Evil Under the Sun

Chapter 8
They were standing in the bedroom that had been Arlena Marshall's.

Two big bay windows gave on to a balcony that overlooked the bathing beach and the sea beyond. Sunshine poured into the room, flashing over the bewildering array of bottles and jars on Arlena's dressing-table.

Here there was every kind of cosmetic and unguent known to beauty parlours. Amongst this panoply of woman's affairs three men moved purposefully. Inspector Colgate went about shutting and opening drawers.

Presently he gave a grunt. He had come upon a packet of folded letters. He and Weston ran through them together.

Hercule Poirot had moved to the wardrobe. He opened the door of the hanging cupboard and looked at the multiplicity of gowns and sports suits that hung there. He opened the other side. Foamy lingerie lay in piles. On a wide shelf were hats. Two more beach cardboard hats in lacquer red and pale yellow - a Big Hawaiian straw hat - another of drooping dark-blue linen and three or four little absurdities for which, no doubt, several guiness had been paid apiece - a kind of beret in dark blue - a tuft, no more, of black velvet - a pale grey turban.

Hercule Poirot stood scanning them - a faintly indulgent smile came to his lips. He murmured:

'Les femmes!'

Colonel Weston was refolding the letters.

'Three from young Redfern,' he said. 'Damned young ass. He'll learn not to write letters to women in a few more years. Women always keep letters and then swear they've burnt them. There's one other letter here. Same line of country.'

He held it out and Poirot took it.

Darling Arlena, - God, I feel blue. To be going out to China - and perhaps not seeing you again for years and years. I didn't know any man could go on feeling crazy about a woman like I feel about you. Thanks for the cheque. They won't prosecute now. It was a near shave, though, and all because I wanted to make big money for you. Can you forgive me? I wanted to set diamonds in your ears - your lovely ears - and clasp great milk-white pearls round your throat, only they say pearls are no good nowadays. A fabulous emerald, then? Yes, that's the thing. A great emerald, cool and green and full of hidden fire. Don't forget me - but you won't, I know. You're mine - always.

Goodbye - goodbye - goodbye.

J.N.

Inspector Colgate said:

'Might be worth while to find out if J.N. really did go to China. Otherwise - well, he might be the person we're looking for. Crazy about the woman, idealizing her, suddenly finding out he'd been played for a sucker. It sounds to me as though this is the boy Miss Brewster mentioned. Yes, I think this might be useful.'

Hercule Poirot nodded. He said: 'Yes, that letter is important. I find it very important.'

He turned round and stared at the room - at the bottles on the dressing-table - at the open wardrobe and at a big Pierrot doll that lolled insolently on the bed.

They went into Kenneth Marshall's room.

It was next door to his wife's but with no communicating door and no balcony. It faced the same way and had two windows, but it was much smaller. Between the two windows a gilt mirror hung on the wall. In the corner beyond the right-hand window was the dressing-table. On it were two ivory brushes, a clothes brush and a bottle of hair lotion. In the corner by the left-hand window was a writing-table. An open typewriter stood on it and papers were ranged in a stack beside it.

Colgate went through them rapidly.

He said:

'All seems straightforward enough. Ah, here's the letter he mentioned this morning. Dated the 24th - that's yesterday. And here's the envelope postmarked Leathercombe Bay this morning. Seems all square. Now we'll have an idea if he could have prepared that answer of his beforehand.

He sat down.

Colonel Weston said:

'We'll leave you to it, for a moment. We'll just glance through the rest of the rooms. Everyone's been kept out of this corridor until now, and they're getting a bit restive about it.'

They went next into Linda Marshall's room. It faced east, looking out over the rocks down to the sea below.

Weston gave a glance round. He murmured:

'Don't suppose there's anything to see here. But it's possible Marshall might have put something in his daughter's room that he didn't want us to find. Not likely, though. It isn't as though there had been a weapon or anything to get rid of.'

He went out again.

Hercule Poirot stayed behind. He found something that interested him in the grate. Something had been burnt there recently. He knelt down, working patiently. He laid out his finds on a sheet of paper. A large irregular blob of candle grease - some fragments of green paper or cardboard, possibly a pull-off calendar for with it was an unburnt fragment bearing a large figure 5 and a scrap of printing...noble deeds...There was also an ordinary pin and some burnt animal matter which might have been hair.

