Evil Under the Sun

Chapter 13
Poirot said reflectively:

'It was on a morning when we were sitting out here that we talked of sun-tanned bodies lying like meat upon a slab, and it was then that I reflected how little difference there was between one body and another. If one looked closely and appraisingly - yes - but to the casual glance? One moderately well-made young woman is very like another. Two brown legs, two brown arms, a little piece of bathing suit in between - just a body lying out in the sun. When a woman walks, when she speaks, laughs, turns her head, moves a hand - then, yes then, there is personality - individuality. But in the sun ritual - no.

'It was that day that we spoke of evil - evil under the sun as Mr Lane put it. Mr Lane is a very sensitive person - evil affects him - he perceives its presence - but though he is a good recording instrument, he did not really know exactly where the evil was. To him, evil was focused in the person of Arlena Marshall, and practically everyone present agreed with him.

'But to my mind, though evil was present, it was not centralized in Arlena Marshall at all. It was connected with her, yes - but in a totally different way. I saw her, first, last and all the time, as an eternal and predestined victim. Because she was beautiful, because she had glamour, because men turned their heads to look at her, it was assumed that she was the type of woman who wrecked lives and destroyed souls. But I saw her very differently. It was not she who fatally attracted men - it was men who fatally attracted her. She was the type of woman whom men care for easily and of whom they as easily tire. And everything that I was told or found out about her strengthened my conviction on this point. The first thing that was mentioned about her was how the man in whose divorce case she had been cited refused to marry her. It was then that Captain Marshall, one of those incurably chivalrous men, stepped in and asked her to marry him. To a shy retiring man of Captain Marshall's type, a public ordeal of any kind would be the worst torture - hence his love and pity for his first wife who was publicly accused and tried for a murder she had not committed. He married her and found himself amply justified in his estimate of her character. After her death another beautiful woman, perhaps something of the same type (since Linda has red hair which she probably inherited from her mother), is held up to public ignominy. Again Marshall performs a rescue act. But this time he finds little to sustain his infatuation. Arlena is stupid, unworthy of his sympathy and protection, mindless. Nevertheless, I think he always had a fairly true vision of her. Long after he ceased to love her and was irked by her presence, he remained sorry for her. She was to him like a child who cannot get farther than a certain page in the book of life.

'I saw in Arlena Marshall with her passion for men, a predestined prey for an unscrupulous man of a certain type. In Patrick Redfern, with his good looks, his easy assurance, his undeniable charm for women, I recognized at once that type. The adventurer who makes his living, one way or another, out of women. Looking on from my place on the beach I was quite certain that Arlena was Patrick's victim, not the other way about. And I associated that focus of evil with Patrick Redfern, not with Arlena Marshall.

'Arlena had recently come into a large sum of money, left her by an elderly admirer who had not had time to grow tired of her. She was the type of woman who is invariably defrauded of money by some man or other. Miss Brewster mentioned a young man who had been "ruined" by Arlena, but a letter from him which was found in her room, though it expressed a wish (which cost nothing) to cover her with jewels, in actual fact acknowledged a cheque from her by means of which he hoped to escape prosecution. A clear case of a young waster sponging on her. I have no doubt that Patrick Redfern found it easy to induce her to hand him large sums from time to time "for investment". He probably dazzled her with stories of great opportunities - how he would make her fortune and his own. Unprotected women, living alone, are easy prey to that type of man - and he usually escapes scot free with the booty. If, however, there is a husband, or a brother, or a father about, things are apt to take an unpleasant turn for the swindler. Once Captain Marshall was to find out what had happened to his wife's fortune, Patrick Redfern might expect short shrift.

'That did not worry him, however, because he contemplated quite calmly doing away with her when he judged it necessary - encouraged by having already got away with one murder - that of a young woman whom he had married in the name of Corrigan and whom he had persuaded to insure her life for a large sum.

'In his plans he was aided and abetted by the woman who down here passed as his wife and to whom he was genuinely attached. A young woman as unlike the type of his victims as could well be imagined - cool, calm, passionless, but steadfastly loyal to him and an actress of no mean ability. From the time of her arrival here Christine Redfern played a part, the part of the "poor little wife" - frail, helpless, intellectual rather than athletic. Think of the points she made one after another. Her tendency to blister in the sun and her consequent white skin, her giddiness at heights - stories of getting stuck on Milan Cathedral, etc. An emphasis on her frailty and delicacy - nearly every one spoke of her as a "little woman". She was actually as tall as Arlena Marshall, but with very small hands and feet. She spoke of herself as a former school-teacher, and thereby emphasized an impression of book learning and lack of athletic prowess. Actually, it is quite true that she had worked in a school, but the position she held there was that of games mistress, and she was an extremely active young woman who could climb like a cat and run like an athlete.

'The crime itself was perfectly planned and timed. It was, as I mentioned before, a very slick crime. The timing was a work of genius.

'First of all there were certain preliminary scenes - one played on the cliff ledge when they knew me to be occupying the next recess - a conventional jealous wife dialogue between her and her husband. Later she played the same part in a scene with me. At the time I remember a vague feeling of having read all this in a book. It did not seem real. Because, of course, it was not real. Then came the day of the crime. It was a fine day - an essential. Redfern's first act was to slip out very early - by the balcony door which he unlocked from the inside (if found open it would only be thought someone had gone for an early bathe). Under his bathing-wrap he concealed a green Chinese hat, the duplicate of the one Arlena was in the habit of wearing. He slipped across the island, down the ladder and stowed it away in an appointed place behind some rocks. Part I.

'On the previous evening he had arranged a rendezvous with Arlena. They were exercising a good deal of caution about meeting as Arlena was slightly afraid of her husband. She agreed to go round to Pixy Cove early. Nobody went there in the morning. Redfern was to join her there, taking a chance to slip away unobtrusively. If she heard anyone descending the ladder or a boat came in sight she was to slip inside the Pixy's Cave, the secret of which he had told her, and wait there until the coast was clear. Part II.

'In the meantime Christine went to Linda's room at a time when she judged Linda would have gone for her early morning dip. She would then alter Linda's watch, putting it on twenty minutes. There was, of course, a risk that Linda might notice her watch was wrong, but it did not much matter if she did. Christine's real alibi was the size of her hands which made it a physical impossibility for her to have committed the crime. Nevertheless, an additional alibi would be desirable. Then in Linda's room she noticed the book on witchcraft and magic, open at a certain page. She read it, and when Linda came in and dropped a parcel of candles she realized what was in Linda's mind. It opened up some new ideas to her. The original idea of the guilty pair had been to cast a reasonable amount of suspicion on Kenneth Marshall, hence the abstracted pipe, a fragment of which was to be planted on the Cove underneath the ladder.

'On Linda's return Christine easily arranged an outing together to Gull Cove. She then returned to her own room, took out from a locked suitcase a bottle of artificial suntan, applied it carefully and threw the empty bottle out of the window where it narrowly escaped hitting Emily Brewster who was bathing. Part II successfully accomplished.

'Christine then dressed herself in a white bathing-suit, and over it a pair of beach trousers and coat with long floppy sleeves which effectually concealed her newly-browned arms and legs.

'At 10.15 Arlena departed for her rendezvous, a minute or two later Patrick Redfern came down and registered surprise, annoyance etc. Christine's task was easy enough. Keeping her own watch concealed she asked Linda at twenty-five past eleven what time it was. Linda looked at her watch and replied that it was a quarter to twelve. She then starts down to the sea and Christine packs up her sketching things. As soon as Linda's back is turned Christine picks up the girl's watch which she has necessarily discarded before going into the sea and alters it back to the correct time. Then she hurries up the cliff path, runs across the narrow neck of land to the top of the ladder, strips off her pyjamas and shoves them and her sketching box behind a rock and swarms rapidly down the ladder in her best gymnastic fashion.

'Arlena is on the beach below wondering why Patrick is so long in coming. She sees or hears someone on the ladder, takes a cautious observation, and to her annoyance sees that inconvenient person - the wife! She hurries along the beach and into the Pixy's Cave.

'Christine takes the hat from its hiding-place, a false red curl pinned underneath the brim at the back, and disposes herself in a sprawling attitude with the hat and curl shielding her face and neck. The timing is perfect. A minute or two later the boat containing Patrick and Emily Brewster comes round the point. Remember it is Patrick who bends down and examines the body, Patrick who is stunned - shocked - broken down by the death of his lady love! His witness has been carefully chosen. Miss Brewster has not got a good head, she will not attempt to go up the ladder. She will leave the Cove by boat, Patrick naturally being the one to remain with the body - "in case the murderer may still be about". Miss Brewster rows off to fetch the police. Christine, as soon as the boat has disappeared, springs up, cuts the hat into pieces with the scissors Patrick has carefully brought, stuffs them into her bathing-suit and swarms up the ladder in double quick time, slips into her beach-pyjamas and runs back to the hotel. Just time to have a quick bath, washing off the brown suntan application, and into her tennis dress. One other thing she does. She burns the pieces of the green cardboard hat and the hair in Linda's grate, adding a leaf of a calendar so that it may be associated with the cardboard. Not a Hat but a Calendar has been burnt. As she suspected, Linda has been experimenting in magic - the blob of wax and the pin shows that.

'Then, down to the tennis court, arriving the last, but showing no signs of flurry or haste.

'And, meanwhile, Patrick has gone to the cave. Arlena has seen nothing and heard very little - a boat - voices - she has prudently remained hidden. But now it is Patrick calling.

' "All clear, darling," and she comes out, and his hands fasten round her neck - and that is the end of poor foolish beautiful Arlena Marshall...'

His voice died away.

For a moment there was silence, then Rosamund Darnley said with a little shiver:

'Yes, you make one see it all. But that's the story from the other side. You haven't told us how you came to get at the truth?'

Hercule Poirot said:

'I told you once that I had a very simple mind. Always, from the beginning, it seemed to me that the most likely person had killed Arlena Marshall. And the most likely person was Patrick Redfern. He was the type, par excellence - the type of man who exploits women like her - and the type of the killer - the kind of man who will take a woman's savings and cut her throat into the bargain. Who was Arlena going to meet that morning? By the evidence of her face, her smile, her manner, her words to me - Patrick Redfern. And therefore, in the very nature of things, it should be Patrick who killed her.

'But at once I came up, as I told you, against impossibility. Patrick Redfern could not have killed her since he was on the beach and in Miss Brewster's company until the actual discovery of the body. So I looked about for other solutions - and there were several. She could have been killed by her husband - with Miss Darnley's connivance. (They too had both lied as to one point which looked suspicious.) She could have been killed as a result of her having stumbled on the secret of the dope smuggling. She could have been killed, as I said, by a religious maniac, and she could have been killed by her stepdaughter. The latter seemed to me at one time to be the real solution. Linda's manner in her very first intervew with the police was significant. An interview that I had with her later assured me of one point. Linda considered herself guilty.'

'You mean she imagined that she had actually killed Arlena?'

Rosamund's voice was incredulous.

Hercule Poirot nodded.

'Yes. Remember - she is really little more than a child. She read that book on witchcraft and she half believed it. She hated Arlena. She deliberately made the wax doll, cast her spell, pierced it to the heart, melted it away - and that very day Arlena dies. Older and wiser people than Linda have believed fervently in magic. Naturally, she believed that it was all true - that by using magic she had killed her stepmother.'

Rosamund cried:

'Oh, poor child, poor child. And I thought - I imagined - something quite different - that she knew something which would - '

Rosamund stopped. Poirot said:

'I know what it was you thought. Actually your manner frightened Linda still further. She believed that her action had really brought about Arlena's death and that you knew it. Christine Redfern worked on her too, introducing the idea of the sleeping tablets to her mind, showing her the way to a speedy and painless expiation of her crime. You see, once Captain Marshall was proved to have an alibi, it was vital for a new suspect to be found. Neither she nor her husband knew about the dope smuggling. They fixed on Linda to be the scapegoat.'

Rosamund said:

'What a devil!'

Poirot nodded.

'Yes, you are right. A cold-blooded and cruel woman. For me, I was in great difficulty. Was Linda guilty only of the childish attempt at witchcraft, or had her hate carried her still further - to the actual act? I tried to get her to confess to me. But it was no good. At that moment I was in grave uncertainty. The Chief Constable was inclined to accept the dope smuggling explanation. I couldn't let it go at that. I went over the facts again very carefully. I had, you see, a collection of jig-saw puzzle pieces, isolated happenings - plain facts. The whole must fit into a complete and harmonious pattern. There were the scissors found on the beach - a bottle thrown from a window - a bath that no one would admit to having taken - all perfectly harmless occurrences in themselves, but rendered significant by the fact that no one would admit to them. Therefore, they must be of significance. Nothing about them fitted in with the theories of either Captain Marshall's or Linda's, or of a dope gang's being responsible. And yet they must have meaning. I went back again to my first solution - that Patrick Redfern had committed the murder. Was there anything in support of that? Yes, the fact that a very large sum of money was missing from Arlena's account. Who had got that money? Patrick Redfern of course. She was the type of woman easily swindled by a handsome young man - but she was not at all the type of woman to be blackmailed. She was far too transparent, not good enough at keeping a secret. The blackmailer story had never rung true to my mind. And yet there had been that conversation overheard - ah, but overheard by whom? Patrick Redfern's wife. It was her story - unsupported by any outside evidence. Why was it invented? The answer came to me like lightning. To account for the absence of Arlena's money!

'Patrick and Christine Redfern. The two of them were in it together. Christine hadn't got the physical strength to strangle her or the mental make up. No, it was Patrick who had done it - but that was impossible! Every minute of his time was accounted for until the body was found.

'Body - the word stirred something in my mind - bodies lying on the beach - all alike. Patrick Redfern and Emily Brewster had got to the Cove and seen a body lying there. A body - suppose it was not Arlena's body but somebody else's? The face was hidden by the great Chinese hat.

'But there was only one dead body - Arlena's. Then, could it be - a live body - someone pretending to be dead? Could it be Arlena herself, inspired by Patrick to play some kind of a joke. I shook my head - no, too risky. A live body - whose? Was there any woman who would help Redfern? Of course - his wife. But she was a white-skinned delicate creature. Ah yes, but suntan can be applied out of bottles - bottles - I had one of my jig-saw pieces. Yes, and afterwards, of course, a bath - to wash that tell-tale stain off before she went out to play tennis. And the scissors? Why, to cut up that duplicate cardboard hat - an unwieldy thing that must be got out of the way, and in the haste the scissors were left behind - the one thing that the pair of murderers forgot.

'But where was Arlena all the time? That again was perfectly clear. Either Rosamund Darnley or Arlena Marshall had been in the Pixy's Cave, the scent they both used told me that. It was certainly not Rosamund Darnley. Then it was Arlena, hiding till the coast should clear.

'When Emily Brewster went off in the boat, Patrick had the beach to himself and full opportunity to commit the crime. Arlena Marshall was killed after a quarter to twelve, but the medical evidence was only concerned with the earliest possible time the crime could have been committed. That Arlena was dead at a quarter to twelve was what was told to the doctor, not what he told the police.

'Two more points had to be settled. Linda Marshall's evidence gave Christine Redfern an alibi. Yes, but that evidence depended on Linda Marshall's wristwatch. All that was needed was to prove that Christine had had two opportunities of tampering with the watch. I found those easily enough. She had been alone in Linda's room that morning - and there was an indirect proof. Linda was heard to say that she was "afraid she was going to be late", but when she got down it was only twenty-five past ten by the lounge clock. The second opportunity was easy - she could alter the watch back again as soon as Linda turned her back and went down to bathe.

'Then there was the question of the ladder. Christine had always declared she had no head for heights. Another carefully prepared lie.

'I had my mosaic now - each piece beautifully fitted into its place. But, unfortunately, I had no definite proof. It was all in my mind.

'It was then that an idea came to me. There was an assurance - a slickness about the crime. I had no doubt that in the future Patrick Redfern would repeat his crime. What about the past? It was remotely possible that this was not his first killing. The method employed, strangulation, was in harmony with his nature - a killer for pleasure as well as for profit. If he was already a murderer I was sure that he would have used the same means. I asked Inspector Colgate for a list of women victims of strangulation. The result filled me with joy. The death of Nellie Parson found strangled in a lonely copse might or might not be Patrick Redfern's work - it might merely have suggested choice of locality to him, but in Alice Corrigan's death I found exactly what I was looking for. In essence the same method. Juggling with time - a murder committed not, as is the usual way, before it is supposed to have happened, but afterwards. A body supposedly discovered at a quarter past four. A husband with an alibi up to twenty-five past four.

'What really happened? It was said that Edward Corrigan arrived at the Pine Ridge, found his wife not there, and went out and walked up and down. Actually, of course, he ran full speed to the rendezvous, Caesar's Grove (which you will remember was quite nearby), killed her and returned to the cafe. The girl hiker who reported the crime was a most respectable young lady, games mistress in a well-known girls' school. Apparently she had no connection with Edward Corrigan. She had to walk some way to report the death. The police surgeon only examined the body at a quarter to six. As in this case the time of death was accepted without question.

'I made one final test. I must know definitely if Mrs Redfern was a liar. I arranged our little excursion to Dartmoor. If anyone has a bad head for heights, they are never comfortable crossing a narrow bridge over running water. Miss Brewster, a genuine sufferer, showed giddiness. But Christine Redfern, unconcerned, ran across without a qualm. It was a small point, but it was a definite test. If she had told one unnecessary lie - then all the other lies were possible. In the meantime Colgate had got the photograph identified by the Surrey Police. I played my hand in the only way I thought likely to succeed. Having lulled Patrick Redfern into security, I turned on him and did my utmost to make him lose his self-control. The knowledge that he had been identified with Corrigan caused him to lose his head completely.'

Hercule Poirot stroked his throat reminiscently.

'What I did,' he said with importance, 'was exceedingly dangerous - but I do not regret it. I succeeded! I did not suffer in vain.'

There was a moment's silence. Then Mrs Gardener gave a deep sigh.

'Why, M. Poirot,' she said. 'It's just been too wonderful - hearing just exactly how you got your results. It's every bit as fascinating as a lecture on criminology - in fact it is a lecture on criminology. And to think my magenta wool and that sun-bathing conversation actually had something to do with it? That really makes me too excited for words, and I'm sure Mr Gardener feels the same, don't you, Odell?'

'Yes, darling,' said Mr Gardener.

Hercule Poirot said:

'Mr Gardener too was of assistance to me. I wanted the opinion of a sensible man about Mrs Marshall. I asked Mr Gardener what he thought of her.'

'Is that so,' said Mrs Gardener. 'And what did you say about her, Odell?'

Mr Gardener coughed. He said:

'Well, darling, I never did think very much of her, you know.'

'That's the kind of thing men always say to their wives,' said Mrs Gardener. 'And if you ask me, even M. Poirot here is what I should call a shade on the indulgent side about her, calling her a natural victim and all that. Of course it's true that she wasn't a cultured woman at all, and as Captain Marshall isn't here I don't mind saying that she always did seem to me kind of dumb. I said so to Mr Gardener, didn't I, Odell?'

'Yes, darling,' said Mr Gardener.

II

Linda Marshall sat with Hercule Poirot on Gull Cove.

She said:

'Of course I'm glad I didn't die after all. But you know, M. Poirot, it's just the same as if I'd killed her, isn't it? I meant to.'

Hercule Poirot said energetically:

'It is not at all the same thing. The wish to kill and the action of killing are two different things. If in your bedroom instead of a little wax figure you had had your stepmother bound and helpless and a dagger in your hand instead of a pin, you would not have pushed it into her heart! Something within you would have said "no". It is the same with me. I enrage myself at an imbecile. I say, "I would like to kick him." Instead, I kick the table. I say, "This table, it is the imbecile, I kick him so." And then, if I have not hurt my toe too much, I feel much better and the table it is not usually damaged. But if the imbecile himself was there I should not kick him. To make the wax figures and stick in the pins, it is silly, yes, it is childish, yes - but it does something useful too. You took the hate out of yourself and put it into that little figure. And with the pin and the fire you destroyed - not your stepmother - but the hate you bore her. Afterwards, even before you heard of her death, you felt cleansed, did you not - you felt lighter - happier?'

Linda nodded. She said:

'How did you know? That's just how I did feel.'

