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‘I agree with you that the villain ought to be punished, but the cost has got to be reckoned.’
Ackroyd rose and walked up and down. Presently he sank into the chair again.
‘Look here, Sheppard, suppose we leave it like this. If no word comes from her, we’ll let the dead things lie.’
‘What do you mean by word coming from her?’ I asked curiously.
‘I have the strongest impression that somewhere or somehow she must have left a message for me – before she went. I can’t argue about it, but there it is.’
I shook my head.
‘She left no letter or word of any kind?’ I asked.
‘Sheppard, I’m convinced that she did. And more, I’ve a feeling that by deliberately choosing death, she wanted the whole thing to come out, if only to be revenged on the man who drove her to desperation. I believe that if I could have seen her then, she would have told me his name and bid me go for him for all I was worth.’ he looked at me. ‘You don’t believe in impressions?’
‘Oh, yes, I do, in a sense. If, as you put it, word should come from her – ’
I broke off. The door opened noiselessly and Parker entered with a salver on which were some letters.
‘The evening post, sir,’ he said, handing the salver to Ackroyd. Then he collected the coffee cups and withdrew.
My attention, diverted for a moment, came back to Ackroyd. he was staring like a man turned to stone at a long blue envelope. The other letters he had let drop to the ground.
‘Her writing,’ he said in a whisper. ‘She must have gone out and posted it last night, just before – before-’.
He ripped open the envelope and drew out a thick enclosure. Then he looked up sharply.
‘You’re sure you shut the window?’ he said.
‘Quite sure,’ I said, surprised. ‘Why?’
‘All this evening I’ve had a queer feeling of being watched, spied upon. What’s that – ’
He turned sharply. So did I. We both had the impression of hearing the latch of the door give ever so slightly. I went across to it and opened it. There was no one there.
‘Nerves,’ murmured Ackroyd to himself. He unfolded the thick sheets of paper, and read aloud in a low voice.
‘My dear, my very dear Roger, – A life calls for a life. I see that – I saw it in your face this afternoon. So I am taking the only road open to me. I leave to you the punishment of the person who has made my life a hell upon earth for the last year. I would not tell you the name, this afternoon, but I propose to write it to you now. I have no children or near relations to be spared, so do not fear publicity. If you can, Roger, my very dear Roger, forgive me the wrong I meant to do you, since when the time came, I could not do it after all…’
Ackroyd, his finger on the sheet to turn it over, paused.
‘Sheppard, forgive me, but I must read this alone,’ he said unsteadily. ‘It was meant for my eyes, and my eyes only.’ He put the letter in the envelope and laid it on the table. ‘Later, when I am alone.’
‘No,’ I cried impulsively, ‘Read it now.’
Ackroyd stared at me in some surprise.
‘I beg your pardon,’ I said, reddening. ‘I do not mean read it aloud to me. But read it through whilst I am still here.’
Ackroyd shook his head.
‘No, I’d rather wait.’
But for some reason, obscure to myself, I continued to urge him.
‘At least, read the name of the man,’ I said.
Now Ackroyd is essentially pig-headed. The more you urge him to do a thing, the more determined he is not to do it. All my arguments were in vain.
The letter had been brought in at twenty minutes to nine. It was just on ten minutes to nine when I left him, the letter still unread. I hesitated with my hand on the door handle, looking back and wondering if there was anything I had left undone. I could think of nothing. With a shake of the head I passed out and closed the door behind me.
I was startled by seeing the figure of Parker close at hand. he looked embarrassed, and it occurred to me that he might have been listening at the door.
What a fat, smug, oily face the man had, and surely there was something decidedly shifty in his eye.
‘Mr Ackroyd particularly does not want to be disturbed,’ I said coldly. ‘He told me to tell you so.’
‘Quite so, sir. I–I fancied I heard the bell ring.’
This was such a palpable untruth that I did not trouble to reply. Preceding me to the hall, Parker helped me on with my overcoat, and I stepped out into the night. The moon was overcast, and everything seemed very dark and still.
The village church clock chimed nine o’clock as I passed through the lodge gates. I turned to the left towards the village, and almost ca
‘This the way to Fernly Park, mister?’ asked the stranger in a hoarse voice.
I looked at him. he was wearing a hat pulled down over his eyes, and his coat collar turned up. I could see little or nothing of his face, but he seemed a young fellow. The voice was rough and uneducated.
‘These are the lodge gates here,’ I said.
‘Thank you, mister.’ He paused, and then added, quite u
He went on, passing through the gates as I turned to look after him. The odd thing was that his voice reminded me of someone’s voice that I knew, but whose it was I could not think.
Ten minutes later I was at home once more. Caroline was full of curiosity to know why I had returned so early. I had to make up a slightly fictitious account of the evening in order to satisfy her, and I had an uneasy feeling that she saw through the transparent device.
At ten o’clock I rose, yawned, and suggested bed. Caroline acquiesced.
It was friday night, and on friday night I wind the clocks. I did it as usual, whilst Caroline satisfied herself that the servants had locked up the kitchen properly.
It was a quarter past ten as we went up the stairs. I had just reached the top when the telephone rang in the hall below.
‘Mrs Bates,’ said Caroline immediately.
‘I’m afraid so,’ I said ruefully. I ran down the stairs and took up the receiver.
‘What?’ I said. ‘What? certainly, I’ll come at once.’
I ran upstairs, caught up my bag, and stuffed a few extra dressings into it.
‘Parker telephoning,’ I shouted to Caroline, ‘From Fernly. They’ve just found Roger Ackroyd murdered.’
Chapter 5
Murder
I got out the car in next to no time, and drove rapidly to Fernly. Jumping out, I pulled the bell impatiently. There was some delay in answering, and I rang again.
Then I heard the rattle of the chain and Parker, his impassivity of countenance quite unmoved, stood in the open doorway.
I pushed past him into the hall.
‘Where is he?’ I demanded sharply.
‘I beg your pardon, sir?’
‘Your master. Mr Ackroyd. don’t stand there staring at me, man. Have you notified the police?’
‘The police, sir? Did you say the police?’ Parker stared at me as though I were a ghost.
‘What’s the matter with you, Parker? If, as you say, your master has been murdered – ’
A gasp broke from Parker.
‘The master? Murdered? Impossible, sir!’
It was my turn to stare.
‘Didn’t you telephone to me, not five minutes ago, and tell me that Mr Ackroyd had been found murdered?’