Poirot arranged them neatly in a row and stared at them.

He murmured:

'Do noble deeds, not dream them all day long. C'est possible. But what is one to make of this collection? C'est fantastique! '

And then he picked up the pin and his eyes grew sharp and green.

He murmured:

'Pour l'amour de Dieu! Is it possible?'

Hercule Poirot got up from where he had been kneeling by the grate.

Slowly he looked round the room and this time there was an entirely new expression on his face. It was grave and almost stern.

To the left of the mantelpiece there were some shelves with a row of books. Hercule Poirot looked thoughtfully along the titles.

A Bible, a battered copy of Shakespeare's plays, The Marriage of William Ashe, by Mrs Humphry Ward. The Young Stepmother, by Charlotte Yonge. The Shropshire Lad. Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral. Bernard Shaw's St Joan. Gone With the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell. The Burning Court, by Dickson Carr.

Poirot took out two books. The Young Stepmother and William Ashe, and glanced inside at the blurred stamp affixed to the title page. As he was about to replace them, his eye caught sight of a book that had been shoved behind the other books. It was a small dumpy volume bound in brown calf.

He took it out and opened it. Very slowly he nodded his head.

He murmured:

'So I was right...Yes, I was right. But for the other - is that possible too? No, it is not possible, unless...'

He stayed there, motionless, stroking his moustaches whilst his mind ranged busily over the problem.

He said again, softly:

'Unless - '

II

Colonel Weston looked in at the door.

'Hullo, Poirot, still there?'

'I arrive. I arrive,' cried Poirot.

He hurried out into the corridor.

The room next to Linda's was that of the Redferns.

Poirot looked into it, noting automatically the trace of two different individualities - a neatness and tidiness which he associated with Christine, and a picturesque disorder which was characteristic of Patrick. Apart from these sidelights on personality the room did not interest him.

Next to it again was Rosamund Darnley's room, and here he lingered for a moment in the sheer pleasure of the owner's personality.

He noted the few books that lay on the table next to the bed, the expensive simplicity of the toilet set on the dressing-table. And there came gently to his nostrils the elusive expensive perfume that Rosamund Darnley used.

Next to Rosamund Darnley's room at the northern end of the corridor was an open window leading to a balcony from which an outside stair led down to the rocks below.

Weston said:

'That's the way people go down to bathe before breakfast - that is, if they bathe off the rocks as most of them do.'

Interest came into Hercule Poirot's eyes. He stepped outside and looked down.

Below, a path led to steps cut zigzag leading down the rocks to the sea. There was also a path that led round the hotel to the left. He said:

'One could go down these stairs, go to the left round the hotel and join the main path up from the causeway.'

Weston nodded. He amplified Poirot's statement.

'One could go right across the island without going through the hotel at all.' He added: 'But one might still be seen from a window.'

'What window?'

'Two of the public bathrooms look out that way - north - and the staff bathroom, and the cloakrooms on the ground floor. Also the billiard room.'

Poirot nodded. He said:

'And all the former have frosted glass windows, and one does not play billiards on a fine morning.'

'Exactly.'

Weston paused and said:

'If he did it, that's the way he went.'

'You mean Captain Marshall?'

'Yes. Blackmail, or no blackmail. I still feel it points to him. And his manner - well, his manner is unfortunate.'

Hercule Poirot said dryly:

'Perhaps - but a manner does not make a murderer!'

Weston said:

'Then you think he's out of it?'

Poirot shook his head. He said:

'No, I would not say that.'

Weston said:

'We'll see what Colgate can make out of the typewriting alibi. In the meantime I've got the chambermaid of this floor waiting to be interviewed. A good deal may depend on her evidence.'

The chambermaid was a woman of thirty, brisk, efficient and intelligent. Her answers came readily.

Captain Marshall had come up to his room not long after ten-thirty. She was then finishing the room. He had asked her to be as quick as possible. She had not seen him come back but she had heard the sound of the typewriter a little later. She put it at about five minutes to eleven. She was then in Mr and Mrs Redfern's room. After she had done that she moved on to Miss Darnley's room at the end of the corridor. She could not hear the typewriter from there. She went to Miss Darnley's room, as near as she could say, at just after eleven o'clock. She remembered hearing Leathercombe Church strike the hour as she went in. At a quarter-past eleven she had gone downstairs for her eleven o'clock cup of tea and 'snack'. Afterwards she had gone to do the rooms in the other wing of the hotel. In answer to the Chief Constable's question she explained that she had done the rooms in this corridor in the following order:

Miss Linda Marshall's, the two public bathrooms, Mrs Marshall's room and private bath, Captain Marshall's room. Mr and Mrs Redfern's room and private bath, Miss Darnley's room and private bath. Captain Marshall's and Miss Marshall's rooms had no adjoining bathrooms.

During the time she was in Miss Darnley's room and bathroom she had not heard any one pass the door or go out by the staircase to the rocks, but it was quite likely she wouldn't have heard if any one went quietly.

Weston then directed his questions to the subject of Mrs Marshall.

No, Mrs Marshall wasn't one for rising early as a rule. She, Gladys Narracott, had been surprised to find the door open and Mrs Marshall gone down at just after ten. Something quite unusual, that was.

'Did Mrs Marshall always have her breakfast in bed?'

'Oh yes, sir, always. Not very much of it either. Just tea and orange juice and one piece of toast. Slimming like so many ladies.'

No, she hadn't noticed anything unusual in Mrs Marshall's manner that morning. She'd seemed quite as usual.

Hercule Poirot murmured:

'What did you think of Mrs Marshall, Mademoiselle?'

Gladys Narracott stared at him. She said:

'Well, that's hardly for me to say, is it, sir?'

'But yes, it is for you to say. We are anxious - very anxious - to hear your impression.'

Gladys gave a slightly uneasy glance towards the Chief Constable, who endeavoured to make his face sympathetic and approving, though actually he felt slightly embarrassed by his foreign colleague's methods of approach. He said:

'Er - yes, certainly. Go ahead.'

For the first time Gladys Narracott's brisk efficiency deserted her. Her fingers fumbled with her print dress. She said:

'Well, Mrs Marshall - she wasn't exactly a lady, as you might say. What I mean is she was more like an actress.'

Colonel Weston said:

'She was an actress.'

'Yes, sir, that's what I'm saying. She just went on exactly as she felt like it. She didn't - well, she didn't trouble to be polite if she wasn't feeling polite. And she'd be all smiles one minute and then, if she couldn't find something or the bell wasn't answered at once or her laundry wasn't back, well, be downright rude and nasty about it. None of us you might say liked her. But her clothes were beautiful, and, of course, she was a very handsome lady, so it was only natural she should be admired.'

Colonel Weston said:

'I am sorry to have to ask you what I am going to ask you, but it is a very vital matter. Can you tell me how things were between her and her husband?'

Gladys Narracott hesitated a minute.

She said:

'You don't - it wasn't - you don't think as he did it?'

Hercule Poirot said quickly:

'Do you?'

'Oh! I wouldn't like to think so. He's such a nice gentleman, Captain Marshall. He couldn't do a thing like that - I'm sure he couldn't.'

'But you are not very sure - I hear it in your voice.'

Gladys Narracott said reluctantly:

'You do read such things in the papers! When there's jealousy. If there's been goings on - and, of course, everyone's been talking about it - about her and Mr Redfern, I mean. And Mrs Redfern such a nice quiet lady! It does seem a shame! And Mr Redfern's a nice gentleman too, but it seems men can't help themselves when it's a lady like Mrs Marshall - one who's used to having her own way. Wives have to put up with a lot, I'm sure.' She sighed and paused. 'But if Captain Marshall found out about it - '

Colonel Weston said sharply:

'Well?'

Gladys Narracott said slowly:

'I did think sometimes that Mrs Marshall was frightened of her husband knowing.'

'What makes you say that?'

'It wasn't anything definite, sir. It was only I felt - that sometimes she was - afraid of him. He was a very quiet gentleman but he wasn't - he wasn't easy.'

Weston said:

'But you've nothing definite to go on? Nothing either of them ever said to each other.'

Slowly Gladys Narracott shook her head.

Weston sighed. He went on.

'Now, as to letters received by Mrs Marshall this morning. Can you tell us anything about those?'

'There were about six or seven, sir. I couldn't say exactly.'

'Did you take them up to her?'

'Yes, sir. I got them from the office as usual and put them on her breakfast tray.'

'Do you remember anything about the look of them?'

The girl shook her head.

'They were just ordinary-looking letters. Some of them were bills and circulars, I think, because they were torn up on the tray.'

