The Hollow - Agatha Christie [67]
‘Hm!’ The inspector pulled his drooping moustache firmly downwards. ‘What you are getting at is that some of the other particulars of the picture may be wrong too?’
Poirot nodded. He said:
‘There were three other people present–three people who had apparently just arrived on the scene. But that may not be true either. The pool is surrounded by a thick grove of young chestnuts. From the pool five paths lead away, one to the house, one up to the woods, one up to the flower walk, one down from the pool to the farm and one to the lane here.
‘Of those three people, each one came along a different path, Edward Angkatell from the woods above, Lady Angkatell up from the farm, and Henrietta Savernake from the flower border above the house. Those three arrived upon the scene of the crime almost simultaneously, and a few minutes after Gerda Christow.
‘But one of those three, Inspector, could have been at the pool before Gerda Christow arrived, could have shot John Christow, and could have retreated up or down one of the paths and then, turning round, could have arrived at the same time as the others.’
Inspector Grange said:
‘Yes, it’s possible.’
‘And another possibility, not envisaged at the time. Someone could have come along the path from the lane, could have shot John Christow, and could have gone back the same way, unseen.’
Grange said: ‘You’re dead right. There are two other possible suspects besides Gerda Christow. We’ve got the same motive–jealousy. It’s definitely a crime passionel. There were two other women mixed up with John Christow.’
He paused and said:
‘Christow went over to see Veronica Cray that morning. They had a row. She told him that she’d make him sorry for what he’d done, and she said she hated him more than she believed she could hate anyone.’
‘Interesting,’ murmured Poirot.
‘She’s straight from Hollywood–and by what I read in the papers they do a bit of shooting each other out there sometimes. She could have come along to get her furs, which she’d left in the pavilion the night before. They could have met–the whole thing could have flared up–she fired at him–and then, hearing someone coming, she could have dodged back the way she came.’
He paused a moment and added irritably:
‘And now we come to the part where it all goes haywire. That damned gun! Unless,’ his eyes brightened, ‘she shot him with her own gun and dropped one that she’d pinched from Sir Henry’s study so as to throw suspicion on the crowd at The Hollow. She mightn’t know about our being able to identify the gun used from the marks on the rifling.’
‘How many people do know that, I wonder?’
‘I put the point to Sir Henry. He said he thought quite a lot of people would know–on account of all the detective stories that are written. Quoted a new one, The Clue of the Dripping Fountain, which he said John Christow himself had been reading on Saturday and which emphasized that particular point.’
‘But Veronica Cray would have had to have got the gun somehow from Sir Henry’s study.’
‘Yes, it would mean premeditation.’ The inspector took another tug at his moustache, then he looked at Poirot. ‘But you’ve hinted yourself at another possibility, M. Poirot. There’s Miss Savernake. And here’s where your eye-witness stuff, or rather I should say, ear-witness stuff, comes in again. Dr Christow said: “Henrietta” when he was dying. You heard him–they all heard him, though Mr Angkatell doesn’t seem to have caught what he said.’
‘Edward Angkatell did not hear? That is interesting.’
‘But the others did. Miss Savernake herself says he tried to speak to her. Lady Angkatell says he opened his eyes, saw Miss Savernake, and said: “Henrietta.” She doesn’t, I think, attach any importance to it.’
Poirot smiled. ‘No–she would not attach importance to it.’
‘Now, M. Poirot, what about you? You were there–you saw–you heard. Was Dr Christow trying to tell you all that it was Henrietta who had shot him? In short, was that word an accusation?