Agatha Christie - The Murder on the Links

He let the body fall back into its original position.

‘He wore only underclothes under his overcoat, I see,’ he remarked.

‘Yes, the examining magistrate thinks that is rather a curious point.’

At this minute there was a tap on the door which Bex had closed after him. He strode forward and opened it. Françoise was there. She endeavoured to peep in with ghoulish curiosity.

‘Well, what is it?’ demanded Bex impatiently.

‘Madame. She sends a message that she is much recovered and is quite ready to receive the examining magistrate.’

‘Good,’ said M. Bex briskly. ‘Tell Monsieur Hautet and say that we will come at once.’

Poirot lingered a moment, looking back towards the body. I thought for a moment that he was going to apostrophize it, to declare aloud his determination never to rest till he had discovered the murderer. But when he spoke, it was tamely and awkwardly, and his comment was ludicrously inappropriate to the solemnity of the moment.

‘He wore his overcoat very long,’ he said constrainedly.

We found M. Hautet awaiting us in the hall, and we all proceeded upstairs together, Françoise marching ahead to show us the way. Poirot went up in a zigzag fashion which puzzled me, until he whispered with a grimace:

‘No wonder the servants heard M. Renauld mounting the stairs, not a board of them but creaks fit to awake the dead!’

At the head of the staircase, a small passage branched off.

‘The servants’ quarters,’ explained Bex.

We continued along a corridor, and Françoise tapped on the last door to the right of it.

A faint voice bade us enter, and we passed into a large, sunny apartment looking out towards the sea, which showed blue and sparkling about a quarter of a mile distant.

On a couch, propped up with cushions, and attended by Dr Durand, lay a tall, striking-looking woman. She was middle-aged, and her once dark hair was now almost entirely silvered, but the intense vitality, and strength of her personality would have made itself felt anywhere. You knew at once that you were in the presence of what the French call une maîtresse femme .

She greeted us with a dignified inclination of the head.

‘Pray be seated, messieurs.’

We took chairs, and the magistrate’s clerk established himself at a round table.

‘I hope, madame,’ began M. Hautet, ‘that it will not distress you unduly to relate to us what occurred last night?’

‘Not at all, monsieur. I know the value of time, if these scoundrelly assassins are to be caught and punished.’

‘Very well, madame. It will fatigue you less, I think, if I ask you questions and you confine yourself to answering them. At what time did you go to bed last night?’

‘At half past nine, monsieur. I was tired.’

‘And your husband?’

‘About an hour later, I fancy.’

‘Did he seem disturbed—upset in any way?’

‘No, not more than usual.’

‘What happened then?’

‘We slept. I was awakened by a hand pressed over my mouth. I tried to scream out, but the hand prevented me. There were two men in the room. They were both masked.’

‘Can you describe them at all, madame?’

‘One was very tall, and had a long black beard, the other was short and stout. His beard was reddish. They both wore hats pulled down over their eyes.’

‘H’m!’ said the magistrate thoughtfully. ‘Too much beard, I fear.’

‘You mean they were false?’

‘Yes, madame. But continue your story.’

‘It was the short man who was holding me. He forced a gag into my mouth, and then bound me with rope hand and foot. The other man was standing over my husband. He had caught up my little dagger paper-knife from the dressing-table and was holding it with the point just over his heart. When the short man had finished with me, he joined the other, and they forced my husband to get up and accompany them into the dressing-room next door. I was nearly fainting with terror, nevertheless I listened desperately.

‘They were speaking in too low a tone for me to hear what they said. But I recognized the language, a bastard Spanish such as is spoken in some parts of South America. They seemed to be demanding something from my husband, and presently they grew angry, and their voices rose a little. I think the tall man was speaking. “You know what we want?” he said. “ The secret! Where is it?” I do not know what my husband answered, but the other replied fiercely: “You lie! We know you have it. Where are your keys?”

‘Then I heard sounds of drawers being pulled out. There is a safe on the wall of my husband’s dressing-room in which he always keeps a fairly large amount of ready money. Léonie tells me this has been rifled and the money taken, but evidently what they were looking for was not there, for presently I heard the tall man, with an oath, command my husband to dress himself. Soon after that, I think some noise in the house must have disturbed them, for they hustled my husband out into my room only half dressed.’

‘ Pardon ,’ interrupted Poirot, ‘but is there then no other egress from the dressing-room?’

‘No, monsieur, there is only the communicating door into my room. They hurried my husband through, the short man in front, and the tall man behind him with the dagger still in his hand. Paul tried to break away to come to me. I saw his agonized eyes. He turned to his captors. “I must speak to her,” he said. Then, coming to the side of the bed, “It is all right, Eloise,” he said. “Do not be afraid. I shall return before morning.” But, although he tried to make his voice confident, I could see the terror in his eyes. Then they hustled him out of the door, the tall man saying: “One sound—and you are a dead man, remember.”

‘After that,’ continued Mrs Renauld, ‘I must have fainted. The next thing I recollect is Léonie rubbing my wrists and giving me brandy.’

‘Madame Renauld,’ said the magistrate, ‘had you any idea what it was for which the assassins were searching?’

‘None whatever, monsieur.’

‘Had you any knowledge that your husband feared something?’

‘Yes. I had seen the change in him.’

‘How long ago was that?’

Mrs Renauld reflected.

‘Ten days, perhaps.’

‘Not longer?’

‘Possibly. I only noticed it then.’

‘Did you question your husband at all as to the cause?’

‘Once. He put me off evasively. Nevertheless, I was convinced that he was suffering some terrible anxiety. However, since he evidently wished to conceal the fact from me, I tried to pretend that I had noticed nothing.’

‘Were you aware that he had called in the services of a detective?’

‘A detective?’ exclaimed Mrs Renauld, very much surprised.

‘Yes, this gentleman—Monsieur Hercule Poirot.’ Poirot bowed. ‘He arrived today in response to a summons from your husband.’ And taking the letter written by M. Renauld from his pocket he handed it to the lady.

She read it with apparently genuine astonishment.

‘I had no idea of this. Evidently he was fully cognizant of the danger.’

‘Now, madame, I will beg of you to be frank with me. Is there any incident in your husband’s past life in South America which might throw light on his murder?’

Mrs Renauld reflected deeply, but at last shook her head.

‘I can think of none. Certainly my husband had many enemies, people he had got the better of in some way or another, but I can think of no one distinctive case. I do not say there is no such incident—only that I am not aware of it.’

The examining magistrate stroked his beard disconsolately.