The Witness for the Prosecution

‘He has shot himself,’ she murmured. ‘Horrible!’ With another shiver she permitted him to lead her away. The two girls followed.

  Poirot came forward into the room, the two young men behind him.

  He knelt down by the body, motioning them to keep back a little.

  He found the bullet hole on the right side of the head. It had passed out the other side and had evidently struck a mirror hanging on the left-hand wall, since this was shivered. On the writing table was a sheet of paper, blank save for the word Sorry scrawled across it in hesitating, shaky writing.

  Poirot’s eyes darted back to the door.

  ‘The key is not in the lock,’ he said. ‘I wonder—’

  His hand slid into the dead man’s pocket.

  ‘Here it is,’ he said. ‘At least I think so. Have the goodness to try it, monsieur?’

  Geoffrey Keene took it from him and tried it in the lock.

  ‘That’s it, all right.’

  ‘And the window?’

  Harry Dalehouse strode across to it.

  ‘Shut.’

  ‘You permit?’ Very swiftly, Poirot scrambled to his feet and joined the other at the window. It was a long French window. Poirot opened it, stood a minute scrutinizing the grass just in front of it, then closed it again.

  ‘My friends,’ he said, ‘we must telephone for the police. Until they have come and satisfied themselves that it is truly suicide nothing must be touched. Death can only have occurred about a quarter of an hour ago.’

  ‘I know,’ said Harry hoarsely. ‘We heard the shot.’

  ‘Comment? What is that you say?’

  Harry explained with the help of Geoffrey Keene. As he finished speaking, Barling reappeared.

  Poirot repeated what he had said before, and while Keene went off to telephone, Poirot requested Barling to give him a few minutes’ interview.

  They went into a small morning room, leaving Digby on guard outside the study door, while Harry went off to find the ladies.

  ‘You were, I understand, an intimate friend of M. Lytcham Roche,’ began Poirot. ‘It is for that reason that I address myself to you primarily. In etiquette, perhaps, I should have spoken first to madame, but at the moment I do not think that is pratique.’

  He paused.

  ‘I am, see you, in a delicate situation. I will lay the facts plainly before you. I am, by profession, a private detective.’

  The financier smiled a little.

  ‘It is not necessary to tell me that, M. Poirot. Your name is, by now, a household word.’

  ‘Monsieur is too amiable,’ said Poirot, bowing. ‘Let us, then, proceed. I receive, at my London address, a letter from this M. Lytcham Roche. In it he says that he has reason to believe that he is being swindled of large sums of money. For family reasons, so he puts it, he does not wish to call in the police, but he desires that I should come down and look into the matter for him. Well, I agree. I come. Not quite so soon as M. Lytcham Roche wishes—for after all I have other affairs, and M. Lytcham Roche, he is not quite the King of England, though he seems to think he is.’

  Barling gave a wry smile.

  ‘He did think of himself that way.’

  ‘Exactly. Oh, you comprehend—his letter showed plainly enough that he was what one calls an eccentric. He was not insane, but he was unbalanced, n’est-ce pas?’

  ‘What he’s just done ought to show that.’

  ‘Oh, monsieur, but suicide is not always the act of the unbalanced. The coroner’s jury, they say so, but that is to spare the feelings of those left behind.’

  ‘Hubert was not a normal individual,’ said Barling decisively. ‘He was given to ungovernable rages, was a monomaniac on the subject of family pride, and had a bee in his bonnet in more ways than one. But for all that he was a shrewd man.’

  ‘Precisely. He was sufficiently shrewd to discover that he was being robbed.’

  ‘Does a man commit suicide because he’s being robbed?’ Barling asked.

  ‘As you say, monsieur. Ridiculous. And that brings me to the need for haste in the matter. For family reasons—that was the phrase he used in his letter. Eh bien, monsieur, you are a man of the world, you know that it is for precisely that—family reasons—that a man does commit suicide.’

  ‘You mean?’

  ‘That it looks—on the face of it—as if ce pauvre monsieur had found out something further—and was unable to face what he had found out. But you perceive, I have a duty. I am already employed—commissioned—I have accepted the task. This “family reason”, the dead man did not want it to get to the police. So I must act quickly. I must learn the truth.’

  ‘And when you have learned it?’

