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Five Little Pigs :: Christie Agatha
Страница: 141 из 147Her anxiety about Angela all along, her insistence on getting her away, keeping her out of touch with what was going on. Her fear of Angela’s being questioned unduly by the police. Finally, her overwhelming anxiety to get Angela out of England before the trial comes on. Because she is always terrified that Angela might break down and confess.’
Chapter 4. Truth
Slowly, Angela Warren swung round. Her eyes, hard and contemptuous, ranged over the faces turned towards her.
She said:
‘You’re blind fools-all of you. Don’t you know that if I had done it Iwould have confessed! I’d never have let Caroline suffer for what I’d done. Never!’
Poirot said:
‘But you did tamper with the beer.’
‘I? Tamper with the beer?’
Poirot turned to Meredith Blake.
‘Listen, monsieur. In your account here of what happened, you describe having heard sounds in this room, which is below your bedroom, on the morning of the crime.’
Blake nodded.
‘But it was only a cat.’
‘How do you know it was a cat?’
‘I-I can’t remember. But it was a cat. I am quite sure it was a cat. The window was open just wide enough for a cat to get through.’
‘But it was not fixed in that position. The sash moves freely. It could have been pushed up and a human being could have got in and out.’
‘Yes, but I know it was a cat.’
‘You did notsee a cat?’
Blake said perplexedly and slowly:
‘No, I did not see it-’ He paused, frowning. ‘And yet I know.’
‘I will tell youwhy you know presently. In the meantime I put this point to you. Someone could have come up to the house that morning, have got into your laboratory, taken something from the shelf and gone again without your seeing them. Now if that someone had come over from Alderbury it could not have been Philip Blake, nor Elsa Greer, nor Amyas Crale nor Caroline Crale. We know quite well what all those four were doing. That leaves Angela Warren and Miss Williams. Miss Williams was over here-you actually met her as you went out. She told you then that she was looking for Angela. Angela had gone bathing early, but Miss Williams did not see her in the water, nor anywhere on the rocks. She could swim across to this side easily-in fact she did so later in the morning when she was bathing with Philip Blake. I suggest that she swam across here, came up to the house, got in through the window, and took something from the shelf.
Chapter 4. Truth
Slowly, Angela Warren swung round. Her eyes, hard and contemptuous, ranged over the faces turned towards her.
She said:
‘You’re blind fools-all of you. Don’t you know that if I had done it Iwould have confessed! I’d never have let Caroline suffer for what I’d done. Never!’
Poirot said:
‘But you did tamper with the beer.’
‘I? Tamper with the beer?’
Poirot turned to Meredith Blake.
‘Listen, monsieur. In your account here of what happened, you describe having heard sounds in this room, which is below your bedroom, on the morning of the crime.’
Blake nodded.
‘But it was only a cat.’
‘How do you know it was a cat?’
‘I-I can’t remember. But it was a cat. I am quite sure it was a cat. The window was open just wide enough for a cat to get through.’
‘But it was not fixed in that position. The sash moves freely. It could have been pushed up and a human being could have got in and out.’
‘Yes, but I know it was a cat.’
‘You did notsee a cat?’
Blake said perplexedly and slowly:
‘No, I did not see it-’ He paused, frowning. ‘And yet I know.’
‘I will tell youwhy you know presently. In the meantime I put this point to you. Someone could have come up to the house that morning, have got into your laboratory, taken something from the shelf and gone again without your seeing them. Now if that someone had come over from Alderbury it could not have been Philip Blake, nor Elsa Greer, nor Amyas Crale nor Caroline Crale. We know quite well what all those four were doing. That leaves Angela Warren and Miss Williams. Miss Williams was over here-you actually met her as you went out. She told you then that she was looking for Angela. Angela had gone bathing early, but Miss Williams did not see her in the water, nor anywhere on the rocks. She could swim across to this side easily-in fact she did so later in the morning when she was bathing with Philip Blake. I suggest that she swam across here, came up to the house, got in through the window, and took something from the shelf.