XVII

Sydney Horbury did not present a very prepossessing appearance. He came into the room andstood rubbing his hands together and darting¹ quick looks from one person to another. His mannerwas unctuous².

Johnson said:

“You’re Sydney Horbury?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Valet attendant to the late Mr. Lee?”

“Yes, sir. It’s terrible, isn’t it? You could have knocked me down with a feather when I heardfrom Gladys. Poor old gentleman—”

Johnson cut him short.

“Just answer my questions, please.”

“Yes, sir, certainly, sir.”

“What time did you go out tonight, and where have you been?”

“I left the house just before eight, sir. I went to the Superb, sir, just five minutes’ walk away.

Love in Old Seville was the picture, sir.”

“Anyone who saw you there?”

“The young lady in the box office, sir, she knows me. And the commissionaire at the door, heknows me too. And—er—as a matter of fact, I was with a young lady, sir. I met her there byappointment.”

“Oh, you did, did you? What’s her name?”

“Doris Buckle³, sir. She works in the Combined Dairies, sir, 23, Markham Road.”

“Good. We’ll look into that. Did you come straight home?”

“I saw my young lady home first, sir. Then I came straight back. You’ll find it’s quite allright, sir. I didn’t have anything to do with this. I was—”

Colonel Johnson said curtly⁴:

“Nobody’s accusing you of having anything to do with it.”

“No, sir, of course not, sir. But it’s not very pleasant when a murder happens in a house.”

“Nobody said it was. Now, then, how long had you been in Mr. Lee’s service?”

“Just over a year, sir.”

“Did you like your place here?”

“Yes, sir. I was quite satisfied. The pay was good. Mr. Lee was rather difficult sometimes, butof course I’m used to attending on invalids⁵.”

“You’ve had previous experience?”

“Oh, yes, sir. I was with Major West and with the Honourable⁶ Jasper Finch—”

“You can give all those particulars to Sugden later. What I want to know is this: At what timedid you last see Mr. Lee this evening?”

“It was about half past seven, sir. Mr. Lee had a light supper brought to him every evening atseven o’clock. I then prepared him for bed. After that he would sit in front of the fire in hisdressing gown till he felt like going to bed.”

“What time was that usually?”

“It varied⁸, sir. Sometimes he would go to bed as early as eight o’clock—that’s if he felt tired.

Sometimes he would sit up till eleven or after.”

“What did he do when he did want to go to bed?”

“Usually he rang for me, sir.”

“And you assisted him to bed?”

“Yes, sir.”

“But this was your evening out. Did you always have Fridays?”

“Yes, sir. Friday was my regular day.”

“What happened then when Mr. Lee wanted to go to bed?”

“He would ring his bell and either Tressilian or Walter would see to him.”

“He was not helpless? He could move about?”

“Yes, sir, but not very easily. Rheumatoid arthritis⁹ was what he suffered from, sir. He wasworse some days than others.”

“Did he never go into another room in the daytime?”

“No, sir. He preferred to be in just the one room. Mr. Lee wasn’t luxurious¹⁰ in his tastes. Itwas a big room with plenty of air and light in it.”

“Mr. Lee had his supper at seven, you say?”

“Yes, sir. I took the tray away and put out the sherry and two glasses on the bureau.”

“Why did you do that?”

“Mr. Lee’s orders.”

“Was that usual?”

“Sometimes. It was the rule that none of the family came to see Mr. Lee in the evening unlesshe invited them. Some evenings he liked to be alone. Other evenings he’d send down and ask Mr.

Alfred, or Mrs. Alfred, or both of them, to come up after dinner.”

“But, as far as you know, he had not done so on this occasion? That is, he had not sent amessage to any member of the family requesting their presence?”

“He hadn’t sent any message by me, sir.”

“So that he wasn’t expecting any of the family?”

“He might have asked one of them personally, sir.”

“Of course.”

Horbury continued:

“I saw that everything was in order, wished Mr. Lee good night and left the room.”

Poirot asked:

“Did you make up the fire before you left the room?”

The valet hesitated.

“It wasn’t necessary, sir. It was well built up.”

“Could Mr. Lee have done that himself?”

“Oh no, sir. I expect Mr. Harry¹¹ Lee had done it.”

“Mr. Harry Lee was with him when you came in before supper?”

“Yes, sir. He went away when I came.”

“What was the relationship between the two as far as you could judge?”

“Mr. Harry Lee seemed in very good spirits, sir. Throwing back his head and laughing a gooddeal.”

“And Mr. Lee?”

“He was quiet and rather thoughtful.”

“I see. Now, there’s something more I want to know, Horbury: What can you tell us about thediamonds Mr. Lee kept in his safe?”

“Diamonds, sir? I never saw any diamonds.”

“Mr. Lee kept a quantity of uncut stones there. You must have seen him handling them.”

“Those funny little pebbles¹², sir? Yes, I did see him with them once or twice. But I didn’tknow they were diamonds. He was showing them to the foreign young lady only yesterday—orwas it the day before?”

Colonel Johnson said abruptly¹³:

“These stones have been stolen.”

Horbury cried out:

“I hope you don’t think, sir, that I had anything to do with it!”

