Unexpected Guest - Agatha Christie [36]
Miss Bennett’s voice suddenly rang out sharply. ‘You’ve arrested him, then?’
The inspector looked at her for a moment before replying. Then, ‘That, I’m afraid, would be impossible, Miss Bennett,’ he informed her.
‘Impossible?’ Mrs Warwick interjected. ‘But why?’
‘Because he’s dead,’ the inspector replied, quietly.
Chapter 15
A shocked silence greeted Inspector Thomas’s announcement. Then, hesitantly and, it seemed, fearfully, Laura whispered, ‘Wh–what did you say?’
‘I said that this man MacGregor is dead,’ the inspector affirmed.
There were gasps from everyone in the room, and the inspector expanded upon his terse announcement. ‘John MacGregor,’ he told them, ‘died in Alaska over two years ago–not very long after he returned to Canada from England.’
‘Dead!’ Laura exclaimed, incredulously.
Unnoticed by anyone in the room, young Jan passed quickly along the terrace outside the french windows, and disappeared from view.
‘That makes a difference, doesn’t it?’ the inspector continued. ‘It wasn’t John MacGregor who put that revenge note on the dead body of Mr Warwick. But it’s clear, isn’t it, that it was put there by someone who knew all about MacGregor and the accident in Norfolk. Which ties it in, very definitely, with someone in this house.’
‘No,’ Miss Bennett exclaimed sharply. ‘No, it could have been–surely it could have been–’ She broke off.
‘Yes, Miss Bennett?’ the inspector prompted her. He waited for a moment, but Miss Bennett could not continue. Suddenly looking completely broken, she moved away towards the french windows.
The inspector turned his attention to Richard Warwick’s mother. ‘You’ll understand, madam,’ he said, attempting to put a note of sympathy into his voice, ‘that this alters things.’
‘Yes, I see that,’ Mrs Warwick replied. She rose. ‘Do you need me any further, Inspector?’ she asked.
‘Not for the moment, Mrs Warwick,’ the inspector told her.
‘Thank you,’ Mrs Warwick murmured as she went to the door, which Angell hastened to open for her. Julian Farrar helped the old lady to the door. As she left the room, he returned and stood behind the armchair, looking pensive. Meanwhile, Inspector Thomas had been opening his briefcase, and was now taking out a gun.
Angell was about to follow Mrs Warwick from the room when the inspector called, peremptorily, ‘Angell!’
The valet gave a start, and turned back into the room, closing the door. ‘Yes, sir?’ he responded quietly.
The inspector approached him, carrying what was clearly the murder weapon. ‘About this gun,’ he asked the valet. ‘You were uncertain this morning. Can you, or can you not, say definitely that it belonged to Mr Warwick?’
‘I wouldn’t like to be definite, Inspector,’ Angell replied. ‘He had so many, you see.’
‘This one is a continental weapon,’ the inspector informed him, holding the gun out in front of him. ‘It’s a war souvenir of some kind, I’d say.’
As he was speaking, again apparently unnoticed by anyone in the room, Jan passed along the terrace outside, going in the opposite direction, and carrying a gun which he seemed to be attempting to conceal.
Angell looked at the weapon. ‘Mr Warwick did have some foreign guns, sir,’ he stated. ‘But he looked after all his shooting equipment himself. He wouldn’t let me touch them.’
The inspector went over to Julian Farrar. ‘Major Farrar,’ he said, ‘you probably have war souvenirs. Does this weapon mean anything to you?’
Farrar glanced at the gun casually. ‘Not a thing, I’m afraid,’ he answered.
Turning away from him, the inspector went to replace the gun in his briefcase. ‘Sergeant Cadwallader and I,’ he announced, turning to face the assembled company, ‘will want to go over Mr Warwick’s collection of weapons very carefully. He had permits for most of them, I understand.’
‘Oh yes, sir,’ Angell assured him. ‘The permits are in one of the drawers in his bedroom. And all the guns and other weapons are in the gun cupboard.’
Sergeant Cadwallader went to the door, but was stopped by Miss Bennett before he could leave the room. ‘Wait a minute,’ she called to him.