Dumb Witness hp-16

by Agatha Christie

  "Well, as a matter of fact, I didn't take it very seriously."

  "You didn't?"

  "No. I thought it was what you might call a gesture on the old bean's part. She wanted to frighten us all. I'd a pretty shrewd suspicion that after a few weeks or perhaps months she'd tear that will up. She was pretty hot on family, Aunt Emily. And, as a matter of fact, I believe that's what she would have done if she hadn't died so confoundedly suddenly."

  "Ah!" said Poirot. "It is an interesting idea that."

  He remained silent for a minute or two, then went on:

  "Could any one. Miss Lawson, for instance, have overheard your conversation?"

  "Rather. We weren't speaking any too low. As a matter of fact, the Lawson bird was hovering about outside the door when I went out. Been doing a bit of snooping in my opinion."

  Poirot turned a thoughtful glance on Theresa.

  "And you knew nothing of this?"

  Before she could answer, Charles broke in:

  "Theresa, old girl, I'm sure I told you – or hinted to you."

  There was a queer sort of pause. Charles was looking fixedly at Theresa, and there was an anxiety, a fixity, about his gaze that seemed out of all proportion to the subject matter.

  Theresa said slowly:

  "If you had told me – I don't think I could have forgotten, do you, M. Poirot?"

  Her long, dark eyes turned to him.

  Poirot said slowly:

  "No, I don't think you could have forgotten, Miss Arundell."

  Then he turned sharply to Charles.

  "Let me be quite clear on one point. Did Miss Arundell tell you she was about to alter her will, or did she tell you specifically that she had altered it?"

  Charles said quickly:

  "Oh, she was quite definite. As a matter of fact, she showed me the will."

  Poirot leaned forward. His eyes opened wide.

  "This is very important. You say that Miss Arundell actually showed you the will?"

  Charles gave a sudden schoolboy wriggle – a rather disarming action. Poirot's gravity made him quite uncomfortable.

  "Yes," he said. "She showed it to me."

  "You can swear definitely to that?"

  "Of course I can." Charles looked nervously at Poirot. "I don't see what is so significant about that."

  There was a sudden brusque movement from Theresa. She had risen and was standing by the mantelpiece. She quickly lit another cigarette.

  "And you, mademoiselle?" Poirot whirled suddenly round on her. "Did your aunt say nothing of importance to you during that weekend?"

  "I don't think so. She was – quite amiable. That is, as amiable as she usually was. Lectured me a bit about my way of life and all that. But then, she always did. She seemed perhaps a bit more jumpy than usual."

  Poirot said, smiling:

  "I suppose, mademoiselle, that you were more taken up with your fiancée?"

  Theresa said sharply:

  "He wasn't there. He was away, he'd gone to some medical congress."

  "You had not seen him then since the Easter weekend? Was that the last time you had seen him?"

  "Yes – on the evening before we left he came to dinner."

  "You had not – excuse me – had any quarrel with him then?"

  "Certainly not."

  "I only thought, seeing that he was away on your second visit -"

  Charles broke in:

  "Ah, but you see, that second weekend was rather unpremeditated. We went down on the spur of the moment."

  "Really?"

  "Oh, let's have the truth," said Theresa wearily. "You see, Bella and her husband were down the weekend before – fussing over Aunt Emily because of her accident. We thought they might steal a march on us -"

  "We thought," said Charles with a grin, "that we'd better show a little concern for Aunt Emily's health too. Really, though, the old lady was much too sharp to be taken in by the dutiful attention stunt. She knew very well how much it was worth. No fool, Aunt Emily."

  Theresa laughed suddenly.

  "It's a pretty story, isn't it? All of us with our tongues hanging out for money."

  "Was that the case with your cousin and her husband?"

  "Oh, yes, Bella's always hard up. Rather pathetic the way she tries to copy all my clothes at about an eighth of the price. Tanios speculated with her money, I believe. They're hard put to it to make both ends meet. They've got two children and want to educate them in England."

  "Can you perhaps give me their address?" said Poirot.

  "They're staying at the Durham Hotel in Bloomsbury."

  "What is she like, your cousin?"

  "Bella? Well, she's a dreary woman. Eh, Charles?"

  "Oh, definitely a dreary woman. Rather like an earwig. She's a devoted mother. So are earwigs, I believe."

