Nemesis - Agatha Christie [89]
‘You mean Emlyn Price and Joanna might have rolled over that boulder?’
‘Well, they’re the only sort of obvious people, aren’t they?’ said Miss Marple.
‘Fancy!’ said Clotilde. ‘Oh, I should never have thought of that. But I see — yes, I just see that there could be something in what you say. Of course, I don’t know what those two were like. I haven’t been travelling with them.’
‘Oh, they were very nice,’ said Miss Marple. ‘Joanna seemed to me a particularly — you know, capable girl.’
‘Capable of doing anything?’ asked Anthea.
‘Anthea,’ said Clotilde, ‘do be quiet.’
‘Yes. Quite capable,’ said Miss Marple. ‘After all, if you’re going to do what may result in murder, you’d have to be rather capable so as to manage not to be seen or anything.’
‘They must have been in it together, though,’ suggested Miss Barrow.
‘Oh yes,’ said Miss Marple. ‘They were in it together and they told roughly the same story. They are the — well, they are the obvious suspects, that’s all I can say. They were out of sight of the others. All the other people were on the lower path. They could have gone up to the top of the hill, they could have rocked the boulder. Perhaps they didn’t mean to kill Miss Temple specially. They may have meant it just as a — well, just as a piece of anarchy or smashing something or someone — anyone in fact. They rolled it over. And then of course they told the story of seeing someone there. Some rather peculiar costume or other which also sounds very unlikely and — well, I oughtn’t to say these things but I have been thinking about it.’
‘It seems to me a very interesting thought,’ said Mrs Glynne. ‘What do you think, Clotilde?’
‘I think it’s a possibility. I shouldn’t have thought of it myself.’
‘Well,’ said Miss Cooke, rising to her feet, ‘we must be going back to the Golden Boar now. Are you coming with us, Miss Marple?’
‘Oh no,’ said Miss Marple. ‘I suppose you don’t know. I’ve forgotten to tell you. Miss Bradbury-Scott very kindly asked me to come back and stay another night — or two nights — here.’
‘Oh, I see. Well, I’m sure that’ll be very nice for you. Much more comfortable. They seem rather a noisy lot that have arrived at the Golden Boar this evening.’
‘Won’t you come round and have some coffee with us after dinner?’ suggested Clotilde. ‘It’s quite a warm evening. We can’t offer you dinner because I’m afraid we haven’t got enough in the house, but if you’ll come in and have some coffee with us…’
‘That would be very nice,’ said Miss Cooke. ‘Yes, we will certainly avail ourselves of your hospitality.’
Chapter 21
The Clock Strikes Three
I
Miss Cooke and Miss Barrow arrived very promptly at 8.45. One wore beige lace and the other one a shade of olive green. During dinner Anthea had asked Miss Marple about these two ladies.
‘It seems very funny of them,’ she said, ‘to want to stay behind.’
‘Oh, I don’t think so,’ said Miss Marple. ‘I think it is really quite natural. They have a rather exact plan, I imagine.’
‘What do you mean by a plan?’ asked Mrs Glynne.
‘Well, I should think they are always prepared for various eventualities and have a plan for dealing with them.’
‘Do you mean,’ said Anthea, with some interest, ‘do you mean that they had a plan for dealing with murder?’
‘I wish,’ said Mrs Glynne, ‘that you wouldn’t talk of poor Miss Temple’s death as murder.’
‘But of course it’s murder,’ said Anthea. ‘All I wonder is who wanted to murder her? I should think probably some pupil of hers at the school who always hated her and had it in for her.’
‘Do you think hate can last as long as that?’ asked Miss Marple.
‘Oh, I should think so. I should think you could hate anyone for years.’
‘No,’ said Miss Marple, ‘I think hate would die out. You could try and keep it up artificially, but I think you would fail. It’s not as strong a force as love,’ she added.
‘Don’t you think that Miss Cooke or Miss Barrow or both of them might have done the murder?’
‘Why should they?’ said Mrs Glynne. ‘Really, Anthea! They seemed very nice women to me.’