Murder Is Easy - Agatha Christie [77]
He crossed the two fields, stood hesitating in a country lane. Which way now?
And then he heard the call—faint, far away, but unmistakable….
“Luke, help.” And again, “Luke…”
Unerringly he plunged into the wood and ran in the direction from which the cry had come. There were more sounds now—scuffling—panting—a low gurgling cry.
He came through the trees in time to tear a mad woman’s hands from her victim’s throat, to hold her, struggling, foaming, cursing, till at last she gave a convulsive shudder and turned rigid in his grasp.
Twenty-three
NEW BEGINNING
“But I don’t understand,” said Lord Whitfield. “I don’t understand.”
He strove to maintain his dignity, but beneath the pompous exterior a rather pitiable bewilderment was evident. He could hardly credit the extraordinary things that were being told him.
“It’s like this, Lord Whitfield,” said Battle patiently. “To begin with there is a touch of insanity in the family. We’ve found that out now. Often the way with these old families. I should say she had a predisposition that way. And then she was an ambitious lady—and she was thwarted. First her career and then her love affair.” He coughed. “I understand it was you who jilted her?”
Lord Whitfield said stiffly:
“I don’t like the term jilt.”
Superintendent Battle amended the phrase.
“It was you who terminated the engagement?”
“Well—yes.”
“Tell us why, Gordon,” said Bridget.
Lord Whitfield got rather red. He said:
“Oh, very well, if I must. Honoria had a canary. She was very fond of it. It used to take sugar from her lips. One day it pecked her violently instead. She was angry and picked it up—and—wrung its neck! I—I couldn’t feel the same after that. I told her I thought we’d both made a mistake.”
Battle nodded. He said:
“That was the beginning of it! As she told Miss Conway, she turned her thoughts and her undoubted mental ability to one aim and purpose.”
Lord Whitfield said incredulously:
“To get me convicted as a murderer? I can’t believe it.”
Bridget said, “It’s true, Gordon. You know, you were surprised yourself at the extraordinary way that everybody who annoyed you was instantly struck down.”
“There was a reason for that.”
“Honoria Waynflete was the reason,” said Bridget. “Do get it into your head, Gordon, that it wasn’t Providence that pushed Tommy Pierce out of the window, and all the rest of them. It was Honoria.”
Lord Whitfield shook his head.
“It all seems to me quite incredible!” he said.
Battle said:
“You say you got a telephone message this morning?”
“Yes—about twelve o’clock. I was asked to go to the Shaw Wood at once as you, Bridget, had something to say to me. I was not to come by car but to walk.”
Battle nodded.
“Exactly. That would have been the finish. Miss Conway would have been found with her throat cut; and beside her your knife with your fingerprints on it! And you yourself would have been seen in the vicinity at the time! You wouldn’t have had a leg to stand upon. Any jury in the world would have convicted you.”
“Me?” said Lord Whitfield, startled and distressed. “Anyone would have believed a thing like that of Me?”
Bridget said gently:
“I didn’t, Gordon. I never believed it.”
Lord Whitfield looked at her coldly, then he said stiffly:
“In view of my character and my standing in the county, I do not believe that anyone for one moment would have believed in such a monstrous charge!”
He went out with dignity and closed the door behind him.
Luke said:
“He’ll never realize that he was really in danger!”
Then he said:
“Go on, Bridget, tell me how you came to suspect the Waynflete woman.”
Bridget explained:
“It was when you were telling me that Gordon was the killer. I couldn’t believe it! You see, I knew him so well. I’d been his secretary for two years! I knew him in and out! I knew that he was pompous and petty and completely self-absorbed, but I knew, too,