"Did she marry him?"
Spence shook his head.
"No idea."}
}MRS. McGINTY'S DEAD 109}
"She went abroad—and then?"
Spence shook his head.
}"She was a free woman. She'd not been charged with, anything. Whether she married, or what happened to her we don't know."}
}"One might meet her at a cocktail party any day," said Poirot, thinking of Dr Rendell's remark.}
}"Exactly."
}Poirot shifted his gaze to the last photograph,}
"And the child? Lily Gamboll?"
}"Too young to be charged with murder. She was sent to an approved school. Good record there. Was taught shorthand and typing and was found a job under probation. Did well. Last heard of in Ireland. I think we could wash her out, you know, M. Poirot, same as Vera Blake. After all, she'd made good, and people don't hold it against a kid of twelve for doing something in a fit of temper. What about washing her out?"}
}"I might," said Poirot, "if it were not for the chopper. It is undeniable that Lily Gamboll used a chopper on her aunt and the unknown killer of Mrs McGinty used something that was said to be like a chopper."}
}"Perhaps you're right. Now, M. Poirot, let's have
your side of things. Nobody's tried to do you in, I'm
glad to see." }
}"N-no," said Poirot, with a momentary hesitation.}
}"I don't mind telling you I've had the wind up about you once or twice since that evening in London. Now what are the possibilities amongst the residents of Broadhinny?"}
}Poirot opened his little notebook.}
}"Era Kane, if she is still alive, would be now approaching sixty. Her daughter, of whose adult life our Sunday Companion paints such a touching picture, would be now in the thirties. Lily Gamboll would also}
110 MRS. McGinty's} DEAD}
}be about that age. Janice Courtland would now be not far short of fifty."}
}Spence nodded agreement.}
}"So we come to the residents of Broadhinny with especial reference to those for whom Mrs McGinty worked."}
}"That last is a fair assumption, I think."
"Yes, it is complicated by the fact that Mrs McGinty did occasional odd work here and there, but we will assume for the time being that she saw whatever she did see, presumably a photograph, at one of her regular 'houses,'"}
"Agreed."
}"Then as far as age goes, that gives us as possibles— first the Wetherbys where Mrs McGinty worked on the day of her death. Mrs Wetherby is the right age for Eva Kane and she has a daughter of the right age to be Eva Kane's daughter—a daughter said to be by a previous marriage."}
}"And as regards the photograph?"}
}"Mon cher, }no positive identification from that is possible. Too much time has passed, too much water, as you say, has flowed from the waterworks. One can but say this: Mrs Wetherby has been, decidedly, a pretty woman. She has all the mannerisms of one. She seems much too fragile and helpless to do murder, but then that was, I understand, the popular belief about Eva Kane. How much actual physical strength would have been needed to kill Mrs McGinty is difficult to say without knowing exactly what weapon was used, its handle, the ease with which it could be swung, the sharpness of its cutting edge, etcetera."}
}"Yes, yes. Why we never managed to find that—but go on."}
}"The only other remarks I have to make about the Wetherby household are that Mr Wetherby could make}
MRS. McGinty's DEAD 111
himself, and I fancy does make himself, very unpleasant
if he likes. The daughter is fanatically devoted to her
mother. She hates her stepfather. I do not remark on
these facts. I present them, only, for consideration.
Daughter might kill to prevent Mother's past coming to
stepfather's ears. Mother might kill for same reason.
Father might kill to prevent scandal coming out. More
murders have been committed for respectability than
one would believe possible! The Wetherbys are 'nice
people'."
}Spence nodded.}
"If—I say if—there is anything in this Sunday Companion business, then the Wetherbys are clearly the best bet," he said.
"Exactly. The only other person in Broadhinny who would fit in age with Eva Kane is Mrs Upward. There are two arguments against Mrs Upward, as Eva Kane, having killed Mrs McGinty. First, she suffers from arthritis, and spends most of her time in a wheeled }chair—"}
}"In a book," said Spence enviously, "that wheeled chair business would be phony, but in real life it's probably all according to Cocker."}
}"Secondly," continued Poirot, "Mrs Upward seems of a dogmatic and forceful disposition, more inclined to bully than to coax, which does not agree with the accounts of our young Eva. On the other hand people's characters do develop and self-assertiveness is a quality that often comes with age."}
}"That's true enough," conceded Spence. "Mrs Upward—not impossible but unlikely. Now the other possibilities. Janice Courtland?"}
}"Can, I think, be ruled out. There is no one in Broadhinny the right age."}
}"Unless one of the younger women is Janice Court-}
112 MRS. McGINTY'S }DEAD}
}land with her face lifted. Don't mind me—just my little joke."}
}"There are three women of thirty odd. There is Deirdre Henderson. There is Dr Rendell's wife, and there is Mrs Guy Carpenter. That is to say any one of these }could }be Lily Gamboll or alternatively Eva Kane's daughter as far as age goes."
