Third girl - Agatha Christie [85]
The sergeant had continued to look doubtful, murmuring to his subordinate, ‘They say it’s all right. Wonder who he is? Odd-looking little bloke.’
‘Foreign, isn’t he? Might be Special Branch?’
‘Don’t think so. It was Chief Inspector Neele he wanted.’
His assistant raised his eyebrows and suppressed a whistle.
After making his calls, Poirot had re-opened the door and beckoned Mrs Oliver from where she was standing uncertainly inside the kitchen, to join him. They had sat down side by side on Claudia Reece-Holland’s bed.
‘I wish we could do something,’ said Mrs Oliver — always one for action.
‘Patience, chère Madame.’
‘Surely you can do something?’
‘I have. I have rung up the people it is necessary to ring up. We can do nothing here until the police have finished their preliminary investigations.’
‘Who did you ring up after the inspector man? Her father? Couldn’t he come and bail her out or something?’
‘Bail is not likely to be granted where murder is concerned,’ said Poirot dryly. ‘The police have already notified her father. They got his number from Miss Cary.’
‘Where is she?’
‘Having hysterics in the flat of a Miss Jacobs next door, I understand. She was the one who discovered the body. It seems to have upset her. She rushed out of here screaming.’
‘She’s the arty one, isn’t she? Claudia would have kept her head.’
‘I agree with you. A very — poised young woman.’
‘Who did you ring up, then?’
‘First, as perhaps you heard, Chief Inspector Neele of Scotland Yard.’
‘Will this lot like his coming and meddling?’
‘He is not coming to meddle. He has of late been making certain inquiries for me, which may throw light on this matter.’
‘Oh — I see…Who else did you ring up?’
‘Dr John Stillingfleet.’
‘Who’s he? To say that poor Norma is potty and can’t help killing people?’
‘His qualifications would entitle him to give evidence to that effect in court if necessary.’
‘Does he know anything about her?’
‘A good deal, I should say. She has been in his care since the day you found her in the Shamrock café.’
‘Who sent her there?’
Poirot smiled. ‘I did. I made certain arrangements by telephone before I came to join you at the café.’
‘What? All the time I was so disappointed in you and kept urging you to do something — you had done something? And you never told me! Really, Poirot! Not a word! How could you be so — so mean.’
‘Do not enrage yourself, Madame, I beg. What I did, I did for the best.’
‘People always say that when they have done something particularly maddening. What else did you do?’
‘I arranged that my services should be retained by her father, so that I could make the necessary arrangements for her safety.’
‘Meaning this Doctor Stillingwater?’
‘Stilling fleet. Yes.’
‘How on earth did you manage that? I shouldn’t have thought for a moment that you would be the kind of person that her father would choose to make all these arrangements. He looks the kind of man who would be very suspicious of foreigners.’
‘I forced myself upon him — as a conjurer forces a card. I called upon him, purporting to have received a letter from him asking me to do so.’
‘And did he believe you?’
‘Naturally. I showed the letter to him. It was typed on his office stationery and signed with his name — though as he pointed out to me, the handwriting was not his.’
‘Do you mean you had actually written that letter yourself?’
‘Yes. I judged correctly that it would awaken his curiosity, and that he would want to see me. Having got so far, I trusted to my own talents.’
‘You told him what you were going to do about this Dr Stillingfleet?’
‘No. I told no one. There was danger, you see.’
‘Danger to Norma?’
‘To Norma, or Norma was dangerous to someone else. From the very beginning there have always been the two possibilities. The facts could be interpreted in either way. The attempted