One, Two, Buckle My Shoe Part 3

She repeated more than once: 'I simplycannot believe it! It seems quite incredible that Mr Morley should do such a thing!'

She was emphatic that he had not seemed troubled or worried in any way. Then j.a.pp began: 'You were called away today, Miss Nevill-'

She interrupted him.

'Yes, and the whole thing was a wicked practical joke! I do think it's awful of people to do things like that. I really do.'

'What do you mean, Miss Nevill?'

'Why, there wasn't anything the matter with Aunt at all. She'd never been better. She couldn't understand it when I suddenly turned up. Of course I was ever so glad-but it did make me mad. Sending a telegram like that and upsetting me and everything.'

'Have you got that telegram, Miss Nevill?'

'I threw it away, I think, at the station. It just said,Your aunt had a stroke last night. Please come at once .'

'You are quite sure-well-' j.a.pp coughed delicately-'that it wasn't your friend, Mr Carter, who sent that telegram?'

'Frank? Whatever for? Oh! I see, you mean-a put-up job between us? No, indeed, Inspector-neither of us would do such a thing.'

Her indignation seemed genuine enough and j.a.pp had a little trouble in soothing her down. But a question as to the patients on this particular morning restored her to her competent self.

'They are all here in the book. I dare say you have seen it already. I know about most of them. Ten o'clock, Mrs Soames-that was about her new plate. Ten-thirty, Lady Grant-she's an elderly lady-lives in Lowndes Square. Eleven o'clock, M. Hercule Poirot, he comes regularly-oh, of course thisis him-sorry, M. Poirot, but I really amso upset! Eleven-thirty, Mr Alistair Blunt-that's the banker, you know-a short appointment, because Mr Morley had prepared the filling last time. Then Miss Sainsbury Seale-she rang up specially-had toothache and so Mr Morley fitted her in. A terrible talker, she is, never stops-the fussy kind, too. Then twelve o'clock, Mr Amberiotis-he was a new patient-made an appointment from the Savoy Hotel. Mr Morley gets quite a lot of foreigners and Americans. Then twelve-thirty, Miss Kirby. She comes up from Worthing.'

Poirot asked: 'There was here when I arrived a tall military gentleman. Who would he be?'

'One of Mr Reilly's patients, I expect. I'll just get his list for you, shall I?'

'Thank you, Miss Nevill.'

She was absent only a few minutes. She returned with a similar book to that of Mr Morley. She read out: 'Ten o'clock, Betty Heath (that's a little girl of nine). Eleven o'clock, Colonel Abercrombie.'

'Abercrombie!' murmured Poirot. 'C'etait ca!'

'Eleven-thirty, Mr Howard Raikes. Twelve o'clock, Mr Barnes. That was all the patients this morning. Mr Reilly isn't so booked up as Mr Morley, of course.'

'Can you tell us anything about any of these patients of Mr Reilly's?'

'Colonel Abercrombie has been a patient for a long time, and all Mrs Heath's children come to Mr Reilly. I can't tell you anything about Mr Raikes or Mr Barnes, though I fancy I have heard their names. I take all the telephone calls, you see-'

j.a.pp said: 'We can ask Mr Reilly ourselves. I should like to see him as soon as possible.'

Miss Nevill went out. j.a.pp said to Poirot: 'All old patients of Mr Morley's.e.xcept Amberiotis . I'm going to have an interesting talk with Mr Amberiotis presently. He's the last person, as it stands, to see Morley alive, and we've got to make quite sure that when he last saw him, Morleywas alive.'

Poirot said slowly, shaking his head: 'You have still to prove motive.'

'I know. That's what is going to be the teaser. But we may have something about Amberiotis at the Yard.' He added sharply: 'You're very thoughtful, Poirot!'

'I was wondering about something.'

'What was it?'

Poirot said with a faint smile: 'Why Chief Inspector j.a.pp?'

'Eh?'

'I said, "Why Chief Inspector j.a.pp?" An officer of your eminence-is he usually called in to a case of suicide?'

