Appointment With Death - Agatha Christie [37]
‘Something in that,’ agreed Carbury.
Then he said bluntly: ‘You’ll talk to them, you say? That means you’re willing to take this on.’
Poirot bowed his head.
‘Let us be very clear about this,’ he said. ‘What you demand, and what I undertake to supply, is the truth. But mark this, even when we have got the truth, there may be no proof. That is to say, no proof that would be accepted in a court of law. You comprehend?’
‘Quite,’ said Carbury. ‘You satisfy me of what really happened. Then it’s up to me to decide whether action is possible or not—having regard to the international aspects. Anyway, it will be cleared up—no mess. Don’t like mess.’
Poirot smiled.
‘One thing more,’ said Carbury. ‘I can’t give you much time. Can’t detain these people here indefinitely.’
Poirot said quietly:
‘You can detain them twenty-four hours. You shall have the truth by tomorrow night.’
Colonel Carbury stared hard at him.
‘Pretty confident, aren’t you?’ he asked.
‘I know my own ability,’ murmured Poirot.
Rendered uncomfortable by this un-British attitude, Colonel Carbury looked away and fingered his untidy moustaches.
‘Well,’ he mumbled, ‘it’s up to you.’
‘And if you succeed, my friend,’ said Dr Gerard, ‘you are indeed a marvel!’
Chapter 4
Sarah King looked long and searchingly at Hercule Poirot. She noted the egg-shaped head, the gigantic moustaches, the dandified appearance and the suspicious blackness of his hair. A look of doubt crept into her eyes. ‘Well, mademoiselle, are you satisfied?’
Sarah flushed as she met the amused ironical glance of his eyes.
‘I beg your pardon,’ she said awkwardly.
‘Du tout! To use an expression I have recently learnt, you give me the once-over, is it not so?’
Sarah smiled a little. ‘Well, at any rate, you can do the same to me,’ she said.
‘Assuredly. I have not neglected to do so.’
She glanced at him sharply. Something in his tone. But Poirot was twirling his moustaches complacently, and Sarah thought (for the second time), ‘The man’s a mountebank!’
Her self-confidence restored, she sat up a little straighter and said inquiringly: ‘I don’t think I quite understand the object of this interview?’
‘The good Dr Gerard did not explain?’
Sarah said frowning: ‘I don’t understand Dr Gerard. He seems to think—’
‘Something is rotten in the state of Denmark,’ quoted Poirot. ‘You see, I know your Shakespeare.’
Sarah waved aside Shakespeare.
‘What exactly is all this fuss about?’ she demanded.
‘Eh bien, one wants, does one not, to get at the truth of this affair?’
‘Are you talking about Mrs Boynton’s death?’
‘Yes.’
‘Isn’t it rather a fuss about nothing? You, of course, are a specialist, M. Poirot. It is natural for you—’
Poirot finished the sentence for her.
‘It is natural for me to suspect crime whenever I can possibly find an excuse for doing so?’
‘Well—yes—perhaps.’
‘You have no doubt yourself as to Mrs Boynton’s death?’
Sarah shrugged her shoulders.
‘Really, M. Poirot, if you had been to Petra you would realize that the journey there was a somewhat strenuous business for an old woman whose cardiac condition was unsatisfactory.’
‘It seems a perfectly straight forward business to you?’
‘Certainly. I can’t understand Dr Gerard’s attitude. He didn’t even know anything about it. He was down with fever. I’d bow to his superior medical knowledge naturally—in this case he had nothing whatever to go on. I suppose they can have a P.M. in Jerusalem if they like—if they’re not satisfied with my verdict.’
Poirot was silent for a moment, then he said:
‘There is a fact, Miss King, that you do not yet know. Dr Gerard has not told you of it.’
‘What fact?’ demanded Sarah.
‘A supply of a drug—digitoxin—is missing from Dr Gerard’s travelling medicine case.’
‘Oh!’ Quickly Sarah took in this new aspect of the case. Equally quickly she pounced on the one doubtful point.
‘Is Dr Gerard quite sure of that?’
Poirot shrugged his shoulders.
‘A doctor, as you should know,