As the valet turned to face him, Farrar called loudly, 'Inspector Thomas!'
There was a tense pause. Then, after a moment or two, the inspector appeared in the doorway, with the sergeant behind him. 'Yes, Major Farrar?' the inspector asked, quietly.
Resuming a pleasant, natural manner, Julian Farrar strolled across to the armchair. 'Before you get busy with routine, Inspector,' he remarked, 'there is something I ought to have told you. Really, I suppose, I should have mentioned it this morning. But we were all so upset. Mrs Warwick has just informed me that there are some fingerprints that you are anxious to identify. On the table here, I think you said.' He paused, then added, easily, 'In all probability. Inspector, those are my fingerprints.'
There was a pause. The inspector slowly approached Farrar, and then asked quietly, but with an accusing note in his voice, 'You were over here last night, Major Farrar?'
'Yes,' Farrar replied. 'I came over, as I often do after dinner, to have a chat with Richard.'
'And you found him – ?' the inspector prompted.
'I found him very moody and depressed. So I didn't stay long.'
'At about what time was this, Major Farrar?'
Farrar thought for a moment, and then replied, 'I really can't remember. Perhaps ten o'clock, or ten-thirty. Thereabouts.'
The inspector regarded him steadily. 'Can you get a little closer than that?' he asked.
'I'm sorry. I'm afraid I can't,' was Farrar's immediate answer.
After a somewhat tense pause, the inspector asked, trying to sound casual, 'I don't suppose there would have been any quarrel – or bad words of any kind?'
'No, certainly not,' Farrar retorted indignantly. He looked at his watch. 'I'm late,' he observed. 'I've got to take the chair at a meeting in the Town Hall. I can't keep them waiting.' He turned and walked towards the french windows. 'So, if you don't mind – ' He paused on the terrace.
'Mustn't keep the Town Hall waiting,' the inspector agreed, following him. 'But I'm sure you'll understand, Major Farrar, that I should like a full statement from you of your movements last night. Perhaps we could do this tomorrow morning.' He paused, and then continued, 'You realize, of course, that there is no obligation on you to make a statement, that it is purely voluntary on your part – and that you are fully entitled to have your solicitor present, should you so wish.'
Mrs Warwick had re-entered the room. She stood in the doorway, leaving the door open, and listening to the inspector's last few words. Julian Farrar drew in his breath as he grasped the significance of what the inspector had said. 'I understand – perfectly,' he said. 'Shall we say ten o'clock tomorrow morning? And my solicitor will be present.'
Farrar made his exit along the terrace, and the inspector turned to Laura Warwick. 'Did you see Major Farrar when he came here last night?' he asked her.
'I – I – ' Laura began uncertainly, but was interrupted by Starkwedder who suddenly jumped up from his chair and went across to them, interposing himself between the inspector and Laura. 'I don't think Mrs Warwick feels like answering any questions just now,' he said.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Starkwedder and Inspector Thomas faced each other in silence for a moment. Then the inspector spoke. 'What did you say, Mr Starkwedder?' he asked, quietly.
'I said,' Starkwedder replied, 'that I don't think Mrs Warwick feels like any more questions just at the moment.'
'Indeed?' growled the inspector. 'And what business is it of yours, might I ask?'
Mrs Warwick senior joined in the confrontation. 'Mr Starkwedder is quite right,' she announced.
The inspector turned to Laura questioningly. After a pause, she murmured, 'No, I don't want to answer any more questions just now.'
Looking rather smug, Starkwedder smiled at the inspector who turned away angrily and swiftly left the room with the sergeant. Angell followed them, shutting the door behind him. As he did so, Laura burst out, 'But I should speak. I must – I must tell them-'
'Mr Starkwedder is quite right, Laura,' Mrs Warwick interjected forcefully. 'The less you say now, the better.' She took a few paces about the room, leaning heavily on her stick, and then continued. 'We must get in touch with Mr Adams at once.' Turning to Starkwedder, she explained, 'Mr Adams is our solicitor.' She glanced across at Miss Bennett. 'Ring him up now, Benny.'
Miss Bennett nodded and went towards the telephone, but Mrs Warwick stopped her. 'No, use the extension upstairs,' she instructed, adding, 'Laura, go with her.'
Laura rose, and then hesitated, looking confusedly at her mother-in-law, who merely added, 'I want to talk to Mr Starkwedder.'
'But –' Laura began, only to be immediately interrupted by Mrs Warwick. 'Now don't worry, my dear,' the old lady assured her. 'Just do as I say.'
Laura hesitated for a moment, then went out into the hall, followed by Miss Bennett who closed the door. Mrs Warwick immediately went up to Starkwedder. 'I don't know how much time we have,' she said, speaking rapidly and glancing towards the door. 'I want you to help me.'
Starkwedder looked surprised. 'How?' he asked.
After a pause, Mrs Warwick spoke again. 'You're an intelligent man – and you're a stranger. You've come into our lives from outside. We know nothing about you. You've nothing to do with any of us.'
Starkwedder nodded. 'The unexpected guest, eh?' he murmured. He perched on an arm of the sofa. 'That's been said to me already,' he remarked.
'Because you're a stranger,' Mrs Warwick continued, 'there is something I'm going to ask you to do for me.' She moved across to the french windows and stepped out onto the terrace, looking along it in both directions.
After a pause, Starkwedder spoke. 'Yes, Mrs Warwick ?'
Coming back into the room, Mrs Warwick began to speak with some urgency. 'Up until this evening,' she told him, 'there was a reasonable explanation for this tragedy. A man whom my son had injured – by accidentally killing his child – came to take his revenge. I know it sounds melodramatic, but, after all, one does read of such things happening.'
'As you say,' Starkwedder remarked, wondering where this conversation was leading.
'But now, I'm afraid that explanation has gone,' Mrs Warwick continued. 'And it brings the murder of my son back into the family.' She took a few steps towards the armchair. 'Now, there are two people who definitely could not have shot my son. And they are his wife and Miss Bennett. They were actually together when the shot was fired.'
Starkwedder gave a quick look at her, but all he said was, 'Quite.'
'However,' Mrs Warwick continued, 'although Laura could not have shot her husband, she could have known who did.'
'That would make her an accessory before the fact,' Starkwedder remarked. 'She and this Julian Farrar chap in it together? Is that what you mean?'
A look of annoyance crossed Mrs Warwick's face. 'That is not what I mean,' she told him. She cast another quick glance at the door, and then continued, 'Julian Farrar did not shoot my son.'
Starkwedder rose from the arm of the sofa. 'How can you possibly know that?' he asked her.
'I do know it,' was Mrs Warwick's reply. She looked steadily at him. 'I am going to tell you, a stranger, something that none of my family know,' she stated calmly. 'It is this. I am a woman who has not very long to live.'
'I am sorry –' Starkwedder began, but Mrs Warwick raised her hand to stop him. 'I am not telling you this for sympathy,' she remarked. 'I am telling you in order to explain what otherwise might be difficult of explanation. There are times when you decide on a course of action which you would not decide upon if you had several years of life before you.'
'Such as?' asked Starkwedder quietly.