  ‘Then—I must use my discretion. I must do what I can.’

  ‘I see,’ said Barling. He smoked for a minute or two in silence, then he said, ‘All the same I’m afraid I can’t help you. Hubert never confided anything to me. I know nothing.’

  ‘But tell me, monsieur, who, should you say, had a chance of robbing this poor gentleman?’

  ‘Difficult to say. Of course, there’s the agent for the estate. He’s a new man.’

  ‘The agent?’

  ‘Yes. Marshall. Captain Marshall. Very nice fellow, lost an arm in the war. He came here a year ago. But Hubert liked him, I know, and trusted him, too.’

  ‘If it were Captain Marshall who was playing him false, there would be no family reasons for silence.’

  ‘N-No.’

  The hesitation did not escape Poirot.

  ‘Speak, monsieur. Speak plainly, I beg of you.’

  ‘It may be gossip.’

  ‘I implore you, speak.’

  ‘Very well, then, I will. Did you notice a very attractive looking young woman in the drawing room?’

  ‘I noticed two very attractive looking young women.’

  ‘Oh, yes, Miss Ashby. Pretty little thing. Her first visit. Harry Dalehouse got Mrs Lytcham Roche to ask her. No, I mean a dark girl—Diana Cleves.’

  ‘I noticed her,’ said Poirot. ‘She is one that all men would notice, I think.’

  ‘She’s a little devil,’ burst out Barling. ‘She’s played fast and loose with every man for twenty miles round. Someone will murder her one of these days.’

  He wiped his brow with a handkerchief, oblivious of the keen interest with which the other was regarding him.

  ‘And this young lady is—’

  ‘She’s Lytcham Roche’s adopted daughter. A great disappointment when he and his wife had no children. They adopted Diana Cleves—she was some kind of cousin. Hubert was devoted to her, simply worshipped her.’

  ‘Doubtless he would dislike the idea of her marrying?’ suggested Poirot.

  ‘Not if she married the right person.’

  ‘And the right person was—you, monsieur?’

  Barling started and flushed.

  ‘I never said—’

  ‘Mais, non, mais, non! You said nothing. But it was so, was it not?’

  ‘I fell in love with her—yes. Lytcham Roche was pleased about it. It fitted in with his ideas for her.’

  ‘And mademoiselle herself?’

  ‘I told you—she’s the devil incarnate.’

  ‘I comprehend. She has her own ideas of amusement, is it not so? But Captain Marshall, where does he come in?’

  ‘Well, she’s been seeing a lot of him. People talked. Not that I think there’s anything in it. Another scalp, that’s all.’

  Poirot nodded.

  ‘But supposing that there had been something in it—well, then, it might explain why M. Lytcham Roche wanted to proceed cautiously.’

  ‘You do understand, don’t you, that there’s no earthly reason for suspecting Marshall of defalcation.’

  ‘Oh, parfaitement, parfaitement! It might be an affair of a forged cheque with someone in the household involved. This young Mr Dalehouse, who is he?’

  ‘A nephew.’

  ‘He will inherit, yes?’

  ‘He’s a sister
’s son. Of course he might take the name—there’s not a Lytcham Roche left.’

  ‘I see.’

  ‘The place isn’t actually entailed, though it’s always gone from father to son. I’ve always imagined that he’d leave the place to his wife for her lifetime and then perhaps to Diana if he approved of her marriage. You see, her husband could take the name.’

  ‘I comprehend,’ said Poirot. ‘You have been most kind and helpful to me, monsieur. May I ask of you one thing further—to explain to Madame Lytcham Roche all that I have told you, and to beg of her that she accord me a minute?’

  Sooner than he had thought likely, the door opened and Mrs Lytcham Roche entered. She floated to a chair.

  ‘Mr Barling has explained everything to me,’ she said. ‘We mustn’t have any scandal, of course. Though I do feel really it’s fate, don’t you? I mean with the mirror and everything.’

  ‘Comment—the mirror?’

  ‘The moment I saw it—it seemed a symbol. Of Hubert! A curse, you know. I think old families have a curse very often. Hubert was always very strange. Lately he has been stranger than ever.’

  ‘You will forgive me for asking, madame, but you are not in any way short of money?’

  ‘Money? I never think of money.’