  "And her husband?"

  "Tanios? Well, he looks a bit odd, but he's really a thoroughly nice fellow. Clever, amusing and a thoroughly good sport."

  "You agree, mademoiselle?"

  "Well, I must admit I prefer him to Bella. He's a damned clever doctor, I believe. All the same, I wouldn't trust him very far."

  "Theresa," said Charles, "doesn't trust anybody."

  He put an arm round her.

  "She doesn't trust me."

  "Any one who trusted you, my sweet, would be mentally deficient," said Theresa kindly.

  The brother and sister moved apart and looked at Poirot.

  Poirot bowed and moved to the door.

  "I am – as you say – on the job! It is difficult, but Mademoiselle is right. There is always a way. Ah, by the way, this Miss Lawson, is she the kind that might conceivably lose her head under cross-examination in court?"

  Charles and Theresa exchanged glances.

  "I should say," said Charles, "that a really bullying K.C. could make her say black was white!"

  "That," said Poirot, "may be very useful."

  He skipped out of the room and I followed him. In the hall he picked up his hat, moved to the front door, opened it and shut it again quickly with a bang. Then he tiptoed to the door of the sitting-room and unblushingly applied his ear to the crack. At whatever school Poirot was educated, there were clearly no unwritten rules about eavesdropping.

  I was horrified but powerless. I made urgent signs to Poirot, but he took no notice.

  And then, clearly, in Theresa Arundell's deep, vibrant voice, there came two words:

  "You fool!"

  There was the noise of footsteps along the passage and Poirot quickly seized me by the arm, opened the front door and passed through, closing it noiselessly behind him.

  Chapter 15

  MISS LAWSON

  "Poirot," I said. "Have we got to listen at doors?"

  "Calm yourself, my friend. It was only I who listened! It was not you who put your ear to the crack. On the contrary, you stood bolt upright like a soldier."

  "But I heard just the same."

  "True. Mademoiselle was hardly whispering."

  "Because she thought that we had left the flat."

  "Yes, we practised a little deception there."

  "I don't like that sort of thing."

  "Your moral attitude is irreproachable! But let us not repeat ourselves. This conversation has occurred on previous occasions. You are about to say that it is not playing the game. And my reply is that murder is not a game."

  "But there is no question of murder here."

  "Do not be sure of that."

  "The intention, yes, perhaps. But after all, murder and attempted murder are not the same thing."

  "Morally they are exactly the same thing. But what I meant was, are you so sure that it is only attempted murder that occupies our attention?"

  I stared at him.

  "But old Miss Arundell died a perfectly natural death."

  "I repeat again – are you so sure?"

  "Every one says so!"

  "Every one? Oh, là là!"

  "The doctor says so," I point
ed out. "Dr Grainger. He ought to know."

  "Yes, he ought to know." Poirot's voice was dissatisfied. "But remember, Hastings, again and again a body is exhumed – and in each case a certificate has been signed in all good faith by the doctor attending the case."

  "Yes, but in this case. Miss Arundell died of a longstanding complaint."

  "It seems so – yes."

  Poirot's voice was still dissatisfied. I looked at him keenly.

  "Poirot," I said, "I'll begin a sentence with 'Are you sure.' Are you sure you are not being carried away by professional zeal? You want it to be murder and so you think it must be murder."

  The shadow on his brow deepened. He nodded his head slowly.

  "It is clever what you say there, Hastings. It is a weak spot on which you put your finger. Murder is my business. I am like a great surgeon who specializes in – say – appendicitis or some rarer operation. A patient comes to him and he regards that patient solely from the standpoint of his own specialized subject. Is there any possible reason for thinking this man suffers from so and so…? Me, I am like that, too. I say to myself always, 'Can this possibly be murder?' And you see, my friend, there is nearly always a possibility."

  "I shouldn't say there was much possibility here," I remarked.

  "But she died, Hastings! You cannot get away from that fact. She died!"

  "She was in poor health. She was past seventy. It all seems perfectly natural to me."

  "And does it also seem natural to you that Theresa Arundell should call her brother a fool with that degree of intensity?"

  "What has that got to do with it?"

  "Everything! Tell me, what did you think of that statement of Mr Charles Arundell's – that his aunt had shown him her new will?"

  I looked at Poirot warily.

