Colonel Melrose drew me aside.
'From all I hear, this little fellow's done some really remarkable things,' he murmured. 'We're naturally anxious not to have to call in Scotland Yard. Raglan seems very sure of himself, but I'm not quite certain that I agree with him.
You see, I - er - know the parties concerned better than he does. This fellow doesn't seem out after kudos, does he?
Would work in with us unobtrusively, eh?' 'To the greater glory of Inspector Raglan,' I said solemnly.
'Well, well,' said Colonel Melrose breezily in a louder voice, 'we must put you wise to the latest developments, M.
Poirot.' 'I thank you,' said Poirot. 'My friend. Doctor Sheppard, said something of the butler being suspected?' 'That's all bunkum,' said Raglan instantly. 'These high-class servants get in such a funk that they act suspiciously for nothing at all.' 'The fingerprints?' I hinted.
'Nothing like Parker's.' He gave a faint smile, and added: 'And yours and Mr Raymond's don't fit either, doctor.' 'What about those of Captain Ralph Paton?' asked Poirot quietly.
I felt a secret admiration of the way he took the bull by the horns. I saw a look of respect creep into the inspector's eye.
'I see you don't let the grass grow under your feet, Mr Poirot. It will be a pleasure to work with you, I'm sure.
We're going to take that young gentleman's fingerprints as soon as we can lay hands upon him.' 'I can't help thinking you're mistaken. Inspector,' said Colonel Melrose warmly. 'I've known Ralph Paton from a boy upward. He'd never stoop to murder.' 'Maybe not,' said the inspector tonelessly.
'What have you got against him?' I asked.
'Went out just on nine o'clock last night. Was seen in the neighbourhood of Fernly Park somewhere about nine-thirty. Not been seen since. Believed to be in serious money difficulties. I've got a pair of his shoes here - shoes with rubber studs in them. He had two pairs, almost exactly alike. I'm going up now to compare them with those footmarks. The constable is up there seeing that no one tampers with them.' 'We'll go at once,' said Colonel Melrose. 'You and M.
Poirot will accompany us, will you not?' We assented, and all drove up in the colonel's car. The inspector was anxious to get at once to the footmarks, and asked to be put down at the lodge. About half-way up the drive, on the right, a path branched off which led round to the terrace and the window of Ackroyd's study.
'Would you like to go with the inspector, M. Poirot?' asked the chief constable, 'or would you prefer to examine the study?' Poirot chose the latter alternative. Parker opened the door to us. His manner was smug and deferential, and he seemed to have recovered from his panic of the night before.
Colonel Melrose took a key from his pocket, and unlocking the door which let into the lobby, he ushered us through into the study.
'Except for the removal of the body, M. Poirot, this room is exactly as it was last night.' 'And the body was found - where?' As precisely as possible, I described Ackroyd's position.
The arm-chair still stood in front of the fire.
Poirot went and sat down in it.
'The blue letter you speak of, where was it when you left the room?' 'Mr Ackroyd had laid it down on this little table at his right hand.' Poirot nodded.
'Except for that, everything was in its place?' 'Yes, I think so.' 'Colonel Melrose, would you be so extremely obliging as to sit down in this chair a minute. I thank you. Now M. Ie docteur, will you kindly indicate to me the exact position of the dagger?' I did so, whilst the little man stood in the doorway.
'The hilt of the dagger was plainly visible from the door then. Both you and Parker could see it at once?' 'Yes.' Poirot went next to the window.
'The electric light was on, of course, when you discovered the body?' he asked over his shoulder.
I assented, and joined him where he was studying the marks on the windowsill.
'The rubber studs are the same pattern as those in Captain Paton's shoes,' he said quietly.
Then he came back once more to the middle of the room. His eye travelled round, searching everything in the room with a quick, trained glance.
'Are you a man of good observation. Doctor Sheppard?' he asked at last.
T think so,' I said, surprised.
'There was a fire in the grate, I see. When you broke the door down and found Mr Ackroyd dead, how was the fire? Was it low?' I gave a vexed laugh.
T -1 really can't say. I didn't notice. Perhaps Mr Raymond or Major Blunt ' The little man opposite me shook his head with a faint smile.
'One must always proceed with method. I made an error of judgment in asking you that question. To each man his own knowledge. You could tell me the details of the patient's appearance - nothing there would escape you. If I wanted information about the papers on that desk, Mr Raymond would have noticed anything there was to see. To find out about the fire, I must ask the man whose business it is to observe such things. You permit ' He moved swiftly to the fireplace and rang the bell.
After a lapse of a minute or two Parker appeared.
'The bell rang, sir,' he said hesitatingly.
'Come in, Parker,' said Colonel Melrose. 'This gentleman wants to ask you something.' Parker transferred a respectful attention to Poirot.
'Parker,' said the little man, 'when you broke down the door with Dr Sheppard last night, and found your master dead, what was the state of the fire?' Parker replied without a pause.
'It had burned very low, sir.' It was almost out.' 'Ah!' said Poirot. The exclamation sounded almost triumphant. He went on: 'Look round you, my good Parker. Is this room exactly as it was then?' The butler's eye swept round. It came to rest on the windows.
