asked.
âNo.â
She gave a sudden shiver and shook her shoulders impatiently.
âLen, Iâve been thinking. How badly someone must have hated Anne Protheroe!â
âHated her?â
âYes. Donât you see? Thereâs no real evidence against Lawrenceâall the evidence against him is what you might call accidental. He just happens to take it into his head to come here. If he hadnâtâwell, no one would have thought of connecting him with the crime. But Anne is different. Suppose someone knew that she was here at exactly 6:20âthe clock and the time on the letterâeverything pointing to her. I donât think it was only because of an alibi it was moved to that exact timeâI think there was more in it than thatâa direct attempt to fasten the business on her. If ithadnât been for Miss Marple saying she hadnât got the pistol with her and noticing that she was only a moment before going down to the studioâYes, if it hadnât been for that â¦â She shivered again. âLen, I feel that someone hated Anne Protheroe very much. IâI donât like it.â
Twelve
I was summoned to the study when Lawrence Redding arrived. He looked haggard, and, I thought, suspicious. Colonel Melchett greeted him with something approaching cordiality.
âWe want to ask you a few questionsâhere, on the spot,â he said.
Lawrence sneered slightly.
âIsnât that a French idea? Reconstruction of the crime?â
âMy dear boy,â said Colonel Melchett, âdonât take that tone with us. Are you aware that someone else has also confessed to committing the crime which you pretend to have committed?â
The effect of these words on Lawrence was painful and immediate.
âS-s-omeone else?â he stammered. âWhoâwho?â
âMrs. Protheroe,â said Colonel Melchett, watching him.
âAbsurd. She never did it. She couldnât have. Itâs impossible.â
Melchett interrupted him.
âStrangely enough, we did not believe her story. Neither, I maysay, do we believe yours. Dr. Haydock says positively that the murder could not have been committed at the time you say it was.â
âDr. Haydock says that?â
âYes, so, you see, you are cleared whether you like it or not. And now we want you to help us, to tell us exactly what occurred.â
Lawrence still hesitated.
âYouâre not deceiving me aboutâabout Mrs. Protheroe? You really donât suspect her?â
âOn my word of honour,â said Colonel Melchett.
Lawrence drew a deep breath.
âIâve been a fool,â he said. âAn absolute fool. How could I have thought for one minute that she did itââ
âSuppose you tell us all about it?â suggested the Chief Constable.
âThereâs not much to tell. IâI met Mrs. Protheroe that afternoonââ He paused.
âWe know all about that,â said Melchett. âYou may think that your feeling for Mrs. Protheroe and hers for you was a dead secret, but in reality it was known and commented upon. In any case, everything is bound to come out now.â
âVery well, then. I expect you are right. I had promised the Vicar here (he glanced at me) toâto go right away. I met Mrs. Protheroe that evening in the studio at a quarter past six. I told her of what I had decided. She, too, agreed that it was the only thing to do. Weâwe said good-bye to each other.
âWe left the studio, and almost at once Dr. Stone joined us. Anne managed to seem marvellously natural. I couldnât do it. I went off with Stone to the Blue Boar and had a drink. Then I thought Iâd go home, but when I got to the corner of this road, I changed mymind and decided to come along and see the Vicar. I felt I wanted someone to talk to about the matter.
âAt the door, the maid told me the Vicar was out, but would be in shortly,
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