Free The Unexpected Guest by Agatha Christie Page A

introduced the two men to each other. 'This is Mr Starkwedder - Major Farrar, who may be our next Member of Parliament. He's contesting the by-election.'
    Starkwedder and Julian Farrar shook hands, politely murmuring, 'How do you do?' The inspector moved away, beckoning to the sergeant who joined him. They conferred, as Starkwedder explained to Major Farrar, 'I'd run my car into a ditch, and I was coming up to the house to see if I could telephone and get some help. A man dashed out of the house, almost knocking me over.'
    'But which way did this man go?' Farrar asked.
    'No idea,' Starkwedder replied. 'He vanished into the mist like a conjuring trick.' He turned away, while Jan, kneeling in the armchair and looking expectantly at Farrar, said, 'You told Richard someone would shoot him one day, didn't you, Julian?'
    There was a pause. Everyone in the room looked at Julian Farrar.
    Farrar thought for a moment. Then, 'Did I? I don't remember,' he said brusquely.
    'Oh, yes, you did,' Jan insisted. 'At dinner one night. You know, you and Richard were having a sort of argument, and you said, “One of these days, Richard, somebody'll put a bullet through your head.”'
    'A remarkable prophecy,' the inspector commented.
    Julian Farrar moved to sit on one end of the footstool. 'Oh well,' he said, 'Richard and his guns were pretty fair nuisance value, you know. People didn't like it. Why, there was that fellow - you remember, Laura? Your gardener, Griffiths. You know - the one Richard sacked. Griffiths certainly said to me - and on more than one occasion - “One of these days, look you, I shall come with my gun and I shall shoot Mr Warwick.”'
    'Oh, Griffiths wouldn't do a thing like that,' Laura exclaimed quickly.
    Farrar looked contrite. 'No, no, of course not,' he admitted. 'I - I didn't mean that. I mean that it was the sort of thing that - er - people said about Richard.'
    To cover his embarrassment, he took out his cigarette-case and extracted a cigarette.
    The inspector sat in the desk chair, looking thoughtful. Starkwedder stood in a corner near the alcove, close to Jan who gazed at him with interest.
    'I wish I'd come over here last night,' Julian Farrar announced, addressing no one in particular. 'I meant to.'
    'But that awful fog,' Laura said quietly. 'You couldn't come out in that.'
    'No,' Farrar replied. 'I had my committee members over to dine with me. When they found the fog coming on, they went home rather early. I thought then of coming along to see you, but I decided against it.' Searching in his pockets, he asked, 'Has anyone got a match? I seem to have mislaid my lighter.'
    He looked around, and suddenly noticed the lighter on the table where Laura had left it the night before. Rising, he went across to pick it up, observed by Starkwedder. 'Oh, here it is,' said Farrar. 'Couldn't imagine where I'd left it.'
    'Julian -' Laura began.
    'Yes?' Farrar offered her a cigarette, and she took one. 'I'm most awfully sorry about all this, Laura,' he said. 'If there's anything I can do -' His voice trailed off indecisively.
    'Yes. Yes, I know,' Laura replied, as Farrar lit their cigarettes.
    Jan suddenly spoke, addressing Starkwedder. 'Can you shoot, Mr Starkwedder?' he asked. 'I can, you know. Richard used to let me try, sometimes. Of course, I wasn't as good as he was.'
    'Did he, indeed?' said Starkwedder, turning to Jan. 'What sort of gun did he let you use?'
    As Jan engaged Starkwedder's attention, Laura took the opportunity of speaking quickly to Julian Farrar.
    'Julian, I must talk to you. I must,' she murmured softly.
    Farrar's voice was equally low. 'Careful,' he warned her.
    'It was a .22,' Jan was telling Starkwedder. 'I'm quite good at shooting, aren't I, Julian?' He went across to Julian Farrar. 'Do you remember the time you took me to the fair? I knocked two of the bottles down, didn't I?'
    'You did indeed, my lad,' Farrar assured him. 'You've got a good eye, that's what counts. Good eye for a cricket ball, too.