Dead_Mans_Folly_ _Agatha Christie

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passing "
Again De Sousa raised his eyebrows.
"You think I might have been a witness to this murder?"
"The murder took place inside the boathouse, but you might have seen the girl - she might have looked
out from the window or come out on to the balcony. If you had seen her it would, at any rate, have
narrowed the time of death for us. If, when you'd passed she'd been still alive -"
"Ah, I see. Yes, I see. But why ask me particularly? There are plenty of boats going up and own from
Helmmouth. Pleasure steamers. They pass the whole time. Why not ask them?"
"We shall ask them," said the inspect "Never fear, we shall ask them. I am to take it, then, that you saw
nothing unusual at the boathouse?"
"Nothing whatever. There was nothing to show there was anyone there. Of course I did not look at it
with any special attention, and I did not pass very near. Somebody might have been looking out of the
windows, as you suggest, but if so I should not have seen that person." He added in a polite tone, "I am
very sorry that I cannot assist you."
"Oh, well," said Inspector Bland in a friendly manner, "we can't hope for too much. There are just a few
other things I would like to know, Mr De Sousa."
"Yes?"
"Are you alone down here or have you friends with you on this cruise?"
"I have had friends with me until quite recently, but for the last three days I have been on my own - with
the crew, of course."
"And the name of your yacht, Mr De Sousa?"
"The Esp�rance."
"Lady Stubbs is, I understand, a cousin of yours?"
De Sousa shrugged his shoulders.
"A distant cousin. Not very near. In the islands, you must understand, there is much inter-marrying. We
are all cousins of one another. Hattie is a second or third cousin. I have not seen her since she was
practically a little girl, fourteen - fifteen."
"And you thought you would pay her a surprise visit today?"
"Hardly a surprise visit, Inspector. I had already written to her."
"I know that she received a letter from you this morning, but it was a surprise to her to know that you
were in this country."
"Oh, but you are wrong there, Inspector. I wrote to my cousin - let me see, three weeks ago. I wrote to
her from France just before I came across to this country."
The inspector was surprised.
"You wrote to her from France telling her you proposed to visit her?"
"Yes. I told her I was going on a yachting cruise and that we should probably arrive at Torquay or
Helmmouth round about this date, and that I would let her know later exactly when I should arrive."
Inspector Bland stared at him. This statement was at complete variance with what he had been told
about the arrival of Etienne De Sousa's letter at the breakfast table. More than one witness had testified
to Lady Stubbs having been alarmed and upset and very clearly startled at the contents of the letter. De
Sousa returned his stare calmly. With a little smile he flicked a fragment of dust from his knee.
"Did Lady Stubbs reply to your first letter?" the inspector asked.
De Sousa hesitated for a moment or two before he answered, then he said:
"It is so difficult to remember... No, I do not think she did. But it was not necessary. I was travelling
about, I had no fixed address. And besides, I do not think my cousin, Hattie, is very good at writing
letters." He added: "She is not, you know, very intelligent, though I understand that she has grown into a
very beautiful woman."
"You have not yet seen her?" Bland put it in the form of a question and De Sousa showed his teeth in an
agreeable smile.
"She seems to be most unaccountably missing," he said. "No doubt this esp�ce de gala bores her."
Choosing his words carefully, Inspector Bland said:
"Have you any reason to believe, Mr De Sousa, that your cousin might have some reason for wishing to
avoid you?"
"Hattie wish to avoid me? Really, I do not see why. What reason could she have?"
"That is what I am asking you, Mr De Sousa."
"You think that Hattie has absented herself from this f�te in order to avoid me? What an absurd idea."
"She had no reason, as far as you know, to be - shall we say? - afraid of you in any way?"
"Afraid - of me?" De Sousa's voice was sceptical and amused. "But if I may say so. Inspector, what a
fantastic idea!"
"Your relations with her have always been quite amicable?"
"It is as I have told you. I have had no relations with her. I have not seen her since she was a child of
fourteen."
"Yet you look her up when you come to England?"
"Oh, as to that I had seen a paragraph about her in one of your society papers. It mentions her maiden
name and that she is married to this rich Englishman, and I think 'I must see what the little Hattie has
turned into. Whether her brains now work better than they used to do.'" He shrugged his shoulders
again. "It was a mere cousinly politeness. A gentle curiosity - no more."
Again the inspector stared hard at De Sousa. What, he wondered, was going on behind the mocking,
smooth fa�ade? He adopted a more confidential manner.
"I wonder if you can perhaps tell me a little more about your cousin? Her character, her reactions?"
De Sousa appeared politely surprised.
"Really - has this anything to do with the murder of the girl in the boathouse, which I understand is the
real matter with which you occupy yourself?"
"It might have a connection," said Inspector Bland.
De Sousa studied him for a moment or two in silence. Then he said with a slight shrug of the shoulders:
"I never knew my cousin at all well. She was a unit in a large family and not particularly interesting to
me. But in answer to your question I would say to you that although mentally weak, she was not, as far
as I know, ever possessed by any homicidal tendencies."
"Really, Mr De Sousa, I wasn't suggesting that!"
"Weren't you? I wonder. I can see no other reason for your question. No, unless Hattie has changed very
much, she is not homicidal." He rose. "I am sure that you cannot want to ask me anything further,
Inspector. I can only wish you every possible success in tracking down the murderer."
"You are not thinking of leaving Helmmouth for a day or two, I hope, Mr De Sousa?"
"You speak very politely, Inspector. Is that an order?"
"Just a request, sir."
"Thank you. I propose to stay in Helmmouth for two days. Sir George has very kindly asked me to
come and stay in the house, but I prefer to remain on the Esp�rance. If you should want to ask me any
further questions, that is where you will find me."
He bowed politely.
P.C. Hoskins opened the door for him, and he went out. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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