Murder in the Mews - Agatha Christie [51]
‘Your uncle did not definitely declare his intentions?’
‘Well, he had his pet idea.’
‘And what was that?’
‘His idea was that Ruth and I should make a match of it.’
‘That would doubtless have been very suitable.’
‘Eminently suitable. But Ruth — well, Ruth has very decided views of her own about life. Mind you, she’s an extremely attractive young woman, and she knows it. She’s in no hurry to marry and settle down.’
Poirot leaned forward.
‘But you yourself would have been willing, M. Trent?’
Hugo said in a bored tone of voice:
‘I really can’t see it makes a ha’p’orth of difference who you marry nowadays. Divorce is so easy. If you’re not hitting it off, nothing is easier than to cut the tangle and start again.’
The door opened and Forbes entered with a tall, spruce-looking man.
The latter nodded to Trent.
‘Hallo, Hugo. I’m extremely sorry about this. Very rough on all of you.’
Hercule Poirot came forward.
‘How do you do, Major Riddle? You remember me?’
‘Yes, indeed.’ The chief constable shook hands. ‘So you’re down here?’
There was a meditative note in his voice. He glanced curiously at Hercule Poirot.
Chapter 4
‘Well?’ said Major Riddle.
It was twenty minutes later. The chief constable’s interrogative ‘Well?’ was addressed to the police surgeon, a lank elderly man with grizzled hair.
The latter shrugged his shoulders.
‘He’s been dead over half an hour — but not more than an hour. You don’t want technicalities, I know, so I’ll spare you them. The man was shot through the head, the pistol being held a few inches from the right temple. Bullet passed right through the brain and out again.’
‘Perfectly compatible with suicide?’
‘Oh, perfectly. The body then slumped down in the chair, and the pistol dropped from his hand.’
‘You’ve got the bullet?’
‘Yes.’ The doctor held it up.
‘Good,’ said Major Riddle. ‘We’ll keep it for comparison with the pistol. Glad it’s a clear case and no difficulties.’
Hercule Poirot asked gently:
‘You are sure there are no difficulties, Doctor?’
The doctor replied slowly:
‘Well, I suppose you might call one thing a little odd. When he shot himself he must have been leaning slightly over to the right. Otherwise the bullet would have hit the wall below the mirror, instead of plumb in the middle.’
‘An uncomfortable position in which to commit suicide,’ said Poirot.
The doctor shrugged his shoulders.
‘Oh, well — comfort — if you’re going to end it all —’ He left the sentence unfinished.
Major Riddle said:
‘The body can be moved now?’
‘Oh, yes. I’ve done with it until the P.-M.’
‘What about you, Inspector?’ Major Riddle spoke to a tall impassive-faced man in plain clothes.
‘O.K., sir. We’ve got all we want. Only the deceased’s fingerprints on the pistol.’
‘Then you can get on with it.’
The mortal remains of Gervase Chevenix-Gore were removed. The chief constable and Poirot were left together.
‘Well,’ said Riddle, ‘everything seems quite clear and aboveboard. Door locked, window fastened, key of door in dead man’s pocket. Everything according to Cocker — but for one circumstance.’
‘And what is that, my friend?’ inquired Poirot.
‘You!’ said Riddle bluntly. ‘What are you doing down here?’
By way of reply, Poirot handed to him the letter he had received from the dead man a week ago, and the telegram which had finally brought him there.
‘Humph,’ said the chief constable. ‘Interesting. We’ll have to get to the bottom of this. I should say it had a direct bearing upon his suicide.’
‘I agree.’
‘We must check up on who is in the house.’
‘I can tell you their names. I have just been making inquiries of Mr Trent.’
He repeated the list of names.
‘Perhaps you, Major Riddle, know something about these people?’
‘I know something of them, naturally. Lady Chevenix-Gore is quite as mad in her own way as old Sir Gervase. They were devoted to each other — and both quite mad. She’s the vaguest creature that ever lived, with an occasional uncanny shrewdness that strikes the nail on the head in the most surprising fashion. People laugh