Christie, Agatha - Spider's Web by Christie Agatha

Author:Christie, Agatha [Christie, Agatha]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2000-01-15T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

Ten minutes later, things were somewhat quieter, for Miss Peake was no longer in the room. Nor, for that matter, were Hugo and Jeremy. The body of Oliver Costello, however, was still lying collapsed in the recess, the panel of which was open. Clarissa was stretched out on the sofa, with Sir Rowland sitting by her and holding a glass of brandy which he was attempting to make her sip. The Inspector was talking on the telephone, and Constable Jones continued to stand guard.

‘Yes, yes–’ the Inspector was saying. ‘What’s that?–Hit and run?–Where?–Oh, I see–Yes, well, send them along as soon as you can–Yes, we’ll want photographs–Yes, the whole bag of tricks.’

He replaced the receiver, and went over to the Constable. ‘Everything comes at once,’ he complained to his colleague. ‘Weeks go by and nothing happens, and now the Divisional Surgeon’s out at a bad car accident–a smash on the London road. It’ll all mean quite a bit of delay. However, we’ll get on as well as we can until the M.O. arrives.’ He gestured towards the corpse. ‘We’d better not move him until they’ve taken the photographs,’ he suggested. ‘Not that it will tell us anything. He wasn’t killed there, he was put there afterwards.’

‘How can you be sure, sir?’ the Constable asked.

The Inspector looked down at the carpet. ‘You can see where his feet have dragged,’ he pointed out, crouching down behind the sofa. The Constable knelt beside him.

Sir Rowland peered over the back of the sofa, and then turned to Clarissa to ask, ‘How are you feeling now?’

‘Better, thanks, Roly,’ she replied, faintly.

The two police officers got to their feet. ‘It might be as well to close that book-case door,’ the Inspector instructed his colleague. ‘We don’t want any more hysterics.’

‘Right, sir,’ the Constable replied. He closed the panel so that the body could no longer be seen. As he did so, Sir Rowland rose from the sofa to address the Inspector. ‘Mrs Hailsham-Brown has had a bad shock,’ he told the policeman. ‘I think she ought to go to her room and lie down.’

Politely, but with a certain reserve, the Inspector replied, ‘Certainly, sir, but not for a moment or two just yet. I’d like to ask her a few questions first.’

Sir Rowland tried to persist. ‘She’s really not fit to be questioned at present.’

‘I’m all right, Roly,’ Clarissa interjected, faintly. ‘Really, I am.’

Sir Rowland addressed her, adopting a warning tone. ‘It’s very brave of you, my dear,’ he said, ‘but I really think it would be wiser of you to go and rest for a while.’

‘Dear Uncle Roly,’ Clarissa responded with a smile. To the Inspector she said, ‘I sometimes call him Uncle Roly, though he’s my guardian, not my uncle. But he’s so sweet to me always.’

‘Yes, I can see that,’ was the dry response.

‘Do ask me anything you want to, Inspector,’ Clarissa continued graciously. ‘Though actually I don’t think I can help you very much, I’m afraid, because I just don’t know anything at all about any of this.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.