“I’m not making any accusations,” said Johnson. “Now then, is there anything you can tell usthat has any bearing on this matter?”

“The diamonds, sir? Or the murder?”

“Both.”

“Horbury considered. He passed his tongue over his pale lips. At last he looked up with eyesthat were a shade furtive¹⁴.

“I don’t think there’s anything, sir.”

Poirot said softly:

“Nothing you’ve overheard, say, in the course of your duties, which might be helpful?”

The valet’s eyelids¹⁵ flickered¹⁶ a little.

“No, sir, I don’t think so, sir. There was a little awkwardness between Mr. Lee and—andsome members of his family.”

“Which members?”

“I gathered there was a little trouble over Mr. Harry Lee’s return. Mr. Alfred Lee resented it.

I understand he and his father had a few words about it—but that was all there was to it. Mr. Leedidn’t accuse him for a minute of having taken any diamonds. And I’m sure Mr. Alfred wouldn’tdo such a thing.”

Poirot said quickly:

“His interview with Mr. Alfred was after he had discovered the loss of the diamonds, was itnot, though?”

“Yes, sir.”

Poirot leaned forward.

“I thought, Horbury,” he said softly, “that you did not know of the theft of the diamonds untilwe informed you of it just now. How, then, do you know that Mr. Lee had discovered his lossbefore he had this conversation with his son?”

Horbury turned brick red.

“No use lying. Out with it,” said Sugden. “When did you know?”

Horbury said sullenly¹⁷:

“I heard him telephoning to someone about it.”

“You weren’t in the room?”

“No, outside the door. Couldn’t hear much—only a word or two.”

“What did you hear exactly?” asked Poirot sweetly.

“I heard the words robbery and diamonds, and I heard him say, ‘I don’t know who tosuspect’—and I heard him say something about this evening at eight o’clock.”

Superintendent¹⁸ Sugden nodded.

“That was to me he was speaking, my lad. About five ten, was it?”

“That’s right, sir.”

“And when you went into his room afterwards, did he look upset?”

“Just a bit, sir. Seemed absentminded and worried.”

“So much so that you got the wind up—eh?”

“Look here, Mr. Sugden, I won’t have you saying things like that. Never touched anydiamonds, I didn’t, and you can’t prove I did. I’m not a thief.”

Superintendent Sugden, unimpressed, said:

“That remains¹⁹ to be seen.” He glanced questioningly at the chief constable²⁰, received a nod,and went on: “That’ll do for you, my lad. Shan’t want you again tonight.”

Horbury went out gratefully in haste.

Sugden said appreciatively:

“Pretty bit of work, M. Poirot. You trapped him as neatly²¹ as I’ve ever seen it done. He maybe a thief or he may not, but he’s certainly a first-class liar²²!”

“An unprepossessing person,” said Poirot.

“Nasty bit of goods,” agreed Johnson. “Question is, what do we think of his evidence?”

Sugden summarized the position neatly.

“Seems to me there are three possibilities: (1) Horbury’s a thief and a murderer. (2)Horbury’s a thief, but not a murderer. (3) Horbury’s an innocent man. Certain amount of evidencefor (1). He overheard telephone call and knew the theft had been discovered. Gathered from oldman’s manner that he was suspected. Made his plans accordingly. Went out ostentatiously at eighto’clock and cooked up an alibi²³. Easy enough to slip out of a cinema and return there unnoticed.

He’d have to be pretty sure of the girl, though, that she wouldn’t give him away. I’ll see what I canget out of her tomorrow.”

“How, then, did he manage to reenter the house?” asked Poirot.

“That’s more difficult,” Sugden admitted. “But there might be ways. Say one of the womenservants unlocked a side door for him.”

Poirot raised his eyebrows²⁴ quizzically.

“He places, then, his life at the mercy of two women? With one woman it would be taking abig risk; with two—eh bien, I find the risk fantastic!”

Sugden said:

“Some criminals think they can get away with anything!”

He went on:

“Let’s take (2). Horbury pinched those diamonds. He took ’em out of the house tonight andhas possibly passed them on to some accomplice²⁵. That’s quite easy going and highly probable.

Now we’ve got to admit that somebody else chose this night to murder Mr. Lee. That somebodybeing quite unaware²⁶ of the diamond complication. It’s possible, of course, but it’s a bit of acoincidence.

“Possibility (3)—Horbury’s innocent. Somebody else both took the diamonds and murderedthe old gentleman. There it is; it’s up to us to get at the truth.”

Colonel Johnson yawned. He looked again at his watch and got up.

“Well,” he said, “I think we’ll call it a night, eh? Better just have a look in the safe before wego. Odd thing if those wretched diamonds were there all the time.”

But the diamonds were not in the safe. They found the combination where Alfred Lee hadtold them, in the small notebook taken from the dressing⁷ gown pocket of the dead man. In the safethey found an empty chamois-leather bag. Among the papers the safe contained only one was ofinterest.

It was a will dated some fifteen years previously²⁷. After various legacies²⁸ and bequests²⁹, theprovisions were simple enough. Half Simeon Lee’s fortune went to Alfred Lee. The other half wasto be divided in equal shares between his remaining children: Harry, George, David and Jennifer.

 

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