Spider's Web - Agatha Christie [40]
Sir Rowland approached the bridge table, paused for a moment as he noticed the gloves spread out on it, and then sat.
‘You are Sir Rowland Delahaye?’ the Inspector asked him formally. Receiving a grave, affirmative nod, he next asked, ‘What is your address?’
‘Long Paddock, Littlewich Green, Lincolnshire,’ Sir Rowland replied. Tapping a finger on the copy of Who’s Who, he added, ‘Couldn’t you find it, Inspector?’
The Inspector chose to ignore this. ‘Now, if you please,’ he said, ‘I’d like your account of the evening, after you left here shortly before seven.’
Sir Rowland had obviously already given some thought to this. ‘It had been raining all day,’ he began smoothly, ‘and then it suddenly cleared up. We had already arranged to go to the golf club for dinner, as it is the servants’ night out. So we did that.’ He glanced across at the Constable, as though to make sure he was keeping up, then continued, ‘As we were finishing dinner, Mrs Hailsham-Brown rang up and suggested that, as her husband had unexpectedly had to go out, we three should return here and make up a four for bridge. We did so. About twenty minutes after we’d started playing, you arrived, Inspector. The rest–you know.’
The Inspector looked thoughtful. ‘That’s not quite Mr Warrender’s account of the matter,’ he observed.
‘Indeed?’ said Sir Rowland. ‘And how did he put it?’
‘He said that the suggestion to come back here and play bridge came from one of you. But he thought it was probably Mr Birch.’
‘Ah,’ replied Sir Rowland easily, ‘but you see Warrender came into the dining-room at the club rather late. He did not realize that Mrs Hailsham-Brown had rung up.’
Sir Rowland and the Inspector looked at each other, as though trying to stare each other out. Then Sir Rowland continued, ‘You must know better than I do, Inspector, how very rarely two people’s accounts of the same thing agree. In fact, if the three of us were to agree exactly, I should regard it as suspicious. Very suspicious indeed.’
The Inspector chose not to comment on this observation. Drawing a chair up close to Sir Rowland, he sat down. ‘I’d like to discuss the case with you, sir, if I may,’ he suggested.
‘How very agreeable of you, Inspector,’ Sir Rowland replied.
After looking thoughtfully at the table-top for a few seconds, the Inspector began the discussion. ‘The dead man, Mr Oliver Costello, came to this house with some particular object in view.’ He paused. ‘Do you agree that that is what must have happened, sir?’
‘My understanding is that he came to return to Henry Hailsham-Brown certain objects which Mrs Miranda Hailsham-Brown, as she then was, had taken away in error,’ Sir Rowland replied.
‘That may have been his excuse, sir,’ the Inspector pointed out, ‘though I’m not even sure of that. But I’m certain it wasn’t the real reason that brought him here.’
Sir Rowland shrugged his shoulders. ‘You may be right,’ he observed. ‘I can’t say.’
The Inspector pressed on. ‘He came, perhaps, to see a particular person. It may have been you, it may have been Mr Warrender, or it may have been Mr Birch.’
‘If he had wanted to see Mr Birch, who lives locally,’ Sir Rowland pointed out, ‘he would have gone to his house. He wouldn’t have come here.’
‘That is probably so,’ the Inspector agreed. ‘Therefore that leaves us with the choice of four people. You, Mr Warrender, Mr Hailsham-Brown and Mrs Hailsham-Brown.’ He paused and gave Sir Rowland a searching glance before asking, ‘Now, sir, how well did you know Oliver Costello?’
‘Hardly at all. I’ve met him once or twice, that’s all.’
‘Where did you meet him?’ asked the Inspector.
Sir Rowland reflected. ‘Twice at the Hailsham-Browns’ in London, over a year ago, and once in a restaurant, I believe.’
‘But you had no reason for wishing to murder him?’
‘Is that an accusation, Inspector?’ Sir Rowland asked with a smile.
The Inspector shook his head. ‘No, Sir Rowland,’ he replied. ‘I should call it more an elimination. I don’t think you have any motive for doing away with Oliver Costello.