'As a matter of fact, I happened to be nearby at the time. At Lavenham's-in Wigmore Street. Rather an ingenious system of frauds they've had there. They telephoned me there to come on here.'

'Butwhy did they telephone you?'

'Oh, that-that's simple enough. Alistair Blunt. As soon as the Divisional Inspector heardhe'd been here this morning, he got on to the Yard. Mr Blunt is the kind of person we take care of in this country.'

'You mean that there are people who would like him-out of the way?'

'You bet there are. The Reds, to begin with-and our Blackshirted friends, too. It's Blunt and his group who are standing solid behind the present Government. Good sound Conservative finance. That's why, if there were the least chance that there was any funny stuff intended against him this morning, they wanted a thorough investigation.'

Poirot nodded.

'That is what I more or less guessed. And that is the feeling I have'-he waved his hands expressively-'that there was, perhaps-ahitch of some kind. The proper victim was-should have been-Alistair Blunt. Or is this only a beginning-the beginning of a campaign of some kind? I smell-I smell-' he sniffed the air, '-big money in this business!'

j.a.pp said: 'You're a.s.suming a lot, you know.'

'I am suggesting thatce pauvre Morley was only a p.a.w.n in the game. Perhaps he knew something-perhaps he told Blunt something-or they feared hewould tell Blunt something-'

He stopped as Gladys Nevill entered the room.

'Mr Reilly is busy on an extraction case,' she said. 'He will be free in about ten minutes if that will be all right?'

j.a.pp said that it would. In the meantime, he said, he would have another talk to the boy Alfred. V V Alfred was divided between nervousness, enjoyment, and a morbid fear of being blamed for everything that had occurred! He had only been a fortnight in Mr Morley's employment, and during that fortnight he had consistently and unvaryingly done everything wrong. Persistent blame had sapped his self-confidence.

'He was a bit rattier than usual, perhaps,' said Alfred in answer to a question, 'nothing else as I can remember. I'd never have thought he was going to do himself in.'

Poirot interposed.

'You must tell us,' he said, 'everything that you can remember about this morning. You are a very important witness, and your recollections may be of immense service to us.'

Alfred's face was suffused by vivid crimson and his chest swelled. He had already given j.a.pp a brief account of the morning's happenings. He proposed now to spread himself. A comforting sense of importance oozed into him.

'I can tell you orl right,' he said. 'Just you ask me.'

'To begin with, did anything out of the way happen this morning?'

Alfred reflected a minute and then said rather sadly: 'Can't say as it did. It was orl just as usual.'

'Did any strangers come to the house?'

'No, sir.'

'Not even among the patients?'

'I didn't know as you meant the patients. n.o.body come what hadn't got an appointment, if that's what you mean. They were all down in the book.'

j.a.pp nodded. Poirot asked: 'Could anybody have walked in from outside?'

'No, they couldn't. They'd have to have a key, see?'

'But it was quite easy to leave the house?'

'Oh, yes, just turn the handle and go out and pull the door to after you. As I was saying most of 'em do. They often come down the stairs while I'm taking up the next party in the lift, see?'

'I see. Now just tell us who came first this morning and so on. Describe them if you can't remember their names.'

Alfred reflected a minute. Then he said: 'Lady with a little girl, that was for Mr Reilly and a Mrs Soap or some such name for Mr Morley.'

Poirot said: 'Quite right. Go on.'

'Then another elderly lady-bit of a toff she was-come in a Daimler. As she went out a tall military gent come in, and just after him,you came,' he nodded to Poirot.

'Right.'

'Then the American gent came-'

j.a.pp said sharply: 'American?'

'Yes, sir. Young fellow. He was American all right-you could tell by his voice. Come early, he did. His appointment wasn't till eleven-thirty-and what's more he didn't keep it-neither.'

j.a.pp said sharply: 'What's that?'

'Not him. Come in for him when Mr Reilly's buzzer went at eleven-thirty-a bit later it was, as a matter of fact, might have been twenty to twelve-and he wasn't there. Must have funked it and gone away.'

