Murder at the Vicarage - Agatha Christie [67]
‘I, too, am thankful,’ I said gravely.
‘All the same, you know,’ she sat up. ‘Unless the real murderer is found they’ll always think it was Lawrence – oh! Yes, they will. And especially when he marries me.’
‘My dear, Dr Haydock’s evidence made it perfectly clear –’
‘What do people care about evidence? They don’t even know about it. And medical evidence never means anything to outsiders anyway. That’s another reason why I’m staying on here. Mr Clement, I’m going to find out the truth.’
Her eyes flashed as she spoke. She added:
‘That’s why I asked that girl here.’
‘Miss Cram?’
‘Yes.’
‘You did ask her, then. I mean, it was your idea?’
‘Entirely. Oh! As a matter of fact, she whined a bit. At the inquest – she was there when I arrived. No, I asked her here deliberately.’
‘But surely,’ I cried, ‘you don’t think that that silly young woman could have anything to do with the crime?’
‘It’s awfully easy to appear silly, Mr Clement. It’s one of the easiest things in the world.’
‘Then you really think –?’
‘No, I don’t. Honestly, I don’t. What I do think is that that girl knows something – or might know something. I wanted to study her at close quarters.’
‘And the very night she arrives, that picture is slashed,’ I said thoughtfully.
‘You think she did it? But why? It seems so utterly absurd and impossible.’
‘It seems to me utterly impossible and absurd that your husband should have been murdered in my study,’ I said bitterly. ‘But he was.’
‘I know.’ She laid her hand on my arm. ‘It’s dreadful for you. I do realize that, though I haven’t said very much about it.’
I took the blue lapis lazuli ear-ring from my pocket and held it out to her.
‘This is yours, I think?’
‘Oh, yes!’ She held out her hand for it with a pleased smile. ‘Where did you find it?’
But I did not put the jewel into her outstretched hand.
‘Would you mind,’ I said, ‘if I kept it a little longer?’
‘Why, certainly.’ She looked puzzled and a little inquiring. I did not satisfy her curiosity.
Instead I asked her how she was situated financially.
‘It is an impertinent question,’ I said, ‘but I really do not mean it as such.’
‘I don’t think it’s impertinent at all. You and Griselda are the best friends I have here. And I like that funny old Miss Marple. Lucius was very well off, you know. He left things pretty equally divided between me and Lettice. Old Hall goes to me, but Lettice is to be allowed to choose enough furniture to furnish a small house, and she is left a separate sum for the purpose of buying one, so as to even things up.’
‘What are her plans, do you know?’
Anne made a comical grimace.
‘She doesn’t tell them to me. I imagine she will leave here as soon as possible. She doesn’t like me – she never has. I dare say it’s my fault, though I’ve really always tried to be decent. But I suppose any girl resents a young stepmother.’
‘Are you fond of her?’ I asked bluntly.
She did not reply at once, which convinced me that Anne Protheroe is a very honest woman.
‘I was at first,’ she said. ‘She was such a pretty little girl. I don’t think I am now. I don’t know why. Perhaps it’s because she doesn’t like me. I like being liked, you know.’
‘We all do,’ I said, and Anne Protheroe smiled.
I had one more task to perform. That was to get a word alone with Lettice Protheroe. I managed that easily enough, catching sight of her in the deserted drawing-room. Griselda and Gladys Cram were out in the garden.
I went in and shut the door.
‘Lettice,’ I said, ‘I want to speak to you about something.’
She looked up indifferently.
‘Yes?’
I had thought beforehand what to say. I held out the lapis ear-ring and said quietly:
‘Why did you drop that in my study?’
I saw her stiffen for a moment – it was almost instantaneous. Her recovery was so quick that I myself could hardly have sworn to the movement. Then she said carelessly:
‘I never dropped