Nemesis - Agatha Christie [55]
‘Was it a man or a woman they saw?’ asked Miss Marple.
‘Unfortunately, Joanna Crawford could not say. Whoever it was, was wearing jeans or trousers, and had on a lurid poloneck pullover in red and black checks. The figure turned and moved out of sight almost immediately. She is inclined to think it was a man but cannot be certain.’
‘And she thinks, or you think, that it was a deliberate attempt on Miss Temple’s life?’
‘The more she mulls it over, the more she thinks that that was exactly what it was. The boy agrees.’
‘You have no idea who it might have been?’
‘No idea whatever. No more have they. It might be one of our fellow travellers, someone who went for a stroll that afternoon. It might be someone completely unknown who knew that the coach was making a halt here and chose this place to make an attack on one of the passengers. Some youthful lover of violence for violence’s sake. Or it might have been an enemy.’
‘It seems very melodramatic if one says “a secret enemy”,’ said Miss Marple.
‘Yes, it does. Who would want to kill a retired and respected Headmistress? That is a question we want answered. It is possible, faintly possible that Miss Temple herself might be able to tell us. She might have recognized the figure above her or she might more likely have known of someone who bore her ill-will for some special reason.’
‘It still seems unlikely.’
‘I agree with you,’ said Professor Wanstead. ‘She seems a totally unlikely person to be a fit victim of attack, but yet when one reflects, a Headmistress knows a great many people. A great many people, shall we put it this way, have passed through her hands.’
‘A lot of girls you mean have passed through her hands.’
‘Yes. Yes, that is what I meant. Girls and their families. A Headmistress must have knowledge of many things. Romances, for instance, that girls might indulge in, unknown to their parents. It happens, you know. It happens very often. Especially in the last ten or twenty years. Girls are said to mature earlier. That is physically true, though in a deeper sense of the word, they mature late. They remain childish longer. Childish in the clothes they like to wear, childish with their floating hair. Even their mini skirts represent a worship of childishness. Their Baby Doll nightdresses, their gymslips and shorts — all children’s fashions. They wish not to become adult — not to have to accept our kind of responsibility. And yet like all children, they want to be thought grown up, and free to do what they think are grown up things. And that leads sometimes to tragedy and sometimes to the aftermath of tragedy.’
‘Are you thinking of some particular case?’
‘No. No, not really. I’m only thinking — well, shall we say letting possibilities pass through my mind. I cannot believe that Elizabeth Temple had a personal enemy. An enemy ruthless enough to wish to take an opportunity of killing her. What I do think — ’ he looked at Miss Marple, ‘ — would you like to make a suggestion?’
‘Of a possibility? Well, I think I know or guess what you are suggesting. You are suggesting that Miss Temple knew something, knew some fact or had some knowledge that would be inconvenient or even dangerous to somebody if it was known.’
‘Yes, I do feel exactly that.’
‘In that case,’ said Miss Marple, ‘it seems indicated that there is someone on our couch tour who recognized Miss Temple or knew who she was, but who perhaps after the passage of some years was not remembered or might even not have been recognized by Miss Temple. It seems to throw it back on our passengers, does it not?’ She paused. ‘That pullover