The Unexpected Guest. Agatha Christie
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they were hidden by the curtain.
‘Damn!’ he muttered. Quickly taking the desk chair, he used it to hold the curtain back. He returned to his position by the stool, fired the gun, and then quickly went back to the wall to examine the result. ‘Not bad!’ he congratulated himself.
As he replaced the desk chair in its proper position, Starkwedder could hear voices in the hall. He rushed off through the french windows, taking the gun with him. A moment later he reappeared, snatched up the torch, and dashed out again.
From various parts of the house, four people hurried towards the study. Richard Warwick’s mother, a tall, commanding old lady, was in her dressing-gown. She looked pallid and walked with the aid of a stick. ‘What is it, Jan?’ she asked the teenage boy in pyjamas with the strange, rather innocent, faun-like face, who was close behind her on the landing. ‘Why is everybody wandering about in the middle of the night?’ she exclaimed as they were joined by a grey-haired, middle-aged woman, wearing a sensible flannel dressing-gown. ‘Benny,’ she ordered the woman, ‘tell me what’s going on.’
Laura was close behind, and Mrs Warwick continued, ‘Have you all taken leave of your senses? Laura, what’s happened? Jan–Jan–will someone tell me what is going on in this house?’
‘I’ll bet it’s Richard,’ said the boy, who looked about nineteen, though his voice and manner were those of a younger child. ‘He’s shooting at the fog again.’ There was a note of petulance in his voice as he added, ‘Tell him he’s not to shoot and wake us all up out of our beauty sleep. I was deep asleep, and so was Benny. Weren’t you, Benny? Be careful, Laura, Richard’s dangerous. He’s dangerous, Benny, be careful.’
‘There’s thick fog outside,’ said Laura, looking through the landing window. ‘You can barely make out the path. I can’t imagine what he can be shooting at in this mist. It’s absurd. Besides, I thought I heard a cry.’
Miss Bennett–Benny–an alert, brisk woman who looked like the ex-hospital nurse that she was, spoke somewhat officiously. ‘I really can’t see why you’re so upset, Laura. It’s just Richard amusing himself as usual. But I didn’t hear any shooting. I’m sure there’s nothing wrong. I think you’re imagining things. But he’s certainly very selfish and I shall tell him so. Richard,’ she called as she entered the study, ‘really, Richard, it’s too bad at this time of night. You frightened us–Richard!’
Laura, wearing her dressing-gown, followed Miss Bennett into the room. As she switched on the lights and moved to the sofa, the boy Jan followed her. He looked at Miss Bennett who stood staring at Richard Warwick in his wheelchair. ‘What is it, Benny?’ asked Jan. ‘What’s the matter?’
‘It’s Richard,’ said Miss Bennett, her voice strangely calm. ‘He’s killed himself.’
‘Look,’ cried young Jan excitedly, pointing at the table. ‘Richard’s revolver’s gone.’
A voice from outside in the garden called, ‘What’s going on in there? Is anything wrong?’ Looking through the small window in the recess, Jan shouted, ‘Listen! There’s someone outside!’
‘Outside?’ said Miss Bennett. ‘Who?’ She turned to the french windows and was about to draw back the curtain when Starkwedder suddenly appeared. Miss Bennett stepped back in alarm as Starkwedder came forward, asking urgently, ‘What’s happened here? What’s the matter?’ His glance fell on Richard Warwick in the wheelchair. ‘This man’s dead!’ he exclaimed. ‘Shot.’ He looked around the room suspiciously, taking them all in.
‘Who are you?’ asked Miss Bennett. ‘Where do you come from?’
‘Just run my car into a ditch,’ replied Starkwedder. ‘I’ve been lost for hours. Found some gates and came up to the house to try to get some help and telephone. Heard a shot, and someone came rushing out of the windows and collided with me.’ Holding out the gun, Starkwedder added, ‘He dropped this.’
‘Where did this man go?’ Miss Bennett asked him.
‘How the hell should I know in this fog?’ Starkwedder replied.
Jan stood in front of Richard’s body, staring excitedly at it. ‘Somebody’s shot Richard,’ he shouted.
‘Looks like it,’ Starkwedder agreed. ‘You’d better get in touch with the police.’ He placed the gun on the table by the wheelchair, picked up the decanter, and poured brandy into a glass. ‘Who is he?’
‘My husband,’ said Laura, expressionlessly, as she went to sit on the sofa.
With what sounded a slightly forced concern, Starkwedder said to her, ‘Here–drink this.’ Laura looked up at him. ‘You’ve had a shock,’ he added emphatically. As she took the glass, with his back turned to the others Starkwedder gave her a conspiratorial grin, to call her attention to his solution of the fingerprint problem. Turning away, he threw his hat on the armchair, and then, suddenly noticing that Miss Bennett was about to bend over Richard Warwick’s body, he swung quickly round. ‘No, don’t touch anything, madam,’ he implored her. ‘This looks like murder, and if it is then nothing must be touched.’
Straightening up, Miss Bennett backed away from the body in the chair, looking appalled. ‘Murder?’ she exclaimed. ‘It can’t be murder!’
Mrs Warwick, the mother of the dead man, had stopped just inside the door of the study. She came forward now, asking, ‘What has happened?’
‘Richard’s been shot! Richard’s been shot!’ Jan told her. He sounded more excited than concerned.
‘Quiet, Jan,’ ordered Miss Bennett.
‘What did I hear you say?’ asked Mrs Warwick, quietly.
‘He said–murder,’ Benny told her, indicating Starkwedder.
‘Richard,’ Mrs Warwick whispered, as Jan leaned over the body, calling, ‘Look–look–there’s something on his chest–a paper–with writing on it.’ His hand went out to it, but he was stopped by Starkwedder’s command: ‘Don’t touch–whatever you do, don’t touch.’ Then he read aloud, slowly, ‘“May–fifteen–paid in full”.’
‘Good Lord! MacGregor,’ Miss Bennett exclaimed, moving behind the sofa.
Laura rose. Mrs Warwick frowned. ‘You mean,’ she said, ‘–that man–the father–the child that was run over–?’
‘Of course, MacGregor,’ Laura murmured to herself as she sat in the armchair.
Jan went up to the body. ‘Look–it’s all newspaper–cut up,’ he said in excitement. Starkwedder again restrained him. ‘No, don’t touch it,’ he ordered. ‘It’s got to be left for the police.’ He stepped towards the telephone. ‘Shall I–?’
‘No,’ said Mrs Warwick firmly. ‘I will.’ Taking charge of the situation, and summoning her courage, she went to the desk and started to dial. Jan moved excitedly to the stool and knelt upon it. ‘The man that ran away,’ he asked Miss Bennett. ‘Do you think he–?’
‘Ssh, Jan,’ Miss Bennett said to him firmly, while Mrs Warwick spoke quietly but in a clear, authoritative voice on the telephone. ‘Is that the police station? This is Llangelert House. Mr Richard Warwick’s house. Mr Warwick has just been found–shot dead.’
She went on speaking into the phone. Her voice remained low, but the others in the room listened intently. ‘No, he was found by a stranger,’ they heard her say. ‘A man whose car had broken down near the house, I believe…Yes, I’ll tell him. I’ll phone the inn. Will one of your cars be able to take him there when you’ve finished here?…Very well.’
Turning to face the company, Mrs Warwick announced, ‘The police will be here as soon as they can in this fog. They’ll have two cars, one of which will return right away to take this gentleman’–she gestured at Starkwedder–‘to the inn in the village. They want him to stay overnight and be available to