Hercule Poirot 100 Years (1916 - 2016)

by Mark Place

  "Oh. Shall I look and see?"

  "That's the idea," said Mrs. Oliver.

  She cheered up a little as Miss Livingstone went out of the room. Mrs. Oliver shut the door firmly behind her, went back to the desk and started looking down the addresses written in faded ink and smelling of tea. "Ravenscroft. Celia Ravenscroft. Yes. Fourteen Fishacre Mews, S.W. Three. That's the Chelsea address. She was living there then. But there was another one after that. Somewhere like Strand-on-the-Green near Kew Bridge." She turned a few more pages.

  "Oh, yes, this seems to be a later one. Mardyke Grove. That's off Fulham Road, I think. Somewhere like that. Has she got a telephone number? It's very rubbed out, but I think - yes, I think that's right - Flaxman... Anyway, I'll try it."

  She went across to the telephone. The door opened and Miss Livingstone looked in. "Do you think that perhaps"

  "I found the address I want," said Mrs. Oliver. "Go on looking for that birthday book. It's important."

  "Do you think you could have left it when you were in Sealy House?"

  "No, I don't," said Mrs. Oliver. "Go on looking."

  She murmured, as the door closed, "Be as long as you like about it."

  She dialed the telephone and waited, opening the door to call up the stairs: "You might try that Spanish chest. You know, the one that's bound with brass. I've forgotten where it is now. Under the table in the hall, I think."

  Mrs. Oliver's first dialing was not successful. She appeared to have connected herself to a Mrs. Smith Potter, who seemed both annoyed and unhelpful and had no idea what the present telephone number might be of anyone who had lived in that particular flat before. Mrs. Oliver applied herself to an examination of the address book once more. She discovered two more addresses which were hastily scrawled over other numbers and did not seem wildly helpful. However, at the third attempt a somewhat illegible Ravenscroft seemed to emerge from the crossings-out and initials and addresses. A voice admitted to knowing Celia. "Oh, dear, yes. But she hasn't lived here for years. I think she was in Newcastle when I last heard from her."

  "Oh, dear," said Mrs. Oliver, "I'm afraid I haven't got that address."

  "No, I haven't got it either," said the kindly girl. "I think she went to be secretary to a veterinary surgeon."

  It did not sound very hopeful. Mrs. Oliver tried once or twice more. The addresses in the latest of her two address books were no use, so she went back a bit further. She struck oil, as you might put it, when she came to the last one, which was for the year 1962. "Oh, you mean Celia," said a voice. "Celia Ravenscroft, wasn't it? Or was it Finchwell?" Mrs. Oliver just prevented herself in time from saying, "No, and it wasn't red-breast either."

  "A very competent girl," said the voice. "She worked for me for over a year and a half. Oh, yes, very competent. I would have been quite happy if she had stayed longer. I think she went from here to somewhere in Harley Street, but I think I've got her address somewhere. Now let me see."

  There was a long pause while Mrs. X - name unknown - was seeing. "I've got one address here. It seems to be in Islington somewhere. Do you think that's possible?"

  Mrs. Oliver said that anything was possible and thanked Mrs. X very much and wrote it down. "So difficult, isn't it, trying to find people's addresses. They do send them to you usually. You know, a sort of postcard or something of that kind. Personally I always seem to lose it." Mrs. Oliver said that she herself also suffered in this respect. She tried the Islington number. A heavy, foreign voice replied to her.

  "You want, yes - you tell me what? Yes, who live here?"

  "Miss Celia Ravenscroft?"

  "Oh, yes, that is very true. Yes, yes, she lives here. She has a room on the second floor. She is out now and she not come home."

  "Will she be in later this evening?"

  "Oh, she be home very soon now, I think, because she come home to dress for party and go out."

  Mrs. Oliver thanked her for the information and rang off.

  "Really," said Mrs. Oliver to herself with some annoyance, "girls!" She tried to think how long it was since she had last seen her goddaughter, Celia. One lost touch. That was the whole point. Celia, she thought, was in London now. If her boyfriend was in London, or if the mother of her boyfriend was in London - all of it went together. Oh, dear, thought Mrs. Oliver, this really makes my head ache.

  "Yes, Miss Livingstone?" She turned her head.

  Miss Livingstone, looking rather unlike herself and decorated with a good many cobwebs and a general coating of dust, stood looking annoyed in the doorway holding a pile of dusty volumes.

  "I don't know whether any of these things will be any use to you, Mrs. Oliver. They seem to go back for a great many years." She was disapproving. "Bound to," said Mrs. Oliver.

  "I don't know if there's anything particular you want me to search for."

  "I don't think so," said Mrs. Oliver, "if you'll just put them on the corner of the sofa there I can look at them this evening."

  Miss Livingstone, looking more disapproving every moment, said, "Very good, Mrs. Oliver. I think I will just dust them first."

  "That will be very kind of you," said Mrs. Oliver, just stopping herself in time from saying - "and for goodness' sake, dust yourself as well. You've got six cobwebs in your left ear."

  She glanced at her watch and rang the Islington number again. The voice that answered this time was purely Anglo-Saxon and had a crisp sharpness about it that Mrs. Oliver felt was rather satisfactory.

  "Miss Ravenscroft? - Celia Ravenscroft?"

  "Yes, this is Celia Ravenscroft."

  "Well, I don't expect you'll remember me very well. I'm Mrs. Oliver. Ariadne Oliver. We haven't seen each other for a long time, but actually I'm your godmother."

  "Oh, yes, of course. I know that. No, we haven't seen each other for a long time."

  "I wonder very much if I could see you, if you could come and see me, or whatever you like. Would you like to come to a meal or..."

  "Well, it's rather difficult at present, where I'm working. I could come round this evening, if you like. About half-past seven or eight. I've got a date later but..."

  "If you do that, I shall be very, very pleased," said Mrs. Oliver.

  "Well, of course I will."

  "I'll give you the address." Mrs. Oliver gave it.

  "Good. I'll be there. Yes, I know where that is quite well."

  Mrs. Oliver made a brief note on the telephone pad and looked with some annoyance at Miss Livingstone, who had just come into the room struggling under the weight of a large album.

  "I wonder if this could possibly be it, Mrs. Oliver?"

  "No, it couldn't," said Mrs. Oliver. "That's got cookery recipes in it."

  "Oh, dear," said Miss Livingstone, "so it has."

  "Well, I might as well look at some of them anyway," said Mrs. Oliver, removing the volume firmly. "Go and have another look. You know, I've thought about the linen cupboard. Next door to the bathroom. You'd have to look on the top shelf above the bath towels. I do sometimes stick papers and books in there. Wait a minute. I'll come up and look myself."

  Ten minutes later Mrs. Oliver was looking through the pages of a faded album. Miss Livingstone, having entered her final stage of martyrdom, was standing by the door. Unable to bear the sight of so much suffering, Mrs. Oliver said: "Well, that's all right. You might just take a look in the desk in the dining room. The old desk. You know, the one that's broken a bit. See if you can find some more address books. Early ones. Anything up to about ten years old will be worthwhile having a look at. And after that," said Mrs. Oliver, "I don't think I shall want anything more today." Miss Livingstone departed.

  "I wonder," said Mrs. Oliver to herself, releasing a deep sigh as she sat down.

  She looked through the pages of the birthday book. "Who's better pleased? She to go or I to see her go? After Celia has come and gone, I shall have to have a busy evening."

  Taking a new exercise book from the pile she kept on a small table by her des
k, she entered various dates, possible addresses and names, looked up one or two more things in the telephone book and then proceeded to ring up Monsieur Hercule Poirot.

  "Ah, is that you, Monsieur Poirot?"

  "Yes, madame, it is I myself."

  "Have you done anything?" said Mrs. Oliver.

  "I beg your pardon - have I done what?"

  "Anything," said Mrs. Oliver. "What I asked you about yesterday."

  "Yes, certainly. I have put things in motion. I have arranged to make certain inquiries."

  "But you haven't made them yet," said Mrs. Oliver, who had a poor view of what the male view was of doing something.

  "And you, chère madame?"

  "I have been very busy," said Mrs. Oliver.

  "Ah! And what have you been doing, madame?"

  "Assembling elephants," said Mrs. Oliver, "if that means anything to you."

  "I think I can understand what you mean, yes."

  "It's not very easy, looking into the past," said Mrs. Oliver. "It is astonishing, really, how many people one does remember when one comes to look up names. My word, the silly things they write in birthday books sometimes, too. I can't think why when I was about sixteen or seventeen or even thirty, I wanted people to write in my birthday book. There's a sort of quotation from a poet for every particular day in the year. Some of them are terribly silly."

  "You are encouraged in your search?"

  "Not quite encouraged," said Mrs. Oliver. "But I still think I'm on the right lines. I've rung up my goddaughter -"

  "Ah. And you are going to see her?"

  "Yes, she is coming to see me. Tonight between seven and eight, if she doesn't run out on me. One never knows. Young people are very unreliable."

  "She appeared pleased that you had rung her up?"

  "I don't know," said Mrs. Oliver, "not particularly pleased. She's got a very incisive voice and - I remember now, the last time I saw her, that must be about ten years ago, I thought then that she was rather frightening."

  "Frightening? In what way?"

  "What I mean is that she was more likely to bully me than I would be to bully her."

  "That may be a good thing and not a bad thing."

  "Oh, do you think so?"

  "If people have made up their minds that they do not wish to like you, that they are quite sure they do not like you, they will get more pleasure out of making you aware of the fact and in that way will release more information to you than they would have done if they were trying to be amiable and agreeable."

  "Sucking up to me, you mean? Yes, you have something there. You mean then they tell you things that they thought would please you. And the other way they'd be annoyed with you and they'd say things that they'd hope would annoy you. I wonder if Celia's like that? I really remember her much better when she was five years old than at any other age. She had a nursery governess and she used to throw her boots at her."

  "The governess at the child, or the child at the governess?"

  "The child at the governess, of course!" said Mrs. Oliver.

  She replaced the receiver and went over to the sofa to examine the various piled-up memories of the past. She murmured names under her breath. "Mariana Josephine Pontarlier - of course, yes, I haven't thought of her for years - I thought she was dead. Anna Braceby - yes, yes, she lived in that part of the world - I wonder now" Continuing all this, time passed - she was quite surprised when the bell rang. She went out herself to open the door.

  Chapter 4

  CELIA

  A tall girl was standing on the mat outside. Just for a moment Mrs. Oliver was startled, looking at her. So this was Celia. The impression of vitality and of life was really very strong. Mrs. Oliver had the feeling which one does not often get. Here, she thought, was someone who meant something. Aggressive, perhaps, could be difficult, could be almost dangerous perhaps. One of those girls who had a mission in life, who was dedicated to violence, perhaps, who went in for causes. But interesting. Definitely interesting.

  "Come in, Celia," she said. "It's such a long time since I saw you. The last time, as far as I remember, was at a wedding. You were a bridesmaid. You wore apricot chiffon, I remember, and large bunches of - I can't remember what it was, something that looked like goldenrod."

  "Probably was goldenrod," said Celia Ravenscroft. "We sneezed a lot - with hay fever. It was a terrible wedding. I know. Martha Leghorn, wasn't it? Ugliest bridesmaids' dresses I've ever seen. Certainly the ugliest I've ever worn!"

  "Yes. They weren't very becoming to anybody. You looked better than most, if I may say so."

  "Well, it's nice of you to say that," said Celia. "I didn't feel my best."

  Mrs. Oliver indicated a chair and manipulated a couple of decanters. "Like sherry or something else?"

  "No. I'd like sherry."

  "There you are, then. I suppose it seems rather odd to you," said Mrs. Oliver. "My ringing you up suddenly like this."

  "Oh, no, I don't know that it does particularly."

  "I'm not a very conscientious godmother, I'm afraid."

  "Why should you be, at my age?"

  "You're right there," said Mrs. Oliver. "One's duties, one feels, end at a certain time. Not that I ever really fulfilled mine. I don't remember coming to your confirmation."

  "I believe the duty of a godmother is to make you learn your catechism and a few things like that, isn't it? Renounce the devil and all his works in my name," said Celia. A faint, humorous smile came to her lips. She was being very amiable but all the same, thought Mrs. Oliver, she's rather a dangerous girl in some ways.

  "Well, I'll tell you why I've been trying to get hold of you," said Mrs. Oliver.

  "The whole thing is rather peculiar. I don't often go out to literary parties, but as it happened I did go out to one the day before yesterday."

  "Yes, I know," said Celia. "I saw mention of it in the paper, and you had your name in it, too, Mrs. Ariadne Oliver and I rather wondered because I know you don't usually go to those sort of things."

  "No," said Mrs. Oliver. "I rather wish I hadn't gone to that one."

  "Didn't you enjoy it?"

  "Yes, I did in a way because I hadn't been to one before. And so - well, the first time there's always something that amuses you. But," she added, "there's usually something that annoys you as well."

  "And something happened to annoy you?"

  "Yes. And it's connected in an odd sort of way with you, And I thought - well, I thought I ought to tell you about it because I didn't like what happened. I didn't like it at all."

  "Sounds intriguing," said Celia, and sipped her sherry.

  "There was a woman there who came and spoke to me. I didn't know her and she didn't know me."

  "Still, I suppose that often happens to you," said Celia.

  "Yes, invariably," said Mrs. Oliver. "It's one of the - hazards of literary life. People come up to you and say, 'I do love your books so much and I'm so pleased to be able to meet you.' That sort of thing."

  "I was secretary to a writer once. I do know about that sort of thing and how difficult it is."

  "Yes, well, there was some of that too, but that I was prepared for. And then this woman came up to me and she said, 'I believe you have a goddaughter called Celia Ravenscroft.'"

  "Well, that was a bit odd," said Celia. "Just coming up to you and saying that. It seems to me she ought to have led into it more gradually. You know, talking about your books first and how much she'd enjoyed the last one, or something like that. And then sliding into me. What had she got against me?"

  "As far as I know she hadn't got anything against you," said Mrs. Oliver.

  "Was she a friend of mine?"

  "I don't know," said Mrs. Oliver. There was a silence. Celia sipped some more sherry and looked very searchingly at Mrs. Oliver. "You know," she said, "you're rather intriguing me. I can't see quite what you're leading into."

  "Well," said Mrs. Oliver, "I hope you won't be angry with me."

  "Why should I be
angry with you?"

  "Well, because I'm going to tell you something, or repeat something, and you might say it's no business of mine or I ought to keep quiet about it and not mention it."

  "You've aroused my curiosity," said Celia.

  "Her name she mentioned to me. She was a Mrs. Burton-Cox."

  "Oh!"

  Celia's "Oh" was rather distinctive, "Oh."

  "You know her?"

  "Yes, I know her," said Celia.

  "Well, I thought you must, because -"

  "Because of what?"

  "Because of something she said."

  "What - about me? That she knew me?"

  "She said that she thought her son might be going to marry you." Celia's expression changed. Her eyebrows went up, came down again. She looked very hard at Mrs. Oliver. "You want to know if that's so or not?"

  "No," said Mrs. Oliver, "I don't particularly want to know. I merely mention that because it's one of the first things she said to me. She said because you were my goddaughter, I might be able to ask you to give me some information. I presume that she meant that if the information was given to me I was to pass it on to her."

  "What information?"

  "Well, I don't suppose you'll like what I'm going to say now," said Mrs. Oliver. "I didn't like it myself. In fact, it gives me a very nasty feeling all down my spine because I think it was - well, such awful cheek. Awful bad manners. Absolutely unpardonable. She said, 'Can you find out if her father murdered her mother or if her mother murdered her father?'"

  "She said that to you? Asked you to do that?"

  "Yes."

  "And she didn't know you? I mean, apart from being an authoress and being at the party?"

  "She didn't know me at all. She'd never met me, I'd never met her."

  "Didn't you find that extraordinary?"

  "I don't know that I'd find anything extraordinary that that woman said. She struck me," said Mrs. Oliver, "if I may say so, as a particularly odious woman."

  "Oh, yes. She is a particularly odious woman."