The Murder of Roger Ackroyd / Убийство Роджера Экройда

Агата Кристи

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd / Убийство Роджера Экройда

Copyright © 1926 Agatha Christie Limited.

All rights reserved.

© А. Петухов, перевод на русский язык, 2022

© Издание на русском языке, оформление. ООО «Издательство «Эксмо», 2022

Agatha Christie

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

Chapter 1

Dr Sheppard at the Breakfast Table

Mrs Ferrars died on the night of the 16th-17th September – a Thursday. I was sent for at eight o’clock on the morning of friday the 17th. There was nothing to be done. She had been dead some hours.

It was just a few minutes after nine when I reached home once more. I opened the front door with my latchkey, and purposely delayed a few moments in the hall, hanging up my hat and the light overcoat that I had deemed a wise precaution against the chill of an early autumn morning. To tell the truth, I was considerably upset and worried. I am not going to pretend that at that moment I foresaw the events of the next few weeks. I emphatically did not do so. But my instinct told me that there were stirring times ahead.