The Secret Adversary

by Agatha Christie

  CHAPTER V. MR. JULIUS P. HERSHEIMMER

  “WELL,” said Tuppence, recovering herself, “it really seems as though itwere meant to be.”

  Carter nodded.

  “I know what you mean. I’m superstitious myself. Luck, and all that sortof thing. Fate seems to have chosen you out to be mixed up in this.”

  Tommy indulged in a chuckle.

  “My word! I don’t wonder Whittington got the wind up when Tuppenceplumped out that name! I should have myself. But look here, sir, we’retaking up an awful lot of your time. Have you any tips to give us beforewe clear out?”

  “I think not. My experts, working in stereotyped ways, have failed.You will bring imagination and an open mind to the task. Don’t bediscouraged if that too does not succeed. For one thing there is alikelihood of the pace being forced.”

  Tuppence frowned uncomprehendingly.

  “When you had that interview with Whittington, they had time beforethem. I have information that the big _coup_ was planned for early inthe new year. But the Government is contemplating legislative actionwhich will deal effectually with the strike menace. They’ll get wind ofit soon, if they haven’t already, and it’s possible that that may bringthings to a head. I hope it will myself. The less time they have tomature their plans the better. I’m just warning you that you haven’tmuch time before you, and that you needn’t be cast down if you fail.It’s not an easy proposition anyway. That’s all.”

  Tuppence rose.

  “I think we ought to be businesslike. What exactly can we count upon youfor, Mr. Carter?” Mr. Carter’s lips twitched slightly, but he repliedsuccinctly: “Funds within reason, detailed information on any point,and _no official recognition_. I mean that if you get yourselves intotrouble with the police, I can’t officially help you out of it. You’reon your own.”

  Tuppence nodded sagely.

  “I quite understand that. I’ll write out a list of the things I want toknow when I’ve had time to think. Now--about money----”

  “Yes, Miss Tuppence. Do you want to say how much?”

  “Not exactly. We’ve got plenty to go with for the present, but when wewant more----”

  “It will be waiting for you.”

  “Yes, but--I’m sure I don’t want to be rude about the Government ifyou’ve got anything to do with it, but you know one really has the devilof a time getting anything out of it! And if we have to fill up a blueform and send it in, and then, after three months, they send us a greenone, and so on--well, that won’t be much use, will it?”

  Mr. Carter laughed outright.

  “Don’t worry, Miss Tuppence. You will send a personal demand to me here,and the money, in notes, shall be sent by return of post. As to salary,shall we say at the rate of three hundred a year? And an equal sum forMr. Beresford, of course.”

  Tuppence beamed upon him.

  “How lovely. You are kind. I do love money! I’ll keep beautiful accountsof our expenses all debit and credit, and the balance on the right side,and red line drawn sideways with the totals the same at the bottom. Ireally know how to do it when I think.”

  “I’m sure you do. Well, good-bye, and good luck to you both.”

  He shook hands with them, and in another minute they were descending thesteps of 27 Carshalton Terrace with their heads in a whirl.

  “Tommy! Tell me at once, who is ‘Mr. Carter’?”

  Tommy murmured a name in her ear.

  “Oh!” said Tuppence, impressed.

  “And I can tell you, old bean, he’s IT!”

  “Oh!” said Tuppence again. Then she added reflectively,

  “I like him, don’t you? He looks so awfully tired and bored, and yet youfeel that underneath he’s just like steel, all keen and flashing. Oh!” She gave a skip. “Pinch me, Tommy, do pinch me. I can’t believe it’sreal!”

  Mr. Beresford obliged.

  “Ow! That’s enough! Yes, we’re not dreaming. We’ve got a job!”

  “And what a job! The joint venture has really begun.”

  “It’s more respectable than I thought it would be,” said Tuppencethoughtfully.

  “Luckily I haven’t got your craving for crime! What time is it? Let’shave lunch--oh!”

  The same thought sprang to the minds of each. Tommy voiced it first.

  “Julius P. Hersheimmer!”

  “We never told Mr. Carter about hearing from him.”

  “Well, there wasn’t much to tell--not till we’ve seen him. Come on, we’dbetter take a taxi.”

  “Now who’s being extravagant?”

  “All expenses paid, remember. Hop in.”

  “At any rate, we shall make a better effect arriving this way,” saidTuppence, leaning back luxuriously. “I’m sure blackmailers never arrivein buses!”

  “We’ve ceased being blackmailers,” Tommy pointed out.

  “I’m not sure I have,” said Tuppence darkly.

  On inquiring for Mr. Hersheimmer, they were at once taken up to hissuite. An impatient voice cried “Come in” in answer to the page-boy’sknock, and the lad stood aside to let them pass in.

  Mr. Julius P. Hersheimmer was a great deal younger than either Tommy orTuppence had pictured him. The girl put him down as thirty-five. Hewas of middle height, and squarely built to match his jaw. His face waspugnacious but pleasant. No one could have mistaken him for anything butan American, though he spoke with very little accent.

