The Sittaford Mystery - Agatha Christie [59]
‘Didn’t she have some queer kind of vision or premonition?’ she inquired. ‘Wasn’t it you who met her in the hall when she came in and exclaimed that she looked quite queer?’
‘Oh, no,’ said the nurse. ‘It wasn’t me. I didn’t see her until we were sitting down to dinner together, and she seemed quite her ordinary self then. How very interesting.’
‘I expect I am mixing it up with something else,’ said Emily.
‘Perhaps it was some other relation,’ suggested Nurse Davis. ‘I came in rather late myself. I felt rather guilty about leaving my patient so long, but he himself had urged me to go.’
She suddenly looked at her watch.
‘Oh, dear. He asked me for another hot water bottle. I must see about it at once. Will you excuse me, Miss Trefusis?’
Emily excused her and going over to the fireplace she put her finger on the bell.
The slipshod maid came with rather a frightened face.
‘What’s your name?’ said Emily.
‘Beatrice, Miss.’
‘Oh, Beatrice, I may not be able to wait to see my aunt, Mrs Gardner, after all—I wanted to ask her about some shopping she did on Friday. Do you know if she brought a big parcel back with her?’
‘No, Miss, I didn’t see her come in.’
‘I thought you said she came in at six o’clock.’
‘Yes, Miss, she did. I didn’t see her come in, but when I went to take some hot water to her room at seven o’clock it gave me a shock to find her lying in the dark on the bed. “Well, ma’am,” I said to her, “You gave me quite a shock.” “I came in quite a long time ago. At six o’clock,” she said. I didn’t see a big parcel anywhere,’ said Beatrice trying her hardest to be helpful.
‘It’s all very difficult,’ thought Emily. ‘One has to invent so many things. I’ve already invented a premonition and a big parcel, but so far as I can see one has to invent something if one doesn’t want to sound suspicious.’ She smiled sweetly and said:
‘That’s all right, Beatrice, it doesn’t matter.’
Beatrice left the room. Emily took a small local time-table out of her handbag and consulted it.
‘Leave Exeter, St David’s, three ten,’ she murmured, ‘Arrive Exhampton, three forty-two. Time allowed for going to brother’s house and murdering him—how beastly and cold-blooded it sounds—and such nonsense too—say half an hour to three quarters. What are the trains back? There’s one at four twenty-five and there’s one Mr Dacres mentioned at six ten, that gets in at twenty-three minutes to seven. Yes, it’s actually possible either way. It’s a pity there’s nothing to suspect the nurse for. She was out all the afternoon and nobody knows where she was. Of course, I don’t really believe anybody in this house murdered Captain Trevelyan, but in a way it’s comforting to know that they could have. Hello—there’s the front door.’
There was a murmur of voices in the hall and the door opened and Jennifer Gardner came into the room.
‘I’m Emily Trefusis,’ said Emily. ‘You know—the one who is engaged to Jim Pearson.’
‘So you are Emily,’ said Mrs Gardner shaking hands. ‘Well, this is a surprise.’
Suddenly Emily felt very weak and small. Rather like a little girl in the act of doing something very silly. An extraordinary person, Aunt Jennifer. Character—that was what it was. Aunt Jennifer had about enough character for two and three quarter people instead of one.
‘Have you had tea, my dear? No? Then we’ll have it here. Just a moment—I must go up and see Robert first.’
A strange expression flitted over her face as she mentioned her husband’s name. The hard, beautiful voice softened. It was like a light over dark ripples of water.
‘She adores him,’ thought Emily, left alone in the drawing-room. ‘All the same there’s something frightening about Aunt Jennifer. I wonder if Uncle Robert likes being adored quite as much as that.’
When Jennifer Gardner returned, she had taken off her hat. Emily admired the smooth sweep of the hair back from her forehead.
‘Do you want to talk about things, Emily, or don’t you? If you don’t I shall quite understand.’
‘It isn’t much good talking