"And as far as possibility goes?"
Poirot sighed.}
}"Eva Kane's daughter may be tall or short, dark or fair—we have no guide to what she looks like. We have considered Deirdre Henderson in that role. Now for the other two. First of all I will tell you this: Mrs Rendell is afraid of something."
"Afraid of you?"
"I think so."}
}"That might be significant," said Spence slowly. "You're suggesting that Mrs Rendell might be Eva Kane's daughter }or }Lily Gamboll. Is she fair or dark?"
"Fair."}
}"Lily Gamboll was a fair-haired child."
"Mrs Carpenter is also fair-haired. A most expensively made-up young woman. Whether she is actually good looking or not, she has very remarkable eyes. Lovely wide open dark blue eyes."}
}"Now, Poirot—" Spence shook his head at his friend.
"Do you know what she looked like as she ran out of the room to call her husband? I was reminded of a lovely fluttering moth. She blundered into the furniture and stretched her hands out like a blind thing."
Spence looked at him indulgently.
"Romantic, that's what you are, M. Poirot," he said. "You and your lovely fluttering moths and wide open blue eyes."}
}"Not at all," said Poirot. "My friend Hastings, }he }was romantic and sentimental, me never! Me, I am}
}MRS. McGINTY'S DEAD 113
severely practical. What I am telling you is that if a girl's claims to beauty depend principally on the loveliness of her eyes, then, no matter how shortsighted she is, she will take off her spectacles and learn to feel her way round even if outlines are blurred and distances hard to }judge."
And gently, with his forefinger, he tapped the photograph of the child Lily Gamboll in her thick disfiguring
}spectacles.}
"So that's what you think? Lily Gamboll?"
"No, I speak only of what might be. At the time Mrs McGinty died Mrs Carpenter was not yet Mrs Carpenter. She was a young war widow, very badly off, living in a. labourer's cottage. She was engaged to be married to the rich man of the neighbourhood—a man with political ambitions and a great sense of his own importance. If Guy Carpenter had found out that he was about to marry, say, a child of low origin who had attained notoriety by hitting her aunt on the head with a chopper, or alternatively the daughter of Craig, one of the most notorious criminals of the century—prominently
placed in your Chamber of Horrors—well, one asks would he have gone through with it? You say perhaps, if he loved the girl, }yes! }But he is not quite that kind of man. I would put him down as selfish, ambitious, and a man very nice in the manner of his reputation. I think that if young Mrs Selkirk, as she was then, was anxious to achieve the match she would have been very very anxious that no hint of an unfortunate nature got to her fiance's ears."
}"I see, you think it's her, do you?"
"I tell you again, }mon cher, I do not know. }I examine only possibilities. Mrs Carpenter was on her guard against me, watchful, alarmed,"
"That looks bad."
"Yes, yes, but it is all very difficult. Once I stayed}
}114 MRS. McGINTY'S DEAD
with some friends in the country and they went out to do the shooting. You-know the way it goes? One walks with the dogs and the guns, and the dogs, they put up the game—it flies out of the woods, up into the air and you go bang bang. That is like us. It is not only one bird we put up perhaps, there are other birds in the cover. Birds, perhaps with which we have nothing to do. But the birds themselves do not know that. We must make very sure, }cher ami, }which is }our }bird. During Mrs Carpenter's widowhood, there may have been indiscretions} }—no worse than that, but still inconvenient. Certainly there must be some reason why she says to me quickly that Mrs McGinty was a liar!"
Superintendent Spence rubbed his nose.}
}"Let's get this clear, Poirot. What }do }you really think?"}
}"What I think does not matter. I must }know. }And as yet, the dogs have only just gone into the covert."}
} Spence murmured:}
}"If we could get anything at all definite. One really suspicious circumstance. As it is, it's all theory and rather far-fetched theory at that. The whole thing's thin, you know, as I said. }Does }anyone really murder for the reasons we've been considering?"}
}"That depends," said Poirot. "It depends on a lot of family circumstances we do not know. But the passion for respectability is very strong. These are not artists or Bohemians. Very nice people live in Broadhinny. My postmistress said so. And nice people like to preserve their niceness. Years of happy married life, maybe, no suspicion that you were once a notorious figure in one of the most sensational murder trials, no suspicion that your child is the child of a famous murderer. One might say, 'I would rather die than have my husband know!' Or 'I would rather die than have my daughter discover}
}MRS. McGINTY'S }DEAD 115}
}who she is!' And then you would go on to reflect that it would be better, perhaps, if Mrs McGinty died ..."}
}Spence said quietly:}
}"So you think it's the Wetherbys."}
}"No. They fit the best, perhaps, but that is all. In actual character, Mrs. Upward is a more }likely }killer than Mrs Wetherby. She has determination and willpower and she fairly dotes on her son. To prevent his learning of what happened before she married his father and settled down to respectable married bliss, I think she might go far."}
}"Would it upset him so much?"}
}"Personally I do not think so. Young Robin has a modern sceptical point. of view, is thoroughly selfish, and in any case is less devoted, I should say, to his mother than she to him. He is not another James Bentley."}
}"Granting Mrs Upward }was }Eva Kane, her son Robin wouldn't kill Mrs McGinty to prevent that fact coming out?"}
}"Not for a moment, I should say. He would probably capitalise it. Use the fact for publicity for his plays! I can't see Robin Upward committing a murder for respectability, or devotion, or in fact for anything but a good solid gain to Robin Upward."}
}Spence sighed. He said, "It's a wide field. We may be able to get-something on the past history of these people. But it will take time. The war has complicated things. Records destroyed—-endless opportunities for people who want to cover their traces doing so by means of other people's identity cards, etc., especially after 'incidents' when nobody could know which corpse was which! If we could concentrate on just }one }lot, but you've got so many possibles, M. Poirot."}
"We may be able to cut them down soon.'
