There was a silence when he had finished. Then the colonel said in a business-like voice:
“I would like to ask just one or two questions. First, did you touch or move the body in any way?”
“No, I didn’t touch it at all. One could see he was dead without touching him.”
“Did you notice a note lying on the blotter half concealed by his body?”
“No.”
“Did you interfere in any way with the clock?”
“I never touched the clock. I seem to remember a clock lying overturned on the table, but I never touched it.”
“Now as to this pistol of yours, when did you last see it?”
Lawrence Redding reflected. “It’s hard to say exactly.”
“Where do you keep it?”
“Oh! in a litter of odds and ends in the sitting-room in my cottage. On one of the shelves of the bookcase.”
“You left it lying about carelessly?”
“Yes. I really didn’t think about it. It was just there.”
“So that any one who came to your cottage could have seen it?”
“Yes.”
“And you don’t remember when you last saw it?”
Lawrence drew his brows together in a frown of recollection.
“I’m almost sure it was there the day before yesterday. I remember pushing it aside to get an old pipe. I think it was the day before yesterday – but it may have been the day before that.”
“Who has been to your cottage lately?”
“Oh! crowds of people. Someone is always drifting in and out, I had a sort of tea party the day before yesterday. Lettice Protheroe, Dennis, and all their crowd. And then one or other of the old Pussies comes in now and again.”
“Do you lock the cottage up when you go out?”
“No; why on earth should I? I’ve nothing to steal. And no one does lock their houses up round here.”
“Who looks after your wants there?”
“An old Mrs. Archer comes in every morning to ‘do for me’ as it’s called.”
“Do you think she would remember when the pistol was there last?”
“I don’t know. She might. But I don’t fancy conscientious dusting is her strong point.”
“It comes to this – that almost any one might have taken that pistol?”
“It seems so – yes.”
The door opened and Dr. Haydock came in with Anne Protheroe.
She started at seeing Lawrence. He, on his part, made a tentative step towards her.
“Forgive me, Anne,” he said. “It was abominable of me to think what I did.”
“I -” She faltered, then looked appealingly at Colonel Melchett. “It is true, what Dr. Haydock told me?”
“That Mr. Redding is cleared of suspicion? Yes. And now what about this story of yours, Mrs. Protheroe? Eh, what about it?”
She smiled rather shamefacedly.
“I suppose you think it dreadful of me?”
“Well, shall we say – very foolish? But that’s all over. What I want now, Mrs. Protheroe, is the truth – the absolute truth.”
She nodded gravely.
“I will tell you. I suppose you know about – about everything.”
“Yes.”
“I was to meet Lawrence – Mr. Redding – that evening at the studio. At a quarter past six. My husband and I drove into the village together. I had some shopping to do. As we parted he mentioned casually that he was going to see the vicar. I couldn’t get word to Lawrence, and I was rather uneasy. I – well, it was awkward meeting him in the Vicarage garden whilst my husband was at the Vicarage.”
Her cheeks burned as she said this. It was not a pleasant moment for her.
“I reflected that perhaps my husband would not stay very long. To find this out, I came along the back lane and into the garden. I hoped no one would see me, but of course old Miss Marple had to be in her garden! She stopped me and we said a few words, and I explained I was going to call for my husband. I felt I had to say something. I don’t know whether she believed me or not. She looked rather – funny.
“When I left her, I went straight across to the Vicarage and round the corner of the house to the study window. I crept up to it very softly, expecting to hear the sound of voices. But to my surprise there were none. I just glanced in, saw the room was empty, and hurried across the lawn and down to the studio where Lawrence joined me almost at once.”