Mrs. McGinty's Dead by Agatha Christie

  }himself.}

  }"Madre," he said solemnly, "would have wished me}

  to go on with my work."

  }Hercule Poirot had heard many people say much the same thing. It was one of the most convenient assump­tions, this knowledge of what the dead would wish. The bereaved had never any doubt about their dear ones' wishes and those wishes usually squared with their own inclinations.}

  }In this case it was probably true. Mrs Upward had had great faith in Robin's work and had been extremely proud of him.}

  }Poirot leaned back and closed his eyes.}

  }He thought of Mrs Upward. He considered what Mrs Upward had really been like. He remembered a phrase that he had once heard used by a police officer.}

  }"We'll take him apart and see what makes him tick."}

  What had made Mrs Upward tick?

  }There was a crash, and Maureen Summerhayes came in. Her hair was flapping madly.}

  }200 MRS. McGinty's} }DEAD}

  }"I can't think what's happened to Johnnie," she said

  "He just went down to the post office with those special} }orders. He ought to have been back hours ago. I want} }him to fix the hen house door."

  A true gentleman, Poirot feared, would have gallantly} }offered to fix the hen house door himself. Poirot did} }not. He wanted to go on thinking about two murders} }and about the character of Mrs Upward.}

  }"And I can't find that Ministry of Agriculture form," continued Maureen. "I've looked everywhere."}

  }"The spinach is on the sofa," Poirot offered help­fully.}

  }Maureen was not worried about spinach.}

  }"The form came last week," she mused. "And I must have put it somewhere. Perhaps it was when I was darning that pullover of Johnnie's."}

  }She swept over to the bureau and started pulling out the drawers. Most of the contents she swept onto the floor ruthlessly. It was agony to Hercule Poirot to watch her.}

  }Suddenly she uttered a cry of triumph.}

  }"Got it!".}

  }Delighted she rushed from the room.}

  }Hercule Poirot sighed and resumed meditation.}

  }To arrange, with order and precision—}

  }He frowned. The untidy heap of objects on the floor by the bureau distracted his mind. What a way to look for things!}

  }Order and method. That was the thing. Order and method. . .}

  }Though he had turned sideways in his chair, he could still see the confusion on the floor. Sewing things, a pile of socks, letters, knitting wool, magazines, sealing wax, photographs, a pullover—

  ­It was insupportable!

  Poirot rose, went across to the bureau and with quick}

  }201

  }MRS. McGINTY'S }DEAD}

  }deft movements began to return the objects to the open drawers.}

  }The pullover, the socks, the knitting wool. Then, in the next drawer, the sealing wax, the photographs, the letters—}

  }The telephone rang.}

  }The sharpness of the bell made him jump.}

  }He went across to the telephone and lifted the re­ceiver.}

  }" 'Allo, 'allo, 'allo," he said.}

  }The voice that spoke to him was the voice of Super­intendent Spence.}

  }"Ah, it's you, M. Poirot. Just the man I want."}

  }Spence's voice was almost unrecognisable. A very worried man had given place to a confident one.}

  }"Filling me up with a lot of fandangle about the wrong photograph," he said with reproachful indul­gence. "We've got some new evidence. Girl at the post office in Broadhinny. Major Summerhayes just brought her in. It seems she was standing practically opposite the cottage that night and she saw a woman go in. Sometime after eight thirty and before nine o'clock. And it wasn't Deirdre Henderson. It was a woman with fair hair. That puts us right back where we were— it's definitely between the two of them—Eve Carpenter and Shelagh Rendell. The only question is—which?"}

  }Poirot opened his mouth but did not speak. Care­fully, deliberately, he replaced the receiver on the stand.}

  }He stood there staring unseeingly in front of him.}

  The telephone rang again.

  "'Allo! 'Allo!'Allo!"

  }"Can I speak to M. Poirot, please?"}

  "Hercule Poirot speaking."

  "Thought so. Maude Williams here. Post office in a quarter of an hour?"

  }"I will be there."}

  }202 MRS. McGINTY'S }DEAD}

  }He replaced the receiver.}

  }He looked down at his feet. Should he change his shoes? His feet ached a little. Ah well—no matter.}

  }Resolutely Poirot clapped on his hat and left the house.}

  }On his way down the hill he was hailed by one of Superintendent Spence's men just emerging from Labur­nums.}

  }"Morning, M. Poirot."}

  }Poirot responded politely. He noticed that Sergeant Fletcher was looking excited.}

  }"The Super sent me over to have a thorough check up," he explained. "You know—any little thing we might have missed. Never know, do you? We'd been over the desk, of course, but the Super got the idea there might be a secret drawer—must have been read­ing spy stuff. Well, there wasn't a secret drawer. But after that I got on to the books. Sometimes people slip a letter into a book they're reading. You know?"}

