Читать книгу The Murder of Roger Ackroyd / Убийство Роджера Экройда онлайн

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Afterwards, Poirot and I had a few words with inspector Raglan. The inspector was very grave.

‘It looks bad, M. Poirot,’ he said. ‘I’m trying to judge the thing fair and square. I’m a local man, and I’ve seen captain Paton many times in Cranchester. I’m not wanting him to be the guilty one – but it’s bad whichever way you look at it. If he’s innocent, why doesn’t he come forward? We’ve got evidence against him, but it’s just possible that the evidence could be explained away. Then why doesn’t he give an explanation?’

A lot more lay behind the inspector’s words than I knew at the time. Ralph’s description had been wired to every port and railway station in England. The police everywhere were on the alert. his rooms in town were watched, and any houses he had been known to be in the habit of frequenting. With such a cordon it seemed impossible that Ralph should be able to evade detection. he had no luggage, and, as far as anyone knew, no money.

‘I can’t find anyone who saw him at the station that night,’ continued the inspector. ‘And yet he’s well known down here, and you’d think somebody would have noticed him. There’s no news from Liverpool either.’