The Labors of Hercules - Agatha Christie [76]
Poirot said slowly:
“So you have, then, no need of my services?”
“Afraid not! In fact—sorrrry you have been trrrroubled.”
Japp laughed at his witticism and rang off.
Hercule Poirot did not laugh. He put back the receiver slowly. His face was worried.
III
Detective Inspector Hearn looked at Poirot curiously.
He said:
“I’d no idea you’d be so interested, sir.”
Poirot said:
“You had word from Chief Inspector Japp that I might consult with you over this matter?”
Hearn nodded.
“He said you were coming over on some business, and that you’d give us a hand with this puzzle. But I didn’t expect you now it’s all cleared up. I thought you’d be busy on your own job.”
Hercule Poirot said:
“My own business can wait. It is this affair here that interests me. You called it a puzzle, and you say it is now ended. But the puzzle is still there, it seems.”
“Well, sir, we’ve got the child back. And she’s not hurt. That’s the main thing.”
“But it does not solve the problem of how you got her back, does it? What does she herself say? A doctor saw her, did he not? What did he say?”
“Said she’d been doped. She was still hazy with it. Apparently, she can’t remember anything much after starting off from Cranchester. All later events seem to have been wiped out. Doctor thinks she might just possibly have had slight concussion. There’s a bruise on the back of her head. Says that would account for a complete blackout of memory.”
Poirot said:
“Which is very convenient for—someone!”
Inspector Hearn said in a doubtful voice:
“You don’t think she is shamming, sir?”
“Do you?”
“No, I’m sure she isn’t. She’s a nice kid—a bit young for her age.”
“No, she is not shamming.” Poirot shook his head. “But I would like to know how she got off that train. I want to know who is responsible—and why?”
“As to why, I should say it was an attempt at kidnapping, sir. They meant to hold her to ransom.”
“But they didn’t!”
“Lost their nerve with the hue and cry—and planted her by the road quick.”
Poirot inquired sceptically:
“And what ransom were they likely to get from a Canon of Cranchester Cathedral? English Church dignitaries are not millionaires.”
Detective Inspector Hearn said cheerfully:
“Made a botch of the whole thing, sir, in my opinion.”
“Ah, that’s your opinion.”
Hearn said, his face flushing slightly:
“What’s yours, sir?”
“I want to know how she was spirited off that train.”
The policeman’s face clouded over.
“That’s a real mystery, that is. One minute she was there, sitting in the dining car, chatting to the other girls. Five minutes later she’s vanished—hey presto—like a conjuring trick.”
“Precisely, like a conjuring trick! Who else was there in the coach of the train where Miss Pope’s reserved compartments
were?”
Inspector Hearn nodded.
“That’s a good point, sir. That’s important. It’s particularly important because it was the last coach on the train and as soon as all the people were back from the restaurant car, the doors between the coaches were locked—actually so as to prevent people crowding along to the restaurant car and demanding tea before they’d had time to clear up lunch and get ready. Winnie King came back to the coach with the others—the school had three reserved compartments there.”
“And in the other compartments of the coach?”
Hearn pulled out his notebook.
“Miss Jordan and Miss Butters—two middle-aged spinsters going to Switzerland. Nothing wrong with them, highly respectable, well known in Hampshire where they come from. Two French commercial travellers, one from Lyons, one from Paris. Both respectable middle-aged men. A young man, James Elliot, and his wife—flashy piece of goods she was. He’s got a bad reputation, suspected by the police of being mixed up in some questionable transactions—but has never touched kidnapping. Anyway, his compartment was searched and there was nothing in his hand luggage to show that he was mixed up in this. Don’t see how he could have been. Only other person was an American