Sad cypress - Agatha Christie [34]
Poirot asked:
‘How do you think she had got hold of the morphine?’
‘I hadn’t the least idea. But, as I tell you, she was a clever, resourceful woman, with plenty of ingenuity and remarkable determination.’
‘Would she have got it from the nurses?’
Peter Lord shook his head.
‘Never on your life! You don’t know nurses!’
‘From her family?’
‘Possibly. Might have worked on their feelings.’
Hercule Poirot said:
‘You have told me that Mrs Welman died intestate. If she had lived, would she have made a will?’
Peter Lord grinned suddenly.
‘Putting your finger with fiendish accuracy on all the vital spots, aren’t you? Yes, she was going to make a will; very agitated about it. Couldn’t speak intelligently, but made her wishes clear. Elinor Carlisle was to have telephoned the lawyer first thing in the morning.’
‘So Elinor Carlisle knew that her aunt wanted to make a will? And if her aunt died without making one, Elinor Carlisle inherited everything?’
Peter Lord said quickly:
‘She didn’t know that. She’d no idea her aunt had never made a will.’
‘That, my friend, is what she says. She may have known.’
‘Look here, Poirot, are you the Prosecuting Counsel?’
‘At the moment, yes. I must know the full strength of the case against her. Could Elinor Carlisle have taken the morphine from the attaché-case?’
‘Yes. So could anyone else. RoderickWelman. Nurse O’Brien. Any of the servants.’
‘Or Dr Lord?’
Peter Lord’s eyes opened wide. He said:
‘Certainly…But what would be the idea?’
‘Mercy, perhaps.’
Peter Lord shook his head.
‘Nothing doing there! You’ll have to believe me!’
Hercule Poirot leaned back in his chair. He said:
‘Let us entertain a supposition. Let us say that Elinor Carlisle did take that morphine from the attaché-case and did administer it to her aunt. Was anything said about the loss of the morphine?’
‘Not to the household. The two nurses kept it to themselves.’
Poirot said:
‘What, in your opinion, will be the action of the Crown?’
‘You mean if they find morphine in Mrs Welman’s body?’
‘Yes.’
Peter Lord said grimly:
‘It’s possible that if Elinor is acquitted of the present charge she will be rearrested and charged with the murder of her aunt.’
Poirot said thoughtfully:
‘The motives are different; that is to say, in the case of Mrs Welman the motive would have been gain, whereas in the case of Mary Gerrard the motive is supposed to be jealousy.’
‘That’s right.’
Poirot said:
‘What line does the defence propose to take?’
Peter Lord said:
‘Bulmer proposes to take the line that there was no motive. He’ll put forward the theory that the engagement between Elinor and Roderick was a family business, entered into for family reasons, to please Mrs Welman, and that the moment the old lady was dead Elinor broke it off of her own accord. Roderick Welman will give evidence to that effect. I think he almost believes it!’
‘Believes that Elinor did not care for him to any great extent?’
‘Yes.’
‘In which case,’ said Poirot, ‘she would have no reason for murdering Mary Gerrard.’
‘Exactly.’
‘But in that case, who did murder Mary Gerrard?’
‘As you say.’
Poirot shook his head.
‘C’est difficile.’
Peter Lord said vehemently:
‘That’s just it! If she didn’t, who did? There’s the tea; but both Nurse Hopkins and Mary drank that. The defence will try to suggest that Mary Gerrard took the morphine herself after the other two had left the room – that she committed suicide, in fact.’
‘Had she any reason for committing suicide?’
‘None whatever.’
‘Was she of a suicidal type?’
‘No.’
Poirot said:
‘What was she like, this Mary Gerrard?’
Peter Lord considered:
‘She was – well, she was a nice kid. Yes, definitely a nice kid.’
Poirot sighed. He murmured: