"No. Arlena always gets down rather late. She has breakfast in bed."
Hercule Poirot said: "And you, Mademoiselle?"
"Oh, I get up. Breakfast in bed"s so stuffy."
Weston said: "Will you tell us what you did this morning?"
"Well, I had a bathe first and then breakfast, and then I went with Mrs. Redfern to Gull Cove."
Weston said: "What time did you and Mrs. