Black Coffee

by Agatha Christie

  ‘Oh, no,’ replied Caroline Amory. ‘She came into this room. I settled her here on the sofa, and then I went back to the dining-room, leaving Richard with her. Young husbands and wives, you know, Monsieur Poirot! Not that young men are nearly so romantic as they used to be when I was a girl! Oh dear! I remember a young fellow called Aloysius Jones. We used to play croquet together. Foolish fellow – foolish fellow! But there, I’m wandering from the point again. We were talking about Richard and Lucia. A very handsome couple they make, don’t you think so, Monsieur Poirot? He met her in Italy, you know – on the Italian lakes – last November. It was love at first sight. They were married within a week. She was an orphan, alone in the world. Very sad, although I sometimes wonder whether it wasn’t a blessing in disguise. If she’d had a lot of foreign relations – that would be a bit trying, don’t you think? After all, you know what foreigners are! They – oh!’ She suddenly broke off, turning in her chair to look at Poirot in embarrassed dismay. ‘Oh, I do beg your pardon!’

  ‘Not at all, not at all,’ murmured Poirot, with an amused glance at Hastings.

  ‘So stupid of me,’ Miss Amory apologized, highly flustered. ‘I didn’t mean – of course, it’s so different in your case. “Les braves Belges”, as we used to say during the war.’

  ‘Please, do not concern yourself,’ Poirot assured her. After a pause, he continued, as though her mention of the war had reminded him, ‘I believe – that is – I understand that the box of drugs above the bookcase is a relic of the war. You were all examining it last night, were you not?’

  ‘Yes, that’s right. So we were.’

  ‘Now, how did that come about?’ enquired Poirot.

  Miss Amory considered for a moment, before replying. ‘Now, how did it happen? Ah, yes, I remember. I said I wished I had some sal volatile, and Barbara got the box down to look through it, and then the gentlemen came in, and Dr Carelli frightened me to death with the things he said.’

  Hastings began to show great interest in the turn being taken by the discussion, and Poirot prompted Miss Amory to continue. ‘You mean the things Dr Carelli said about the drugs? He looked through them and examined them thoroughly, I suppose?’

  ‘Yes,’ Miss Amory confirmed, ‘and he held one glass tube up, something with a most innocent name – bromide, I think – which I have often taken for sea-sickness – and he said it would kill twelve strong men!’

  ‘Hyoscine hydrobromide?’ asked Poirot.

  ‘I beg your pardon?’

  ‘Was it hyoscine hydrobromide that Dr Carelli was referring to?’

  ‘Yes, yes, that was it,’ Miss Amory exclaimed. ‘How clever of you! And then Lucia took it from him, and repeated something he had said – about a dreamless sleep. I detest this modern neurotic poetry. I always say that, ever since dear Lord Tennyson died, no one has written poetry of any –’

  ‘Oh dear,’ muttered Poirot.

  ‘I beg your pardon?’ asked Miss Amory.

  ‘Ah, I was just thinking of the dear Lord Tennyson. But please go on. What happened next?’

  ‘Next?’

  ‘You were telling us about last night. Here, in this room –’

  ‘Ah, yes. Well, Barbara wanted to put on an extremely vulgar song. On the gramophone, I mean. Fortunately, I stopped her.’

  ‘I see,’ murmured Poirot. ‘And this little tube that the doctor held up – was it full?’

  ‘Oh, yes,’ Miss Amory replied without hesitation. ‘Because, when the doctor made his quotation about dreamless sleep, he said that half the tablets in the tube would be sufficient.’

  Miss Amory got up from her chair, and moved away from the table. ‘You know, Monsieur Poirot,’ she continued as Poirot rose to join her, ‘I’ve said all along that I didn’t like that man. That Dr Carelli. There’s something about him – not sincere – and so oily in manner. Of course, I couldn’t say anything in front of Lucia, since he is supposed to be a friend of hers, but I did not like him. You see, Lucia is so trusting! I’m certain that the man must have wormed his way into her confidence with a view to getting asked to the house and stealing the formula.’

  Poirot regarded Miss Amory quizzically before he asked, ‘You have no doubt, then, that it was Dr Carelli who stole Sir Claud’s formula?’

  Miss Amory looked at the detective in surprise. ‘Dear Monsieur Poirot!’ she exclaimed. ‘Who else could have done so? He was the only stranger present. Naturally, my brother would not have liked to accuse a guest, so he made an opportunity for the document to be returned. I thought it was very delicately done. Very delicately indeed!’

  ‘Quite so,’ Poirot agreed tactfully, putting a friendly arm around Miss Amory’s shoulder, to that lady’s evident displeasure. ‘Now, mademoiselle, I am going to try a little experiment in which I would like your co-operation.’ He removed his arm from her. ‘Where were you sitting last night when the lights went out?’

  ‘There!’ Miss Amory declared, indicating the settee.

  ‘Then, would you be so good as to sit there once again?’

  Miss Amory moved to the settee, and sat. ‘Now, mademoiselle,’ announced Poirot, ‘I want you to make a strong effort of the imagination! Shut your eyes, if you please.’

  Miss Amory did as she was asked. ‘That is right,’ Poirot continued. ‘Now, imagine that you are back again where you were last night. It is dark. You can see nothing. But you can hear. Throw yourself back.’

  Interpreting his words literally, Miss Amory flung herself backwards on the settee. ‘No, no,’ said Poirot. ‘I mean, throw your mind back. What can you hear? That is right, cast your mind back. Now, tell me what you hear in the darkness.’

  Impressed by the detective’s evident earnestness, Miss Amory made an effort to do as he requested. Pausing for a moment, she then began to speak, slowly and in jerks. ‘Gasps,’ she said. ‘A lot of little gasps – and then the noise of a chair falling – and a metallic kind of clink –’

  ‘Was it like this?’ asked Poirot, taking a key from his pocket and throwing it down on the floor. It made no sound, and Miss Amory, after waiting for a few seconds, declared that she could hear nothing. ‘Well, like this, perhaps?’ Poirot tried again, retrieving the key from the floor and hitting it sharply against the coffee table.

  ‘Why, that’s exactly the sound I heard last night!’ Miss Amory exclaimed. ‘How curious!’

  ‘Continue, I pray you, mademoiselle,’ Poirot encouraged her.

  ‘Well, I heard Lucia scream and call out to Sir Claud. And then the knocking came on the door.’

  ‘That was all? You are sure?’

  ‘Yes, I think so – oh, wait a minute! Right at the beginning, there was a curious noise, like the tearing of silk. Somebody’s dress, I suppose.’

  ‘Whose dress, do you think?’ asked Poirot. ‘It must have been Lucia’s. It wouldn’t have been Barbara’s, because she was sitting right next to me, here.’

  ‘That is curious,’ murmured Poirot thoughtfully.

  ‘And that really is all,’ Miss Amory concluded. ‘May I open my eyes now?’

  ‘Oh yes, certainly, mademoiselle.’ As she did so, Poirot asked her, ‘Who poured out Sir Claud’s coffee? Was it you?’

  ‘No,’ Miss Amory told him. ‘Lucia poured out the coffee.’

  ‘When was that, exactly?’

  ‘It must have been just after we were talking about those dreadful drugs.’

  ‘Did Mrs Amory take the coffee to Sir Claud herself ?’

  Caroline Amory paused for thought. ‘No –’, she finally decided.

  ‘No?’ asked Poirot. ‘Then, who did?’ ‘I don’t know – I’m not sure – let me see, now. Oh yes, I remember! Sir Claud’s coffee cup was on the table beside Lucia’s own cup. I remember that, because Mr Raynor was carrying the cup to Sir Claud in the study, and Lucia called him back and said he had taken the wrong cup – which really was very silly, because they were both exactly the same – black, without sugar.’

  ‘So,’ Poirot obser
ved, ‘Monsieur Raynor took the coffee to Sir Claud?’

  ‘Yes – or, at least – no, that’s right, Richard took it from him, because Barbara wanted to dance with Mr Raynor.’

  ‘Oh! So Monsieur Amory took the coffee to his father.’

  ‘Yes, that’s correct,’ Miss Amory confirmed.

  ‘Ah!’ exclaimed Poirot. ‘Tell me, what had Monsieur Amory been doing just before that? Dancing?’

  ‘Oh, no,’ Miss Amory replied. ‘He had been packing away the drugs. Putting them all back in the box tidily, you know.’

  ‘I see, I see. Sir Claud, then, drank his coffee in his study?’

  ‘I suppose he began to do so,’ Miss Amory remembered. ‘But he came back in here with the cup in his hand. I remember his complaining about the taste, saying that it was bitter. And I assure you, Monsieur Poirot, it was the very best coffee. A special mixture that I had ordered myself from the Army and Navy Stores in London. You know, that wonderful department store in Victoria Street. It’s so convenient, not far from the railway station. And I –’

  She broke off as the door opened and Edward Raynor entered. ‘Am I interrupting?’ the secretary asked. ‘I am so sorry. I wanted to speak to Monsieur Poirot, but I can come back later.’