  ‘Do you know what they say, madame? Those who never think of money need a great deal of it.’

  He ventured a tiny laugh. She did not respond. Her eyes were far away.

  ‘I thank you, madame,’ he said, and the interview came to an end.

  Poirot rang, and Digby answered.

  ‘I shall require you to answer a few questions,’ said Poirot. ‘I am a private detective sent for by your master before he died.’

  ‘A detective!’ the butler gasped. ‘Why?’

  ‘You will please answer my questions. As to the shot now—’

  He listened to the butler’s account.

  ‘So there were four of you in the hall?’

  ‘Yes, sir; Mr Dalehouse and Miss Ashby and Mr Keene came from the drawing room.’

  ‘Where were the others?’

  ‘The others, sir?’

  ‘Yes, Mrs Lytcham Roche, Miss Cleves and Mr Barling.’

  ‘Mrs Lytcham Roche and Mr Barling came down later, sir.’

  ‘And Miss Cleves?’

  ‘I think Miss Cleves was in the drawing room, sir.’

  Poirot asked a few more questions, then dismissed the butler with the command to request Miss Cleves to come to him.

  She came immediately, and he studied her attentively in view of Barling’s revelations. She was certainly beautiful in her white satin frock with the rosebud on the shoulder.

  He explained the circumstances which had brought him to Lytcham Close, eyeing her very closely, but she showed only what seemed to be genuine astonishment, with no signs of uneasiness. She spoke of Marshall indifferently with tepid approval. Only at mention of Barling did she approach animation.

  ‘That man’s a crook,’ she said sharply. ‘I told the Old Man so, but he wouldn’t listen—went on putting money into his rotten concerns.’

  ‘Are you sorry, mademoiselle, that your—father is dead?’

  She stared at him.

  ‘Of course. I’m modern, you know, M. Poirot. I don’t indulge in sob stuff. But I was fond of the Old Man. Though, of course, it’s best for him.’

  ‘Best for him?’

  ‘Yes. One of these days he would have had to be locked up. It was growing on him—this belief that the last Lytcham Roche of Lytcham Close was omnipotent.’

  Poirot nodded thoughtfully.

  ‘I see, I see—yes, decided signs of mental trouble. By the way, you permit that I examine your little bag? It is charming—all these silk rosebuds. What was I saying? Oh, yes, did you hear the shot?’

  ‘Oh, yes! But I thought it was a car or a poacher, or something.’

  ‘You were in the drawing room?’

  ‘No. I was out in the garden.’

  ‘I see. Thank you, mademoiselle. Next I would like to see M. Keene, is it not?’

  ‘Geoffrey? I’ll send him along.’

  Keene came in, alert and interested.

  ‘Mr Barling has been telling me of the reason for your being down here. I don’t know that there’s anything I can tell you, but if I can—’

  Poirot interrupted him. ‘I only want to know one thing, Monsieur Keene. What was it that you stooped and picked up just before we got to the study door this evening?’

  ‘I—’ Keene half sprang up from his chair, then subsided again. ‘I don’t know what you mean,’ he said lightly.

  ‘Oh, I think you do, monsieur. You were behind me, I know, but a friend of mine he says I have eyes in the back of my head. You picked up something and you put it in the right hand pocket of your dinner jacket.’

  There was a pause. Indecision was written plainly on Keene’s handsome face. At last he made up his mind.

  ‘Take your choice, M. Poirot,’ he said, and leaning forward he turned his pocket inside out. There was a cigarette holder, a handkerchief, a tiny silk rosebud, and a little gold match box.

  A moment’s silence and then Keene said, ‘As a matter of fact it was this.’ He picked up the match box. ‘I must have dropped it earlier in the evening.’

  ‘I think not,’ said Poirot.

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘What I say. I, monsieur, am a man of tidiness, of method, of order. A match box on the ground, I should see it and pick it up—a match box of this size, assuredly I should see it! No, monsieur, I think it was something very much smaller—such as this, perhaps.’

  He picked up the little silk rosebud.

  ‘From Miss Cleve’s bag, I think?’

  There was a moment’s pause, then Keene admitted it with a laugh.

  ‘Yes, that’s so. She—gave it to me last night.’

  ‘I see,’ said Poirot, and at the moment the door opened and a tall fair-haired man in a lounge suit strode into the room.

