Vera said:
"If I even see a tinned tongue, I shall be sick! I don't want any food. People go days on end with nothing sometimes when they're on a diet."
Blore said:
"Well, I need my meals regular. What about you, Mr. Lombard?"
Philip said:
"You know, I don't relish the idea of tinned tongue particularly. I'll stay here with Miss Claythorne."
Blore hesitated. Vera said:
"I shall be quite all right. I don't think he'll shoot me as soon as your back is turned if that's what you're afraid of."
Blore said:
"It's all right if you say so. But we agreed we ought not to separate."
Philip said:
"You're the one who wants to go into the lion's den. I'll come with you if you like?"
"No, you won't," said Blore. "You'll stay here."
Philip laughed.
"So you're still afraid of me? Why, I could shoot you both this very minute if I liked."
Blore said:
"Yes, but that wouldn't be according to plan. It's one at a time, and it's got to be done in a certain way."
"Well," said Philip, "you seem to know all about it."
"Of course," said Blore, "it's a bit jumpy going up to the house alone -"
Philip said softly:
"And therefore, will I lend you my revolver? Answer, no, I will not! Not quite so simple as that, thank you."
Blore shrugged his shoulders and began to make his way up the steep slope to the house.
Lombard said softly:
"Feeding time at the Zoo! The animals are very regular in their habits!"
Vera said anxiously:
"Isn't it very risky, what he's doing?"
"In a sense you mean - no, I don't think it is! Armstrong's not armed, you know, and anyway Blore is twice a match for him in physique and he's very much on his guard. And anyway it's a sheer impossibility that Armstrong can be in the house. I know he's not there."
"But - what other solution is there?"
Philip said softly:
"There's Blore."
"Oh - do you really think -?"
"Listen, my girl. You heard Blore's story. You've got to admit that if it's true, I can't possibly have had anything to do with Armstrong's disappearance. His story clears me. But it doesn't clear him. We've only his word for it that he heard footsteps and saw a man going downstairs and out at the front door. The whole thing may be a lie. He may have got rid of Armstrong a couple of hours before that."
"How?"
Lombard shrugged his shoulders.
"That we don't know. But if you ask me, we've only one danger to fear - and that danger is Blore! What do we know about the man? Less than nothing! All this ex-policeman story may be bunkum! He may be anybody - a mad millionaire - a crazy business man - an escaped inmate of Broadmoor. One thing's certain. He could have done every one of these crimes."
Vera had gone rather white. She said in a slightly breathless voice:
"And supposing he gets - us?"
Lombard said softly, patting the revolver in his pocket:
"I'm going to take very good care he doesn't."
Then he looked at her curiously.
"Touching faith in me, haven't you, Vera? Quite sure I wouldn't shoot you?"
Vera said:
"One has got to trust some one... As a matter of fact I think you're wrong about Blore. I still think it's Armstrong."
She turned to him suddenly.
"Don't you feel - all the time - that there's some one. Some one watching and waiting?"
Lombard said slowly:
"That's just nerves."
Vera said eagerly:
"Then you have felt it?"
She shivered. She bent a little closer.
"Tell me - you don't think -" She broke off, went on: "I read a story once - about two judges that came to a small American town - from the Supreme Court. They administered justice - Absolute Justice. Because - they didn't come from this world at all..."
Lombard raised his eyebrows.
He said:
"Heavenly visitants, eh? No, I don't believe in the supernatural. This business is human enough."
Vera said in a low voice:
"Sometimes - I'm not sure..."
Lombard looked at her. He said:
"That's conscience..." After a moment's silence he said very quietly: "So you did drown that kid after all?"
Vera said vehemently:
"I didn't! I didn't! You've no right to say that!"
He laughed easily.
"Oh, yes, you did, my good girl! I don't know why. Can't imagine. There was a man in it probably. Was that it?"
A sudden feeling of lassitude, of intense weariness, spread over Vera's limbs. She said in a dull voice:
"Yes - there was a man in it..."
Lombard said softly:
"Thanks. That's what I wanted to know..."
Vera sat up suddenly. She exclaimed:
"What was that? It wasn't an earthquake?"
Lombard said:
52书库推荐浏览： [英]阿加莎·克里斯蒂