Death in the Clouds (13 page)

Mr James Ryder was rather surprised when a card bearing the name of M. Hercule Poirot was brought to him.

He knew that the name was familiar, but for the moment he could not remember why. Then he said to himself:

‘Oh,
that
fellow!’ and told the clerk to show the visitor in.

M. Hercule Poirot was looking very jaunty. In one hand he carried a cane, he had a flower in his buttonhole.

‘You will forgive my troubling you, I trust,’ said Poirot. ‘It is this affair of the death of Madame Giselle.’

‘Yes?’ said Mr Ryder. ‘Well, what about it? Sit down, won’t you? Have a cigar?’

‘I thank you, no. I smoke my own cigarettes. Perhaps you will accept one?’

Ryder regarded Poirot’s tiny cigarettes with a somewhat dubious eye.

‘Think I’ll have one of my own, if it’s all the same to you. Might swallow one of those by mistake.’ He laughed heartily.

‘The inspector was round here a few days ago,’ said Mr Ryder when he had induced his lighter to work. ‘Nosey, that’s what those fellows are. Can’t mind their own business.’

‘They have, I suppose, to get information,’ said Poirot mildly.

‘They needn’t be so damned offensive about it,’ said Mr Ryder bitterly. ‘A man’s got his feelings—and his business reputation to think about.’

‘You are, perhaps, a little over-sensitive.’

‘I’m in a delicate position, I am,’ said Mr Ryder. ‘Sitting where I did, just in front of her—well, it looks fishy, I suppose. I can’t help where I sat. If I’d known that woman was going to be murdered I wouldn’t have come by that plane at all. I don’t know, though, perhaps I would.’

He looked thoughtful for a moment.

‘Has good come out of evil?’ asked Poirot, smiling.

‘It’s funny your saying that. It has, and it hasn’t, in a manner of speaking. I mean I’ve had a lot of worry. I’ve been badgered. Things have been insinuated. And why
me
? That’s what I say. Why don’t they go and worry that
Dr Hubbard—Bryant, I mean. Doctors are the people who can get hold of high-falutin’ undetectable poisons. How’d I get hold of snake juice? I ask you!’

‘You were saying,’ said Poirot, ‘that although you had been put to a lot of inconvenience—?’

‘Ah, yes, there was a bright side to the picture. I don’t mind telling you I cleaned up a tidy little sum from the papers. Eyewitness stuff—though there was more of the reporter’s imagination than of my eyesight; but that’s neither here nor there.’

‘It is interesting,’ said Poirot, ‘how a crime affects the lives of people who are quite outside it. Take yourself, for example—you make suddenly a quite unexpected sum of money—a sum of money perhaps particularly welcome at the moment.’

‘Money’s always welcome,’ said Mr Ryder.

He eyed Poirot sharply.

‘Sometimes the need of it is imperative. For that reason men embezzle—they make fraudulent entries—’ He waved his hands. ‘All sorts of complications arise.’

‘Well, don’t let’s get gloomy about it,’ said Mr Ryder.

‘True. Why dwell on the dark side of the picture? This money was grateful to you—since you failed to raise a loan in Paris—’

‘How the devil did you know that?’ asked Mr Ryder angrily.

Hercule Poirot smiled.

‘At any rate it is true.’

‘It’s true enough, but I don’t particularly want it to get about.’

‘I will be discretion itself, I assure you.’

‘It’s odd,’ mused Mr Ryder, ‘how small a sum will sometimes put a man in Queer Street. Just a small sum of ready money to tide him over a crisis—and if he can’t get hold of that infinitesimal sum, to hell with his credit. Yes, it’s damned odd. Money’s odd. Credit’s odd. Come to that, life is odd!’

‘Very true.’

‘By the way, what was it you wanted to see me about?’

‘It is a little delicate. It has come to my ears—in the course of my profession, you understand—that in spite of your denials you
did
have dealings with this woman Giselle.’

‘Who says so? It’s a lie! I never saw the woman.’

‘Dear me, that is very curious!’

‘Curious! It’s damned libel.’

Poirot looked at him thoughtfully.

‘Ah,’ he said, ‘I must look into the matter.’

‘What do you mean? What are you getting at?’

Poirot shook his head.

‘Do not enrage yourself; there must be—a mistake.’

‘I should think there was. Catch me getting myself
mixed up with these high-toned Society moneylenders. Society woman with gambling debts—that’s their sort.’

Poirot rose.

