Death in the Clouds hp-12

by Agatha Christie

  "Come now, monsieur, would you say this little affair of ours is dull as ditch water?"

  "No," admitted Mr Clancy. "Sometimes, you know, I can't believe it really happened."

  Poirot drew the creaking chair a little nearer to his host. His voice lowered itself confidentially:

  "Mr Clancy, you are a man of brains and imagination. The police, as you say, have regarded you with suspicion; they have not sought your advice. But I, Hercule Poirot, desire to consult you."

  Mr Clancy flushed with pleasure.

  "I'm sure that's very nice of you."

  He looked flustered and pleased.

  "You have studied the criminology. Your ideas will be of value. It would be of great interest to me to know who, in your opinion, committed the crime."

  "Well -" Mr Clancy hesitated, reached automatically for a banana and began to eat it. Then, the animation dying out of his face, he shook his head, "You see, M. Poirot, it's an entirely different thing. When you're writing you can make it anyone you like, but of course in real life there is a real person. You haven't any command over the facts. I'm afraid, you know, that I'd be absolutely no good as a real detective."

  He shook his head sadly and threw the banana skin into the grate.

  "It might be amusing, however, to consider the case together," suggested Poirot.

  "Oh, that, yes."

  "To begin with, supposing you had to make a sporting guess, who would you choose?"

  "Oh, well, I suppose one of the two Frenchmen."

  "Now, why?"

  "Well, she was French. It seems more likely somehow. And they were sitting on the opposite side not too far away from her. But really I don't know."

  "It depends," said Poirot thoughtfully, "so much on motive."

  "Of course, of course. I suppose you tabulate all the motives very scientifically?"

  "I am old-fashioned in my methods. I follow the old adage, 'Seek whom the crime benefits.'"

  "That's all very well," said Mr Clancy. "But I take it that's a little difficult in a case like this. There's a daughter who comes into money, so I've heard. But a lot of the people on board might benefit, for all we know – that is, if they owed her money and haven't got to pay it back."

  "True," said Poirot. "And I can think of other solutions. Let us suppose that Madame Giselle knew of something – attempted murder, shall we say – on the part of one of those people."

  "Attempted murder?" said Mr Clancy. "Now why attempted murder? What a very curious suggestion."

  "In cases such as these," said Poirot, "one must think of everything."

  "Ah!" said Mr Clancy. "But it's no good thinking. You've got to know."

  "You have reason – you have reason. A very just observation."

  Then he said:

  "I ask your pardon, but this blowpipe that you bought -"

  "Damn that blowpipe," said Mr Clancy. "I wish I'd never mentioned it."

  "You bought it, you say, at a shop in the Charing Cross Road? Do you, by any chance, remember the name of that shop?"

  "Well," said Mr Clancy, "it might have been Absolom's – or there's Mitchell Smith. I don't know. But I've already told all this to that pestilential inspector. He must have checked up on it by this time."

  "Ah!" said Poirot. "But I ask for quite another reason. I desire to purchase such a thing and make a little experiment."

  "Oh, I see. But I don't know that you'll find one all the same. They don't keep sets of them, you know."

  "All the same, I can try… Perhaps, Miss Grey, you would be so obliging as to take down those two names?"

  Jane opened her notebook and rapidly performed a series of – she hoped – professional-looking squiggles. Then she surreptitiously wrote the names in longhand on the reverse side of the sheet, in case these instructions of Poirot's should be genuine.

  "And now," said Poirot, "I have trespassed on your time too long. I will take my departure with a thousand thanks for your amiability."

  "Not at all. Not at all," said Mr Clancy. "I wish you would have had a banana."

  "You are most amiable."

