Unexpected Guest Read Free Page B

said.
    â€˜Probably,’ Starkwedder agreed.
    She shook her head in perplexity. ‘You don’t know what you’re doing,’ she told him.
    â€˜I know very well what I’m doing,’ he answered. ‘I’m making myself an accessory after the fact.’
    â€˜But why?’ asked Laura. ‘Why?’
    Starkwedder looked at her for a moment before replying. Then, ‘Yes, why?’ he repeated. Speaking slowly and deliberately, he said, ‘For the simple reason, I suppose, that you’re a very attractive woman, and I don’t like to think of you being shut up in prison for all the best years of your life. Just as horrible as being hanged by the neck until you are dead, in my view. And the situation looks far from promising for you. Your husband was an invalid and a cripple. Any evidence there might be of provocation would rest entirely on your word, a word which you seem extremely unwilling to give. Therefore it seems highly unlikely that a jury would acquit you.’
    Laura looked steadily at him. ‘You don’t know me,’ she said. ‘Everything I’ve told you may have been lies.’
    â€˜It may,’ Starkwedder agreed cheerfully. ‘And perhaps I’m a sucker. But I’m believing you.’
    Laura looked away, then sank down on the footstoolwith her back to him. For a few moments nothing was said. Then, turning to face him, her eyes suddenly a light with hope, she looked at him questioningly, and then nodded almost imperceptibly. ‘Yes,’ she told him, ‘I can lie if I have to.’
    â€˜Good,’ Starkwedder exclaimed with determination. ‘Now, talk and talk fast.’ He walked over to the table by the wheelchair, flicking ash in the ashtray. ‘In the first place, who exactly is there in this house? Who lives here?’
    After a moment’s hesitation, Laura began to speak, almost mechanically. ‘There’s Richard’s mother,’ she told him. ‘And there’s Benny–Miss Bennett, but we call her Benny–she’s a sort of combined housekeeper and secretary. An ex-hospital nurse. She’s been here for ages, and she’s devoted to Richard. And then there’s Angell. I mentioned him, I think. He’s a male nurse-attendant, and–well, valet, I suppose. He looks after Richard generally.’
    â€˜Are there servants who live in the house as well?’
    â€˜No, there are no live-in servants, only dailies who come in.’ She paused. ‘Oh–and I almost forgot,’ she continued. ‘There’s Jan, of course.’
    â€˜Jan?’ Starkwedder asked, sharply. ‘Who’s Jan?’
    Laura gave him an embarrassed look before replying. Then, with an air of reluctance, she said, ‘He’s Richard’s young half-brother. He–he lives with us.’
    Starkwedder moved over to the stool where she still sat. ‘Come clean, now,’ he insisted. ‘What is there about Jan that you don’t want to tell me?’
    After a moment’s hesitation, Laura spoke, though she still sounded guarded. ‘Jan is a dear,’ she said. ‘Very affectionate and sweet. But–but he isn’t quite like other people. I mean he’s–he’s what they call retarded.’
    â€˜I see,’ Starkwedder murmured sympathetically. ‘But you’re fond of him, aren’t you?’
    â€˜Yes,’ Laura admitted. ‘Yes–I’m very fond of him. That’s–that’s really why I couldn’t just go away and leave Richard. Because of Jan. You see, if Richard had had his own way, he would have sent Jan to an institution. A place for the mentally retarded.’
    Starkwedder slowly circled the wheelchair, looking down at Richard Warwick’s body, and pondering. Then, ‘I see,’ he murmured. ‘Is that the threat he held over you? That, if you left him, he’d send the boy to an