Postern of Fate (Tommy and Tuppence Series) - Agatha Christie [88]
‘You seem to know all about it.’
‘We always know things here,’ said Colonel Pikeaway.
‘Our dog managed to get a snap at him and came back with a sample of his trousers in his mouth.’
Chapter 12
Oxford, Cambridge and Lohengrin
‘Good man,’ said Colonel Pikeaway, puffing out smoke. ‘Sorry to send for you so urgently but I thought I’d better see you.’
‘As I expect you know,’ said Tommy, ‘we’ve been having something a little unexpected lately.’
‘Ah! Why should you think I know?’
‘Because you always know everything here.’
Colonel Pikeaway laughed.
‘Hah! Quoting me to myself, aren’t you? Yes, that’s what I say. We know everything. That’s what we’re here for. Did she have a very narrow escape? Your wife, I’m talking about, as you know.’
‘She didn’t have a narrow escape, but there might have been something serious. I expect you know most of the details, or do you want me to tell you?’
‘You can run over it quickly if you like. There’s a bit I didn’t hear,’ said Colonel Pikeaway, ‘the bit about Lohengrin. Grin-hen-lo. She’s sharp, you know, your wife is. She saw the point of that. It seems idiotic, but there it was.’
‘I’ve brought you the results today,’ said Tommy. ‘We hid them in the flour-bin until I could get up to see you. I didn’t like to send them by post.’
‘No. Quite right–’
‘In a kind of tin–not tin but a better metal than that–box and hanging in Lohengrin. Pale blue Lohengrin. Cambridge, Victorian china outdoor garden stool.’
‘Remember them myself in the old days. Had an aunt in the country who used to have a pair.’
‘It was very well preserved, sewn up in tarpaulin. Inside it are letters. They are somewhat perished and that, but I expect with expert treatment–’
‘Yes, we can manage that sort of thing all right.’
‘Here they are then,’ said Tommy, ‘and I’ve got a list for you of things that we’ve noted down, Tuppence and I. Things that have been mentioned or told us.’
‘Names?’
‘Yes. Three or four. The Oxford and Cambridge clue and the mention of Oxford and Cambridge graduates staying there–I don’t think there was anything in that, because really it referred simply to the Lohengrin porcelain stools, I suppose.’
‘Yes–yes–yes, there are one or two other things here that are quite interesting.’
‘After we were fired at,’ said Tommy, ‘I reported it at once to the police.’
‘Quite right.’
‘Then I was asked to go down to the police station the next day and I saw Inspector Norris there. I haven’t come in contact with him before. I think he must be rather a new officer.’
‘Yes. Probably on a special assignment,’ said Colonel Pikeaway. He puffed out more smoke.
Tommy coughed.
‘I expect you know all about him.’
‘I know about him,’ said Colonel Pikeaway. ‘We know everything here. He’s all right. He’s in charge of this enquiry. Local people will perhaps be able to spot who it was who’s been following you about, finding out things about you. You don’t think, do you, Beresford, that it would be well if you left the place for a while and brought your wife along?’
‘I don’t think I could do that,’ said Tommy.
‘You mean she wouldn’t come?’ said Colonel Pikeaway.
‘Again,’ said Tommy, ‘if I may mention it, you seem to know everything. I don’t think you could draw Tuppence away. Mind you, she’s not badly hurt, she’s not ill and she’s got a feeling now that–well, that we’re on to something. We don’t know what it is and we don’t know what we shall find or do.’
‘Nose around,’ said Colonel Pikeaway, ‘that’s all you can do in a case of this kind.’ He tapped a nail on the metal box. ‘This little box is going to tell us something, though, and it’s going to tell us something we’ve always wanted to know. Who was involved a great many years ago in setting things going and doing a lot of dirty work behind the scenes.’
‘But surely–’
‘I know what you’re going to say. You’re going to say whoever it was is now dead. That’s true. But it tells us nevertheless what was going on, how it was set in motion, who helped, who inspired it and who has inherited or carried on with something of