Spider's Web - Agatha Christie [35]
He stretched his arms above his head as though seeking inspiration from on high, and then addressed the Constable again. ‘Well, we’d better get on with it,’ he said. ‘Let’s take them one at a time.’
As the Constable got to his feet, the Inspector changed his mind. ‘No. Just a moment. First I’ll have a word with that butler chap,’ he decided.
‘Elgin?’
‘Yes, Elgin. Call him in. I’ve got an idea he knows something.’
‘Certainly, sir,’ the Constable replied.
Leaving the room, he found Elgin hovering near the sitting-room door. The butler made a tentative pretence of heading for the stairs, but stopped when the Constable called him and came into the room rather nervously.
The Constable closed the hall door and resumed his place for note-taking, while the Inspector indicated the chair near the bridge table.
Elgin sat down, and the Inspector began his interrogation. ‘Now, you started off for the pictures this evening,’ he reminded the butler, ‘but you came back. Why was that?’
‘I’ve told you, sir,’ Elgin replied. ‘My wife wasn’t feeling well.’
The Inspector regarded him steadily. ‘It was you who let Mr Costello into the house when he called here this evening, was it not?’ he asked.
‘Yes, sir.’
The Inspector took a few paces away from Elgin, and then turned back suddenly. ‘Why didn’t you tell us at once that it was Mr Costello’s car outside?’ he asked.
‘I didn’t know whose car it was, sir. Mr Costello didn’t drive up to the front door. I didn’t even know he’d come in a car.’
‘Wasn’t that rather peculiar? Leaving his car around by the stables?’ the Inspector suggested.
‘Well, yes, sir, I suppose it was,’ the butler replied. ‘But I expect he had his reasons.’
‘Just what do you mean by that?’ the Inspector asked quickly.
‘Nothing, sir,’ Elgin answered. He sounded almost smug. ‘Nothing at all.’
‘Had you ever seen Mr Costello before?’ The Inspector’s voice was sharp as he asked this.
‘Never, sir,’ Elgin assured him.
The Inspector adopted a meaning tone to enquire, ‘It wasn’t because of Mr Costello that you came back this evening?’
‘I’ve told you, sir,’ said Elgin. ‘My wife–’
‘I don’t want to hear any more about your wife,’ the Inspector interrupted. Moving away from Elgin, he continued, ‘How long have you been with Mrs Hailsham-Brown?’
‘Six weeks, sir,’ was the reply.
The Inspector turned back to face Elgin. ‘And before that?’
‘I’d–I’d been having a little rest,’ the butler replied uneasily.
‘A rest?’ the Inspector echoed, in a tone of suspicion. He paused and then added, ‘You do realize that, in a case like this, your references will have to be looked into very carefully.’
Elgin began to get to his feet. ‘Will that be all–’ he started to say, and then stopped and resumed his seat. ‘I–I wouldn’t wish to deceive you, sir,’ he continued. ‘It wasn’t anything really wrong. What I mean is–the original reference having got torn–I couldn’t quite remember the wording–’
‘So you wrote your own references,’ the Inspector interrupted. ‘That’s what it comes to, doesn’t it?’
‘I didn’t mean any harm,’ Elgin protested. ‘I’ve got my living to earn–’
The Inspector interrupted him again. ‘At the moment, I’m not interested in fake references,’ he told the butler. ‘I want to know what happened here tonight, and what you know about Mr Costello.’
‘I’d never set eyes on him before,’ Elgin insisted. Looking around at the hall door, he continued, ‘But I’ve got a good idea of why he came here.’
‘Oh, and what is that?’ the Inspector wanted to know.
‘Blackmail,’ Elgin told him. ‘He had something on her.’
‘By “her”,’ said the Inspector, ‘I assume you mean Mrs Hailsham-Brown.’
‘Yes,’ Elgin continued eagerly. ‘I came in to ask if there was anything more she wanted, and I heard them talking.’
‘What did you hear exactly?’
‘I heard her say “But that’s blackmail. I won’t submit to it”.’ Elgin adopted a highly dramatic tone as