"Oh, yes. Glad you've come.
My father-in-law's been asking for you. He's awake now.
Keep him as calm as you can, won't you?
His health's not too good.
It's a wonder, really, that this shock didn't do for him."
Harper said, "I'd no idea his health was as bad as that."
"He doesn't know it himself," said Mark Gaskell. "It's his heart, you see.
The doctor warned Addie that he mustn't be overexcited or startled.
He more or less hinted that the end might come any time, didn't he, Addie?"
Mrs Jefferson nodded. She said, "It's incredible that he's rallied the way he has."
Melchett said dryly, "Murder isn't exactly a soothing incident.
We'll be as careful as we can."
He was sizing up Mark Gaskell as he spoke.
He didn't much care for the fellow. A bold, unscrupulous, hawklike face.
One of those men who usually get their own way and whom women frequently admire.
But not the sort of fellow I'd trust, the colonel thought to himself. Unscrupulous - that was the word for him. The sort of fellow who wouldn't stick at anything.
Chapter 18
In the big bedroom overlooking the sea, Conway Jefferson was sitting in his wheeled chair by the window.
No sooner were you in the room with him than you felt the power and magnetism of the man.
It was as though the injuries which had left him a cripple had resulted in concentrating the vitality of his shattered body into a narrower and more intense focus.
He had a fine head, the red of the hair slightly grizzled.
The face was rugged and powerful, deeply sun-tanned, and the eyes were a startling blue.
There was no sign of illness or feebleness about him.
The deep lines on his face were the lines of suffering, not the lines of weakness. Here was a man who would never rail against fate, but accept it and pass on to victory.
He said, "I'm glad you've come." His quick eyes took them in. He said to Melchett, "You're the chief constable of Radfordshire? Right.
And you're Superintendent Harper?
Sit down.
Cigarettes on the table beside you."
They thanked him and sat down.
Melchett said, "I understand, Mr Jefferson, that you were interested in the dead girl?"
A quick, twisted smile flashed across the lined face.
"Yes, they'll all have told you that!
Well, it's no secret.
How much has my family said to you?" He looked quickly from one to the other as he asked the question.
It was Melchett who answered.
"Mrs Jefferson told us very little beyond the fact that the girl's chatter amused you and that she was by way of being a protegee.
We have only exchanged half a dozen words with Mr Gaskell."
Conway Jefferson smiled.
"Addie's a discreet creature, bless her.
Mark would probably have been more outspoken.
I think, Melchett, that I'd better tell you some facts rather fully. It's necessary, in order that you should understand my attitude.
And, to begin with, it's necessary that I go back to the big tragedy of my life.
Eight years ago I lost my wife, my son and my daughter in an aeroplane accident.
Since then I've been like a man who's lost half himself and I'm not speaking of my physical plight!
I was a family man.
My daughter-in-law and my son-in-law have been very good to me. They've done all they can to take the place of my flesh and blood. But I've realized, especially of late, that they have, after all, their own lives to live.
So you must understand that, essentially, I'm a lonely man.
I like young people. I enjoy them.
Once or twice I've played with the idea ofadopting some girl or boy. During this last month I got very friendly with the child who's been killed.
She was absolutely natural, completely naive.