Murder Is Easy - Agatha Christie [78]
“So I simply knew that that part of the story was untrue. But if so, Miss Waynflete must have lied. And it was really, when you came to think of it, a very extraordinary lie! And I wondered suddenly if she’d told anymore lies. She was a very proud woman—one could see that. To be thrown over must have hurt her pride horribly. It would probably make her feel very angry and revengeful against Lord Whitfield—especially, I felt, if he turned up again later all rich and prosperous and successful. I thought, ‘Yes, she’d probably enjoy helping to fix a crime upon him.’ And then a curious sort of whirling feeling came in my brain and I thought—but suppose everything she says is a lie—and I suddenly saw how easily a woman like that could make a fool of a man! And I thought, ‘It’s fantastic, but suppose it was she who killed all these people and fed Gordon up with the idea that it was a kind of divine retribution!’ It would be quite easy for her to make him believe that. As I told you once, Gordon would believe anything! And I thought, ‘Could she have done all those murders?’ And I saw that she could! She could give a shove to a drunken man—and push a boy out of a window, and Amy Gibbs had died in her house. Mrs. Horton, too—Honoria Waynflete used to go and sit with her when she was ill. Dr. Humbleby was more difficult. I didn’t know then that Wonky Pooh had a nasty septic ear and that she infected the dressing she put on his hand. Miss Pinkerton’s death was even more difficult, because I couldn’t imagine Miss Waynflete dressed up as a chauffeur driving a Rolls.
“And then, suddenly, I saw that that was the easiest of the lot! It was the old shove from behind—easily done in a crowd. The car didn’t stop and she saw a fresh opportunity and told another woman she had seen the number of the car, and gave the number of Lord Whitfield’s Rolls.
“Of course, all this only came very confusedly through my head. But if Gordon definitely hadn’t done the murders—and I knew—yes, knew that he hadn’t—well, who had? And the answer seemed quite clear. ‘Someone who hates Gordon!’ Who hates Gordon? Honoria Waynflete, of course.
“And then I remembered that Miss Pinkerton had definitely spoken of a man as the killer. That knocked out all my beautiful theory, because, unless Miss Pinkerton was right, she wouldn’t have been killed…So I got you to repeat exactly Miss Pinkerton’s words and I soon discovered that she hadn’t actually said ‘man’ once. Then I felt that I was definitely on the right track! I decided to accept Miss Waynflete’s invitation to stay with her and I resolved to try to ferret out the truth.”
“Without saying a word to me?” said Luke angrily.
“But, my sweet, you were so sure—and I wasn’t sure a bit! It was all vague and doubtful. But I never dreamed that I was in any danger. I thought I’d have plenty of time….”
She shivered.
“Oh, Luke, it was horrible…Her eyes…And that dreadful, polite, inhuman laugh….”
Luke said with a slight shiver:
“I shan’t forget how I only got there just in time.”
He turned to Battle. “What’s she like now?”
“Gone right over the edge,” said Battle. “They do, you know. They can’t face the shock of not having been as clever as they thought they were.”
Luke said ruefully:
“Well, I’m not much of a policeman! I never suspected Honoria Waynflete once. You’d have done better, Battle.”
“Maybe, sir, maybe not. You’ll remember my saying that nothing’s impossible in crime. I mentioned a maiden lady, I believe.”
“You also mentioned an archbishop and a schoolgirl! Am I to understand that you consider all these