'What happened to them?'

'They went into the dustbin, sir. One of the police gentlemen is going through that now.'

Weston nodded.

'And the contents of the waste-paper baskets, where are they?'

'They'll be in the dustbin too.'

Weston said: 'H'm - well, I think that is all at present.' He looked inquiringly at Poirot.

Poirot leaned forward.

'When you did Miss Linda Marshall's room this morning, did you do the fireplace?'

'There wasn't anything to do, sir. There had been no fire lit.'

'And there was nothing in the fireplace itself?'

'No sir, it was perfectly all right.'

'What time did you do her room?'

'About a quarter-past nine, sir, when she'd gone down to breakfast.'

'Did she come up to her room after breakfast, do you know?'

'Yes, sir. She came up about a quarter to ten.'

'Did she stay in her room?'

'I think so, sir. She came out, hurrying rather, just before half-past ten.'

'You didn't go into her room again?'

'No, sir. I had finished with it.'

Poirot nodded. He said:

'There is another thing I want to know. What people bathed before breakfast this morning?'

'I couldn't say about the other wing and the floor above. Only about this one.'

'That is all I want to know.'

'Well, sir, Captain Marshall and Mr Redfern were the only ones this morning, I think. They always go down for an early dip.'

'Did you see them?'

'No, sir, but their wet bathing things were hanging over the balcony rail as usual.'

'Miss Linda Marshall did not bathe this morning?'

'No, sir. All her bathing dresses were quite dry.'

'Ah,' said Poirot. 'That is what I wanted to know.'

Gladys Narracott volunteered:

'She does most mornings, sir.'

'And the other three, Miss Darnley, Mrs Redfern and Mrs Marshall?'

'Mrs Marshall never, sir. Miss Darnley has once or twice, I think. Mrs Redfern doesn't often bathe before breakfast - only when it's very hot, but she didn't this morning.'

Again Poirot nodded. Then he asked:

'I wonder if you have noticed whether a bottle is missing from any of the rooms you look after in this wing?'

'A bottle, sir? What kind of a bottle?'

'Unfortunately I do not know. But have you noticed - or would you be likely to notice - if one had gone?'

Gladys said frankly:

'I shouldn't from Mrs Marshall's room, sir, and that's a fact. She has ever so many.'

'And the other rooms?'

'Well, I'm not sure about Miss Darnley. She has a good many creams and lotions. But from the other rooms, yes, I would, sir. I mean if I were to look special. If I were noticing, so to speak.'

'But you haven't actually noticed?'

'No, because I wasn't looking special, as I say.'

'Perhaps you would go and look now, then.'

'Certainly, sir.'

She left the room, her print dress rustling. Weston looked at Poirot. He said: 'What's all this?'

Poirot murmured:

'My orderly mind, that is vexed by trifles! Miss Brewster, this morning, was bathing off the rocks before breakfast, and she says that a bottle was thrown from above and nearly hit her. Eh bien, I want to know who threw that bottle and why?'

'My dear man, any one may have chucked a bottle away.'

'Not at all. To begin with, it could only have been thrown from a window on the east side of the hotel - that is, one of the windows of the rooms we have just examined. Now I ask you, if you have an empty bottle on your dressing-table or in your bathroom what do you do with it? I will tell you, you drop it into the waste-paper basket. You do not take the trouble to go out on your balcony and hurl it into the sea! For one thing you might hit someone, for another it would be too much trouble. No, you would only do that if you did not want any one to see that particular bottle.'

Weston stared at him.

Weston said:

'I know that Chief Inspector Japp, whom I met over a case not long ago, always says you have a damned tortuous mind. You're not going to tell me now that Arlena Marshall wasn't strangled at all, but poisoned out of some mysterious bottle with a mysterious drug?'

'No, no, I do not think there was poison in that bottle.'

'Then what was there?'

'I do not know at all. That's why I am interested.'

Gladys Narracott came back. She was a little breathless. She said:

'I'm sorry, sir, but I can't find anything missing. I'm sure there's nothing gone from Captain Marshall's room, or Miss Linda Marshall's room, or Mr and Mrs Redfern's room, and I'm pretty sure there's nothing gone from Miss Darnley's either. But I couldn't say about Mrs Marshall's. As I say, she's got such a lot.'

Poirot shrugged his shoulders.

He said:

'No matter. We will leave it.'

