Spider's Web

"Frankly, Mrs. Hailsham-Brown," the Inspector told her brusquely, "I don't believe a word of it. I don't believe that three responsible men would agree to obstruct the course of justice in such a manner for such a paltry cause."

Clarissa rose to her feet. Walking away from the Inspector, she said more to herself than to him, "I knew you wouldn't believe me if I told you the truth." She turned to face him. "What do you believe, then?" she asked him.

Watching Clarissa closely as he spoke, the Inspector replied, "I can see only one reason why those three men should agree to lie."

"Oh? What do you mean? What other reason would they have?"

"They would agree to lie," the Inspector continued, "if they believed, or, even more so, if they actually knew – that you had killed him."

Clarissa looked shocked at this. "But I had no reason for killing him," she protested. "Absolutely no reason." She walked away from him angrily. "Oh, I knew you'd react like this," she exclaimed. "That's why – "

She broke off suddenly, and the Inspector turned to her. "That's why what?" he asked abruptly.

Clarissa stood thinking. Some moments passed, and then her manner appeared to change. She began to speak more convincingly. "All right, then," she announced, with the air of one who is making a clean breast of things. "I'll tell you why."

"I think that would be wiser," the Inspector said.

"Yes," she agreed, turning to face him squarely. "I suppose I'd better tell you the truth." She emphasised "truth" meaningfully.

The Inspector smiled. "I can assure you," he advised her, "that telling the police a pack of lies will do you very little good, Mrs. Hailsham-Brown. You'd better tell me the real story. And from the beginning."

"I will," Clarissa promised. She sat down in a chair by the bridge table. "Oh dear," she sighed, "I thought I was being so clever."

"It's much better not to try to be clever," the Inspector told her. He sat on the stool and faced Clarissa. "Now then," he asked, "what really did happen this evening?"

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CLARISSA WAS silent for a few moments. Then, looking the Inspector steadily in the eye, she began to speak. "It all started as I've already explained to you. I said goodbye to Oliver Costello, and he'd gone off with Miss Peake. I had no idea he would come back again, and I still can't understand why he did."

She paused, and seemed to be trying to recall what had happened next. "Oh, yes," she continued. "Then my husband came home, explaining that he would have to go out again immediately. He went off in the car, and it was just after I had shut the front door, and made sure that it was latched and bolted, that I suddenly began to feel nervous."

"Nervous?" asked the Inspector, looking puzzled. "Why?"

"Well, I'm not usually nervous," she told him, speaking with great feeling, "but it occurred to me that I'd never been alone in the house at night."

She paused. "Yes, go on," the Inspector encouraged her.

"I told myself not to be so silly. I said to myself, 'You've got the phone, haven't you? You can always ring for help.' I said to myself, 'Burglars don't come at this time of the evening. They come in the middle of the night.' But I still kept thinking I heard a door shutting somewhere, or footsteps up in my bedroom. So I thought I'd better do something."

She paused again, and again the Inspector prompted her. "Yes?"

"I went into the kitchen," Clarissa said, "and made the sandwiches for Henry and Mr. Jones to have when they got back. I got them all ready on a plate, with a napkin around them to keep them soft, and I was just coming across the hall to put them in here, when" – she paused dramatically – "I really heard something."

"Where?" the Inspector asked.

"In this room," she told him. "I knew that, this time, I wasn't imagining it. I heard drawers being pulled open and shut, and then I suddenly remembered that the French windows in here weren't locked. We never do lock them. Somebody had come in that way."

Again she paused. "Go on, Mrs. Hailsham-Brown," said the Inspector impassively.

Clarissa made a gesture of helplessness. "I didn't know what to do. I was petrified. Then I thought, 'What if I'm just being a fool? What if it's Henry come back for something – or even Sir Rowland or one of the others? A nice fool you'll look if you go upstairs and ring the police on the extension.' So then I thought of a plan."

She paused once more, and the Inspector's "Yes?" this time sounded a trifle impatient.

"I went to the hall stand," Clarissa said slowly, "and I took the heaviest stick I could find. Then I went into the library. I didn't turn the light on. I felt my way across the room to that recess. I opened it very gently and slipped inside. I thought I could ease the door into here and see who it was." She pointed to the panel. "Unless anyone knew about it, you'd never dream there was a door just there."

"No," the Inspector agreed, "you certainly wouldn't."