The Seven Dials Mystery - Agatha Christie [90]
Bundle drew a deep breath.
‘You didn’t realize all this at the time, Superintendent Battle?’
‘No, that I didn’t. I was taken in as much as anyone could be. It wasn’t till long afterwards that I pieced it all together. Finding the glove was the beginning of it. Then I made Sir Oswald throw the pistol through the window. It fell a good way farther on than it should have done. But a man who is right-handed doesn’t throw nearly as far with the left hand. Even then it was only suspicion–and a very faint suspicion at that.
‘But there was one point struck me. The papers were obviously thrown down for someone to pick up. If Miss Wade was there by accident, who was the real person? Of course, for those who weren’t in the know, that question was answered easily enough–the Countess. But there I had the pull over you. I knew the Countess was all right. So what follows? Why, the idea that the papers had actually been picked up by the person they were meant for. And the more I thought of it, the more it seemed to me a very remarkable coincidence that Miss Wade should have arrived at the exact moment she did.’
‘It must have been very difficult for you when I came to you full of suspicion about the Countess.’
‘It was, Lady Eileen. I had to say something to put you off the scent. And it was very difficult for Mr Eversleigh here, with the lady coming out of a dead faint and no knowing what she might say.’
‘I understand Bill’s anxiety now,’ said Bundle. ‘And the way he kept urging her to take time and not talk till she felt quite all right.’
‘Poor old Bill,’ said Miss St Maur. ‘That poor baby had to be vamped against his will–getting madder’n a hornet every minute.’
‘Well,’ said Superintendent Battle, ‘there it was. I suspected Mr Thesiger–but I couldn’t get definite proof. On the other hand, Mr Thesiger himself was rattled. He realized more or less what he was up against in the Seven Dials–but he wanted badly to know who No 7 was. He got himself asked to the Cootes under the impression that Sir Oswald Coote was No 7.’
‘I suspected Sir Oswald,’ said Bundle, ‘especially when he came in from the garden that night.’
‘I never suspected him,’ said Battle. ‘But I don’t mind telling you that I did have my suspicions of that young chap, his secretary.’
‘Pongo?’ said Bill. ‘Not old Pongo?’
‘Yes, Mr Eversleigh, old Pongo as you call him. A very efficient gentleman and one that could have put anything through if he’d a mind to. I suspected him partly because he’d been the one to take the clocks into Mr Wade’s room that night. It would have been easy for him to put the bottle and glass by the bedside then. And then, for another thing, he was left-handed. That glove pointed straight to him–if it hadn’t been for one thing–’
‘What?’
‘The teeth marks–only a man whose right hand was incapacitated would have needed to tear off that glove with his teeth.’
‘So Pongo was cleared.’
‘So Pongo was cleared, as you say. I’m sure it would be a great surprise to Mr Bateman to know he was ever suspected.’
‘It would,’ agreed Bill. ‘A solemn card–a silly ass like Pongo. How could you ever think–’
‘Well, as far as that goes, Mr Thesiger was what you might describe as an empty-headed young ass of the most brainless description. One of the two was playing a part. When I decided that it was Mr Thesiger, I was interested to get Mr Bateman’s opinion of him. All along, Mr Bateman had the gravest suspicions of Mr Thesiger and frequently said as much to Sir Oswald.’
‘It’s curious,’ said Bill, ‘but Pongo always is right. It’s maddening.’
‘Well, as