Ordeal by Innocence - Agatha Christie [58]
“It’s so easy for you, Tina,” said Micky.
“And why is it hard for you? Because you make it so! It was not Mrs. Argyle you hated, Micky, it was your own mother. Yes, I know that what I am saying is true. And if you killed Mrs. Argyle, as you may have done, then it was your own mother you wanted to kill.”
“Tina! What the hell are you talking about?”
“And now,” went on Tina, talking calmly, “you have nobody to hate any longer. And that makes you quite lonely, doesn’t it? But you’ve got to learn to live without hate, Micky. It may be difficult, but it can be done.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. What did you mean by saying that I may have killed her? You know perfectly well I was nowhere near here that day. I was testing out a customer’s car up on the Moor Road, by Minchin Hill.”
“Were you?” said Tina.
She got up and stepped forward till she stood at the Lookout Point from where you could look down to the river below.
“What are you getting at, Tina?” Micky came up behind her.
Tina pointed down to the beach.
“Who are those two people down there?”
Micky gave a quick cursory glance.
“Hester and her doctor pal, I think,” he said. “But Tina, what did you mean? For God’s sake don’t stand there right at the edge.”
“Why—do you want to push me over? You could. I’m very small, you know.”
Micky said hoarsely:
“Why do you say I may have been here that evening?”
Tina did not answer. She turned and began walking back up the path to the house.
“Tina!”
Tina said in her quiet, soft voice:
“I’m worried, Micky. I’m very worried about Hester and Don Craig.”
“Never mind about Hester and her boy friend.”
“But I do mind about them. I am afraid that Hester is very unhappy.”
“We’re not talking about them.”
“I am talking about them. They matter, you see.”
“Have you believed all along, Tina, that I was here the night Mother was killed?”
Tina did not reply.
“You didn’t say anything at the time.”
“Why should I? There was no need. I mean, it was so obvious that Jacko had killed her.”
“And now it’s equally obvious that Jacko didn’t kill her.”
Again Tina nodded.
“And so?” Micky asked. “And so?”
She did not answer him, but continued to walk up the path to the house.
III
On the little beach by the Point, Hester scuffed the sand with the point of her shoe.
“I don’t see what there is to talk about,” she said.
“You’ve got to talk about it,” said Don Craig.
“I don’t see why … Talking about a thing never does any good—it never makes it any better.”
“You might at least tell me what happened this morning.”
“Nothing,” said Hester.
“What do you mean—nothing? The police came along, didn’t they?”
“Oh, yes, they came along.”
“Well, then, did they question you all?”
“Yes,” said Hester, “they questioned us.”
“What sort of questions?”
“All the usual ones,” said Hester. “Really just the same as before. Where we were and what we did, and when we last saw Mother alive. Really, Don, I don’t want to talk about it any more. It’s over now.”
“But it isn’t over, dearest. That’s just the point.”
“I don’t see why you need to fuss,” said Hester. “You’re not mixed up in this.”
“Darling, I want to help you. Don’t you understand?”
“Well, talking about it doesn’t help me. I just want to forget. If you’d help me to forget, that would be different.”
“Hester, dearest, it’s no good running away from things. You must face them.”
“I’ve been facing them, as you call it, all the morning.”
“Hester, I love you. You know that, don’t you?”
“I suppose so,” said Hester.
“What do you mean, you suppose so?”
“Going on and on about it all.”
“But I have to do that.”
“I don’t see why. You’re not a policeman.”
“Who was the last person to see your mother alive?”
“I was,