Hallowe'en Party - Agatha Christie [44]
‘I mean the former owner, Mrs Llewellyn-Smythe, wasn’t it?’
‘I think so. I think I’ve heard that name mentioned. But she died two or three years ago, so of course one doesn’t hear about her much. Aren’t the people who are alive enough for you?’ demanded Mrs Oliver with some irritation.
‘Certainly not,’ said Poirot. ‘I have also to inquire into those who have died or disappeared from the scene.’
‘Who’s disappeared?’
‘An au pair girl,’ said Poirot.
‘Oh well,’ said Mrs Oliver, ‘they’re always disappearing, aren’t they?’ I mean, they come over here and get their fare paid and then they go straight into hospital because they’re pregnant and have a baby, and call it Auguste, or Hans or Boris, or some name like that. Or they’ve come over to marry someone, or to follow up some young man they’re in love with. You wouldn’t believe the things friends tell me! The thing about au pair girls seems to be either they’re Heaven’s gift to over-worked mothers and you never want to part with them, or they pinch your stockings—or get themselves murdered–’ She stopped. ‘Oh!’ she said.
‘Calm yourself, Madame,’ said Poirot. ‘There seems no reason to believe that an au pair girl has been murdered—quite the contrary.’
‘What do you mean by quite the contrary? It doesn’t make sense.’
‘Probably not. All the same–’
He took out his notebook and made an entry in it.
‘What are you writing down there?’
‘Certain things that have occurred in the past.’
‘You seem to be very perturbed by the past altogether.’
‘The past is the father of the present,’ said Poirot sententiously.
He offered her the notebook.
‘Do you wish to see what I have written?’
‘Of course I do. I daresay it won’t mean anything to me. The things you think important to write down, I never do.’
He held out the small black notebook.’
‘Deaths: e.g. Mrs Llewellyn-Smythe (Wealthy). Janet White (School-teacher). Lawyer’s clerk—Knifed, Former prosecution for forgery.’
Below it was written ‘Opera girl disappears.’
‘What opera girl?’
‘It is the word my friend, Spence’s sister, uses for what you and I call an au pair girl.’
‘Why should she disappear?’
‘Because she was possibly about to get into some form of legal trouble.’
Poirot’s finger went down to the next entry. The word was simply ‘Forgery,’ with two question marks after it.
‘Forgery?’ said Mrs Oliver. ‘Why forgery?’
‘That is what I asked. Why forgery?’
‘What kind of forgery?’
‘A Will was forged, or rather a codicil to a Will. A codicil in the au pair girl’s favour.’
‘Undue influence?’ suggested Mrs Oliver.
‘Forgery is something rather more serious than undue influence,’ said Poirot.
‘I don’t see what that’s got to do with the murder of poor Joyce.’
‘Nor do I,’ said Poirot. ‘But, therefore, it is interesting.’
‘What is the next word? I can’t read it.’
‘Elephants.’
‘I don’t see what that’s got to do with anything.’
‘It might have,’ said Poirot, ‘believe me, it might have.’
He rose.
‘I must leave you now,’ he said. ‘Apologize, please, to my hostess for my not saying goodbye to her. I much enjoyed meeting her and her lovely and unusual daughter. Tell her to take care of that child.’
‘“My mother said I never should, play with the children in the wood”,’ quoted Mrs Oliver. ‘Well, goodbye. If you like to be mysterious, I suppose you will go on being mysterious. You don’t even say what you’re going to do next.’
‘I have made an appointment for tomorrow morning with Messrs Fullerton, Harrison and Leadbetter in Medchester.’
‘Why?’
‘To talk about forgery and other matters.’
‘And after that?’
‘I want to talk to certain people who were also present.’
‘At the party?’
‘No—at the preparation for the party.’
Chapter 12
The premises of Fullerton, Harrison and Leadbetter were typical of an old-fashioned firm of the utmost respectability. The hand of time had made itself felt. There were no more Harrisons and no more Lead-betters. There was a Mr Atkinson and a young Mr Cole, and there was still Mr Jeremy