  ‘No, no,’ declared Poirot. ‘I have finished putting this poor lady upon the rack!’

  Miss Amory rose. ‘I’m afraid I haven’t been able to tell you anything useful,’ she apologized, as she went to the door.

  Poirot rose, and walked ahead of her. ‘You have told me a great deal, mademoiselle. More than you realize, perhaps,’ he assured Miss Amory as he opened the door for her.

  Chapter 13

  After seeing Miss Amory out, Poirot turned his attention to Edward Raynor. ‘Now, Monsieur Raynor,’ he said as he gestured the secretary to a chair, ‘let me hear what you have to tell me.’

  Raynor sat, and regarded Poirot earnestly. ‘Mr Amory has just told me the news about Sir Claud. The cause of his death, I mean. This is a most extraordinary business, monsieur.’

  ‘It has come as a shock to you?’ asked Poirot.

  ‘Certainly. I never suspected such a thing.’ Approaching him, Poirot handed Raynor the key that he had found, watching the secretary keenly as he did so. ‘Have you ever seen this key before, Monsieur Raynor?’ he asked.

  Raynor took the key, and turned it about in his hands with a puzzled air. ‘It looks rather like the key to Sir Claud’s safe,’ he observed. ‘But I understand from Mr Amory that Sir Claud’s key was in its proper place on his chain.’ He handed the key back to Poirot.

  ‘Yes, this is a key to the safe in Sir Claud’s study, but it is a duplicate key,’ Poirot told him, adding slowly and with emphasis, ‘a duplicate which was lying on the floor beside the chair you occupied last night.’

  Raynor looked at the detective unflinchingly. ‘If you think it was I who dropped it, you are mistaken,’ he declared.

  Poirot regarded him searchingly for a moment, and then nodded his head as if satisfied. ‘I believe you,’ he said. Moving briskly to the settee, he sat down and rubbed his hands together. ‘Now, let us get to work, Monsieur Raynor. You were Sir Claud’s confidential secretary, were you not?’

  ‘That is correct.’

  ‘Then you knew a lot about his work?’

  ‘Yes. I have a certain amount of scientific training, and I occasionally helped him with his experiments.’

  ‘Do you know anything,’ asked Poirot, ‘that can throw light upon this unfortunate affair?’

  Raynor took a letter from his pocket. ‘Only this,’ he replied, as he rose, moved across to Poirot and handed him the letter. ‘One of my tasks was to open and sort out all of Sir Claud’s correspondence. This came two days ago.’

  Poirot took the letter and read it aloud. ‘“You are nourishing a viper in your bosom.” Bosom?’ he queried, turning to Hastings before continuing, ‘ “Beware of Selma Goetz and her brood. Your secret is known. Be on your guard.” It is signed “Watcher”. H’m, very picturesque and dramatic. Hastings, you will enjoy this,’ Poirot remarked, passing the letter to his friend.

  ‘What I would like to know,’ declared Edward Raynor, ‘is this. Who is Selma Goetz?’

  Leaning back and putting his finger-tips together, Poirot announced, ‘I think I can satisfy your curiosity, monsieur. Selma Goetz was the most successful international spy ever known. She was also a very beautiful woman. She worked for Italy, for France, for Germany, and eventually, I believe, for Russia. Yes, she was an extraordinary woman, Selma Goetz.’

  Raynor stepped back a pace, and spoke sharply. ‘Was?’

  ‘She is dead,’ Poirot declared. ‘She died in Genoa, last November.’ He retrieved the letter from Hastings, who had been shaking his head over it with a perplexed expression.

  ‘Then this letter must be a hoax,’ Raynor exclaimed.

  ‘I wonder,’ Poirot murmured. ‘ “Selma Goetz and her brood,” it says. Selma Goetz left a daughter, Monsieur Raynor, a very beautiful girl. Since her mother’s death she has disappeared completely.’ He put the letter in his pocket.

  ‘Could it be possible that –?’ Raynor began, then paused.

  ‘Yes? You were going to say something, monsieur?’ Poirot prompted him.

  Moving to the detective, Raynor spoke eagerly. ‘Mrs Amory’s Italian maid. She brought her from Italy with her, a very pretty girl. Vittoria Muzio, her name is. Could she possibly be this daughter of Selma Goetz?’

