Десять негритят / And Then There Were None

«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: «No, no. Queer, though – a thud shook the ground. And I thought – did you hear a sort of cry? I did.»

They stared up at the house.

Lombard said: «It came from there. We’d better go up and see.»

«No, no, I’m not going.»

«Please yourself. I am.»

Vera said desperately: «All right. I’ll come with you.»

They walked up the slope to the house. The terrace was peaceful and innocuous-looking in the sunshine. They hesitated there a minute, then instead of entering by the front door, they made a cautious circuit of the house.

They found Blore. He was spread-eagled on the stone terrace on the east side, his head crushed and mangled by a great block of white marble.

Philip looked up. He said:

«Whose is that window just above?»

Vera said in a low shuddering voice:

«It’s mine – and that’s the clock from my mantelpiece… I remember now. It was – shaped like a bear.»

She repeated and her voice shook and quavered:

«It was shaped like a bear…»

III

Philip grasped her shoulder. He said, and his voice was urgent and grim:

«This settles it. Armstrong is in hiding somewhere in that house. I’m going to get him.»

But Vera clung to him. She cried:

«Don’t be a fool. It’s us now! We’re next! He wants us to look for him! He’s counting on it!»

Philip stopped. He said thoughtfully:

«There’s something in that.»

Vera cried:

«At any rate, you do admit now I was right.»

He nodded.

«Yes – you win! It’s Armstrong all right. But where the devil did he hide himself? We went over the place with a fine-tooth comb.»

Vera said urgently: «If you didn’t find him last night, you won’t find him now… That’s common-sense.»

Lombard said reluctantly:

«Yes, but —»

«He must have prepared a secret place beforehand – naturally – of course it’s just what he would do. You know, like a Priest’s Hole in old manor houses.»

«This isn’t an old house of that kind.»

«He could have had one made.»

Philip Lombard shook his head.

He said: «We measured the place – that first morning. I’ll swear there’s no space unaccounted for.»

Vera said: «There must be…»

Lombard said: «I’d like to see —»

Vera cried: «Yes, you’d like to see! And he knows that! He’s in there – waiting for you.»

Lombard said, half bringing out the revolver from his pocket: «I’ve got this, you know.»