‘I must apologize for having been misinformed.’ He paused at the door. ‘By the way, just as a matter of curiosity, what made you call Dr Bryant Dr
Hubbard
just now?’

‘Blessed if I know. Let me see—Oh, yes, I think it must have been the flute. The nursery rhyme, you know. Old Mother Hubbard’s dog—
But when she came back he was playing the flute
. Odd thing how you mix up names.’

‘Ah, yes, the flute…These things interest me, you understand, psychologically.’

Mr Ryder snorted at the word psychologically. It savoured to him of what he called that tom-fool business psychoanalysis.

He looked at Poirot with suspicion.

The Countess of Horbury sat in her bedroom at 315 Grosvenor Square in front of her toilet table. Gold brushes and boxes, jars of face cream, boxes of powder—dainty luxury all around her. But in the midst of the luxury Cicely Horbury sat with dry lips and a face on which the rouge showed up in unbecoming patches on her cheeks.

She read the letter for the fourth time.

Stupid, to read the same thing over and over again…

As though the words might alter their meaning.

She picked up the envelope—two envelopes, the first with ‘Personal’ on it, the second with ‘Private and Very Confidential.’

‘Private and Very Confidential…’

The beast…the beast…

And that lying old Frenchwoman, who had sworn that ‘all arrangements were made to protect clients in case of her own sudden demise…’

Damn her…Life was hell—hell…

‘Oh God, my nerves,’ thought Cicely. ‘It isn’t fair. It isn’t fair…’

Her shaking hand went out to a gold-topped bottle…

‘It will steady me, pull me together…’

She snuffed the stuff up her nose.

There. Now she could think! What to do? See the man, of course. Though where she could raise any money—perhaps a lucky flutter at that place in Carlos Street…

But time enough to think of that later. See the man—find out what he knows.

She went over to the writing-table, dashed off in her big, unformed handwriting:

The Countess of Horbury presents her compliments to Mr John Robinson and will see him if he calls at eleven o’clock tomorrow morning…

‘Will I do?’ asked Norman.

He flushed a little under Poirot’s startled gaze.

‘Name of a name,’ said Hercule Poirot. ‘What kind of a comedy is it that you are playing?’

Norman Gale flushed even more deeply.

He mumbled, ‘You said a slight disguise would be as well.’

Poirot sighed, then he took the young man by the arm and marched him to the looking-glass.

‘Regard yourself,’ he said. ‘That is all I ask of you—regard yourself! What do you think you are—a Santa Claus dressed up to amuse the children? I agree that your beard is not white: no, it is black—the colour for villains. But what a beard—a beard that screams to Heaven! A cheap beard, my friend, and most imperfectly and amateurishly attached! Then there are your eyebrows. But it is that you have the mania for false hair? The spirit gum one smells it several
yards away; and if you think that anyone will fail to perceive that you have a piece of sticking plaster attached to a tooth, you are mistaken. My friend, it is not your
métier
—decidedly not—to play the part.’

‘I acted in amateur theatricals a good deal at one time,’ said Norman Gale stiffly.

‘I can hardly believe it. At any rate, I presume they did not let you indulge in your own ideas of makeup. Even behind the footlights your appearance would be singularly unconvincing. In Grosvenor Square in broad daylight—’

Poirot gave an eloquent shrug of the shoulders by way of finishing the sentence.

‘No,
mon ami
,’ he said. ‘You are a blackmailer, not a comedian. I want her ladyship to fear you—not to die of laughing when she sees you. I observe that I wound you by what I am saying. I regret, but it is a moment when only the truth will serve. Take this and this—’ He pressed various jars upon him. ‘Go into the bathroom and let us have an end of what you call in this country the fooltommery.’

Crushed, Norman Gale obeyed. When he emerged a quarter of an hour later, his face a vivid shade of brick red, Poirot gave him a nod of approval.

‘
Très bien
. The farce is over. The serious business begins. I will permit you to have a small moustache. But I will, if you please, attach it to you myself. There
—and now we will part the hair differently—so. That is quite enough. Now let me see if you at least know your lines.’

He listened with attention, then nodded.

‘That is good.
En avant
—and good luck to you.’

‘I devoutly hope so. I shall probably find an enraged husband and a couple of policemen.’

Poirot reassured him.

‘Have no anxiety. All will march to a marvel.’

‘So you say,’ muttered Norman rebelliously.

With his spirits at zero, he departed on his distasteful mission.

