The Murder of Roger Ackroyd / Убийство Роджера Экройда

’

‘What did you say to her?’ I asked.

‘What could I say? She saw, of course, the awful shock it had been to me. And then there was the question, what was my duty in the matter? She had made me, you see, an accessory after the fact. She saw all that, I think, quicker than I did. I was stunned, you know. She asked me for twenty-four hours – made me promise to do nothing till the end of that time. And she steadfastly refused to give me the name of the scoundrel who had been blackmailing her. I suppose she was afraid that I might go straight off and hammer him, and then the fat would have been in the fire as far as she was concerned.

She told me that I should hear from her before twenty-four hours had passed. My god! I swear to you, Sheppard, that it never entered my head what she meant to do. Suicide! And I drove her to it.’

‘No, no,’ I said. ‘Don’t take an exaggerated view of things. The responsibility for her death doesn’t lie at your door.’

‘The question is, what am I to do now? The poor lady is dead.

Why rake up past trouble?’

‘I rather agree with you,’ I said.

‘But there’s another point. How am I to get hold of that scoundrel who drove her to death as surely as if he’d killed her? He knew of the first crime, and he fastened on to it like some obscene vulture. She’s paid the penalty. Is he to go scot free?’

‘I see,’ I said slowly. ‘you want to hunt him down? It will mean a lot of publicity, you know.’

‘Yes, I’ve thought of that. I’ve zigzagged to and fro in my mind.

’

‘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.