The Mirror Crack'd - Agatha Christie [53]
Jason Rudd, his eyes dark with fatigue and the scowl on his face deeper than usual, came over to join them. He took Marina’s hand in his.
‘I know it sounds unbelievable to you, Inspector,’ he said, ‘but honestly neither Marina nor I have any idea about this business.’
‘So you’re in the happy position of having no enemies, is that it?’ The irony was manifest in Dermot’s voice.
Jason Rudd flushed a little. ‘Enemies? That’s a very biblical word, Inspector. In that sense, I can assure you I can think of no enemies. People who dislike one, would like to get the better of one, would do a mean turn to one if they could, in malice and uncharitableness, yes. But it’s a long step from that to putting an overdose of poison in a drink.’
‘Just now, in speaking to your wife, I asked her who could have written or inspired those letters. She said she didn’t know. But when we come to the actual action, it narrows it down. Somebody actually put the poison in that glass. And that’s a fairly limited field, you know.’
‘I saw nothing,’ said Jason Rudd.
‘I certainly didn’t,’ said Marina. ‘Well, I mean — if I had seen anyone putting anything in my glass, I wouldn’t have drunk the stuff, would I?’
‘I can’t help believing, you know,’ said Dermot Craddock gently, ‘that you do know a little more than you’re telling me.’
‘It’s not true,’ said Marina. ‘Tell him that that isn’t true, Jason.’
‘I assure you,’ said Jason Rudd, ‘that I am completely and absolutely at a loss. The whole thing’s fantastic. I might believe it was a joke — a joke that had somehow gone wrong — that had proved dangerous, done by a person who never dreamt that it would be dangerous…’
There was a slight question in his voice, then he shook his head. ‘No. I see that idea doesn’t appeal to you.’
‘There’s one more thing I should like to ask you,’ said Dermot Craddock. ‘You remember Mr and Mrs Badcock’s arrival, of course. They came immediately after the vicar. You greeted them, I understand, Miss Gregg, in the same charming way as you had received all your guests. But I am told by an eye-witness that immediately after greeting them you looked over Mrs Badcock’s shoulder and that you saw something which seemed to alarm you. Is that true, and if so, what was it?’
Marina said quickly, ‘Of course it isn’t true. Alarm me — what should have alarmed me?’
‘That’s what we want to know,’ said Dermot Craddock patiently. ‘My witness is very insistent on the point, you know.’
‘Who was your witness? What did he or she say she saw?’
‘You were looking at the staircase,’ said Dermot Craddock. ‘There were people coming up the staircase. There was a journalist, there was Mr Grice and his wife, elderly residents in this place, there was Mr Ardwyck Fenn who had just arrived from the States and there was Miss Lola Brewster. Was it the sight of one of those people that upset you, Miss Gregg?’
‘I tell you I wasn’t upset.’ She almost barked the words.
‘And yet your attention wavered from greeting Mrs Badcock. She had said something to you which you left unanswered because you were staring past her at something else.’
Marina Gregg took hold on herself. She spoke quickly and convincingly.
‘I can explain, I really can. If you knew anything about acting you’d be able to understand quite easily. There comes a moment, even when you know a part well — in fact it usually happens when you do know a part well — when you go on with it mechanically. Smiling, making the proper movements and gestures, saying the words with the usual inflexions. But your mind isn’t on it. And quite suddenly there’s a horrible blank moment when you don’t know where you are, where you’ve got to in the play, what your next lines are! Drying up, that’s what we call it. Well, that’s what happened to me. I’m not terribly strong, as my husband will tell you. I’ve had rather a strenuous time, and a good deal of nervous apprehension about this film. I wanted to make a success of this fête and to be nice and pleasant and welcoming to everybody. But one does say the same things