John Rhode - Mystery at Olympia

‘That’s quite clear, Mrs Markle,’ said Hanslet. He took the bottle of olives from the cupboard and examined it closely. It was about two-thirds full of olives immersed in liquid. The stones of the olives had been removed, and the cavity filled with a pink stuffing of pimento.

‘Did this bottle come from your store-cupboard, Mrs Markle?’ the superintendent asked.

‘It must be the one I gave Jessie last Wednesday. She came to me that day, bringing an empty bottle, and asked me for a fresh one. I gave her one, and saw her take off the patent fastening and loosen the stopper. This must be the bottle.’

Hanslet thought for a moment. ‘Have you any unopened bottles of olives in your store-cupboard now?’ he asked.

‘Oh, yes. I ordered one from the grocer as soon as I had given Jessie this one.’

‘I wonder if you would mind fetching it? And I’d be very much obliged if you would bring a big deep saucer at the same time.’

Mrs Markle left the room, and Hanslet turned to Doctor Formby. ‘These olives will have to be analysed, of course,’ he said. ‘If they are found to contain arsenic, Jessie’s troubles are accounted for. But what I don’t understand is this. She said she took four. But, by the look of it, more than four are missing. Mr Pershore must have eaten the rest. How is it that he did not feel any ill effects?’

‘There’s more than one possible explanation of that. They may not all have been poisoned, and Jessie may have been unlucky. Or they may all contain a small quantity of arsenic. In that case, one would expect the effects on Jessie and Mr Pershore to be different. Jessie ate four at once on an empty stomach, hence her symptoms. Mr Pershore ate one at a time, at intervals of twenty-four hours, after a big dinner. In his case, therefore, the effects would be more gradual.’

‘Would they account for his collapsing suddenly at the Motor Show this afternoon?’

Doctor Formby shrugged his shoulders. ‘I shouldn’t have thought so,’ he replied. ‘I never heard of arsenical poisoning taking that form. But it will be easier to answer that question when we know the results of the post-mortem and of the analysis of these olives.’

Mrs Markle returned, bearing an unopened bottle of olives and a saucer. In outward appearance the bottle was exactly similar to the one in the cupboard. Hanslet took it, opened it, and with the help of the fork, poured the contents into the saucer. Then he counted the olives. There were twenty-four.

‘The two bottles are the same size, so one may take it that there were appoximately the same number in the other,’ he said. ‘Now, we’ll put these back again. That’s right.’

Having returned the twenty-four olives to their bottle, he marked the label with a large ‘A’ in pencil. Then he poured the contents of the bottle from the cupboard into the saucer, and again counted the olives. There were fifteen.

‘Fifteen from twenty-four is nine,’ he said. ‘Allowing for the four eaten by Jessie, we have five to account for.’

‘That’s right,’ Mrs Markle replied. ‘Today is Monday, and Mr Pershore started this bottle on Wednesday last, five days ago.’

Hanslet nodded. ‘It all seems to fit in,’ he said. ‘Thank you, Mrs Markle. We needn’t trouble you any longer. The doctor and I will stay here and have a quiet chat. I wonder if you would mind asking Mr Bryant if he would be good enough to join us?’

Mrs Markle went out, closing the door behind her. ‘I’m glad I thought of locking up this room as soon as I got here,’ the superintendent continued. ‘I took the precaution of locking up Mr Pershore’s bedroom and dressing-room, too, till I had time to go through them. I thought I might find something fishy, as soon as I heard there was a case of poisoning in the house. And, from what I can see, somebody has deliberately attempted to murder Mr Pershore.’

As he spoke, he returned the suspected olives to their bottle, and marked this ‘B.’ ‘I’ll have both bottles analysed at once,’ he continued. ‘Now, if the olives from this cupboard are found to contain arsenic, how did the poison get into them? It’s very unlikely that it did so before they left the grocer’s. Mrs Markle opened the bottle and gave it to Jessie. Now, you know more about this household than I do, doctor. Can you think of any reason why either of them should want to poison their employer?’

Doctor Formby shook his head. ‘Quite frankly, I can’t,’ he replied. ‘And, what’s more, it would take a lot to persuade me that either of them had anything to do with it. You haven’t lost sight of the fact that this bottle has been left open in an unlocked cupboard since Wednesday?’

‘I haven’t. The point is, who had access to it? The members of the household, in the first place. Then anyone who came to the house. But whoever poisoned the olives must have had a pretty intimate knowledge of Mr Pershore’s habits. Do you happen to know anything about these Chantley people that Mrs Markle mentioned?’

‘I believe I met them once when I was dining here. I remember her. She was a rather pretty, foreign looking woman. But I’m afraid I can’t tell you much more than that.’

‘Bryant will know all these people, I suppose. That’s why I asked Mrs Markle to send him along. Ah, here he is, I think.’

But, when the door opened, it was only the housekeeper who appeared. ‘I’m very sorry, superintendent, but I can’t find Mr Bryant,’ she said. ‘His coat and hat aren’t in the hall. I think he must have gone back to London.’

Hanslet frowned. ‘I’d like to have seen him before he went,’ he replied. ‘Never mind. Come and sit down, Mrs Markle. I daresay you will be able to tell me what I want to know.’

Doctor Formby looked at his watch. ‘Have you anything else you want to ask me, Mr Hanslet?’ he asked.

‘Not just now, thank you, doctor.’

‘Very well, I’ll just run up and have one more look at Jessie, and then I’ll get home.’

Hanslet, left alone with Mrs Markle, adopted a disarming tone. ‘You will understand that I want as much information about Mr Pershore as possible,’ he said. ‘And not only about him, but about his friends and relations as well. We’ll begin with his relations. You have already told me about Mr Bryant and Miss Rissington. Are there any others?’

‘No, for Mr Pershore’s sisters are both dead, and so are their husbands. Oh, but I was forgetting. There was Micah Pershore, of course. But I don’t think that he has been heard of for years.’

‘The family seem to have indulged in Biblical names,’ Hanslet remarked. ‘Who was Micah Pershore?’

‘Mr Pershore’s half-brother. Mr Pershore’s father was married twice. Micah was his son by his first wife, and Mr Pershore and his two sisters his family by his second wife. Micah was quite a boy when his father married again. He never got on very well with his stepmother, and he went abroad as soon as he was old enough. I don’t think that he ever came home, and I never heard of him writing to any of the family after his father’s death. I don’t even know that he is still alive.’

‘Well, now we come to Mr Pershore’s friends. You mentioned some people of the name of Chantley, just now. Were they particular friends of his?’

Mrs Markle’s eyes narrowed for an instant. ‘Mr Pershore and Mr Chantley were very friendly at one time,’ she replied. ‘Mr and Mrs Chantley were often here for the weekend, but they haven’t been down lately. Not since the beginning of the year.’

‘Has there been a quarrel, or a disagreement of any kind?’

It seemed to Hanslet that Mrs Markle hesitated for an instant. ‘Not that I am aware of,’ she replied.

The superintendent did not press her. ‘What visitors did you have in the house last week?’ he asked.