  "Not at all. As a matter of fact, I'm feeling rather happy tonight. I'd been held up in a short story I was writing – the thing wouldn't pan out properly, and I couldn't get a good name for the criminal. I wanted something with a flavor. Well, just a bit of luck I saw just the name I wanted over a butcher's shop. Pargiter. Just the name I was looking for. There's a sort of genuine sound to it – and about five minutes later I got the other thing. There's always the same snag in stories. Why won't the girl speak? The young man tries to make her and she says her lips are sealed. There's never any real reason, of course, why she shouldn't blurt out the whole thing at once, but you have to try and think of something that's not too definitely idiotic. Unfortunately, it has to be a different thing every time!"

  He smiled gently at Jane.

  "The trials of an author!"

  He darted past her to a bookcase.

  "One thing you must allow me to give you."

  He came back with a book in his hand.

  "'The Clue of the Scarlet Petal.' I think I mentioned at Croydon that that book of mine dealt with arrow poison and native darts."

  "A thousand thanks. You are too amiable."

  "Not at all. I see," said Mr Clancy suddenly to Jane, "that you don't use the Pitman system of shorthand."

  Jane flushed scarlet. Poirot came to her rescue:

  "Miss Grey is very up-to-date. She uses the most recent system invented by a Czechoslovakian."

  "You don't say so? What an amazing place Czechoslovakia must be. Everything seems to come from there – shoes, glass, gloves, and now a shorthand system. Quite amazing."

  He shook hands with them both.

  "I wish I could have been more helpful."

  They left him in the littered room smiling wistfully after them.

  Chapter 16

  From Mr Clancy's house they took a taxi to the Monseigneur, where they found Norman Gale awaiting them.

  Poirot ordered some consommé and a chaud-froid of chicken.

  "Well," said Norman, "how did you get on?"

  "Miss Grey," said Poirot, "has proved herself the supersecretary."

  "I don't think I did so very well," said Jane. "He spotted my stuff when he passed behind me. You know, he must be very observant."

  "Ah, you noticed that? This good Mr Clancy is not quite so absent-minded as one might imagine."

  "Did you really want those addresses?" asked Jane.

  "I think they might be useful, yes."

  "But if the police -"

  "Ah, the police! I should not ask the same questions as the police have asked. Though, as a matter of fact, I doubt whether the police have asked any questions at all. You see, they know that the blow-pipe found in the plane was purchased in Paris by an American."

  "In Paris? An American? But there wasn't any American in the aeroplane."

  Poirot smiled kindly on her.

  "Precisely. We have here an American just to make it more difficult. Voilа tout."

  "But it was bought by a man?" said Norman.

  Poirot looked at him with rather an odd expression.

  "Yes," he said, "it was bought by a man."

  Norman looked puzzled.

  "Anyway," said Jane, "it wasn't Mr Clancy. He'd got one blowpipe already, so he wouldn't want to go about buying another."

  Poirot nodded his head.

  "That is how one must proceed. Suspect everyone in turn and then wipe him or her off the list."

  "How many have you wiped off so far?" asked Jane.

  "Not so many as you might think, mademoiselle," said Poirot with a twinkle. "It depends, you see, on the motive."

  "Has there been -" Norman Gale stopped, and then added apologetically: "I don't want to butt in on official secrets, but is there no record of this woman's dealings?"

  Poirot shook his head.

  "All the records are burned."

  "That's unf
ortunate."

  "Évidemment! But it seems that Madame Giselle combined a little blackmailing with her profession of money lending, and that opens up a wider field. Supposing, for instance, that Madame Giselle had knowledge of a certain criminal offense – say, attempted murder on the part of someone."

  "Is there any reason to suppose such a thing?"

  "Why, yes," said Poirot slowly, "there is. One of the few pieces of documentary evidence that we have in this case."

  He looked from one to the other of their interested faces and gave a little sigh.

  "Ah, well," he said. "That is that. Let us talk of other matters – for instance, of how this tragedy has affected the lives of you two young people."

  "It sounds horrible to say so, but I've done well out of it," said Jane.

  She related her rise of salary.

  "As you say, mademoiselle, you have done well, but probably only for the time being. Even a nine days' wonder does not last longer than nine days, remember."