Poirot said:

'Then do not repeat to yourself the imbecilities. Just make up your mind not to hate your next stepmother.'

Linda said startled:

'Do you think I'm going to have another? Oh, I see, you mean Rosamund. I don't mind her.' She hesitated a minute. 'She's sensible.'

It was not the adjective that Poirot himself would have selected for Rosamund Darnley, but he realized that it was Linda's idea of high praise.

III

Kenneth Marshall said:

'Rosamund, did you get some extraordinary idea into your head that I'd killed Arlena.'

Rosamund looked rather shamefaced. She said:

'I suppose I was a damned fool.'

'Of course you were.'

'Yes, but Ken, you are such an oyster. I never knew what you really felt about Arlena. I didn't know if you accepted her as she was and were just frightfully decent about her, or whether you - well, just believed in her blindly. And I thought if it was that, and you suddenly found out that she was letting you down you might go mad with rage. I've heard stories about you. You're always very quiet but you're rather frightening sometimes.'

'So you thought I just took her by the throat and throttled the life out of her?'

'Well - yes - that's just exactly what I did think. And your alibi seemed a bit on the light side. That's when I suddenly decided to take a hand, and made up that silly story about seeing you typing in your room. And when I heard that you said you'd seen me look in - well, that made me quite sure you'd done it. That, and Linda's queerness.'

Kenneth Marshall said with a sigh:

'Don't you realize that I said I'd seen you in the mirror in order to back up your story. I - I thought you needed it corroborated.'

Rosamund stared at him.

'You don't mean you thought that I killed your wife?'

Kenneth Marshall shifted uneasily. He mumbled:

'Dash it all, Rosamund, don't you remember how you nearly killed that boy about that dog once? How you hung on to his throat and wouldn't let go.'

'But that was years ago.'

'Yes, I know - '

Rosamund said sharply:

'What earthly motive do you think I had to kill Arlena?'

His glance shifted. He mumbled something again.

Rosamund cried:

'Ken, you mass of conceit! You thought I killed her out of altruism on your behalf, did you? Or - did you think I killed her because I wanted you myself?'

'Not at all,' said Kenneth Marshall indignantly. 'But you know what you said that day - about Linda and everything - and - and you seemed to care what happened to me.'

Rosamund said:

'I've always cared about that.'

'I believe you have. You know, Rosamund - I can't usually talk about things - I'm not good at talking - but I'd like to get this clear. I didn't care for Arlena - only just a little at first - and living with her day after day was a pretty nerve-racking business. In fact it was absolute hell, but I was awfully sorry for her. She was such a damned fool - crazy about men - she just couldn't help it - and they always let her down and treated her rottenly. I simply felt I couldn't be the one to give her the final push. I'd married her and it was up to me to look after her as best I could. I think she knew that and was grateful to me really. She was - she was a pathetic sort of creature really.'

Rosamund said gently:

'It's all right, Ken. I understand now.'

Without looking at her Kenneth Marshall carefully filled a pipe. He mumbled:

'You're - pretty good at understanding, Rosamund.'

A faint smile curved Rosamund's ironic mouth. She said:

'Are you going to ask me to marry you now, Ken, or are you determined to wait six months?'

Kenneth Marshall's pipe dropped from his lips and crashed on the rocks below.

He said:

'Damn, that's the second pipe I've lost down here. And I haven't got another with me. How the devil did you know I'd fixed six months as the proper time?'

'I suppose because it is the proper time. But I'd rather have something definite now, please. Because in the intervening months you may come across some other persecuted female and rush to the rescue in chivalrous fashion again.'

He laughed.

'You're going to be the persecuted female this time, Rosamund. You're going to give up that damned dress-making business of yours and we're going to live in the country.'

'Don't you know that I make a very handsome income out of my business? Don't you realize that it's my business - that I created it and worked it up, and that I'm proud of it! And you've got the damned nerve to come along and say, "Give it all up, dear." '

'I've got the damned nerve to say it, yes.'

'And you think I care enough for you to do it?'

'If you don't,' said Kenneth Marshall, 'you'd be no good to me.'

Rosamund said softly:

'Oh, my dear, I've wanted to live in the country with you all my life. Now - it's going to come true...'