Free The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie

fierce blue of his eyes. He looked, suddenly, a very tired man.
    Then, after a minute or two, the lids flickered. He called, “Edwards?”
    From the next room the valet appeared promptly. Edwards knew his master as no one else did. Others, even his nearest, knew only his strength; Edwards knew his weakness. He had seen Conway Jefferson tired, discouraged, weary of life, momentarily defeated by infirmity and loneliness.
    “Yes, sir?”
    Jefferson said, “Get on to Sir Henry Clithering. He's at Melborne Abbas. Ask him, from me, to get here today if he can, instead of tomorrow. Tell him it's very urgent.”

The Body in the Library

Chapter 9
    When they were outside Jefferson's door, Superintendent Harper said, “Well, for what it's worth, we've got a motive, sir.”
    “Hm,” said Melchett. “Fifty thousand pounds, eh?”
    “Yes, sir. Murder's been done for a good deal less than that.”
    “Yes, but -”
    Colonel Melchett left the sentence unfinished. Harper, however, understood him.
    “You don't think it's likely in this case? Well, I don't either, as far as that goes. But it's got to be gone into, all the same.”
    “Oh, of course.”
    Harper went on, “If, as Mr Jefferson says, Mr Gaskell and Mrs Jefferson are already well provided for and in receipt of a comfortable income, well, it's not likely they'd set out to do a brutal murder.”
    “Quite so. Their financial standing will have to be investigated, of course. Can't say I like the appearance of Gaskell much, looks a sharp, unscrupulous sort of fellow, but that's a long way from making him out a murderer.”
    “Oh, yes, sir, as I say, I don't think it's likely to be either of them, and from what Josie said I don't see how it would have been humanly possible. They were both playing bridge from twenty minutes to eleven until midnight. No, to my mind, there's another possibility much more likely.”
    Melchett said, “Boyfriend of Ruby Keene's?”
    “That's it, sir. Some disgruntled young fellow; not too strong in the head perhaps. Someone, I'd say, she knew before she came here. This adoption scheme, if he got wise to it, may just have put the lid on things. He saw himself losing her, saw her being removed to a different sphere of life altogether, and he went mad and blind with rage. He got her to come out and meet him last night, had a row with her over it, lost his head completely and did her in.”
    “And how did she come to be in Bantry's library?”
    “I think that's feasible. They were out, say, in his car at the time. He came to himself, realized what he'd done, and his first thought was how to get rid of the body. Say they were near the gates of a big house at the time. The idea comes to him that if she's found there the hue and cry will centre round the house and its occupants and will leave him comfortably out of it. She's a little bit of a thing. He could easily carry her. He's got a chisel in the car. He forces a window and plops her down on the hearth rug Being a strangling case, there's no blood or mess to give him away in the car. See what I mean, sir?”
    “Oh, yes, Harper, it's all perfectly possible. But there's still one thing to be done. Cherchez l'homme.”
    “What? Oh, very good, sir.” Superintendent Harper tactfully applauded Melchett's joke, although, owing to the excellence of the colonel's French accent, he almost missed the sense of the words.
    “Oh - er -1 say - er - c-c-could I speak to you a minute?” It was George Bartlett who thus waylaid the two men.
    Colonel Melchett, who was not attracted to Mr Bartlett, and who was eager to see how Slack had got on with the investigation of the girl's room and the questioning of the chambermaids, barked sharply, “Well, what is it, what is it?”
    Young Mr Bartlett retreated a step or two, opening and shutting his mouth and giving an unconscious imitation of a fish in a tank
    “Well er... probably isn't important, don't you know. Thought I ought to tell you. Matter of fact, can't