Cards on the Table - Agatha Christie [72]
Poirot asked an irrelevant question.
‘Had Dr Roberts had his breakfast when he came here?’
Battle stared.
‘No,’ he said, ‘I remember he mentioned that he’d come out without it.’
‘Then he will be at his house now. We can get him.’
‘But why—?’
But Poirot was already busy at the dial. Then he spoke:
‘Dr Roberts? It is Dr Roberts speaking? Mais oui, it is Poirot here. Just one question. Are you well acquainted with the handwriting of Mrs Lorrimer?’
‘Mrs Lorrimer’s handwriting? I—no, I don’t know that I’d ever seen it before.’
‘Je vous remercie.’
Poirot laid down the receiver quickly.
Battle was staring at him.
‘What’s the big idea, M. Poirot?’ he asked quietly.
Poirot took him by the arm.
‘Listen, my friend. A few minutes after I left this house yesterday Anne Meredith arrived. I actually saw her going up the steps, though I was not quite sure of her identity at the time. Immediately after Anne Meredith left Mrs Lorrimer went to bed. As far as the maid knows, she did not write any letters then. And, for reasons which you will understand when I recount to you our interview, Ido not believe that she wrote those three letters before my visit. When did she write them, then?’
‘After the servants had gone to bed?’ suggested Battle. ‘She got up and posted them herself.’
‘That is possible, yes, but there is another possibility—that she did not write them at all.’
Battle whistled.
‘My God, you mean—’
The telephone trilled. The sergeant picked up the receiver. He listened a minute, then turned to Battle.
‘Sergeant O’Connor speaking from Despard’s flat, sir. There’s reason to believe that Despard’s down at Wallingford-on-Thames.’
Poirot caught Battle by the arm.
‘Quickly, my friend. We, too, must go to Wallingford. I tell you, I am not easy in my mind. This may not be the end. I tell you again, my friend, this young lady, she is dangerous.’
Chapter 29
Accident
‘Anne,’ said Rhoda.
‘Mmm?’
‘No, really, Anne, don’t answer with half your mind on a crossword puzzle. I want you to attend to me.’
‘I am attending.’
Anne sat bolt upright and put down the paper.
‘That’s better. Look here, Anne.’ Rhoda hesitated. ‘About this man coming.’
‘Superintendent Battle?’
‘Yes, Anne, I wish you’d tell him—about being at the Bensons’.’
Anne’s voice grew rather cold.
‘Nonsense. Why should I?’
‘Because—well, it might look—as though you’d been keeping something back. I’m sure it would be better to mention it.’
‘I can’t very well now,’ said Anne coldly.
‘I wish you had in the first place.’
‘Well, it’s too late to bother about that now.’
‘Yes.’ Rhoda did not sound convinced.
Anne said rather irritably:
‘In any case, I can’t see why. It’s got nothing to do with all this.’
‘No, of course not.’
‘I was only there about two months. He only wants these things as—well—references. Two months doesn’t count.’
‘No, I know. I expect I’m being rather foolish, but it does worry me rather. I feel you ought to mention it. You see, if it came out some other way, it might look rather bad—your keeping dark about it, Imean.’
‘I don’t see how it can come out. Nobody knows but you.’
‘N-no?’
Anne pounced on the slight hesitation in Rhoda’s voice.
‘Why, who does know?’
‘Well, everyone at Combeacre,’ said Rhoda after a moment’s silence.
‘Oh, that!’ Anne dismissed it with a shrug. ‘The superintendent isn’t likely to come up against anyone from there. It would be an extraordinary coincidence if he did.’
‘Coincidences happen.’
‘Rhoda, you’re being extraordinary about this. Fuss, fuss, fuss.’
‘I’m terribly sorry, darling. Only you know what the police might be like if they thought you were—well—hiding things.’
‘They won’t know. Who’s to tell them? Nobody knows but you.’
It was the second time she had said those words. At this second repetition her voice changed a little—something queer and speculative came into it.
‘Oh, dear, I wish you would,