At Grosvenor Square he was shown into a small room on the first floor. There, after a minute or two, Lady Horbury came to him.

Norman braced himself. He must not—positively must not—show that he was new to this business.

‘Mr Robinson?’ said Cicely.

‘At your service,’ said Norman, and bowed.

‘Damn it all—just like a shop-walker,’ he thought disgustedly. ‘That’s fright.’

‘I had your letter,’ said Cicely.

Norman pulled himself together. ‘The old fool said I couldn’t act,’ he said to himself with a mental grin.

Aloud he said rather insolently:

‘Quite so—well, what about it, Lady Horbury?’

‘I don’t know what you mean.’

‘Come, come. Must we really go into details? Everyone knows how pleasant a—well, call it a weekend at the seaside—can be; but husbands seldom agree. I think you know, Lady Horbury, just exactly what the evidence consists of. Wonderful woman, old Giselle. Always had the goods. Hotel evidence, etc., is quite first class. Now the question is who wants it most—you or Lord Horbury? That’s the question.’

She stood there quivering.

‘I’m a seller,’ said Norman, his voice growing commoner as he threw himself more whole-heartedly into the part of Mr Robinson. ‘Are you a buyer? That’s the question.’

‘How did you get hold of this—evidence?’

‘Now really, Lady Horbury, that’s rather beside the point. I’ve got it, that’s the main thing.’

‘I don’t believe you. Show it to me.’

‘Oh, no.’ Norman shook his head with a cunning leer. ‘I didn’t bring anything with me. I’m not so green as that. If we agree to do business, that’s another matter. I’ll show you the stuff before you hand the money over. All fair and above board.’

‘How—how much?’

‘Ten thousand of the best—pounds, not dollars.’

‘Impossible. I could never lay my hands on anything like that amount.’

‘It’s wonderful what you can do if you try. Jewels
aren’t fetching what they did, but pearls are still pearls. Look here, to oblige a lady I’ll make it eight thousand. That’s my last word. And I’ll give you two days to think it over.’

‘I can’t get the money, I tell you.’

Norman sighed and shook his head.

‘Well, perhaps it’s only right Lord Horbury should know what’s been going on. I believe I’m correct in saying that a divorced woman gets no alimony—and Mr Barraclough’s a very promising young actor, but he’s not touching big money. Now not another word. I’ll leave you to think it over; and mind what I say—I mean it.’

He paused and then added:

‘I mean it, just as Giselle meant it…’

Then quickly, before the wretched woman could reply, he had left the room.

‘Ouch!’ said Norman as he reached the street. He wiped his brow. ‘Thank goodness
that’s
over.’

It was a bare hour later when a card was brought to Lady Horbury.

‘M. Hercule Poirot.’

She thrust it aside. ‘Who is he? I can’t see him!’

‘He said, m’lady, that he was here at the request of Mr Raymond Barraclough.’

‘Oh.’ She paused. ‘Very well, show him in.’

The butler departed, reappeared.

‘M. Hercule Poirot.’

Exquisitely dressed in the most dandiacal style, M. Poirot entered, bowed.

The butler closed the door. Cicely took a step forward.

‘Mr Barraclough sent you—?’

‘Sit down, Madame.’ His tone was kindly but authoritative.

Mechanically she sat. He took a chair near her. His manner was fatherly and reassuring.

‘Madame, I entreat you, look upon me as a friend. I come to advise you. You are, I know, in grave trouble.’

She murmured faintly, ‘I don’t—’

‘
Ecoutez
, Madame, I do not ask you to give away your secrets. It is unnecessary. I know them beforehand. That is the essence of being a good detective—to know.’

‘A detective?’ Her eyes widened. ‘I remember—you were on the plane. It was you—’

‘Precisely, it was me. Now, Madame, let us get to business. As I said just now, I do not press you to confide in me. You shall not start by telling
me
things.
I
will tell to
you
. This morning, not an hour ago, you had a visitor. That visitor—his name was Brown, perhaps?’

‘Robinson,’ said Cicely faintly.

‘It is the same thing—Brown, Smith, Robinson—he uses them in turn. He came here to blackmail you, Madame. He has in his possession certain proofs of—shall we say—indiscretion? Those proofs were once in the keeping of Madame Giselle. Now this man has them. He offers them to you for, perhaps, seven thousand pounds.’

‘Eight.’

‘Eight, then. And you, Madame, will not find it easy to get that sum very quickly?’

