Unexpected Guest - Agatha Christie [42]
Miss Bennett looked at him in surprise. Then she began to speak. ‘In that case I–I’ve got to–’ she began, but was interrupted. Gesturing to her to be silent, Starkwedder murmured, ‘Just a minute.’ He hastened to the french windows, opened a window and called, ‘What are you doing?’
Miss Bennett now caught sight of Jan out on the lawn, brandishing a gun. Rising quickly, she too went across to the french windows and called urgently, ‘Jan! Jan! Give me that gun.’
Jan, however, was too quick for her. He ran off laughing, and shouting, ‘Come and get it,’ as he ran. Miss Bennett followed him, with urgent cries of ‘Jan! Jan!’
Starkwedder looked out across the lawn, trying to see what was happening. Then he turned back, and was about to go to the door, when Laura suddenly entered the room.
‘Where’s the inspector?’ she asked him.
Starkwedder made an ineffectual gesture. Laura shut the door behind her, and came over to him. ‘Michael, you must listen to me,’ she implored him. ‘Julian didn’t kill Richard.’
‘Indeed?’ Starkwedder replied coldly. ‘He told you so, did he?’
‘You don’t believe me, but it’s true.’ Laura sounded desperate.
‘You mean you believe it’s true,’ Starkwedder pointed out to her.
‘No, I know it’s true,’ Laura replied. ‘You see, he thought I’d killed Richard.’
Starkwedder moved back into the room, away from the french windows. ‘That’s not exactly surprising,’ he said with an acid smile. ‘I thought so, too, didn’t I?’
Laura’s voice sounded even more desperate as she insisted, ‘He thought I’d shot Richard. But he couldn’t cope with it. It made him feel–’ She stopped, embarrassed, then continued, ‘It made him feel differently towards me.’
Starkwedder looked at her coldly. ‘Whereas,’ he pointed out, ‘when you thought he’d killed Richard, you took it in your stride without turning a hair!’ Suddenly relenting a little, he smiled. ‘Women are wonderful!’ he murmured. He perched on the sofa arm. ‘What made Farrar come out with the damaging fact that he was here last night? Don’t tell me it was a pure and simple regard for the truth?’
‘It was Angell,’ Laura replied. ‘Angell saw–or says he saw–Julian here.’
‘Yes,’ Starkwedder remarked with a somewhat bitter laugh. ‘I thought I got a whiff of blackmail. Not a nice fellow, Angell.’
‘He says he saw Julian just after the–after the shot was fired,’ Laura told him. ‘Oh, I’m frightened. It’s all closing in. I’m so frightened.’
Starkwedder went over to her and took her by the shoulders. ‘You needn’t be,’ he said, reassuringly. ‘It’s going to be all right.’
Laura shook her head. ‘It can’t be,’ she cried.
‘It will be all right, I tell you,’ he insisted, shaking her gently.
She looked at him wonderingly. ‘Shall we ever know who shot Richard?’ she asked him.
Starkwedder looked at her for a moment without replying, and then went to the french windows and gazed out into the garden. ‘Your Miss Bennett,’ he said, ‘seems very positive she knows all the answers.’
‘She’s always positive,’ Laura replied. ‘But she’s sometimes wrong.’
Apparently glimpsing something outside, Starkwedder suddenly beckoned to Laura to join him. Running across to him, she took his outstretched hand. ‘Yes, Laura,’ he exclaimed excitedly, still looking out into the garden. ‘I thought so!’
‘What is it?’ she asked.
‘Ssh!’ he cautioned. At almost the same moment, Miss Bennett came into the room from the hallway. ‘Mr Starkwedder,’ she said hurriedly. ‘Go into the room next door–the inspector’s already there. Quickly!’
Starkwedder and Laura crossed the study swiftly, and hurried into the corridor, closing the door behind them. As soon as they had gone, Miss Bennett looked out into the garden, where daylight was beginning to fade. ‘Now come in, Jan,’ she called to him. ‘Don’t tease me any more. Come in, come inside.’
Chapter 19
Miss Bennett beckoned to Jan, then stepped back into the room and stood to one side of the french windows. Jan suddenly appeared from the terrace, looking half mutinous and half flushed with triumph. He was carrying a gun.
‘Now, Jan, how on earth did you get hold of