Gladys Narracott said:

'Is there anything more, sir?'

She looked from one to the other of them.

Weston said:

'Don't think so. Thank you.'

Poirot said:

'I thank you, no. You are sure, are you not, that there is nothing - nothing at all, that you have forgotten to tell us?'

'About Mrs Marshall, sir?'

'About anything at all. Anything unusual, out of the way, unexplained, slightly peculiar, rather curious - enfin, something that has made you say to yourself or to one of your colleagues: "That's funny!"?'

Gladys said doubtfully:

'Well, not the sort of thing that you would mean, sir.'

Hercule Poirot said:

'Never mind what I mean. You do not know what I mean. It is true, then, that you have said to yourself or to a colleague today, "that is funny!"?'

He brought out the three words with ironic detachment.

Gladys said:

'It was nothing really. Just a bath being run. And I did pass the remark to Elsie, downstairs, that it was funny somebody having a bath round about twelve o'clock.'

'Whose bath, who had a bath?'

'That I couldn't say, sir. We heard it going down the waste from this wing, that's all, and that's when I said what I did to Elsie.'

'You're sure it was a bath? Not one of the hand-basins?'

'Oh! quite sure, sir. You can't mistake bath-water running away.'

Poirot displaying no further desire to keep her, Gladys Narracott was permitted to depart.

Weston said:

'You don't think this bath question is important, do you, Poirot? I mean, there's no point to it. No bloodstains or anything like that to wash off. That's the - ' He hesitated.

Poirot cut in:

'That, you would say, is the advantage of strangulation! No bloodstains, no weapon - nothing to get rid of or conceal! Nothing is needed but physical strength - and the soul of a killer!'

His voice was so fierce, so charged with feeling, that Weston recoiled a little.

Hercule Poirot smiled at him apologetically.

'No one,' he said, 'the bath is probably of no importance. Anyone may have had a bath. Mrs Redfern before she went to play tennis, Captain Marshall, Miss Darnley. As I say, anyone. There is nothing in that.'

A police constable knocked at the door, and put in his head.

'It's Miss Darnley, sir. She says she'd like to see you again for a minute. There's something she forgot to tell you, she says.'

Weston said:

'We're coming down - now.'

III

The first person they saw was Colgate. His face was gloomy.

'Just a minute, sir.'

Weston and Poirot followed him into Mrs Castle's office.

Colgate said:

'I've been checking-up with Heald on this typewriting business. Not a doubt of it, it couldn't be done under an hour. Longer, if you had to stop and think here and there. That seems to me pretty well to settle it. And look at this letter.'

He held it out.

'My dear Marshall - Sorry to worry you on your holiday but an entirely unforseen situation has arisen over the Burley and Tender contracts...'

'Etcetera, etcetera,' said Colgate. 'Dated the 24th - that's yesterday. Envelope postmarked yesterday evening E.C.1. and Leathercombe Bay this morning. Same typewriter used on envelope and in letter. And by the contents it was clearly impossible for Marshall to prepare his answer beforehand. The figures arise out of the ones in the letter - the whole thing is quite intricate.'

'H'm,' said Weston gloomily. 'That seems to let Marshall out. We'll have to look elsewhere.' He added: 'I've got to see Miss Darnley again. She's waiting now.'

Rosamund came in crisply. Her smile held an apologetic nuance.

She said:

'I'm frightfully sorry. Probably it isn't worth bothering about. But one does forget things so.'

'Yes, Miss Darnley?'

The Chief Constable indicated a chair.

She shook her shapely black head.

'Oh, it isn't worth sitting down. It's simply this. I told you that I spent the morning lying out on Sunny Ledge. That isn't quite accurate. I forgot that once during the morning I went back to the hotel and out again.'

'What time was that, Miss Darnley?'

'It must have been about a quarter-past eleven.'

'You went back to the hotel, you said?'

'Yes, I'd forgotten my glare glasses. At first I thought I wouldn't bother and then my eyes got tired and I decided to go in and get them.'

'You went straight to your room and out again?'

'Yes. At least, as a matter of fact, I just looked in on Ken - Captain Marshall. I heard his machine going and I thought it was so stupid of him to stay indoors typing on such a lovely day. I thought I'd tell him to come out.'

'And what did Captain Marshall say?'

Rosamund smiled rather shamefacedly.