'The curtains were drawn, sir, and the electric light was on.' Poirot nodded approval.
'Anything else?' 'Yes, sir, this chair was drawn out a little more.' He indicated a big grandfather chair to the left of the door between it and the window. I append a plan of the room with the chair in question marked with an X.
'Just show me,' said Poirot.
The butler drew the chair in question out a good two feet from the wall, turning it so that the seat faced the door.
'Voila ce qui est curieux,' murmured Poirot. 'No one would want to sit in a chair in such a position, I fancy. Now who pushed it back into place again, I wonder? Did you, my friend?' 'No, sir,' said Parker. 'I was too upset with seeing the master and all.' Poirot looked across at me.
'Did you, doctor?' I shook my head.
'It was back in position when I arrived with the police, sir,' put in Parker. 'I'm sure of that.' 'Curious,' said Poirot again.
'Raymond or Blunt must have pushed it back,' I suggested. 'Surely it isn't important?' 'It is completely unimportant,' said Poirot. 'That is why it is so interesting,' he added softly.
'Excuse me a minute,' said Colonel Melrose. He left the room with Parker.
'Do you think Parker is speaking the truth?' I asked.
'About the chair, yes. Otherwise I do not know. You will find, M. Ie docteur, if you have much to do with cases of this kind, that they all resemble each other in one thing.' 'What is that?' I asked curiously.
'Everyone concerned in them has something to hide.' 'Have I?' I asked, smiling.
Poirot looked at me attentively.
'I think you have,' he said quietly.
'But-' 'Have you told me everything known to you about this young man Paton?' He smiled as I grew red. 'Oh! do not fear. I will not press you. I shall learn it in good time.' 'I wish you'd tell me something of your methods,' I said hastily, to cover my confusion. 'The point about the fire, for instance?' 'Oh! that was very simple. You leave Mr Ackroyd at - ten minutes to nine, was it not?' 'Yes, exactly, I should say.' 'The window is then closed and bolted and the door unlocked. At a quater past ten when the body is discovered, the door is locked and the window is open. Who opened it?
Clearly only Mr Ackroyd himself could have done so, and for one of two reasons. Either because the room became unbearably hot but since the fire was nearly out and
there was a sharp drop in temperature last night, that cannot be the reason, or because he admitted someone that way. And if he admitted someone that way, it must have been someone well known to him, since he had previously shown himself uneasy on the subject of that same window.' 'It sounds very simple,' I said.
'Everything is simple, if you arrange the facts methodically. We are concerned now with the personality of the person who was with him at nine-thirty last night. Everything goes to show that that was the individual admitted by the window, and though Mr Ackroyd was seen alive later by Miss Flora, we cannot approach a solution of the mystery until we know wno that visitor was. The window may have been left open after his departure and so afforded entrance to the murderer, or the same person may have returned a second time. Ah! here is the colonel who returns.' Colonel Melrose entered with an animated manner.
'That telephone call has been traced at last,' he said. 'It did not come from here. It was put through to Dr Sheppard at 10.15 last night from a public call office at King's Abbot station. And at 10.23 the night mail leaves for Liverpool.'
CHAPTER 8 Inspector Raglan is Confident
We looked at each other.
'You'll have inquiries made at the station, of course?' I said.
'Naturally, but I'm not over sanguine as to the result.
You know what that station is like.' I did. King's Abbot is a mere village, but its station happens to be an important junction. Most of the big expresses stop there, and trains are shunted, re-sorted, and made up. It has two or three public telephone boxes. At that time of night, three local trains come in close upon each other, to catch the connection with the express for the north which comes in at 10.19 and leaves at 10.23. The whole place is in a bustle, and the chances of one particular person being noticed telephoning or getting into the express are very small indeed.
'But why telephone at all?' demanded Melrose. 'That is what I find so extraordinary. There seems no rhyme or reason in the thing.' Poirot carefully straightened a china ornament on one of the bookcases.
'Be sure there was a reason,' he said over his shoulder.
'But what reason could it be?' 'When we know that, we shall know everything. This case is very curious and very interesting.' There was something almost indescribable in the way he said those last words. I felt that he was looking at the case from some peculiar angle of his own, and what he saw I could not tell.
He went to the window and stood there looking out.
'You say it was nine o'clock, Dr Sheppard, when you met this stranger outside the gate?' He asked the question without turning round.
'Yes,' I replied. 'I heard the church clock chime the hour.' 'How long would it take him to reach the house - to reach this window, for instance?' 'Five minutes at the outside. Two or three minutes only if he took the path at the right of the drive and came straight here.' 'But to do that he would have to know the way. How can I explain myself? - it would mean that he had been here before - that he knew his surroundings.' 'That is true,' replied Colonel Melrose.
'We could find out, doubtless, if Mr Ackroyd had received any strangers during the past week?' 'Young Raymond could tell us that,' I said.
'Or Parker,' suggested Colonel Melrose.
'from tons les deux,' suggested Poirot, smiling.