  "What do you make of it?" I asked.

  Why should Poirot always be the one to ask the questions.

  "I call it very interesting – very interesting indeed. So was Miss Theresa Arundell's reaction to it. Their passage of arms was suggestive – very suggestive."

  "Hum," I said in oracular fashion.

  "It opens up two distinct lines of inquiry."

  "They seem a nice pair of crooks," I remarked. "Ready for anything. The girl's amazingly good-looking. As for young Charles, he's certainly an attractive scoundrel."

  Poirot was just hailing a taxi. It drew into the curb and Poirot gave an address to the driver.

  "17 Clanroyden Mansions, Bayswater."

  "So it's Lawson next," I commented. "And after that – the Tanioses?"

  "Quite right, Hastings."

  "What role are you adopting here?" I inquired as the taxi drew up at Clanroyden Mansions. "The biographer of General Arundell, a prospective tenant of Littlegreen House, or something more subtle still?"

  "I shall present myself simply as Hercule Poirot."

  "How very disappointing," I gibed.

  Poirot merely threw me a glance and paid off the taxi.

  No. 17 was on the second floor. A pert-looking maid opened the door and showed us into a room that really struck a ludicrous note after the one we had just left.

  Theresa Arundell's flat had been bare to the point of emptiness. Miss Lawson's on the other hand was so crammed with furniture and odds and ends that one could hardly move about without the fear of knocking something over.

  The door opened and a rather stout, middle-aged lady came in. Miss Lawson was very much as I had pictured her. She had an eager, rather foolish face, untidy greyish hair and pince-nez perched a little askew on her nose. Her style of conversation was spasmodic and consisted of gasps.

  "Good-morning – er – I don't think -"

  "Miss Wilhelmina Lawson?"

  "Yes – yes – that is my name…"

  "My name is Poirot – Hercule Poirot. Yesterday I was looking over Littlegreen House."

  "Oh, yes?"

  Miss Lawson's mouth fell a little wider open and she made some inefficient dabs at her untidy hair.

  "Won't you sit down?" She went on. "Sit here, won't you? Oh, dear, I'm afraid that table is in your way. I'm just a little bit crowded here. So difficult! These flats! Just a teeny bit on the small side. But so central! And I do like being central. Don't you?"

  With a gasp she sat down on an uncomfortable-looking Victorian chair and, her pince-nez still awry, leaned forward breathlessly and looked at Poirot hopefully.

  "I went to Littlegreen House in the guise of a purchaser," went on Poirot. "But I should like to say at once – this is in the strictest confidence -"

  "Oh, yes," breathed Miss Lawson, apparently pleasurably excited.

  "The very strictest confidence," continued Poirot, "that I went there with another object… You may or you may not be aware that shortly before she died Miss Arundell wrote to me -"

  He paused and then went on.

  "I am a well-known private detective."

  A variety of expressions chased themselves over Miss Lawson's slightly flushed countenance. I wondered which one Poirot would single out as relevant to his inquiry. Alarm, excitement, surprise, puzzlement…

  "Oh," she said. Then after a pause, "Oh," again.

  And then, quite unexpectedly, she asked:

  "Was it about the money?"

  Poirot, even, was slightly taken aback. He said tentatively:

  "You mean the money that was -"

  "Yes, yes. The money that was taken from the drawer?"

  Poirot said quietly:

  "Miss Arundell didn't tell you she had written to me on the subject of that money?"

  "No, indeed. I had no idea – Well, really, I must say I'm very surprised -"

  "You thought she should not have mentioned it to any one?"

  "I certainly didn't think so. You see, she had a very good idea -"

  She stopped again. Poirot said quickly:

  "She had a very good idea who took it. That is what you would say, is it not?"

  Miss Lawson nodded and continued breathlessly:

  "And I shouldn't have thought she would have wanted – well, I mean she said – that is, she seemed to feel -"

  Again Poirot cut in neatly into the midst of these incoherencies.

  "It was a family matter?"

  "Exactly."

  "But me," said Poirot, "I specialize in family matters. I am, you see, very, very discreet."

  Miss Lawson nodded vigorously.

  "Oh! of course – that makes a difference. It's not like the police."

  "No, no. I am not at all like the police. That would not have done at all."

