Thirty

MURDER

“Do you mean to say,” said Rhoda incredulously, “that Anne meant to push me in? I know it feltlike it. And she knew I can’t swim. But—but was it deliberate?”

“It was quite deliberate,” said Poirot.

They were driving through the outskirts¹ of London.

“But—but—why?”

Poirot did not reply for a minute or two. He thought he knew one of the motives² that had ledAnne to act as she had done, and that motive³ was sitting next to Rhoda at the minute.

Superintendent⁴ Battle coughed.

“You’ll have to prepare yourself, Miss Dawes, for a bit of a shock. This Mrs. Benson yourfriend lived with, her death wasn’t quite the accident that it appeared—at least, so we’ve reason tosuppose.”

“What do you mean?”

“We believe,” said Poirot, “that Anne Meredith changed two bottles.”

“Oh, no—no, how horrible! It’s impossible. Anne? Why should she?”

“She had her reasons,” said Superintendent Battle. “But the point is, Miss Dawes, that, as far asMiss Meredith knew, you were the only person who could give us a clue to that incident. Youdidn’t tell her, I suppose, that you’d mentioned it to Mrs. Oliver?”

Rhoda said slowly:

“No. I thought she’d be annoyed with me.”

“She would. Very annoyed,” said Battle grimly. “But she thought that the only danger couldcome from you, and that’s why she decided⁵ to—er—eliminate you.”

“Eliminate? Me? Oh, how beastly! It can’t be all true.”

“Well, she’s dead now,” said Superintendent Battle, “so we might as well leave it at that; butshe wasn’t a nice friend for you to have, Miss Dawes—and that’s a fact.”

The car drew up in front of a door.

“We’ll go in to M. Poirot’s,” said Superintendent Battle, “and have a bit of a talk about it all.”

In Poirot’s sitting room they were welcomed by Mrs. Oliver, who was entertaining Dr. Roberts.

They were drinking sherry. Mrs. Oliver was wearing one of her new horsy hats and a velvet⁶ dresswith a bow on the chest on which reposed⁷ a large piece of apple core.

“Come in. Come in,” said Mrs. Oliver hospitably⁸ and quite as though it were her house and notPoirot’s.

“As soon as I got your telephone call I rang up Dr. Roberts, and we came round here. And allhis patients are dying, but he doesn’t care. They’re probably getting better, really. We want to hearall about everything.”

“Yes, indeed, I’m thoroughly⁹ fogged,” said Roberts.

“Eh bien,” said Poirot. “The case is ended. The murderer of Mr. Shaitana is found at last.”

“So Mrs. Oliver told me. That pretty little thing, Anne Meredith. I can hardly believe it. A mostunbelievable murderess.”

“She was a murderess all right,” said Battle. “Three murders to her credit—and not her fault thatshe didn’t get away with a fourth one.”

“Incredible!” murmured Roberts.

“Not at all,” said Mrs. Oliver. “Least likely person. It seems to work out in real life just thesame as in books.”

“It’s been an amazing day,” said Roberts. “First Mrs. Lorrimer’s letter. I suppose that was aforgery, eh?”

“Precisely. A forgery¹⁰ written in triplicate.”

“She wrote one to herself, too?”

“Naturally. The forgery was quite skilful—it would not deceive an expert, of course—but, then,it was highly unlikely that an expert would have been called in. All the evidence pointed¹¹ to Mrs.

Lorrimer’s having committed suicide.”

“You will excuse my curiosity, M. Poirot, but what made you suspect that she had notcommitted suicide?”

“A little conversation that I had with a maidservant at Cheyne Lane.”

“She told you of Anne Meredith’s visit the former evening?”

“That among other things. And then, you see, I had already come to a conclusion in my ownmind as to the identity of the guilty person—that is, the person who killed Mr. Shaitana. Thatperson was not Mrs. Lorrimer.”

“What made you suspect Miss Meredith?”

Poirot raised his hand.

“A little minute. Let me approach this matter in my own way. Let me, that is to say, eliminate.

The murderer of Mr. Shaitana was not Mrs. Lorrimer, nor was it Major Despard, and, curiouslyenough, it was not Anne Meredith….”

He leaned forward. His voice purred, soft and catlike.

“You see, Dr. Roberts, you were the person who killed Mr. Shaitana; and you also killed Mrs.

Lorrimer….”

 

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