places. I thought one could get special psychological treatment for him, if necessary. I—I meant well. You must believe that, I meant well.’
Such sad words, Poirot thought, some of the saddest words in the world. Mrs Drake seemed to know what he was thinking.
‘Yes,’ she said, ‘“I did it for the best.” “I meant well.” One always thinks one knows what is best to do for other people, but one doesn’t. Because, you see, the reason he looked so taken aback must have been that he either saw who the murderer was, or saw something that would give a clue to who the murderer might be. Something that made the murderer feel that he himself wasn’t safe. And so—and so he’s waited until he got the boy alone and then drowned him in the brook so that he shouldn’t speak, so that he shouldn’t