Hercule Poirot: The Complete Short Stories. Агата Кристи

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СКАЧАТЬ did you last see him, Mr Waverly?”

      ‘I cast my mind back, trying to remember. When the constable had called us, I had run out with the inspector, forgetting all about Johnnie.

      ‘And then there came a sound that startled us, the chiming of a church clock from the village. With an exclamation the inspector pulled out his watch. It was exactly twelve o’clock. With one common accord we ran to the council chamber; the clock there marked the hour as ten minutes past. Someone must have deliberately tampered with it, for I have never known it gain or lose before. It is a perfect timekeeper.’

      Mr Waverly paused. Poirot smiled to himself and straightened a little mat which the anxious father had pushed askew.

      ‘A pleasing little problem, obscure and charming,’ murmured Poirot. ‘I will investigate it for you with pleasure. Truly it was planned à merveille.’

      Mrs Waverly looked at him reproachfully. ‘But my boy,’ she wailed.

      Poirot hastily composed his face and looked the picture of earnest sympathy again. ‘He is safe, madame, he is unharmed. Rest assured, these miscreants will take the greatest care of him. Is he not to them the turkey – no, the goose – that lays the golden eggs?’

      ‘M. Poirot, I’m sure there’s only one thing to be done – pay up. I was all against it at first – but now! A mother’s feelings –’

      ‘But we have interrupted monsieur in his history,’ cried Poirot hastily.

      ‘I expect you know the rest pretty well from the papers,’ said Mr Waverly. ‘Of course, Inspector McNeil got on to the telephone immediately. A description of the car and the man was circulated all round, and it looked at first as though everything was going to turn out all right. A car, answering to the description, with a man and a small boy, had passed through various villages, apparently making for London. At one place they had stopped, and it was noticed that the child was crying and obviously afraid of his companion. When Inspector McNeil announced that the car had been stopped and the man and boy detained, I was almost ill with relief. You know the sequel. The boy was not Johnnie, and the man was an ardent motorist, fond of children, who had picked up a small child playing in the streets of Edenswell, a village about fifteen miles from us, and was kindly giving him a ride. Thanks to the cocksure blundering of the police, all traces have disappeared. Had they not persistently followed the wrong car, they might by now have found the boy.’

      ‘Calm yourself, monsieur. The police are a brave and intelligent force of men. Their mistake was a very natural one. And altogether it was a clever scheme. As to the man they caught in the grounds, I understand that his defence has consisted all along of a persistent denial. He declared that the note and parcel were given to him to deliver at Waverly Court. The man who gave them to him handed him a ten-shilling note and promised him another if it were delivered at exactly ten minutes to twelve. He was to approach the house through the grounds and knock at the side door.’

      ‘I don’t believe a word of it,’ declared Mrs Waverly hotly. ‘It’s all a parcel of lies.’

      ‘En verité, it is a thin story,’ said Poirot reflectively. ‘But so far they have not shaken it. I understand, also, that he made a certain accusation?’

      His glance interrogated Mr Waverly. The latter got rather red again.

      ‘The fellow had the impertinence to pretend that he recognized in Tredwell the man who gave him the parcel. “Only the bloke has shaved off his moustache.” Tredwell, who was born on the estate!’

      Poirot smiled a little at the country gentleman’s indignation. ‘Yet you yourself suspect an inmate of the house to have been accessory to the abduction.’

      ‘Yes, but not Tredwell.’

      ‘And you, madame?’ asked Poirot, suddenly turning to her.

      ‘It could not have been Tredwell who gave this tramp the letter and parcel – if anybody ever did, which I don’t believe. It was given him at ten o’clock, he says. At ten o’clock Tredwell was with my husband in the smoking-room.’

      ‘Were you able to see the face of the man in the car, monsieur? Did it resemble that of Tredwell in any way?’

      ‘It was too far away for me to see his face.’

      ‘Has Tredwell a brother, do you know?’

      ‘He had several, but they are all dead. The last one was killed in the war.’

      ‘I am not yet clear as to the grounds of Waverly Court. The car was heading for the south lodge. Is there another entrance?’

      ‘Yes, what we call the east lodge. It can be seen from the other side of the house.’

      ‘It seems to me strange that nobody saw the car entering the grounds.’

      ‘There is a right of way through, and access to a small chapel. A good many cars pass through. The man must have stopped the car in a convenient place and run up to the house just as the alarm was given and attention attracted elsewhere.’

      ‘Unless he was already inside the house,’ mused Poirot. ‘Is there any place where he could have hidden?’

      ‘Well, we certainly didn’t make a thorough search of the house beforehand. There seemed no need. I suppose he might have hidden himself somewhere, but who would have let him in?’

      ‘We shall come to that later. One thing at a time – let us be methodical. There is no special hiding-place in the house? Waverly Court is an old place, and there are sometimes “priests’ holes”, as they call them.’

      ‘By gad, there is a priest’s hole. It opens from one of the panels in the hall.’

      ‘Near the council chamber?’

      ‘Just outside the door.’

      ‘Voilà!’

      ‘But nobody knows of its existence except my wife and myself.’

      ‘Tredwell?’

      ‘Well – he might have heard of it.’

      ‘Miss Collins?’

      ‘I have never mentioned it to her.’

      Poirot reflected for a minute.

      ‘Well, monsieur, the next thing is for me to come down to Waverly Court. If I arrive this afternoon, will it suit you?’

      ‘Oh, as soon as possible, please, Monsieur Poirot!’ cried Mrs Waverly. ‘Read this once more.’

      She thrust into his hands the last missive from the enemy which had reached the Waverlys that morning and which had sent her post-haste to Poirot. It gave clever and explicit directions for the paying over of the money, and ended with a threat that the boy’s life would pay for any treachery. It was clear that a love of money warred with the essential mother love of Mrs Waverly, and that the latter was at last gaining the day.

      Poirot detained Mrs Waverly for a minute behind her husband.

      ‘Madame, the truth, if you please. Do you share СКАЧАТЬ