‘I can’t do it—I simply can’t do it…I’m in debt already. I don’t know what to do…’

‘Calm yourself, Madame. I come to assist you.’

She stared at him.

‘How do you know all this?’

‘Simply, Madame, because I am Hercule Poirot.
Eh bien
, have no fears—place yourself in my hands—I will deal with this Mr Robinson.’

‘Yes,’ said Cicely sharply. ‘And how much will you want?’

Hercule Poirot bowed.

‘I shall ask only a photograph, signed, of a very beautiful lady…’

She cried out, ‘Oh, dear, I don’t know what to do…My nerves…I’m going mad.’

‘No, no, all is well. Trust Hercule Poirot. Only, Madame, I must have the truth—the whole truth—do not keep anything back or my hands will be tied.’

‘And you’ll get me out of this mess?’

‘I swear to you solemnly that you will never hear of Mr Robinson again.’

She said, ‘All right. I’ll tell you everything.’

‘Good. Now then, you borrowed money from this woman Giselle?’

Lady Horbury nodded.

‘When was that? When did it begin, I mean?’

‘Eighteen months ago. I was in a hole.’

‘Gambling?’

‘Yes. I had an appalling run of luck.’

‘And she lent you as much as you wanted?’

‘Not at first. Only a small sum to begin with.’

‘Who sent you to her?’

‘Raymond—Mr Barraclough told me that he had heard she lent money to Society women.’

‘But later she lent you more?’

‘Yes—as much as I wanted. It seemed like a miracle at the time.’

‘It was Madame Giselle’s special kind of miracle,’ said Poirot drily. ‘I gather that before then you and Mr Barraclough had become—er—friends?’

‘Yes.’

‘But you were very anxious that your husband should not know about it?’

Cicely cried angrily, ‘Stephen’s a prig. He’s tired of me. He wants to marry someone else. He’d have jumped at the thought of divorcing me.’

‘And you did not want—divorce?’

‘No. I—I—’

‘You liked your position—and also you enjoyed the use of a very ample income. Quite so.
Les femmes
, naturally, they must look after themselves. To proceed—there arose the question of repayment?’

‘Yes, and I—I couldn’t pay back the money. And then the old devil turned nasty. She knew about me and Raymond. She’d found out places and dates and everything—I can’t think how.’

‘She had her methods,’ said Poirot drily. ‘And she threatened, I suppose, to send all this evidence to Lord Horbury?’

‘Yes, unless I paid up.’

‘And you couldn’t pay?’

‘No.’

‘So her death was quite providential?’

Cicely Horbury said earnestly, ‘It seemed too, too wonderful.’

‘Ah, precisely—too, too wonderful. But it made you a little nervous, perhaps?’

‘Nervous?’

‘Well, after all, Madame, you alone of anyone on the plane had a motive for desiring her death.’

She drew in her breath sharply.

‘I know. It was awful. I was in an absolute state about it.’

‘Especially since you had been to see her in Paris the night before, and had had something of a scene with her?’

‘The old devil! She wouldn’t budge an inch. I think she actually enjoyed it. Oh, she was a beast through and through! I came away like a rag.’

‘And yet you said at the inquest that you had never seen the woman before?’

‘Well, naturally, what else could I say?’

Poirot looked at her thoughtfully.

‘
You
, Madame, could say nothing else.’

‘It’s been too ghastly—nothing but lies—lies—lies. That dreadful inspector man has been here again and again badgering me with questions. But I felt pretty safe. I could see he was only trying it on. He didn’t know anything.’

‘If one does guess, one should guess with assurance.’

‘And then,’ continued Cicely, pursuing her own line of thought, ‘I couldn’t help feeling that if anything
were
to leak out, it would have leaked out
at once. I felt safe—till that awful letter yesterday.’

‘You have not been afraid all this time?’

‘Of course I’ve been afraid!’

‘But of what? Of exposure, or of being arrested for murder?’

The colour ebbed away from her cheeks.

‘Murder—but I didn’t—Oh, you don’t believe
that
! I didn’t kill her. I didn’t!’

‘You wanted her dead…’

‘Yes, but I didn’t kill her…Oh, you must believe me—you must. I never moved from my seat. I—’

She broke off. Her beautiful blue eyes were fixed on him imploringly.

Hercule Poirot nodded soothingly.

‘I believe you, Madame, for two reasons—first, because of your sex, and secondly because of—a wasp.’