"There's been a suicide... A young girl drank a bottle of disinfectant and died in the infirmary.. an inspector is coming to ask some questions..."
Mr birling placed the phone back with such nervousness and bewilderment that he froze in place. For once, the Birling household is silent. No one dares utter a word. Arthur, Sybil, Gerald, Sheila and Eric stare at each other with eyes of disbelief accompanied by pure shock.
Gerald, although without knowledge of the situation, breaks the silence first.
"If a girl really has died.. is she the same girl we all met? Or which one is it?"
They all look around the room, as if searching for the answer, but knowing that the truth is far from their grasp.
Arthur finally moves from his stance and takes lead once again
"How did that inspector.. I mean Goole fellow even know about any of this? My god if a real inspector comes this time there could be a real scandal, I'll be ruined!"
"You still only think about your blasted money and reputation but it matters not now"
Sheila stands up, still shaking nervously and says with a guilty tone,
"What if the inspector never came.."
Sybil immediately stands up and with a mocking tone she defiantly conflicts,
"Have you lost your head Shelia? We all saw that man sitting in that chair!"
Shelia sits back down and points for everyone else to sit down too. Arthur begrudgingly pulls out the chair Goole was seated in and prepares to listen to Sheila.
"Here me out mother, please. This man seemed to only say things we already knew! In Eric and... Gerald's case.. they didn't even need to see a photograph to realise the girl or girls that Goole was on about."
Eric puts his head in his hands, with confusion and doubt in his mind.
"But I saw him... I heard his voice.. he was there all right, no doubt about that" Gerald says with confidence.
Eric suddenly looks up,
"Suppose Sheila is on to something.. it could be similar to what Gerald said earlier, about the girl Eva smith, might be more than one girl."
"What do you mean Eric?" Sybil replies emphatically.
"Maybe this "inspector Goole" is different for each one of us, just whatever our minds conjured him up to be. Let's describe what we saw him as."
Arthur announces with a strong voice,
"I saw that damned man to be a tall, clean shaven man with a long trench coat and a black hat"
No one in the room seemed to disagree with Mr Birling.
"So we did all see that man" Gerald stated.
"It would seem so," said Sybil, "but there are still many questions that don't have answers."
"That is so", replied Arthur, "I don't have the foggiest idea what's going on, it's like some sort of supernatural nonsense!"
Everyone in the room turns to look at Arthur.
"What? Why are you all staring at me? Oh god don't tell me you actually think this could have all happened because of some sort of magic rubbish?"
"That man knew everything we knew.. and more... He knew of all our actions, their consequences, and the order of events.... And the cause of death, before that girl even killed herself.." said Eric, still shaking.
