Spider's Web - Agatha Christie [48]
The sound of their voices had brought Hugo and Jeremy out from the dining-room on the other side of the hall. They could not refrain from making unhelpful comments. ‘I can’t think how you policemen ever get anything done–losing bodies indeed,’ Hugo expostulated, while Jeremy exclaimed, ‘I don’t understand why a guard wasn’t put on the body.’
‘Well, whatever has happened, if there’s no body for me to examine, I’m not wasting any more time here,’ the Divisional Surgeon snapped at the Inspector. ‘I can assure you that you’ll hear more about this, Inspector Lord.’
‘Yes, Doctor. I’ve no doubt of that. Goodnight, Doctor,’ the Inspector replied wearily.
The Divisional Surgeon left, slamming the front door behind him, and the Inspector turned to Elgin, who forestalled him by saying quickly, ‘I know nothing about it, I assure you, sir, nothing at all.’
Meanwhile, in the drawing-room, Clarissa and Sir Rowland were enjoying overhearing the discomfiture of the police officers. ‘Rather a bad moment for the police reinforcements to arrive,’ Sir Rowland chuckled. ‘The Divisional Surgeon seems very annoyed at finding no corpse to examine.’
Clarissa giggled. ‘But who can have spirited it away?’ she asked. ‘Do you think Jeremy managed it somehow?’
‘I don’t see how he could have done,’ Sir Rowland replied. ‘They didn’t let anyone back into the library, and the door from the library to the hall was locked. Pippa’s “Sucks to you” was the last straw.’
Clarissa laughed, and Sir Rowland continued, ‘Still, it shows us one thing. Costello had managed to open the secret drawer.’ He paused, and his manner changed. ‘Clarissa,’ he said in a serious tone, ‘why on earth didn’t you tell the truth to the Inspector when I begged you to?’
‘I did,’ Clarissa protested, ‘except for the part about Pippa. But he just didn’t believe me.’
‘But, for Heaven’s sake, why did you have to stuff him with all that nonsense?’ Sir Rowland insisted on knowing.
‘Well,’ Clarissa replied with a helpless gesture, ‘it seemed to me the most likely thing he would believe. And,’ she ended triumphantly, ‘he does believe me now.’
‘And a nice mess you’re in as a result,’ Sir Rowland pointed out. ‘You’ll be up on a charge of manslaughter, for all you know.’
‘I shall claim it was self-defence,’ Clarissa said confidently.
Before Sir Rowland had a chance to reply, Hugo and Jeremy entered from the hall, and Hugo walked over to the bridge table, grumbling. ‘Wretched police, pushing us around here and there. Now it seems they’ve gone and lost the body.’
Jeremy closed the door behind him, then went over to the stool and took a sandwich. ‘Damn peculiar, I call it,’ he announced.
‘It’s fantastic,’ said Clarissa. ‘The whole thing’s fantastic. The body’s gone, and we still don’t know who rang up the police in the first place and said there’d been a murder here.’
‘Well, that was Elgin, surely,’ Jeremy suggested, as he sat on an arm of the sofa and began to eat his sandwich.
‘No, no,’ Hugo disagreed. ‘I’d say it was that Peake woman.’
‘But why?’ Clarissa asked. ‘Why would either of them do that, and not tell us? It doesn’t make sense.’
Miss Peake put her head in at the hall door and looked around with a conspiratorial air. ‘Hello, is the coast clear?’ she asked. Closing the door, she strode confidently into the room. ‘No bobbies about? They seem to be swarming all over the place.’
‘They’re busy searching the house and grounds now,’ Sir Rowland informed her.
‘What for?’ asked Miss Peake.
‘The body,’ Sir Rowland replied. ‘It’s gone.’
Miss Peake gave her usual hearty laugh. ‘What a lark!’ she boomed. ‘The disappearing body, eh?’
Hugo sat at the bridge table. Looking around the room, he observed to no one in particular, ‘It’s a nightmare. The whole thing’s a damn nightmare.’
‘Quite like the movies, eh, Mrs Hailsham-Brown?’ Miss Peake suggested with another hoot of laughter.
Sir Rowland smiled at the gardener. ‘I hope you are feeling better now, Miss