Unexpected Guest - Agatha Christie [47]
‘May I say, madam,’ Angell addressed her, ‘how sorry I am. If there is anything I can do, you have only–’
Without looking up, Laura interrupted him. ‘We shall need no more help from you, Angell,’ she told him coldly. ‘You shall have a cheque for your wages, and I should like you out of the house today.’
‘Yes, madam. Thank you, madam,’ Angell replied, apparently without feeling, then turned away and left the room. Starkwedder closed the door after him. The room was now growing dark, the last rays of the sun throwing shadows on the walls.
Starkwedder looked across at Laura. ‘You’re not going to prosecute him for blackmail?’ he asked.
‘No,’ Laura replied, listlessly.
‘A pity.’ He walked over to her. ‘Well, I suppose I’d better be going. I’ll say goodbye.’ He paused. Laura still had not looked at him. ‘Don’t be too upset,’ he added.
‘I am upset,’ Laura responded with feeling.
‘Because you loved the boy?’ Starkwedder asked.
She turned to him. ‘Yes. And because it’s my fault. You see, Richard was right. Poor Jan should have been sent away somewhere. He should have been shut up where he couldn’t do any harm. It was I who wouldn’t have that. So, really, it was my fault that Richard was killed.’
‘Come now, Laura, don’t let’s sentimentalize,’ Starkwedder retorted roughly. He came closer to her. ‘Richard was killed because he asked for it. He could have shown some ordinary kindness to the boy, couldn’t he? Don’t you fret yourself. What you’ve got to do now is to be happy. Happy ever after, as the stories say.’
‘Happy? With Julian?’ Laura responded with bitterness in her voice. ‘I wonder!’ She frowned. ‘You see, it isn’t the same now.’
‘You mean between Farrar and you?’ he asked.
‘Yes. You see, when I thought Julian had killed Richard, it made no difference to me. I loved him just the same.’ Laura paused, then continued, ‘I was even willing to say I’d done it myself.’
‘I know you were,’ said Starkwedder. ‘More fool you. How women enjoy making martyrs of themselves!’
‘But when Julian thought I had done it,’ Laura continued passionately, ‘he changed. He changed towards me completely. Oh, he was willing to try to do the decent thing and not incriminate me. But that was all.’ She leaned her chin on her hand, dispirited. ‘He didn’t feel the same any more.’
Starkwedder shook his head. ‘Look here, Laura,’ he exclaimed, ‘men and women don’t react in the same way. What it comes down to is this. Men are really the sensitive sex. Women are tough. Men can’t take murder in their stride. Women apparently can. The fact is, if a man’s committed a murder for a woman, it probably enhances his value in her eyes. A man feels differently.’
She looked up at him. ‘You didn’t feel that way,’ she observed. ‘When you thought I had shot Richard, you helped me.’
‘That was different,’ Starkwedder replied quickly. He sounded slightly taken aback. ‘I had to help you.’
‘Why did you have to help me?’ Laura asked him.
Starkwedder did not reply directly. Then, after a pause, he said quietly, ‘I still want to help you.’
‘Don’t you see,’ said Laura, turning away from him, ‘we’re back where we started. In a way it was I who killed Richard because–because I was being so obstinate about Jan.’
Starkwedder drew up the stool and sat down beside her. ‘That’s what’s eating you, really, isn’t it?’ he declared. ‘Finding out that it was Jan who shot Richard. But it needn’t be true, you know. You needn’t think that unless you like.’
Laura stared at him intently. ‘How can you say such a thing?’ she asked. ‘I heard–we all heard–he admitted it–he boasted of it.’
‘Oh, yes,’ Starkwedder admitted. ‘Yes, I know that. But how much do you know about the power of suggestion? Your Miss Bennett played Jan very carefully, got him all worked up. And the boy was certainly suggestible. He liked the idea, as many adolescents do, of being thought to have power, of–yes, of being a killer, if you like. Your Benny dangled the bait in front