}Poirot left the Superintendent's office with less cheer-}
}116 MRS. McGinty's DEAD}
}fulness in his heart than he had shown in his manner. He was obsessed as Spen'ce was, by the urge of time. If only he could have }time }...}
}And further back still was the one teasing doubt—}was the edifice he and Spence had built up really sound?} }Supposing, after all, that James Bentley }was }guilty. . . .}
}He did not give in to that doubt, but it worried him.}
}Again and again he had gone over in his mind the}
}interview he had had with James Bentley. He thought}
}of it now whilst he waited on the platform of Kilchester} }for his train to come in. It had been market day and the} }platform was crowded. More crowds were coming in} }through the barriers.}
}Poirot leaned forward to look. Yes, the train was coming at last. Before he could right himself he felt a sudden hard purposeful shove in the small of his back. It was so violent and so unexpected that he was taken completely unawares. In another second he would have fallen on the line under the incoming train, but a man beside him on the platform caught hold of him in the nick of time, pulling him back.}
}"Why, whatever came over you?" he demanded. He was a big burly Army Sergeant. "Taken queer? Man, you were nearly under the train."}
}"I thank you. I thank you a thousand times." Already the crowd was milling round them, boarding the train, Others leaving it.}
}"All right now? I'll help you in."
Shaken, Poirot subsided onto a seat.
Useless to say, "I was pushed," but he }had }been pushed. Up till that very evening he had gone about consciously on his guard, on the alert for danger. But after talking with Spence, after Spence's bantering inquiry as to whether any attempt on his life had been made, he had insensibly regarded the danger as over or unlikely to materialise.}
}MRS. McGINTY'S DEAD 117}
}But how wrong he had been! Amongst those he had}
}interviewed in Broadhinny one interview had achieved a}
}result. Somebody had been afraid. Somebody had}
}sought to put an end to his dangerous resuscitation of a}
}closed case.}
}From a call box in the station at Broadhinny, Poirot}
}rang up Superintendent Spence,}
}"It is you, }mon ami? }Attend, I pray. I have news for you. Splendid news. }Somebody has tried to kill me. . . ."}
}He listened with satisfaction to the flow of remarks}
}from the other end.}
}"No, I am not hurt. But it was a very near thing. ... Yes, under a train. No, I did not see who did it. But be assured, my friend, / }shall find out. }We know now— that we are on the right track."}
} CHAPTER 12 }T}he man who was testing the electric meter passed the time of day with Guy Carpenter's superior manservant who was watching him.}
}"Electricity's going to operate on a new basis," he explained. "Graded flat rate according to occupancy."}
}The superior butler remarked sceptically:}
}"What you mean is it's going to cost more like everything else."}
}"That depends. Fair shares for all, that's what I say. Did you go in to the meeting at Kilchester last night?'}
}"No."}
118 MRS. McGinty's DEAD
}"Your boss, Mr Carpenter, spoke very well, they say.} }Think he'll get in?" .}
}"It was a near shave last time, I believe.'}
}"Yes. A hundred and twenty five majority, something} }like that. Do you drive him in to these meetings, or does} }he drive himself?"}
}"Usually drives himself. Likes driving. He's got a Rolls Bentley."}
}"Does himself well. Mrs Carpenter drive, too?'
"Yes, Drives a lot too fast, in my opinion."
"Women usually do. Was she at the meeting last night too? Or isn't she interested in
politics?"
The superior butler grinned.}
}"Pretends she is, anyway. However, she didn't stick it out last night. Had a headache or something and left in the middle of the speeches."}
}"Ah!" the electrician peered into the fuse boxes. "Nearly done now," he remarked. He put a few more desultory questions as he collected his tools and prepared to depart.}
}He walked briskly down the drive, but round the corner from the gateway, he stopped and made an entry in his pocket book.}
}'C drove home last night. Reached home 10:30 (approx.). Could have been at Kilchester Central Station at time indicated. Mrs. C. left meeting early. Got home only ten minutes before C. Said to have come home by train."}