Agatha Christie - 1958 - The Unexpected Guest by Agatha Christie

Author:Agatha Christie [Christie, Agatha]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, General, Mystery & Detective
ISBN: 9780312975128
Google: rS-YSLrov_EC
Amazon: 0312975120
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2000-09-15T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

There was an awkward pause after the police officers had left the room with Jan. Then Starkwedder remarked, ‘Well, I suppose I’d better go and see whether they’ve managed to get my car out of the ditch yet. We didn’t seem to pass it on the way here.’

‘No,’ Laura explained. ‘The drive comes up from the other road.’

‘Yes, I see,’ Starkwedder answered, as he walked across to the french windows. He turned. ‘How different things look in the daylight,’ he observed as he stepped out onto the terrace.

As soon as he had gone, Laura and Julian Farrar turned to each other. ‘Julian!’ Laura exclaimed. ‘That lighter! I said it was mine.’

‘You said it was yours? To the inspector?’ Farrar asked.

‘No. To him.’

‘To–to this fellow–’ Farrar began, and then stopped as they both noticed Starkwedder walking along the terrace outside the windows. ‘Laura–’ he began again.

‘Be careful,’ said Laura, going across to the little window in the alcove and looking out. ‘He may be listening to us.’

‘Who is he?’ asked Farrar. ‘Do you know him?’

Laura came back to the centre of the room. ‘No. No, I don’t know him,’ she told Farrar. ‘He–he had an accident with his car, and he came here last night. Just after–’

Julian Farrar touched her hand which rested on the back of the sofa. ‘It’s all right, Laura. You know that I’ll do everything I can.’

‘Julian–fingerprints,’ Laura gasped.

‘What fingerprints?’

‘On that table. On that table there, and on the pane of glass. Are they–yours?’

Farrar removed his hand from hers, indicating that Starkwedder was again walking along the terrace outside. Without turning to the window, Laura moved away from him, saying loudly, ‘It’s very kind of you, Julian, and I’m sure there will be a lot of business things you can help us with.’

Starkwedder was pacing about, outside on the terrace. When he had moved out of sight, Laura turned to face Julian Farrar again. ‘Are those fingerprints yours, Julian? Think.’

Farrar considered for a moment. Then, ‘On the table–yes–they might have been.’

‘Oh God!’ Laura cried. ‘What shall we do?’

Starkwedder could now be glimpsed again, walking back and forth along the terrace just outside the windows. Laura puffed at her cigarette. ‘The police think it’s a man called MacGregor–’ she told Julian. She gave him a desperate look, pausing to allow him an opportunity to make some comment.

‘Well, that’s all right, then,’ he replied. ‘They’ll probably go on thinking so.’

‘But suppose–’ Laura began.

Farrar interrupted her. ‘I must go,’ he said. ‘I’ve got an appointment.’ He rose. ‘It’s all right, Laura,’ he said, patting her shoulder. ‘Don’t worry. I’ll see that you’re all right.’

The look on Laura’s face was one of an incomprehension verging on desperation. Apparently oblivious of it, Farrar walked across to the french windows. As he pushed a window open, Starkwedder was approaching with the obvious intention of entering the room. Farrar politely moved aside, to avoid colliding with him.

‘Oh, are you off now?’ Starkwedder asked him.

‘Yes,’ said Farrar. ‘Things are rather busy these days. Election coming on, you know, in a week’s time.

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.