'Well, when I opened the door he was typing so vigorously, and frowning and looking so concentrated, that I just went away quietly. I don't think he even saw me come in.'

'And that was - at what time, Miss Darnley?'

'Just about twenty-past eleven. I noticed the clock in the hall as I went out again.'

IV

'And that puts the lid on it finally,' said Inspector Colgate. 'The chambermaid heard him typing up till five minutes to eleven. Miss Darnley saw him at twenty minutes past, and the woman was dead at a quarter to twelve. He says he spent that hour typing in his room, and it seems quite clear that he was typing in his room. That washes Captain Marshall right out.'

He stopped, then looking at Poirot with some curiosity, he asked:

'M. Poirot's looking very serious over something.'

Poirot said thoughtfully:

'I was wondering why Miss Darnley suddenly volunteered this extra evidence.'

Inspector Colgate cocked his head alertly.

'Think there's something fishy about it? That it isn't just a question of "forgetting"?'

He considered for a minute or two, then he said slowly:

'Look here, sir, let's look at it this way. Supposing Miss Darnley wasn't on Sunny Ledge this morning as she says. That story's a lie. Now suppose that after telling us her story, she finds that somebody saw her somewhere else or alternatively that someone went to the Ledge and didn't find her there. Then she thinks up this story quick and comes and tells it to us to account for her absence. You'll notice that she was careful to say Captain Marshall didn't see her when she looked into his room.'

Poirot murmured:

'Yes, I noticed that.'

Weston said incredulously:

'Are you suggesting that Miss Darnley's mixed up in this? Nonsense, seems absurd to me. Why should she be?'

Inspector Colgate coughed.

He said:

'You'll remember what the American lady, Mrs Gardener, said. She sort of hinted that Miss Darnley was sweet on Captain Marshall. There'd be a motive there, sir.'

Weston said impatiently:

'Arlena Marshall wasn't killed by a woman. It's a man we've got to look for. We've got to stick to the men in the case.'

Inspector Colgate sighed. He said:

'Yes, that's true, sir. We always come back to that, don't we?'

Weston went on:

'Better put a constable on to timing one or two things. From the hotel across the island to the top of the ladder. Let him do it running and walking. Same thing with the ladder itself. And somebody had better check the time it takes to go on a float from the bathing beach to the cove.'

Inspector Colgate nodded.

'I'll attend to all that, sir,' he said confidently.

The Chief Constable said:

'Think I'll go along to the cove now. See if Phillips has found anything. Then there's that Pixy's Cave we've been hearing about. Ought to see if there are any traces of a man waiting in there. Eh, Poirot? What do you think?'

'By all means. It is a possibility.'

Weston said:

'If somebody from outside had nipped over to the island that would be a good hiding-place - if he knew about it. I suppose the locals know?'

Colgate said:

'Don't believe the younger generation would. You see, ever since this hotel was started the coves have been private property. Fishermen don't go there, or picnic parties. And the hotel people aren't local. Mrs Castle's a Londoner.'

Weston said:

'We might take Redfern with us. He told us about it. What about you, M. Poirot?'

Hercule Poirot hesitated. He said, his foreign intonation very pronounced:

'Me, I am like Miss Brewster and Mrs Redfern, I do not like to descend perpendicular ladders.'

Weston said: 'You can go round by boat.'

Again Hercule Poirot sighed.

'My stomach, it is not happy on the sea.'

'Nonsense, man, it's a beautiful day. Calm as a mill pond. You can't let us down, you know.'

Hercule Poirot hardly looked like responding to this British adjuration. But at that moment, Mrs Castle poked her ladylike face and elaborate coiffure round the door.

'Ay'm sure ay hope ay am not intruding,' she said. 'But Mr Lane, the clergyman, you know, has just returned. Ay thought you might like to know.'

'Ah yes, thanks, Mrs Castle. We'll see him right away.'

Mrs Castle came a little farther into the room. She said:

'Ay don't know if it is worth mentioning, but ay have heard that the smallest incident should not be ignored - '

'Yes, yes?' said Weston impatiently.

'It is only that there was a lady and gentleman here about one o'clock. Came over from the mainland. For luncheon. They were informed that there had been an accident and that under the circumstances no luncheons could be served.'

'Any idea who they were?'

'Ay couldn't say at all. Naturally no name was given. They expressed disappointment and a certain amount of curiosity as to the nature of the accident. Ay couldn't tell them anything, of course. Ay should say, myself, they were summer visitors of the better class.'