  “Get my note? Sit down and tell me right away all you know about mycousin.”

  “Your cousin?”

  “Sure thing. Jane Finn.”

  “Is she your cousin?”

  “My father and her mother were brother and sister,” explained Mr.Hersheimmer meticulously.

  “Oh!” cried Tuppence. “Then you know where she is?”

  “No!” Mr. Hersheimmer brought down his fist with a bang on the table.“I’m darned if I do! Don’t you?”

  “We advertised to receive information, not to give it,” said Tuppenceseverely.

  “I guess I know that. I can read. But I thought maybe it was her backhistory you were after, and that you’d know where she was now?”

  “Well, we wouldn’t mind hearing her back history,” said Tuppenceguardedly.

  But Mr. Hersheimmer seemed to grow suddenly suspicious.

  “See here,” he declared. “This isn’t Sicily! No demanding ransom orthreatening to crop her ears if I refuse. These are the British Isles,so quit the funny business, or I’ll just sing out for that beautiful bigBritish policeman I see out there in Piccadilly.”

  Tommy hastened to explain.

  “We haven’t kidnapped your cousin. On the contrary, we’re trying to findher. We’re employed to do so.”

  Mr. Hersheimmer leant back in his chair.

  “Put me wise,” he said succinctly.

  Tommy fell in with this demand in so far as he gave him a guardedversion of the disappearance of Jane Finn, and of the possibility of herhaving been mixed up unawares in “some political show.” He alluded toTuppence and himself as “private inquiry agents” commissioned to findher, and added that they would therefore be glad of any details Mr.Hersheimmer could give them.

  That gentleman nodded approval.

  “I guess that’s all right. I was just a mite hasty. But London gets mygoat! I only know little old New York. Just trot out your questions andI’ll answer.”

  For the moment this paralysed the Young Adventurers, but Tuppence,recovering herself, plunged boldly into the breach with a reminiscenceculled from detective fiction.

  “When did you last see the dece--your cousin, I mean?”

  “Never seen her,” responded Mr. Hersheimmer.

  “What?” demanded Tommy, astonished.

  Hersheimmer turned to him.

  “No, sir. As I said before, my father and her mother were brother andsister, just as you might be”--Tommy did not correct this view of theirrelationship--“but they didn’t always get on together. And when my auntmade up her mind to marry Amos Fi
nn, who was a poor school teacher outWest, my father was just mad! Said if he made his pile, as he seemedin a fair way to do, she’d never see a cent of it. Well, the upshot wasthat Aunt Jane went out West and we never heard from her again.

  “The old man _did_ pile it up. He went into oil, and he went into steel,and he played a bit with railroads, and I can tell you he made WallStreet sit up!” He paused. “Then he died--last fall--and I got thedollars. Well, would you believe it, my conscience got busy! Keptknocking me up and saying: What about your Aunt Jane, way out West? Itworried me some. You see, I figured it out that Amos Finn would nevermake good. He wasn’t the sort. End of it was, I hired a man to hunt herdown. Result, she was dead, and Amos Finn was dead, but they’d left adaughter--Jane--who’d been torpedoed in the _Lusitania_ on her way toParis. She was saved all right, but they didn’t seem able to hear of herover this side. I guessed they weren’t hustling any, so I thought I’dcome along over, and speed things up. I phoned Scotland Yard and theAdmiralty first thing. The Admiralty rather choked me off, but ScotlandYard were very civil--said they would make inquiries, even sent a manround this morning to get her photograph. I’m off to Paris to-morrow,just to see what the Prefecture is doing. I guess if I go to and frohustling them, they ought to get busy!”

  The energy of Mr. Hersheimmer was tremendous. They bowed before it.

  “But say now,” he ended, “you’re not after her for anything? Contempt ofcourt, or something British? A proud-spirited young American girl mightfind your rules and regulations in war time rather irksome, and get upagainst it. If that’s the case, and there’s such a thing as graft inthis country, I’ll buy her off.”

  Tuppence reassured him.

  “That’s good. Then we can work together. What about some lunch? Shall wehave it up here, or go down to the restaurant?”

  Tuppence expressed a preference for the latter, and Julius bowed to herdecision.

  Oysters had just given place to Sole Colbert when a card was brought toHersheimmer.

  “Inspector Japp, C.I.D. Scotland Yard again. Another man this time. Whatdoes he expect I can tell him that I didn’t tell the first chap? I hopethey haven’t lost that photograph. That Western photographer’s place wasburned down and all his negatives destroyed--this is the only copy inexistence. I got it from the principal of the college there.”

  An unformulated dread swept over Tuppence.

  “You--you don’t know the name of the man who came this morning?”

  “Yes, I do. No, I don’t. Half a second. It was on his card. Oh, I know!Inspector Brown. Quiet, unassuming sort of chap.”