  ‘Ah, it is an idea, that.’ Poirot sounded impressed.

  ‘Let me send her to you,’ Raynor suggested, turning to go.

  Poirot rose. ‘No, no, a little minute. Above all, we must not alarm her. Let me speak to Madame Amory first. She will be able to tell me something about this girl.’

  ‘Perhaps you are right,’ Raynor agreed. ‘I’ll tell Mrs Amory at once.’

  The secretary left the room with the air of a determined man, and Hastings approached Poirot in great excitement. ‘That’s it, Poirot! Carelli and the Italian maid in collusion, working for a foreign government. Don’t you agree?’

  Deep in thought, Poirot paid his colleague no heed.

  ‘Poirot? Don’t you think so? I said, it must be Carelli and the maid working together.’

  ‘Ah, yes, that is exactly what you would say, my friend.’

  Hastings looked affronted. ‘Well, what is your idea?’ he asked Poirot in an injured tone.

  ‘There are several questions to be answered, my dear Hastings. Why was Madame Amory’s necklace stolen two months ago? Why did she refuse to call in the police on that occasion? Why –?’

  He broke off as Lucia Amory entered the room, carrying her handbag. ‘I understand you wanted to see me, Monsieur Poirot. Is that correct?’ she asked.

  ‘Yes, madame. I would like simply to ask you a few questions.’ He indicated a chair by the table. ‘Won’t you sit down?’

  Lucia moved to the chair and sat, as Poirot turned to Hastings. ‘My friend, the garden outside that window is very fine,’ Poirot observed, taking Hastings by the arm and propelling him gently towards the french windows. Hastings looked distinctly reluctant to leave, but Poirot’s insistence, though gentle, was firm. ‘Yes, my friend. Observe the beauties of nature. Do not ever lose a chance of observing the beauties of nature.’

  Somewhat unwillingly, Hastings allowed himself to be bundled out of doors. Then, the day being warm and sunny, he decided to make the best of his present situation and explore the Amorys’ garden. Ambling across the lawn, he made his way towards a hedge beyond which a formal garden looked extremely inviting.

  As he walked along the length of the hedge, Hastings became aware of voices quite close by, voices which, as he approached, he recognized as those of Barbara Amory and Dr Graham, who were, it seemed, enjoying a tête à tête on a bench, just the other side of the hedge. In the hope that he might overhear something relevant to Sir Claud Amory’s death or the disappearance of the formula that it would be useful for Poirot
to know, Hastings stopped to listen.

  ‘– perfectly clear that he thinks his beautiful young cousin can do better for herself than a country doctor. That seems to be the basis of his lack of enthusiasm for our seeing each other,’ Kenneth Graham was saying.

  ‘Oh, I know Richard can be an old stick-in-the-mud at times, and carry on like someone twice his age,’ Barbara’s voice replied. ‘But I don’t think you ought to allow yourself to be affected by it, Kenny. I certainly don’t take any notice of him.’

  ‘Well, I shan’t either,’ said Dr Graham. ‘But, look here, Barbara, I asked you to meet me out here because I wanted to talk to you privately, without being seen or heard by the family. First of all, I ought to tell you that there can be no doubt about it, your uncle was poisoned last night.’

  ‘Oh, yes?’ Barbara sounded bored.

  ‘You don’t seem at all surprised to hear that.’

  ‘Oh I suppose I’m surprised. After all, members of one’s family don’t get poisoned every day, do they? But I have to admit that I’m not particularly upset that he’s dead. In fact, I think I’m glad.’

  ‘Barbara!’

  ‘Now, don’t you start pretending you’re surprised to hear that, Kenny. You’ve listened to me going on about the mean old so-and-so on countless occasions. He didn’t really care for any of us, he was only interested in his mouldy old experiments. He treated Richard very badly, and he wasn’t particularly welcoming to Lucia when Richard brought her back from Italy as his bride. And Lucia is so sweet, and so absolutely right for Richard.’

  ‘Barbara, darling, I have to ask you this. Now, I promise that anything you say to me will go no further. I’ll protect you if necessary. But, tell me, do you know something – anything at all – about your uncle’s death? Have you any reason to suspect that Richard, for example, might have felt so desperate about his financial situation that he would think of killing his father in order to get his hands now on what would eventually be his inheritance?’

  ‘I don’t want to continue this conversation, Kenny. I thought you asked me out here to whisper sweet nothings to me, not to accuse my cousin of murder.’