He added with a knowledgeable air, 'They do sometimes.'

Poirot said: 'Then he must have gone out soon after me?'

'That's right, sir. You went out after I'd taken up a toff what come in a Rolls. Coo-it was a loverly car, Mr Blunt-eleven-thirty. Then I come down and let you out, and a lady in. Miss Some Berry Seal, or something like that-and then I-well, as a matter of fact I just nipped down to the kitchen to get my elevenses, and when I was down there the buzzer went-Mr Reilly's buzzer-so I come up and, as I say, the American gentleman had hooked it. I went and told Mr Reilly and he swore a bit, as is his way.'

Poirot said: 'Continue.'

'Lemme see, what happened next? Oh, yes, Mr Morley's buzzer went for that Miss Seal, and the toff came down and went out as I took Miss Whatsername up in the lift. Then I come down again and two gentlemen came-one a little man with a funny squeaky voice-I can't remember his name. For Mr Reilly, he was. And a fat foreign gentleman for Mr Morley.

'Miss Seal wasn't very long-not above a quarter of an hour. I let her out and then I took up the foreign gentleman. I'd already taken the other gent into Mr Reilly right away as soon as he came.'

j.a.pp said: 'And you didn't see Mr Amberiotis, the foreign gentleman, leave?'

'No, sir, I can't say as I did. He must have let himself out. I didn't see either of those two gentlemen go.'

'Where were you from twelve o'clock onwards?'

'I always sit in the lift, sir, waiting until the front-door bell or one of the buzzers goes.'

Poirot said: 'And you were perhaps reading?'

Alfred blushed again.

'There ain't no harm in that, sir. It's not as though I could be doing anything else.'

'Quite so. What were you reading?'

'Death at Eleven-Forty-Five, sir. It's an American detective story. It's a corker, sir, it really is! All about gunmen.'

Poirot smiled faintly. He said: 'Would you hear the front door close from where you were?'

'You mean anyone going out? I don't think I should, sir. What I mean is, I shouldn'tnotice it! You see, the lift is right at the back of the hall and a little round the corner. The bell rings just behind it, and the buzzers too. You can't missthem .'

Poirot nodded and j.a.pp asked: 'What happened next?'

Alfred frowned in a supreme effort of memory.

'Only the last lady, Miss Shirty. I waited for Mr Morley's buzzer to go, but nothing happened and at one o'clock the lady who was waiting, she got rather ratty.'

'It did not occur to you to go up before and see if Mr Morley was ready?'

Alfred shook his head very positively.

'Not me, sir. I wouldn't have dreamed of it. For all I knew the last gentleman was still up there. I'd got to wait for the buzzer. Of course if I'd knowed as Mr Morley had done himself in-'

Alfred shook his head with morbid relish.

Poirot asked: 'Did the buzzer usually go before the patient came down, or the other way about?'

'Depends. Usually the patient would come down the stairs and then the buzzer would go. If they rang for the lift, that buzzer would go perhaps as I was bringing them down. But it wasn't fixed in any way. Sometimes Mr Morley would be a few minutes before he rang for the next patient. If he was in a hurry, he'd ring as soon as they were out of the room.'

'I see-' Poirot paused and then went on: 'Were you surprised at Mr Morley's suicide, Alfred?'

'Knocked all of a heap, I was. He hadn't no call to go doing himself in as far asI can see-oh!' Alfred's eyes grew large and round. 'Oo-er-he wasn'tmurdered , was he?'

Poirot cut in before j.a.pp could speak.

'Supposing he were, would it surprise you less?'

'Well, I don't know, sir, I'm sure. I can't see who'd want to murder Mr Morley. He was-well, he was a veryordinary gentleman, sir. Was hereally murdered, sir?'

Poirot said gravely: 'We have to take every possibility into account. That is why I told you you would be a very important witness and that you must try and recollect everything that happened this morning.'

He stressed the words and Alfred frowned with a prodigious effort of memory.

'I can't think of anything else, sir. I can't indeed.'