Nemesis - Agatha Christie [8]
‘I gather you know the terms of this?’ she said.
‘Yes. It was dictated to me personally by Mr Rafiel.’
‘Did he not give you any explanation of it?’
‘No, he did not.’
‘You suggested, I suppose, that it might be better if he did,’ said Miss Marple. There was a slight acidity in her voice now.
Mr Broadribb smiled faintly.
‘You are quite right. That is what I did. I said that you might find it difficult to — oh, to understand exactly what he was driving at.’
‘Very remarkable,’ said Miss Marple.
‘There is no need, of course,’ said Mr Broadribb, ‘for you to give me an answer now.’
‘No,’ said Miss Marple, ‘I should have to reflect upon this.’
‘It is, as you have pointed out, quite a substantial sum of money.’
‘I am old,’ said Miss Marple. ‘Elderly, we say, but old is a better word. Definitely old. It is both possible and indeed probable that I might not live as long as a year to earn this money, in the rather doubtful case that I was able to earn it.’
‘Money is not to be despised at any age,’ said Mr Broadribb.
‘I could benefit certain charities in which I have an interest,’ said Miss Marple, ‘and there are always people. People whom one wishes one could do a little something for but one’s own funds do not admit of it. And then I will not pretend that there are not pleasures and desires — things that one has not been able to indulge in or to afford — I think Mr Rafiel knew quite well that to be able to do so, quite unexpectedly, would give an elderly person a great deal of pleasure.’
‘Yes, indeed,’ said Mr Broadribb. ‘A cruise abroad, perhaps? One of these excellent tours as arranged nowadays. Theatres, concerts — the ability to replenish one’s cellars.’
‘My tastes would be a little more moderate than that,’ said Miss Marple. ‘Partridges,’ she said thoughtfully, ‘it is very difficult to get partridges nowadays, and they’re very expensive. I should enjoy a partridge — a whole partridge — to myself, very much. A box of marrons glacés is an expensive taste which I cannot often gratify. Possibly a visit to the opera. It means a car to take one to Covent Garden and back, and the expense of a night in a hotel. But I must not indulge in idle chat,’ she said. ‘I will take this back with me and reflect upon it. Really, what on earth made Mr Rafiel — you have no idea why he should have suggested this particular proposition, and why he should think that I could be of service to him in any way? He must have known that it was over a year, nearly two years since he had seen me and that I might have got much more feeble than I have, and much more unable to exercise such small talents as I might have. He was taking a risk. There are other people surely much better qualified to undertake an investigation of this nature?’
‘Frankly, one would think so,’ said Mr Broadribb, ‘but he selected you, Miss Marple. Forgive me if this is idle curiosity but have you had — oh, how shall I put it? — any connection with crime or the investigation of crime?’
‘Strictly speaking I should say no,’ said Miss Marple. ‘Nothing professional, that is to say. I have never been a probation officer or indeed sat as a magistrate on a Bench or been connected in any way with a detective agency. To explain to you, Mr Broadribb, which I think it is only fair for me to do and which I think Mr Rafiel ought to have done, to explain it in any way all I can say is that during our stay in the West Indies, we both, Mr Rafiel and myself, had a certain connection with a crime that took place there. A rather unlikely and perplexing murder.’
‘And you and Mr Rafiel solved it?’
‘I should not put it quite like that,’ said Miss Marple. ‘Mr Rafiel, by the force of his personality, and I, by putting together one or two obvious indications that came to my notice, were successful in preventing a second murder just as it was about to take place. I could not have done it alone, I was physically far too feeble. Mr Rafiel could not have done it alone, he was a cripple. We acted as allies, however.’
‘Just one other question I should like to ask