Spider's Web - Agatha Christie [47]
Clarissa was about to reply when the hall door opened and Sir Rowland entered. ‘I couldn’t keep away any longer,’ he explained. ‘Is it all right now, Inspector? Do you understand what our dilemma was?’
Clarissa went across to her guardian before he could say any more. ‘Roly, darling,’ she greeted him, taking his hand. ‘I’ve made a statement, and the police–or rather Mr Jones here–is going to type it out. Then I’ve got to sign it, and I’ve told them everything.’
The Inspector went over to confer with the Constable, and Clarissa continued speaking quietly to Sir Rowland. ‘I told them how I thought it was a burglar,’ she said with emphasis, ‘and hit him on the head–’
When Sir Rowland looked at her in alarm and opened his mouth to speak, she quickly covered his mouth with her hands so that he could not get the words out. She continued hurriedly, ‘Then I told them how it turned out to be Oliver Costello, and how I got in a terrible flap and rang you, and how I begged and begged and at last you all gave in. I see now how wrong of me it was–’
The Inspector turned back to them, and Clarissa removed her hand from Sir Rowland’s mouth just in time. ‘But when it happened,’ she was saying, ‘I was just scared stiff, and I thought it would be cosier for everybody–me, Henry and even Miranda–if Oliver was found in Marsden Wood.’
Sir Rowland looked aghast. ‘Clarissa! What on earth have you been saying?’ he gasped.
‘Mrs Hailsham-Brown has made a very full statement, sir,’ the Inspector said complacently.
Recovering himself somewhat, Sir Rowland replied drily, ‘So it seems.’
‘It’s the best thing to do,’ said Clarissa. ‘In fact, it was the only thing to do. The Inspector made me see that. And I’m truly sorry to have told all those silly lies.’
‘It will lead to far less trouble in the end,’ the Inspector assured her. ‘Now, Mrs Hailsham-Brown,’ he went on, ‘I shan’t ask you to go into the recess while the body is still there, but I’d like you to show me exactly where the man was standing when you came through that way into this room.’
‘Oh–yes–well–he was–’ Clarissa began hesitantly. She went across to the desk. ‘No,’ she continued, ‘I remember now. He was standing here like this.’ She stood at one end of the desk, and leaned over it.
‘Be ready to open the panel when I give you the word, Jones,’ said the Inspector, motioning to the Constable, who rose and put his hand on the panel switch.
‘I see,’ the Inspector said to Clarissa. ‘That’s where he was standing. And then the door opened and you came out. All right, I don’t want you to have to look in there at the body now, so just stand in front of the panel when it opens. Now–Jones.’
The Constable activated the switch, and the panel opened. The recess was empty except for a small piece of paper on the floor which Constable Jones retrieved, while the Inspector looked accusingly at Clarissa and Sir Rowland.
The Constable read out what was on the slip of paper. ‘Sucks to you!’ As the Inspector snatched the paper from him, Clarissa and Sir Rowland looked at each other in astonishment.
A loud ring from the front-door bell broke the silence.
Chapter 19
A few moments later Elgin came into the drawing-room to announce that the Divisional Surgeon had arrived. The Inspector and Constable Jones immediately accompanied the butler to the front door, where the Inspector had the unenviable task of confessing to the Divisional Surgeon that, as it turned out, there was at present no body to examine.
‘Really, Inspector Lord,’ the Divisional Surgeon said irritably. ‘Do you realize how infuriating it is to have brought me all this way on a wild-goose chase?’
‘But I assure you, Doctor,’ the Inspector attempted to explain, ‘we did have a body.’
‘The