  Jane laughed.

  "That's very true."

  "I'm afraid it's going to last more than nine days in my case," said Norman.

  He explained the position. Poirot listened sympathetically.

  "As you say," he observed thoughtfully, "it will take more than nine days, or nine weeks, or nine months. Sensationalism dies quickly, fear is long-lived."

  "Do you think I ought to stick it out?"

  "Have you any other plan?"

  "Yes. Chuck up the whole thing. Go out to Canada or somewhere and start again."

  "I'm sure that would be a pity," said Jane firmly.

  Norman looked at her.

  Poirot tactfully became engrossed with his chicken.

  "I don't want to go," said Norman.

  "If I discover who killed Madame Giselle, you will not have to go," said Poirot cheerfully.

  "Do you really think you will?" asked Jane.

  Poirot looked at her reproachfully.

  "If one approaches a problem with order and method, there should be no difficulty in solving it; none whatever," said Poirot severely.

  "Oh, I see," said Jane, who didn't.

  "But I should solve this problem quicker if I had help," said Poirot.

  "What kind of help?"

  Poirot did not speak for a moment or two. Then he said:

  "Help from Mr Gale. And perhaps, later, help from you also."

  "What can I do?" asked Norman.

  Poirot shot a sideways glance at him.

  "You will not like it," he said warningly.

  "What is it?" repeated the young man impatiently.

  Very delicately, so as not to offend English susceptibilities, Poirot used a toothpick. Then he said:

  "Frankly, what I need is a blackmailer."

  "A blackmailer?" exclaimed Norman. He stared at Poirot as a man does who cannot believe his ears.

  Poirot nodded.

  "Precisely," he said. "A blackmailer."

  "But what for?"

  "Parbleu! To blackmail."

  "Yes, but I mean, who? Why?"

  "Why," said Poirot, "is my business. As to who -" He paused for a moment, then went on in a calm businesslike tone:

  "Here is the plan I will outline for you. You will write a note – that is to say, I will write a note and you will copy it – to the Countess of Horbury. You will mark it Personal. In the note you will ask for an interview. You will recall yourself to her memory as having traveled to England by air on a certain occasion. You will also refer to certain business dealings of Madame Giselle's having passed into your hands."

  "And then?"

  "And then you will be accorded an interview. You will go and you will say certain things – in which I will instruct you. You will ask for – let me see – ten thousand pounds."

  "You're mad!"

  "Not at all," said Poirot. "I am eccentric, possibly, but mad, no."

  "And suppose Lady Horbury sends for the police. I shall go to prison."

  "She will not send for the police."

  "You can't know that."

  "Mon cher, practically speaking, I know everything!"

  "And anyway I don't like it."

  "You will not get the ten thousand pounds – if that makes your conscience any clearer," said Poirot with a twinkle.

  "Yes, but look here, M. Poirot; this is the sort of wildcat scheme that might ruin me for life."

  "Ta-ta-ta. The lady will not go to the police – that I assure you."

  "She may tell her husband."

  "She will not tell her husband."

  "I don't like it."

  "Do you like losing your patients and ruining your career?"

  "No, but -"

  Poirot smiled at him kindly.

  "You have the natural repugnance, yes? That is very natural. You have, too, the chivalrous spirit. But I can assure you that Lady Horbury is not worth all this fine feeling; to use your idiom, she is a very nasty piece of goods."

  "All the same, she can't be a murderess."

  "Why?"

  "Why? Because we should have seen her. Jane and I were sitting just opposite."

  "You have too many preconceived ideas. Me, I desire to straighten things out, and to do that, I must know."

  "I don't like the idea of blackmailing a woman."

  "Ah, mon Dieu, what there is in a word! There will be no blackmail. You have only to produce a certain effect. After that, when the ground is prepared, I will step in."

  Norman said:

  "If you land me in prison -"

  "No, no, no. I am very well known at Scotland Yard. If anything should occur, I will take the blame. But nothing will occur other than what I have prophesied."