Colonel Melrose went in search of Raymond, and I rang the bell once more for Parker.
Colonel Melrose returned almost immediately, accompanied by the young secretary, whom he introduced to Poirot. Geoffrey Raymond was fresh and debonair as ever. He seemed surprised and delighted to make Poirot's acquaintance.
'No idea you'd been living among us incognito, M.
Poirot,' he said. 'It will be a great privilege to watch you at work - Hallo, what's this?' Poirot had been standing just to the left of the door. Now he moved aside suddenly, and I saw that while my back was turned he must have swiftly drawn out the arm-chair till it stood in the position Parker had indicated.
'Want me to sit in the chair whilst you take a blood test?' asked Raymond good-humouredly. 'What's the idea?' 'M. Raymond, this chair was pulled out - so - last night when Mr Ackroyd was found killed. Someone moved it back again into place. Did you do so?' The secretary's reply came without a second's hesitation.
'No, indeed I didn't. I don't even remember that it was in that position, but it must have been if you say so. Anyway, somebody else must have moved it back to its proper place.
Have they destroyed a clue in doing so? Too bad!' 'It is of no consequence,' said the detective. 'Of no consequence whatever. What I really want to ask you is this, M.
Raymond: Did any stranger come to see Mr Ackroyd during this past week?' The secretary reflected for a minute or two, knitting his brows, and during the pause Parker appeared in answer to the bell.
'No,' said Raymond at last. 'I can't remember anyone.
Can you, Parker?' 'I beg your pardon, sir?' 'Any stranger coming to see Mr Ackroyd this week?' The butler reflected for a minute or two.
'There was the young man who came on Wednesday, sir,' he said at last. 'From Curtis and Troute, I understood he was.' Raymond moved this aside with an impatient hand.
'Oh! yes, I remember, but that is not the kind of stranger this gentleman means.' He turned to Poirot. 'Mr Ackroyd had some idea of purchasing a dictaphone,' he explained. 'It would have enabled us to get through a lot more work in a limited time. The firm in question sent down their representative, but nothing came of it. Mr Ackroyd did not make up his mind to purchase.' Poirot turned to the butler.
'Can you describe this young man to me, my good Parker?' 'He was fair-haired, sir, and short. Very neatly dressed in a blue serge suit. A very presentable young man, sir, for his station in life.' Poirot turned to me.
'The man you met outside the gate, doctor, was tall, was he not?' 'Yes,' I said. 'Somewhere about six feet, I should say.' 'There is nothing in that, then,' declared the Belgian. 'I thank you, Parker.' The butler spoke to Raymond.
'Mr Hammond has just arrived, sir,' he said. 'He is anxious to know if he can be of any service, and he would be glad to have a word with you.' 'I'll come at once,' said the young man. He hurried out.
Poirot looked inquiringly at the chief constable.
'The family solicitor, M. Poirot,' said the latter.
'It is a busy time for this young M. Raymond,' murmured M.
Poirot. 'He has the air efficient, that one.' 'I believe Mr Ackroyd considered him a most able secretary.' 'He has been here - how long?' 'Just on two years, I fancy.' 'His duties he fulfils punctiliously. Of that I am sure. In what manner does he amuse himself? Does he go in for Ie sporty 'Private secretaries haven't much time for that sort of thing,' said Colonel Melrose, smiling. 'Raymond plays golf, I believe.
And tennis in the summer time.' 'He does not attend the courses -1 should say the running of the horses?' 'Race meetings? No, I don't think he's interested in racing.' Poirot nodded and seemed to lose interest. He glanced slowly round the study.
'I have seen, I think, all that there is to be seen here.' I, too, looked round.
'If those walls could speak,' I murmured.
Poirot shook his head.
'A tongue is not enough,' he said. They would have to have also eyes and ears. But do not be too sure that these dead things' - he touched the top of the bookcase as he spoke - 'are always dumb. To me they speak sometimes - chairs, tables - they have their message!' He turned away towards the door.
'What message?' I cried. 'What have they said to you today?' He looked over his shoulder and raised one eyebrow quizzically.
'An opened window,' he said. 'A locked door. A chair that apparently moved itself. To all three I say "Why?" and I find no answer.' He shook his head, puffed out his chest, and stood blinking at us. He looked ridiculously full of his own importance.
It crossed my mind to wonder whether he was really any good as a detective. Had his big reputation been built up on a series of lucky chances?' I think the same thought must have occurred to Colonel Melr
ose, for he frowned.
'Anything more you want to see, M. Poirot?' he inquired brusquely.
'You would perhaps be so kind as to show me the silver table from which the weapon was taken? After that, I will trespass on your kindness no longer.' We went to the drawing-room, but on the way the constable waylaid the colonel, and after a muttered conversation the latter excused himself and left us together. I showed Poirot the silver table, and after raising the lid once or twice and letting it fall, he pushed open the window and stepped out on the terrace. I followed him.
Inspector Raglan had just turned the corner of the house, and was coming towards us. His face looked grim and satisfied.
Agatha Christie - Murder Of Roger Ackroyd Page 7
