Spider's Web

"I don't want to hear any more about your wife," the Inspector interrupted. Moving away from Elgin, he continued, "How long have you been with Mrs. Hailsham-Brown?"

"Six weeks, sir," was the reply.

The Inspector turned back to face Elgin. "And before that?"

"I'd – I'd been having a little rest," the butler replied uneasily.

"A rest?" the Inspector echoed, in a tone of suspicion. He paused and then added, "You do realize that, in a case like this, your references will have to be looked into very carefully."

Elgin began to get to his feet. "Will that be all..." he started to say, and then stopped and resumed his seat. "I – I wouldn't wish to deceive you, sir," he continued. "It wasn't anything really wrong. What I mean is... the original reference having got torn... I couldn't quite remember the wording..."

"So you wrote your own references," the Inspector interrupted. "That's what it comes to, doesn't it?"

"I didn't mean any harm," Elgin protested. "I've got my living to earn – "

The Inspector interrupted him again. "At the moment, I'm not interested in fake references," he told the butler. "I want to know what happened here tonight, and what you know about Mr. Costello."

"I'd never set eyes on him before," Elgin insisted. Looking around at the hall door, he continued, "But I've got a good idea of why he came here."

"Oh, and what is that?" the Inspector wanted to know.

"Blackmail," Elgin told him. "He had something on her."

"By 'her,'" said the Inspector, "I assume you mean Mrs. Hailsham-Brown."

"Yes," Elgin continued eagerly. "I came in to ask if there was anything more she wanted, and I heard them talking."

"What did you hear exactly?"

"I heard her say 'But that's blackmail. I won't submit to it.'" Elgin adopted a highly dramatic tone as he quoted Clarissa's words.

"Hm!" the Inspector responded a little doubtfully. "Anything more?"

"No," Elgin admitted. "They stopped when I came in, and when I went out they dropped their voices."

"I see," the Inspector commented. He looked intently at the butler, waiting for him to speak again.

Elgin got up from his chair. His voice was almost a whine as he pleaded, "You won't be hard on me, sir, will you? I've had a lot of trouble one way and another."

The Inspector regarded him for a moment longer, and then said dismissively, "Oh, that will do. Get out."

"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir," Elgin responded quickly as he made a hasty exit into the hall.

The Inspector watched him go and then turned to the Constable. "Blackmail, eh?" he murmured, exchanging glances with his colleague.

"And Mrs. Hailsham-Brown such a nice-seeming lady," the Constable observed with a somewhat prim look.

"Yes, well, one never can tell," the Inspector replied. He paused, and then ordered curtly, "I'll see Mr. Birch now." The Constable rose, went over to the library door, and opened it, calling, "Mr. Birch, please."

Hugo came through the library door, looking dogged and rather defiant. The Constable closed the door behind him and took a seat at the table, while the Inspector greeted Hugo pleasantly. "Come in, Mr. Birch," he invited. "Sit down here, please," he suggested, indicating a chair by the bridge table.

Hugo sat, and the Inspector continued, "This is a very unpleasant business, I'm afraid, sir. What have you to tell us about it?"

Slapping his spectacle case on the table, Hugo replied defiantly, "Absolutely nothing."

"Nothing?" queried the Inspector, sounding surprised.

"What do you expect me to say?" Hugo expostulated. "The blinking woman snaps open the blinking cupboard, and out falls a blinking corpse." He gave a snort of impatience. "Took my breath away," he declared. "I've not got over it yet." He glared at the Inspector. "It's no good asking me anything," he said firmly, "because I don't know anything about it."

The Inspector regarded Hugo steadily for a moment before asking, "That's your statement, is it? Just that you know nothing at all about it?"

"I'm telling you," Hugo repeated. "I didn't kill the fellow." Again he glared defiantly. "I didn't even know him."

"You didn't know him," the Inspector repeated. "Very well. I'm not suggesting that you did know him. I'm certainly not suggesting that you murdered him. But I can't believe that you 'know nothing,' as you put it. So let's collaborate to find out what you do know. To begin with, you'd heard of him, hadn't you?"

"Yes," snapped Hugo, "and I'd heard he was a nasty bit of goods."

"In what way?" the Inspector asked calmly.

"Oh, I don't know," Hugo blustered. "He was the sort of fellow that women liked and men had no use for. That sort of thing."

The Inspector paused before asking carefully, "You've no idea why he should come back to this house a second time this evening?"

"Not a clue," replied Hugo dismissively.

The Inspector took a few steps around the room, then turned abruptly to face Hugo. "Was there anything between him and the present Mrs. Hailsham-Brown, do you think?" he asked.