Agatha Christie - One, Two, Buckle My Shoe

"I wish I could make you understand about my meeting with Rebecca and my marriage. Gerda understood. The only way I can put it is that it was like Royalty. I had the chance of marrying a Queen and playing the part of Prince Consort or even King. I looked on my marriage to Gerda as morganatic. I loved her. I didn't want to get rid of her. And the whole thing worked splendidly. I liked Rebecca immensely. She was a women with a first-class financial brain and mine was just as good. We were good at teamwork. It was supremely exciting. She was an excellent companion and I think I made her happy. I was genuinely sorry when she died. The queer thing was that Gerda and I grew to enjoy the secret thrill of our meetings. We had all sorts of ingenious devices. She was an actress by nature. She had a repertoire of seven or eight characters – Mrs. Albert Chapman was only one of them. She was an American widow in Paris. I met her there when I went over on business. And she used to go to Norway with painting things as an artist. I went there for the fishing. And then, later, I passed her off as my cousin, Helen Montressor. It was great fun for us both, and it kept romance alive, I suppose. We could have married officially after Rebecca died – but we didn't want to. Gerda would have found it hard to live my official life and, of course, something from the past might have been raked up, but I think the real reason we went on more or less the same was that we enjoyed the secrecy of it. We should have found open domesticity dull."

Blunt paused. He said, and his voice changed and hardened:

"And then that damned fool of a woman messed up everything. Recognizing me – after all those years! And she told Amberiotis. You see – you must see – that something had to be done! It wasn't only myself – not only the selfish point of view. If I was ruined and disgraced – the country, my country was hit as well. For I've done something for England, M. Poirot. I've held it firm and kept it solvent. It's free from Dictators – from Fascism and from Communism. I don't really care for money as money. I do like power – I like to rule – but I don't want to tyrannize. We are democratic in England – truly democratic. We can grumble and say what we think and laugh at our politicians. We're free. I care for all that – it's been my life work. But if I went – well, you know what would probably happen, I'm needed, M. Poirot. And a damned, double-crossing, blackmailing rogue of a Greek was going to destroy my life work. Something had to be done. Gerda saw it, too. We were sorry about the Sainsbury Seale woman – but it was no good. We'd got to silence her. She couldn't be trusted to hold her tongue. Gerda went to see her, asked her to tea, told her to ask for Mrs. Chapman, said she was staying in Mrs. Chapman's flat. Mabelle Sainsbury Seale came, quite unsuspecting. She never knew anything – the medinal was in the tea – it's quite painless. You just sleep and don't wake up. The face business was done afterwards – rather sickening, but we felt it was necessary. Mrs. Chapman was to exit for good. I had given my 'cousin' Helen a cottage to live in. We decided that after a while we would get married. But first we had to get Amberiotis out of the way. It worked beautifully. He hadn't a suspicion that I wasn't a real dentist. I did my stuff with the hand-picks rather well. I didn't risk the drill. Of course, after the injection he couldn't feel what I was doing. Probably just as well!"

Poirot asked:

"The pistols?"

"Actually they belonged to a secretary I once had in America. He bought them abroad somewhere. When he left he forgot to take them."

There was a pause. Then Alistair Blunt asked:

"Is there anything else you want to know?"

Hercule Poirot said:

"What about Morley?"

Alistair Blunt said simply:

"I was sorry about Morley."

Hercule Poirot said:

"Yes, I see… "

There was a long pause, then Blunt said:

"Well, M. Poirot, what about it?"

Poirot said:

"Helen Montressor is arrested already."

"And now it's my turn?"

"That was my meaning, yes."

Blunt said gently:

"But you are not happy about it, eh?"

"No, I am not at all happy."

Alistair Blunt said:

"I've killed three people. So presumably I ought to be hanged. But you've heard my defense."

"Which is – exactly?"

"That I believe, with all my heart and soul, that I am necessary to the continued peace and well-being of this country."

Hercule Poirot allowed:

"That may be – yes."

"You agree, don't you?"

"I agree, yes. You stand for all the things that to my mind are important. For sanity and balance and stability and honest dealing."

Alistair Blunt said quietly:

"Thanks."

He added:

"Well, what about it?"

"You suggest that I – retire from the case?"

"Yes."

"And your wife?"

"I've got a good deal of pull. Mistaken identity, that's the line to take."

"And if I refuse?"

"Then," said Alistair Blunt simply, "I'm for it."

He went on:

"It's in your hands, Poirot. It's up to you. But I tell you this – and it's not just self-preservation – I'm needed in the world. And do you know why? Because I'm an honest man. And because I've got common sense – and no particular axe of my own to grind."

Poirot nodded. Strangely enough, he believed all that.

He said:

"Yes, that is one side. You are the right man in the right place. You have sanity, judgment, balance. But there is the other side. Three human beings who are dead."

"Yes, but think of them! Mabelle Sainsbury Seale – You said yourself – a woman with the brains of a hen! Amberiotis – a crook and a blackmailer!"

"And Morley?"

"I've told you before. I'm sorry about Morley. But after all – he was a decent fellow and a good dentist – but there are other dentists."

"Yes," said Poirot, "there are other dentists. And Frank Carter? You would have let him die, too, without regret?"

Blunt said:

"I don't waste any pity on him. He's no good. An utter rotter."

Poirot said:

"But a human being "

"Oh, well, we're all human beings…"

"Yes, we are all human beings. That is what you have not remembered. You have said that Mabelle Sainsbury Seale was a foolish human being and Amberiotis an evil one, and Frank Carter a wastrel, and Morley – Morley was only a dentist and there are other dentists. That is where you and I, Mr. Blunt, do not see alike. For to me the lives of those four people were just as important as your life."

"You're wrong."

"No, I am not wrong. You are a man of great natural honesty and rectitude. You took one step aside – and outwardly it has not affected you. Publicly you have continued the same – upright, trustworthy, honest. But within you the love of power grew to overwhelming heights. So you sacrificed four human lives and thought them of no account."

"Don't you realize, Poirot, that the safety and happiness of the whole nation depends on me?"

"I am not concerned with nations, Monsieur. I am concerned with the lives of private individuals who have the right not to have their lives taken from them."

He got up.

"So that's your answer," said Alistair Blunt.

Hercule Poirot said in a tired voice:

"Yes – that is my answer…"

He went to the door and opened it. Two men came in.

Hercule Poirot went down to where a girl was waiting. Jane Olivera, her face white and strained, stood against the mantelpiece. Beside her was Howard Raikes.

She said:

"Well?"

Poirot said gently:

"It is all over."

Raikes said harshly:

"What do you mean?"

Poirot said:

"Mr. Alistair Blunt has been arrested for murder."

Raikes said: