AgathaChristie-HerculePoirotsCasebook

by Hercule Poirot's Casebook (lit)

  internal arrangements. He had various men posted in the park

  outside, guarding all the approaches to the house, and he

  assured me that if the whole thing were not a hoax, we should

  undoubtedly catch my mysterious correspondent.

  'I had Johnnie with me, and he and I and the inspector went

  together into the room we call the council chamber. The

  igspector 16cked the door. There is a big grandfather clock

  tlzre, and as the hands drew near to twelve I don't mind

  confessing that I was as nervous as a cat. There was a whirring

  sound, and the clock began to strike. I clutched at Johrmie. I

  hd a feeling a man might drop from the skies. The last stroke

  sounded, and as it did so, there was a great commotion outside

  - shouting and running. The inspector flung up the window,

  and a constable came running up.

  '"We've got him sir," he panted. "He was sneaking up

  through the bushes. He's got a wholedope outfit on him."

  'We hurried out on the terrace where two constables were

  holding a ruffianly-looking fellow in shabby clothes, who was

  twisting and turning in a vain endcav0ur to escape. One of the

  policemen held out an unrolled parcel which the3;had wrested

  from their captive. It contained a pad of cotton wool and a

  bottle of chloroform. It made my blood boil to see it. There was

  a note, too, addressed to me. I tore it open. It bore the following

  words: "You should have paid up. To ransom your son will

  now cost you fifty thousand. In spite of all your precautions he

  has been abducted on the twenty-ninth as I said."

  'I gave a great laugh, the laugh of relief, but as I did so I

  heard the hum of a motor and a shout. I turned my head.

  Racing down the drive towards the south lodge at a furious

  speed was a low, long grey car. It was the man who drove it who

  shouted, but that was not what gave me a shock of horror. It

  was the sight of Johnnie's flaxen curls. The child was in the car

  beside him.

  225

  'The inspector ripped out an oath. "The child was here not

  a minute ago," he cried. His eyes swept over us. We were all

  there: myself, Tredwell, Miss Collins. "When 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 Johnnle.

  '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 i mervle.'

  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 unlmrmed.

  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 Me 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

  226

  IllspeCt°'

  - - --an and boy detained, I was almost ill with relief. You oW

  the sequel. The boy was not ]ohtmie,

  ardent motorist, fond of children, who had pickl up a small

  child playing in the streets of Edenswcll, a village about fifteen

  ailes from us, and was 16ndiy 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

  go ,

  by now have found the .y.

  police are a brave and

  'Calm yourself, monsieur. The

  intelligent force of men. Their mistake was a very natural one.

  Ad 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

  and arcel were given to him to deliver at Waverly Court.

  · note P

  - handed him a ten-shllinS note

  I The man who gave mere to

  and promised him another if it were delivered at exactly ten

  · utes to twelve. He was to approach the house tluongh the

  - '- ' -r'

  'I don't believe a wora ox n,

  'It's all a parcel of lies.'

  'Eh veritY, it is a thin story,' said Poimt 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,

  impertinence to pretend that he

  'The fellow had the

  recognized in Tredwell the man who gave him the parcel.

  "Only the bloke has shaved offhis 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 mining 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.

  227

  It was given him at ten o'clock, he says. At ten o'clock Tredve

  was with my husband in the smoking-room.'

  'Were you able to see the face of the man in the

  monsieur? Did it resemble that of Tredwell in any

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

  'Has TredweU 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 entranee?'

  '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 cat entering the

  grounds.'

  'There is a right of way through, and access to a small chapel,

  A good ma
ny cars pass through. The mm must have stopped

  the car in a convenient phce 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/s a priest's hole. It opens from one of the

  panels in the hall.'

  'Near the council chamber?'

  'Just outside the door.'

  'But nobody knows of its existence except my wife and

  myself.'

  'Tredwell?'

  'Well - he might have heard of it.'

  'Miss Collins?'

  228

  'I have never mentioned it to her.'

  poirot reflected for a minute.

  ,Well, monsieur, the next thing is for me to come down to

  averly Court. If I arrive this afternoon, will it suit you:?'

  , . soon as sible, please, Monsieur Poirot!' cried

  Oh. as

  pos

  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

  · ' long for the paying over of the money, and ended .wth

  that the boy's life would pay for any treachery. It

  dtea

  warred with the essential mother love

  clear that a love of money

  gaining the day.

  of Mrs Waverly, and that the latter was at last behind her

  Poirot detained Mrs Waverly for a minute

  husband.

  'Madame, the truth, if you please. Do you share your

  husband's faith in the butler, Tredweii?'

  nothing against him, Monsieur Poirot, I rmot see

  'I have

  concerned in this, but - well, I have

  how he can have been

  never liked him - never?

  'One other thing, madame, can you give me the address of

  the child's nurse?'

  ·

  don't imagine '

  '149 lqetherall Road, Hammersmith. You

  grey cells.

  'Never do I imagine. Only - I employ the little

  And sometimes, inst sometimes, I have a little idea.'

  Poirot came back to me as the door dosed.

  'So madame has never liked the butler. It is interesting, that,

  eh, Hastings?'

  I refused to be drawn. Poirot has deceived me so often that

  I now go warily. There is always a catch somewhere.

  After completing an elaborate outdoor toilet, we set off for

  .4etherall Road. We were fortunate enough to find Miss Jessie

  Withers at home·She was a pleasant-faced woman of thirty-five,

  capable and superior. I could not believe that she could be

  mixed up in the affair. She was bitterly resendul of the way she

  had been dismissed, but admitted that she hsd been in the

  wrong. She was engaged to be married to a painter and

  decorator who happened to be in the neighbourhood, and she

  229

  had run out to meet him. The thing seemed natural eoug.

  could not quite understand Poirot. All his questions

  me quite irrelevant. They were concerned mainly v ith

  daily murine of her life at Waverly Court. I was frankl bored

  and glad when Poirot took his departure.

  'Kidnapping is an easy job, mon am/,' he observed, as he

  hailed a taxi in the Hammersmith Road and ordered it to drive

  to Waterloo. 'That child could have been abducted with greatest ease any day for the last three years.'

  'I don't see that that advances us much,' I remarked coldly. 'Au contraire, it advances us enormously, but enonnouslyt If

  you must wear a tie pin, Hastings, at least let it be in the eyact

  centre of your tie. At present it is at least a sixteenth of an inch

  too much to the right.'

  Waverly Court was a frae old place and had recently been

  restored with taste and care. Mx Waverly showed us the

  council chamber, the terrace, and all the various spots

  'connected with the case. Finally, at Poirot's request, he pressed

  a spring in the wall, a panel slid aside, and a short passage led

  us into the priest's hole.

  'You see,' said Waverly. 'There is nothing here.'

  The tiny room was bare enough, there was not even the mark

  of a footstep on the floor. I joined Poirot where he was bending

  attentively over a mark in the corner.

  'ghat do you make of this, my friend?'

  There were four imprints dose together.

  'A dog,' I cried.

  'A very small dog, Hastings.'

  'A Porn.'

  'Smaller than a Porn.'

  'A griffon?' I suggested doubtfully.

  'Smaller even than a griffon. A species unknown to the

  Kennel Club.'

  I looked at him. His face was alight with excitement

  satisfaction.

  'I was right,' he murmured. 'I knew I was right. Come, Hastings.'

  As we stepped out into the hall and the panel closed behind

  230

  a our lady came out of a door farther down the passage.

  s ./,, resented her to us.

  ,Miss .onms.

  thirty years of age, brisk .and alert in

  Miss Collins was about

  fair

  rather dull hair, and wore pm. ce-nez.

  .,saner. She had ,

  ----a into a small morning-room,

  '" At poirOt'S request, we pa,,

  · her closely as to the servants and particularly

  ¢ uesnoned

  ·

  · the butler.

  and h q . , o,.. oamitted that she did not like

  aS tO Treclweu. of

  'He gives himself airs,' she explained.

  They then went into the question of the food eaten by Mrs

  VsverlY on the night of the 28th. Miss Collins declared that

  she had partaken of the same dishes upstairs in her sitting

  ora

  and had felt no ill effects. As she was departing I nudged

  Poirot.

  'The dog,' I whispered.

  'Ah, yes, the dog!' He smiled broadly. 'Is there a dog kept

  here by any chance, mademoiselle?'

  'There arc two retrievers in the kennels outside.'

  'No, I mean a small dog, a toy dog.'

  'No - nothing of the kind.'

  Poirot permitted her to depart. Then, pressing the hell, he

  remarked to me, 'She lies, that Mademoiselle Collins. Possibly

  I should, also, in her place, blow for the butler.'

  Tredwell was a dignified individual. He told his story with

  perfect aplomb, and it was essentially the same as that of Mr

  Waverly. He admitted that he knew the secret of the priest's

  hole.

  When he finally withdrew, pontifical to the last, I met

  Poirot's quizzical eyes.

  .

  'What do you make of it all, Hastings?

  'What do you?' I parried.

  'How cautious you become, b
lever, never will the grey cells

  function unless you stimulate them. Ah, but I will not tease

  you! Let us make our deductions together. What points strike

  us specially as being difficult?'

  I said. 'Why did the man

  'There s one thing that strikes me;

  instead of

  who kidnapped the child go out by the south lodge

  by the east lodge where no one would see him?'

  231

  'That is a very good point, ltastis, an excellent

  match it with another. Why warn the Waverlys be '. 'and?

  Why not simply kidnap the child and hold him to t

  'Because they hoped to get the money without be:

  to action.'

  'Surely it was very unlikely that the money would be paid on

  a mere threat?'

  'Also they wanted to focus attention on twelve o'clock, so

  that when the tramp man was seized, the other could emerge

  from his hiding-place and get away with the child unnoticed.,

  'That does not alter the fact that they were nmldng a thing

  difficult that was perfectly easy. If they do not spe a time or

  date, nothing would be easier than to wait their chance, ami

  carry off the child in a motor one day when he is out with his

  'Ye - es,' I admitted doubtfully.

  'In fact, there is a deliberate playing of the farce! Now let us