Parker Pyne Investigates - Agatha Christie [58]
Mr Parker Pyne considered the situation. ‘I should like to ask you about two things,’ he said. ‘Last night the remark was made “once a thief, always a thief”.’
The girl nodded.
‘I see now the reason for the embarrassment that remark seemed to cause.’
‘Yes, it was awkward for Jim–and for me and Pop too. I was so afraid Jim’s face would show something that I just trotted out the first remarks I could think of.’
Mr Parker Pyne nodded thoughtfully. Then he asked: ‘Just why did your father insist on being searched today?’
‘You didn’t get that? I did. Pop had it in his mind that I might think the whole business was a frame-up against Jim. You see, he’s crazy for me to marry the Englishman. Well, he wanted to show me that he hadn’t done the dirty on Jim.’
‘Dear me,’ said Mr Parker Pyne, ‘this is all very illuminating. In a general sense, I mean. It hardly helps us in our particular inquiry.’
‘You’re not going to hand in your checks?’
‘No, no.’ He was silent a moment, then he said: ‘What is it exactly you want me to do, Miss Carol?’
‘Prove it wasn’t Jim who took that pearl.’
‘And suppose–excuse me–that it was?’
‘If you think so, you’re wrong–dead wrong.’
‘Yes, but have you really considered the case carefully? Don’t you think the pearl might prove a sudden temptation to Mr Hurst. The sale of it would bring in a large sum of money–a foundation on which to speculate, shall we say?–which will make him independent, so that he can marry you with or without your father’s consent.’
‘Jim didn’t do it,’ said the girl simply.
This time Mr Parker Pyne accepted her statement. ‘Well, I’ll do my best.’
She nodded abruptly and left the tent. Mr Parker Pyne in his turn sat down on the bed. He gave himself up to thought. Suddenly, he chuckled.
‘I’m growing slow-witted,’ he said aloud. At lunch he was very cheerful.
The afternoon passed peacefully. Most people slept. When Mr Parker Pyne came into the big tent at a quarter-past four only Doctor Carver was there. He was examining some fragments of pottery.
‘Ah!’ said Mr Parker Pyne, drawing up a chair to the table. ‘Just the man I want to see. Can you let me have that bit of Plasticine you carry about?’
The doctor felt in his pockets and produced a stick of Plasticine, which he offered to Mr Parker Pyne.
‘No,’ said Mr Parker Pyne, waving it away, ‘that’s not the one I want. I want that lump you had last night. To be frank, it’s not the Plasticine I want. It’s the contents of it.’
There was a pause, and then Doctor Carver said quietly, ‘I don’t think I quite understand you.’
‘I think you do,’ said Mr Parker Pyne. ‘I want Miss Blundell’s pearl earring.’
There was a minute’s dead silence. Then Carver slipped his hand into his pocket and took out a shapeless lump of Plasticine.
‘Clever of you,’ he said. His face was expressionless.
‘I wish you’d tell me about it,’ said Mr Parker Pyne. His fingers were busy. With a grunt, he extracted a somewhat smeared pearl earring. ‘Just curiosity, I know,’ he added apologetically. ‘But I should like to hear about it.’
‘I’ll tell you,’ said Carver, ‘if you’ll tell me just how you happened to pitch upon me. You didn’t see anything, did you?’
Mr Parker Pyne shook his head. ‘I just thought about it,’ he said.
‘It was really sheer accident, to start with,’ said Carver. ‘I was behind you all this morning and I came across it lying in front of me–it must have fallen from the girl’s ear a moment before. She hadn’t noticed it. Nobody had. I picked it up and put it into my pocket, meaning to return it to her as soon as I caught her up. But I forgot.
‘And then, half-way up that climb, I began to think. The jewel meant nothing to that fool of a girl–her father would buy her another without noticing the cost. And it would mean a lot to me. The sale of that pearl would equip an expedition.’ His impassive face suddenly twitched and came to life. ‘Do you know the difficulty there is nowadays in raising subscriptions for digging? No, you don’t. The sale of that pearl would make everything easy.