  }Poirot said that he knew. "And you found some­thing?" he asked politely.}

  }"Not a letter or anything of that sort, no. But I found something interesting—at least }I} think it's- interesting. Look here."}

  }He unwrapped from a piece of newspaper an old and rather decrepit book. }

  }"In one of the bookshelves it was. Old book, pub­

  lished years ago. But look here." He opened it and

  showed the flyleaf. Pencilled across it were the words: }Evelyn Hope. }

  }"Interesting, don't you think? That's the name, in case you don't remember—"}

  }"The name that Eva Kane took when she left En­gland. I do remember," said Poirot.}

  }"Looks as though when Mrs McGinty spotted one of}

  }MRS. McGINTY'S DEAD 203

  those photos here in Broadhinny, it was our Mrs Upward. Makes it kind of complicated, doesn't it?"}

  }"It does," said Poirot with feeling. "I can assure you that when you go back to Superintendent Spence with this piece of information he will pull out his hair by the roots—yes, assuredly by the roots."}

  }"I hope it won't be as bad as that," said Sergeant} }Fletcher.}

  }Poirot did not reply. He went down the hill. He had ceased to think. Nothing anywhere made sense.}

  }He went into the post office. Maude Williams was there looking at knitting patterns. Poirot did not speak to her. He went to the stamp counter. When Maude had made her purchase, Mrs Sweetiman came over to him and he bought some stamps. Maude went out of the} }shop.}

  }Mrs Sweetiman seemed preoccupied and not talkative. Poirot was able to follow Maude out fairly quickly. He caught her up a short distance along the road and fell into step beside her.}

  }Mrs Sweetiman, looking out of the post office win­dow, exclaimed to herself disapprovingly, "Those for­eigners! All the same, every manjack of 'em. Old enough to be her grandfather, he is!"}

  }2}

  "Eh bien," }said Poirot, "you have something to tell me?"}

  }"I don't know that it's important. There was some­body trying to got in at the window of Mrs Wetherby's room."}

  }"When?"}

  }"This morning. }She'd }gone out, and the girl out with the dog. Old frozen fish was shut up in his study as usual. I'd have been in the kitchen normally—it faces}

  }204 MRS. McGINTY'S DEAD

  the other way like the study—but actually it seemed a

  good opportunity to—you understand?"

  Poirot nodded.}

  }"So I nipped upstairs and into Her Acidity's bed­room. There was a ladder against the window and a man was fumbling with the window catch. She's had everything locked and barred since the murder. Never a bit of fresh air. When the man saw me he scuttled
down and made off. The ladder was the gardener's—he'd been cutting back the ivy and had gone to have his elevenses."

  "Who was the man? Can you describe him?"

  "I only got the merest glimpse. By the time I got to the window he was down the ladder and gone, and when I first saw him he was against the sun, so I couldn't see his face."}

  }"You are sure it }was }a man?"

  Maude considered.}

  }"Dressed as a man—an old felt hat on. It }might }have been a woman, of course...."}

  }"It is interesting," said Poirot. "It is very interesting. ... Nothing else?"}

  }"Not yet. The junk that old woman keeps! Must be dotty! She came in without me hearing this morning and bawled me out for snooping. I shall be murdering her next. If anyone asks to be murdered that woman does, A really nasty bit of goods."}

  }Poirot murmured softly:}

  }"Evelyn Hope ..."}

  }"What's that?" She spun around on him.}

  }"So you know that name?"}

  }"Why—yes . . . It's the name Eva Whatsername took when she went to Australia. It—it was in the paper— the Sunday Companion."}

  }"The Sunday Companion said many things, but it did not say that. The Police found the name written in a book in Mrs Upward's house."}

  }MRS. McGINTY'S DEAD 205}

  }Maude exclaimed:}

  }"Then it }was }her—and she }didn't }die out there . .. Michael was right—"}

  }"Michael?"}

  }Maude said abruptly:}

  }"I can't stop. I'll be late serving lunch. I've got it all in the oven, but it will be getting dried up."}

  }She started off at a run. Poirot stood looking after her.}

  }At the post office window, Mrs Sweetiman, her nose glued to the pane, wondered if that old foreigner had been making Suggestions of a Certain Character. . . .}

  }3}

  Back at Long Meadows, Poirot removed his shoes, and put on a pair of bedroom slippers. They were not }chic, }not in his opinion }comme il faut—}but there must be relief.}

  }He sat down on the easy chair again and began once more to think. He had by now a lot to think about.}

  }There were things he had missed—little things—}

  }The pattern was all there. It only needed cohesion,}

  }Maureen, glass in hand, talking in a dreamy voice— asking a question . . . Mrs Oliver's account of her eve­ning at the Rep. Cecil? Michael? He was almost sure that she had mentioned a Michael—Eva Kane, nursery governess to the Craigs—}

  }Evelyn Hope ...}

  }Of course! Evelyn Hope!}

  }CHAPTER 23 }E}ve Carpenter came into the Summerhayes' house in the casual way that most people did, using any door or window that was convenient.}

  }She was looking for Hercule Poirot and when she found him she did not beat about the bush.}

  }"Look here," she said. "You're a detective and you're supposed to be good. All right, I'll hire you."}

  }"Suppose I am not for hire. }Mon Dieu}, I am not a taxi cab!"}

  }"You're a private detective and private detectives get paid, don't they?"

