Spider's Web - Agatha Christie [19]
‘Yes, yes,’ Henry called back. ‘You know I always do.’
Clarissa shut the door behind him, and went off to the kitchen to finish making the sandwiches. As she put them on a plate, wrapping a damp napkin around it to keep them fresh, she could not help thinking of her recent unnerving encounter with Oliver Costello. She was frowning as she carried the sandwiches back to the drawing-room, where she put them on the small table.
Suddenly fearful of incurring Miss Peake’s wrath for having marked the table, she snatched the plate up again, rubbed unsuccessfully at the mark it had made, and compromised by covering it with a nearby vase of flowers. She transferred the plate of sandwiches to the stool, then carefully shook the cushions on the sofa. Singing quietly to herself, she picked up Pippa’s book and took it across to replace it on the bookshelves. ‘Can a body meet a body, coming through the–’ She suddenly stopped singing and uttered a scream as she stumbled and nearly fell over Oliver Costello.
Bending over the body, Clarissa recognized who it was. ‘Oliver!’ she gasped. She stared at him in horror for what seemed an age. Then, convinced that he was dead, she straightened up quickly and ran towards the door to call Henry, but immediately realized that he had gone. She turned back to the body, and then ran to the telephone, and lifted the receiver. She began to dial, but then stopped and replaced the receiver again. She stood thinking for a moment, and looked at the panel in the wall. Making up her mind quickly, she glanced at the panel again, and then reluctantly bent down and began to drag the body across to it.
While she was engaged in doing this, the panel slowly opened and Pippa emerged from the recess, wearing a dressing-gown over her pyjamas. ‘Clarissa!’ she wailed, rushing to her stepmother.
Trying to stand between her and the body of Costello, Clarissa gave Pippa a little shove, in an attempt to turn her away. ‘Pippa,’ she begged, ‘don’t look, darling. Don’t look.’
In a strangled voice, Pippa cried, ‘I didn’t mean to. Oh, really, I didn’t mean to do it.’
Horrified, Clarissa seized the child by her arms. ‘Pippa! Was it–you?’ she gasped.
‘He’s dead, isn’t he? He’s quite dead?’ Pippa asked. Sobbing hysterically, she cried, ‘I didn’t–mean to kill him. I didn’t mean to.’
‘Quiet now, quiet,’ Clarissa murmured soothingly. ‘It’s all right. Come on, sit down.’ She led Pippa to the armchair and sat her in it.
‘I didn’t mean to. I didn’t mean to kill him,’ Pippa went on crying.
Clarissa knelt beside her. ‘Of course you didn’t mean to,’ she agreed. ‘Now listen, Pippa–’
When Pippa continued to cry even more hysterically, Clarissa shouted at her. ‘Pippa, listen to me. Everything’s going to be all right. You’ve got to forget about this. Forget all about it, do you hear?’
‘Yes,’ Pippa sobbed, ‘but–but I–’
‘Pippa,’ Clarissa continued more forcefully, ‘you must trust me and believe what I’m telling you. Everything is going to be all right. But you’ve got to be brave and do exactly what I tell you.’
Still sobbing hysterically, Pippa tried to turn away from her.
‘Pippa!’ Clarissa shouted. ‘Will you do as I tell you?’ She pulled the child around to face her. ‘Will you?’
‘Yes, yes, I will,’ Pippa cried, putting her head on Clarissa’s bosom.
‘That’s right.’ Clarissa adopted a consoling tone as she helped Pippa out of the chair. ‘Now, I want you to go upstairs and get into bed.’
‘You come with me, please,’ the child pleaded.
‘Yes, yes,’ Clarissa assured her, ‘I’ll come up very soon, as soon as I can, and I’ll give you a nice little white tablet. Then you’ll go to sleep, and in the morning everything will seem quite different.’ She looked down at the body, and added, ‘There may be nothing to worry about.’
‘But he is dead–isn’t he?’ Pippa