  ‘Keene—what’s all this? Lytcham Roche shot himself? Man, I can’t believe it. It’s incredible.’

  ‘Let me introduce you,’ said Keene, ‘to M. Hercule Poirot.’ The other started. ‘He will tell you all about it.’ And he left the room, banging the door.

  ‘M. Poirot—’ John Marshall was all eagerness ‘—I’m most awfully pleased to meet you. It is a bit of luck your being down here. Lytcham Roche never told me you were coming. I’m a most frightful admirer of yours, sir.’

  A disarming young man, thought Poirot—not so young, either, for there was grey hair at the temples and lines in the forehead. It was the voice and manner that gave the impression of boyishness.

  ‘The police—’

  ‘They are here now, sir. I came up with them on hearing the news. They don’t seem particularly surprised. Of course, he was mad as a hatter, but even then—’

  ‘Even then you are surprised at his committing suicide?’

  ‘Frankly, yes. I shouldn’t have thought that—well, that Lytcham Roche could have imagined the world getting on without him.’

  ‘He has had money troubles of late, I understand?’

  Marshall nodded.

  ‘He speculated. Wildcat schemes of Barling’s.’

  Poirot said quietly, ‘I will be very frank. Had you any reason to suppose that Mr Lytcham Roche suspected you of tampering with your accounts?’

  Marshall stared at Poirot in a kind of ludicrous bewilderment. So ludicrous was it that Poirot was forced to smile.

  ‘I see that you are utterly taken aback, Captain Marshall.’

  ‘Yes, indeed. The idea’s ridiculous.’

  ‘Ah! Another question. He did not suspect you of robbing him of his adopted daughter?’

  ‘Oh, so you know about me and Di?’ He laughed in an embarrassed fashion.

  ‘It is so, then?’

  Marshall nodded.

  ‘But the old man didn’t know anything about it. Di wouldn’t have him told. I suppose she
was right. He’d have gone up like a—a basketful of rockets. I should have been chucked out of a job, and that would have been that.’

  ‘And instead what was your plan?’

  ‘Well, upon my word, sir, I hardly know. I left things to Di. She said she’d fix it. As a matter of fact I was looking out for a job. If I could have got one I would have chucked this up.’

  ‘And mademoiselle would have married you? But M. Lytcham Roche might have stopped her allowance. Mademoiselle Diana is, I should say, fond of money.’

  Marshall looked rather uncomfortable.

  ‘I’d have tried to make it up to her, sir.’

  Geoffrey Keene came into the room. ‘The police are just going and would like to see you, M. Poirot.’

  ‘Merci. I will come.’

  In the study were a stalwart inspector and the police surgeon.

  ‘Mr Poirot?’ said the inspector. ‘We’ve heard of you, sir. I’m Inspector Reeves.’

  ‘You are most amiable,’ said Poirot, shaking hands. ‘You do not need my co-operation, no?’ He gave a little laugh.

  ‘Not this time, sir. All plain sailing.’

  ‘The case is perfectly straightforward, then?’ demanded Poirot.

  ‘Absolutely. Door and window locked, key of door in dead man’s pocket. Manner very strange the past few days. No doubt about it.’

  ‘Everything quite—natural?’

  The doctor grunted.

  ‘Must have been sitting at a damned queer angle for the bullet to have hit that mirror. But suicide’s a queer business.’

  ‘You found the bullet?’

  ‘Yes, here.’ The doctor held it out. ‘Near the wall below the mirror. Pistol was Mr Roche’s own. Kept it in the drawer of the desk always. Something behind it all, I daresay, but what that is we shall never know.’

  Poirot nodded.

  The body had been carried to a bedroom. The police now took their leave. Poirot stood at the front door looking after them. A sound made him turn. Harry Dalehouse was close behind him.

  ‘Have you, by any chance, a strong flashlight, my friend?’ asked Poirot.

  ‘Yes, I’ll get it for you.’

  When he returned with it Joan Ashby was with him.

  ‘You may accompany me if you like,’ said Poirot graciously.

  He stepped out of the front door and turned to the right, stopping before the study window. About six feet of grass separated it from the path. Poirot bent down, playing the flashlight on the grass. He straightened himself and shook his head.