  "It is the custom."}

  }"Well, that's what I'm saying. I'll pay you. I'll pay you well."}

  }"For what? What do you want me to do?" Eve Carpenter said sharply:}

  }"Protect me against the police. They're crazy. They seem to think I killed the Upward woman. And they're nosing around, asking me all sorts of questions—fer­reting out things. I don't like it. It's driving me mental."

  Poirot looked at her. Something of what she said was true. She looked many years older than when he had first seen her, a few weeks ago. Circles under her eyes spoke of sleepless nights. There were lines from her mouth to her chin and her hand, when she lit a cigarette, shook badly.}

  206

  MRS. McGINTY'S DEAD 207

  }"You've got to stop it," she said. "You've got to."}

  }"Madame, what can I do?"}

  }"Fend them off somehow or other. Damned cheek! If Guy was a man he'd stop all this. He wouldn't let them persecute me."}

  }"And—he does nothing?"}

  }She said sullenly,}

  }"I've not told him. He just talks pompously about giving the Police all the assistance possible. It's all right for }him. }He was at some ghastly political meeting that night."}

  }"And you?"}

  }"I was just sitting at home. Listening to the radio}

  }actually."}

  }"But, if you can prove that—"}

  }"How can I prove it? I offered the Crofts a fabulous sum to say they'd been in and out and seen me there— the damned swine refused."}

  }"That was a very unwise move on your part."}

  }"I don't see why. It would have settled the business."}

  }"You have probably convinced your servants that you did commit the murder."}

  }"Well-—I'd paid Croft anyway for—"}

  }"For what?"}

  }"Nothing."}

  }"Remember—you want my help."}

  }"Oh, it was nothing that matters. But Croft took the message from her."}

  }"From Mrs Upward?"}

  }"Yes. Asking me to go down and see her that night."}

  "And you say you didn't go?"

  }"Why should I go? Damned dreary old woman. Why should I go and hold her hand? I never dreamed of going for a moment."}

  }"When did this message come?"}

  }208 MRS. McGINTY'S DEAD

  "When I was out. I don't know exactly when—}

  }between five and six, I think. Croft took it."}

  }"And you gave him money to forget he had taken} }that message. Why?"}

  }"Don't be idiotic. I didn't want to get mixed up in it all."}

  }"And then you offer him money to give you an alibi? What do you suppose he and his wife think?"

  "Who cares what they think!"

  "A jury may care," said Poirot gravely.

  She stared at him.

  "You're not serious?"

  "I am serious."}

  }"They'd listen to servants—and not to me?' Poirot looked at her.}

  }Such crass rudeness and stupidity! Antagonising the people who might have been helpful. A shortsighted stupid policy. Shortsighted—

  Such lovely wide blue eyes.

  He said quietly:}

  }"Why don't you wear glasses. Madame? You need them."}

  }"What? Oh I do sometimes. I did as a child."}

  }"And you had then a plate for your teeth."}

  }She stared.}

  }"I did, as a matter of fact. Why all this?"}

  "The ugly duckling becomes the swan?"

  "I was certainly ugly enough."

  }"Did your mother think so?" She said sharply,}

  }"I don't remember my mother. What the hell are we talking about anyway? Will you take on the job?"

  "I regret I cannot."

  "Why can't you?"}

  }"Because in this affair I act for James Bentley." "James Bentley? Oh you mean that half wit who}

  }MRS. McGINTY'S DEAD 209

  killed the charwoman. What's he got to do with the

  Upwards?"}

  }"Perhaps—nothing."}

  }"Well, then! Is it a question of money? How much?"}

  }"That is your great mistake, Madame. You think always in terms of money. You have money and you think that only money counts."}

  }"I haven't always had money," said Eve Carpenter.}

  }"No," said Poirot. "I thought not." He nodded his head gently. "That explains a good deal. It excuses some things...."}

  }2}

  Eve Carpenter went out the way she had come, blundering a little in the light as Poirot remembered her doing before.}

  }Poirot said softly to himself,}

  }"Evelyn Hope ..."}

  }So Mrs Upward had rung up both Deirdre Henderson }and }Eve Carpenter. Perhaps she had rung up someone} }else. Perhaps—}

  }With a crash Maureen came in.}

  }"It's my scissors now. Sorry lunch is late. I've got three pairs
and I can't find one of them."}

  }She rushed over to the bureau and the process with which Poirot was well acquainted was repeated. This time, the objective was attained rather sooner. With a cry of joy, Maureen departed.}