Weston said brusquely:

'Ah well, thank you for telling us. Probably not important but quite right - er - to remember everything.'

'Naturally,' said Mrs Castle, 'ay wish to do my Duty!'

'Quite, quite. Ask Mr Lane to come here.'

V

Stephen Lane strode into the room with his usual vigour.

Weston said:

'I'm the Chief Constable of the County, Mr Lane. I suppose you've been told what has occurred here?'

'Yes - oh yes - I heard as soon as I got here. Terrible...Terrible...' His thin frame quivered. He said in a low voice: 'All along - ever since I arrived here - I have been conscious - very conscious - of the forces of evil close at hand.'

His eyes, burning eager eyes, went to Hercule Poirot.

He said:

'You remember, M. Poirot? Our conversation some days ago? About the reality of evil?'

Weston was studying the tall, gaunt figure in some perplexity. He found it difficult to make this man out. Lane's eyes came back to him. The clergyman said with a slight smile:

'I dare say that seems fantastic to you, sir. We have left off believing in evil in these days. We have abolished Hell fire! We no longer believe in the Devil! But Satan and Satan's emissaries were never more powerful than they are today!'

Weston said:

'Er - er - yes, perhaps. That, Mr Lane, is your province. Mine is more prosaic - to clear up a case of murder.'

Stephen Lane said:

'An awful word. Murder! One of the earliest sins known on earth - the ruthless shedding of an innocent brother's blood...' He paused, his eyes half closed. Then, in a more ordinary voice he said:

'In what way can I help you?'

'First of all, Mr Lane, will you tell me your own movements today?'

'Willingly. I started off early on one of my usual tramps. I am fond of walking. I have roamed over a good deal of the countryside round here. Today I went to St Petrock-in-the-Combe. That is about seven miles from here - a very pleasant walk along winding lanes, up and down the Devon hills and valleys. I took some lunch with me and ate it in a spinney. I visited the church - it has some fragments - only fragments alas, of early glass - also a very interesting painted screen.'

'Thank you, Mr Lane. Did you meet anyone on your walk?'

'Not to speak to. A cart passed me once and a couple of boys on bicycles and some cows. However,' he smiled, 'if you want proof of my statement, I wrote my name in the book at the church. You will find it there.'

'You did not see anyone at the church itself - the Vicar, or the verger?'

Stephen Lane shook his head. He said:

'No, there was no one about and I was the only visitor. St Petrock is a very remote spot. The village itself lies on the far side of it about half a mile farther on.'

Colonel Weston said pleasantly:

'You mustn't think we're - er - doubting what you say. Just a matter of checking-up on everybody. Just routine, you know, routine. Have to stick to routine in cases of this kind.'

Stephen Lane said gently:

'Oh yes, I quite understand.'

Weston went on:

'Now the next point. Is there anything you know that would assist us at all? Anything about the dead woman? Anything that could give us a pointer as to who murdered her? Anything you heard or saw?'

Stephen Lane said:

'I heard nothing. All I can tell you is this: that I knew instinctively as soon as I saw her that Arlena Marshall was a focus of evil. She was Evil! Evil personified! Woman can be man's help and inspiration in life - she can also be man's downfall. She can drag a man down to the level of the beast. The dead woman was just such a woman. She appealed to everything base in a man's nature. She was a woman such as Jezebel and Aholibah. Now - she has been struck down in the middle of her wickedness!'

Hercule Poirot stirred. He said:

'Not struck down - strangled! Strangled, Mr Lane, by a pair of human hands.'

The clergyman's own hands trembled. The fingers writhed and twitched. He said, and his voice came low and choked:

'That's horrible - horrible - Must you put it like that?'

Hercule Poirot said:

'It is the simple truth. Have you any idea, Mr Lane, whose hands those were?'

The other shook his head. He said: 'I know nothing - nothing...'

Weston got up. He said, after a glance at Colgate to which the latter replied by an almost imperceptible nod, 'Well, we must get on to the Cove.'

Lane said:

'Is that where - it happened?'

Weston nodded.

Lane said:

'Can - can I come with you?'

About to return a curt negative, Weston was forestalled by Poirot.

'But certainly,' said Poirot. 'Accompany me there in a boat, Mr Lane. We start immediately.'