Secret of Chimneys - Agatha Christie [97]
‘The thing that worried me most was that Mrs Revel had definitely recognized the woman. Then I remembered that it was only after I had mentioned her being Madame de Breteuil’s governess. And all she had said was that that accounted for the fact that the woman’s face was familiar to her. Superintendent Battle will tell you that a deliberate plot was formed to keep Mrs Revel from coming to Chimneys. Nothing more nor less than a dead body, in fact. And though the murder was the work of the Comrades of the Red Hand, punishing supposed treachery on the part of the victim, the staging of it, and the absence of the Comrade’s sign-manual, pointed to some abler intelligence directing operations. From the first, I suspected some connexion with Herzoslovakia. Mrs Revel was the only member of the house party who had been to the country. I suspected at first that someone was impersonating Prince Michael, but that proved to be a totally erroneous idea. When I realized the possibility of Mademoiselle Brun’s being an imposter, and added to that the fact that her face was familiar to Mrs Revel, I began to see daylight. It was evidently very important that she should not be recognized, and Mrs Revel was the only person likely to do so.’
‘But who was she?’ said Lord Caterham. ‘Someone Mrs Revel had known in Herzoslovakia?’
‘I think the Baron might be able to tell us,’ said Anthony.
‘I?’ The Baron stared at him, then down at the motionless figure.
‘Look well,’ said Anthony. ‘Don’t be put off by the make-up. She was an actress once, remember.’
The Baron stared again. Suddenly he started.
‘God in heaven,’ he breathed, ‘it is not possible.’
‘What is not possible?’ asked George. ‘Who is the lady? You recognize her, Baron?’
‘No, no, it is not possible.’ The Baron continued to mutter. ‘She was killed. They were both killed. On the steps of the palace. Her body was recovered.’
‘Mutilated and unrecognizable,’ Anthony reminded him. ‘She managed to put up a bluff. I think she escaped to America, and has spent a good many years lying low in deadly terror of the Comrades of the Red Hand. They promoted the revolution, remember, and, to use an expressive phrase, they always had it in for her. Then King Victor was released, and they planned to recover the diamond together. She was searching for it that night when she came suddenly upon Prince Michael, and he recognized her. There was never much fear of her meeting him in the ordinary way of things. Royal guests don’t come in contact with governesses, and she could always retire with a convenient migraine, as she did the day the Baron was here.
‘However, she met Prince Michael face to face when she least expected it. Exposure and disgrace stared her in the face. She shot him. It was she who placed the revolver in Isaacstein’s suitcase, so as to confuse the trail, and she who returned the letters.’
Lemoine moved forward.
‘She was coming down to search for the jewel that night, you say,’ he said. ‘Might she not have been going to meet her accomplice, King Victor, who was coming from outside? Eh? What do you say to that?’
Anthony sighed.
‘Still at it, my dear Lemoine? How persistent you are! You won’t take my hint that I’ve got a trump card up my sleeve?’
But George, whose mind worked slowly, now broke in.
‘I am still completely at sea. Who was this lady, Baron? You recognize her, it seems?’
But the Baron drew himself up and stood very straight and stiff.
‘You are in error, Mr Lomax. To my knowledge I have not this lady seen before. A complete stranger she is to me.’
‘But–’
George stared at him–bewildered.
The Baron took him into a corner of the room, and murmured something into his ear. Anthony watched with a good deal of enjoyment, George’s face turning slowly purple, his eyes bulging, and all the incipient symptoms of apoplexy. A murmur of George’s throaty voice came to him.
‘Certainly…certainly…by all means…no need at all…complicate situation…utmost discretion.’
‘Ah!’ Lemoine hit the table sharply with his hand. ‘I do not care about