Hallowe'en Party - Agatha Christie [87]
‘I told Joyce.’
‘And what exactly did you tell Joyce?’
‘That I’d seen a murder.’
‘Did you tell anyone else?’
‘No. But I think Leopold guessed. He listens, you know. At doors. That sort of thing. He likes knowing people’s secrets.’
‘You have heard that Joyce Reynolds, on the afternoon before the Hallowe’en party, claimed that she herself had seen a murder committed. Was that true?’
‘No. She was just repeating what I’d told her—but pretending that it had happened to her.’
‘Will you tell us now just what you did see.’
‘I didn’t know at first that it was a murder. I thought there had been an accident. I thought she’d fallen from up above somewhere.’
‘Where was this?’
‘In the Quarry Garden—in the hollow where the fountain used to be. I was up in the branches of a tree. I’d been looking at a squirrel and one has to keep very quiet, or they rush away. Squirrels are very quick.’
‘Tell us what you saw.’
‘A man and a woman lifted her up and were carrying her up the path. I thought they were taking her to a hospital or to the Quarry House. Then the woman stopped suddenly and said, “Someone is watching us,” and stared at my tree. Somehow it made me feel frightened. I kept very still. The man said “Nonsense,” and they went on. I saw there was blood on a scarf and there was a knife with blood on that—and I thought perhaps someone had tried to kill themselves—and I went on keeping very still.’
‘Because you were frightened?’
‘Yes, but I don’t know why.’
‘You didn’t tell your mother?’
‘No. I thought perhaps I oughtn’t to have been there watching. And then the next day nobody said anything about an accident, so I forgot about it. I never thought about it again until–’
She stopped suddenly. The Chief Constable opened his mouth—then shut it. He looked at Poirot and made a very slight gesture.
‘Yes, Miranda,’ said Poirot, ‘until what?’
‘It was as though it was happening all over again. It was a green woodpecker this time, and I was being very still, watching it from behind some bushes. And those two were sitting there talking—about an island—a Greek island. She said something like, “It’s all signed up. It’s ours, we can go to it whenever we like. But we’d better go slow still—not rush things.” And then the woodpecker flew away, and I moved. And she said –“Hush—be quiet—somebody’s watching us.” It was just the way she’d said it before, and she had just the same look on her face, and I was frightened again, and I remembered. And this time I knew. I knew it had been a murder I had seen and it had been a dead body they were carrying away to hide somewhere. You see, I wasn’t a child any more. I knew—things and what they must mean—the blood and the knife and the dead body all limp–’
‘When was this?’ asked the Chief Constable. ‘How long ago?’
Miranda thought for a moment.
‘Last March—just after Easter.’
‘Can you say definitely who these people were, Miranda?’
‘Of course I can.’ Miranda looked bewildered.
‘You saw their faces?’
‘Of course.’
‘Who were they?’
‘Mrs Drake and Michael…’
It was not a dramatic denunciation. Her voice was quiet, with something in it like wonder, but it carried conviction.
The Chief Constable said, ‘You did not tell anyone. Why not?’
‘I thought—I thought it might have been a sacrifice.’
‘Who told you that?’
‘Michael told me—he said sacrifices were necessary.’
Poirot said gently, ‘You loved Michael?’
‘Oh yes,’ said Miranda, ‘I loved him very much.’
Chapter 27
‘Now I’ve got you here at last,’ said Mrs Oliver, ‘I want to know all about everything.’
She looked at Poirot with determination and asked severely:
‘Why haven’t you come sooner?’
‘My excuses, Madame, I have been much occupied assisting the police with their inquiries.’
‘It’s criminals who do that. What on earth made you think of Rowena Drake being mixed up in a murder? Nobody else would have dreamed of it?’
‘It was simple as soon as I got the vital clue.’
‘What do you