  Norman surrendered with a sigh.

  "All right. I'll do it. But I don't half like it."

  "Good. This is what you will write. Take a pencil."

  He dictated slowly.

  "Voilа," he said. "Later I will instruct you as to what you are to say… Tell me, mademoiselle, do you ever go to the theater?"

  "Yes, fairly often," said Jane.

  "Good. Have you seen, for instance, a play called 'Down Under'?"

  "Yes. I saw it about a month ago. It's rather good."

  "An American play, is it not?"

  "Yes."

  "Do you remember the part of Harry, played by Mr Raymond Barraclough?"

  "Yes. He was very good."

  "You thought him attractive? Yes?"

  "Frightfully attractive."

  "Ah, il est sex appeal?"

  "Decidedly," said Jane, laughing.

  "Just that, or is he a good actor as well?"

  "Oh, I think he acts well too."

  "I must go and see him," said Poirot.

  Jane stared at him, puzzled.

  What an odd little man he was, hopping from subject to subject like a bird from one branch to another.

  Perhaps he read her thoughts. He smiled.

  "You do not approve of me, mademoiselle? Of my methods?"

  "You jump about a good deal."

  "Not really. I pursue my course logically, with order and method. One must not jump wildly to a conclusion. One must eliminate."

  "Eliminate?" said Jane. "Is that what you're doing?" She thought a moment. "I see. You've eliminated Mr Clancy."

  "Perhaps," said Poirot.

  "And you've eliminated us, and now you're going, perhaps to eliminate Lady Horbury… Oh!"

  She stopped as a sudden thought struck her.

  "What is it, mademoiselle?"

  "That talk of attempted murder? Was that a test?"

  "You are very quick, mademoiselle. Yes, that was part of the course I pursue. I mention attempted murder and I watch Mr Clancy, I watch you, I watch Mr Gale – and in neither of you three is there any sign, not so much as the flicker of an eyelash. And let me tell you that I could not be deceived on that point. A murderer can be ready to meet any attack that he foresees. But that entry in a little notebook could not have been known to any o
f you. So, you see, I am satisfied."

  "What a horrible tricky sort of person you are, M. Poirot," said Jane. "I shall never know why you are saying things."

  "That is quite simple. I want to find out things."

  "I suppose you've got very clever ways of finding out things?"

  "There is only one really simple way."

  "What is that?"

  "To let people tell you."

  Jane laughed. "Suppose they don't want to?"

  "Everyone likes talking about themselves."

  "I suppose they do," admitted Jane.

  "That is how many a quack makes a fortune. He encourages patients to come and sit and tell him things – how they fell out of the perambulator when they were two, and how their mother ate a pear and the juice fell on her orange dress, and how, when they were one and a half, they pulled their father's beard; and then he tells them that now they will not suffer from the insomnia any longer, and he takes two guineas, and they go away, having enjoyed themselves, oh, so much – and perhaps they do sleep."

  "How ridiculous," said Jane.

  "No, it is not so ridiculous as you think. It is based on a fundamental need of human nature – the need to talk, to reveal oneself. You yourself, mademoiselle, do you not like to dwell on your childhood memories? On your mother and your father?"

  "That doesn't apply in my case. I was brought up in an orphanage."

  "Ah, that is different. It is not gay, that."

  "I don't mean that we were the kind of charity orphans who go out in scarlet bonnets and cloaks. It was quite fun, really."

  "It was in England?"

  "No, in Ireland, near Dublin."

  "So you are Irish. That is why you have the dark hair and the blue-gray eyes with the look -"

  "- as though they had been put in with a smutty finger," Norman finished with amusement.

  "Comment? What is that you say?"

  "That is a saying about Irish eyes – that they have been put in with a smutty finger."

  "Really? It is not elegant, that. And yet, it expresses it well." He bowed to Jane. "The effect is very good, mademoiselle."

  Jane laughed as she got up.