  "Oh, no. Dear Miss Arundell was such a proud woman. Of course, there had been trouble before with Charles, but it was always hushed up. Once, I believe, he had to go to Australia!"

  "Just so," said Poirot. "Now the facts of the case were as follows, were they not? Miss Arundell had a sum of money in a drawer -"

  He paused. Miss Lawson hastened to confirm his statement.

  "Yes – from the Bank. For the wages, you know, and the books."

  "And how much was missing exactly?"

  "Four pound notes. No, no, I am wrong, three pound notes and two ten shilling notes. One must be exact, I know, very exact, in such matters." Miss Lawson looked at him earnestly and absent-mindedly knocked her pince-nez a little further awry. Her rather prominent eyes seemed to goggle at him.

  "Thank you, Miss Lawson. I see you have an excellent business sense."

  Miss Lawson bridled a little and uttered a deprecatory laugh.

  "Miss Arundell suspected, no doubt with reason, that her nephew Charles was responsible for this theft," went on Poirot.

  "Yes."

  "Although there was no particular evidence to show who actually took the money?"

  "Oh, but it must have been Charles! Mrs Tanios wouldn't do such a thing, and her husband was quite a stranger and wouldn't have known where the money was kept – neither of them would. And I don't think Theresa Arundell would dream of such a thing. She's got plenty of money
and always so beautifully dressed."

  "It might have been one of the servants," Poirot suggested.

  Miss Lawson seemed horrified by the idea.

  "Oh, no, indeed, neither Ellen nor Annie would have dreamed of such a thing. They are both most superior women and absolutely honest I am sure."

  Poirot waited a minute or two. Then he said:

  "I wonder if you can give me any idea – I am sure you can, for if any one possessed Miss Arundell's confidence you did -"

  Miss Lawson murmured confusedly:

  "Oh, I don't know about that, I'm sure -"

  But she was clearly flattered.

  "I feel that you will be able to help me."

  "Oh, I'm sure, if I can – anything I can do -"

  Poirot went on:

  "This is in confidence -"

  A sort of owlish expression appeared on Miss Lawson's face. The magical words "in confidence" seemed to be a kind of Open sesame.

  "Have you any idea of the reason which caused Miss Arundell to alter her will?"

  "Her will? Oh – her will?"

  Miss Lawson seemed slightly taken aback. Poirot said, watching her closely:

  "It is true, is it not, that she made a new will shortly before her death, leaving all her fortune to you?"

  "Yes, but I knew nothing about it. Nothing at all!" Miss Lawson was shrill in protest. "It was the greatest surprise to me! A wonderful surprise, of course! So good of dear Miss Arundell. And she never even gave me a hint. Not the smallest hint! I was so taken aback, when Mr Purvis read it out, I didn't know where to look, or whether to laugh or cry! I assure you, M. Poirot, the shock of it – the shock, you know. The kindness – the wonderful kindness of dear Miss Arundell. Of course, I'd hoped, perhaps, for just a little something – perhaps just a teeny, teeny legacy – though of course, there was no reason she should have left me even that. I'd not been with her so very long. But this – it was like – it was like a fairy story! Even now I can't quite believe in it, if you know what I mean. And sometimes – well, sometimes – I don't feel altogether comfortable about it. I mean – well, I mean -"

  She knocked off her pince-nez, picked them up, fumbled with them and went on even more incoherently:

  "Sometimes I feel that – well, flesh and blood is flesh and blood after all, and I don't feel quite comfortable at Miss Arundell's leaving all her money away from her family. I mean, it doesn't seem right, does it? Not all of it. Such a large fortune, too! Nobody had any idea! But – well – it does make one feel uncomfortable – and every one saying things, you know – and I'm sure I've never been an ill-natured woman! I mean I wouldn't have dreamed of influencing Miss Arundell in any way! And it's not as though I could, either. Truth to tell, I was always just a teeny weeny bit afraid of her! She was so sharp, you know, so inclined to jump on you. And quite rude sometimes! 'Don't be a downright fool,' she'd snap. And really, after all, I had my feelings and sometimes I'd feel quite upset… And then to find out that all the time she'd really been fond of me – well, it was very wonderful, wasn't it? Only of course, as I say, there's been a lot of unkindness, and really in some ways one feels – I mean, well, it does seem a little hard, doesn't it, on some people?"