Elephants Can Remember - Agatha Christie [63]
‘Well, her name when I knew her was Preston-Grey, but afterwards her name was Ravenscroft.’
‘Oh. Oh yes, that one. Yes, I do remember Lady Ravenscroft. I remember her quite well. She was so nice and really very, very good-looking still. Yes, her husband was a Colonel or a General or something and they’d retired and they lived in – I forget the county now –’
‘– And there was what was supposed to be a double suicide,’ said Mrs Oliver.
‘Yes. Yes, I remember reading about it and saying, “Why that’s our Lady Ravenscroft,” and then there was a picture of them both in the paper, and I saw that it was so. Of course, I’d never seen him but it was her all right. It seemed so sad, so much grief. I heard that they discovered that she had cancer and they couldn’t do anything about it so this happened. But I never heard any details or anything.’
‘No,’ said Mrs Oliver.
‘But what is it you think I can tell you?’
‘You supplied her with wigs and I understand the people investigating, I suppose the police, thought four wigs was quite a lot to have, but perhaps people did have four wigs at a time?’
‘Well, I think that most people had two wigs at least,’ said Mrs Rosentelle. ‘You know, one to send back to be serviced, as you might say, and the other one that they wore while it was away.’
‘Do you remember Lady Ravenscroft ordering an extra two wigs?’
‘She didn’t come herself. I think she’d been or was ill in hospital, or something, and it was a French young lady who came. I think a French lady who was companion to her or something like that. Very nice. Spoke perfect English. And she explained all about the extra wigs she wanted, sizes and colours and styles and ordered them. Yes. Fancy my remembering it. I suppose I wouldn’t have except that about – oh it must have been a month later – a month, perhaps more, six weeks – I read about the suicide, you know. I’m afraid they gave her bad news at the hospital or wherever she was, and so she just couldn’t face living any more, and her husband felt he couldn’t face life without her –’
Mrs Oliver shook her head sadly – and continued her enquiries.
‘They were different kinds of wigs, I suppose.’
‘Yes, one had a very pretty grey streak in it, and then there was a party one and one for evening wear, and one close-cropped with curls. Very nice, that you could wear under a hat and it didn’t get messed up. I was sorry not to have seen Lady Ravenscroft again. Even apart from her illness, she had been very unhappy about a sister who had recently died. A twin sister.’
‘Yes, twins are very devoted, aren’t they,’ said Mrs Oliver.
‘She’d always seemed such a happy woman before,’ said Mrs Rosentelle.
Both women sighed. Mrs Oliver changed the subject.
‘Do you think that I’d find a wig useful?’ she asked.
The expert stretched out a hand and laid it speculatively on Mrs Oliver’s head.
‘I wouldn’t advise it – you’ve got a splendid crop of hair – very thick still – I imagine –’ a faint smile came to her lips – ‘you enjoy doing things with it?’
‘How clever of you to know that. It’s quite true – I enjoy experimenting – it’s such fun.’
‘You enjoy life altogether, don’t you?’
‘Yes, I do. I suppose it’s the feeling that one never knows what might be going to happen next.’
‘Yet that feeling,’ said Mrs Rosentelle, ‘is just what makes so many people never stop worrying!’
Chapter 16
Mr Goby Reports
Mr Goby came into the room and sat, as indicated by Poirot, in his usual chair. He glanced around him before choosing what particular piece of furniture or part of the room he was about to address. He settled, as often before, for the electric fire, not turned on at this time of year. Mr Goby had never been known to address the human being he was working for directly. He selected always the cornice, a radiator, a television set, a clock, sometimes a carpet or a mat. Out of a briefcase he took a few papers.
‘Well,’ said Hercule Poirot, ‘you have something for me?’
‘I have collected various details,’ said Mr Goby.
Mr Goby was celebrated all over London, indeed possibly all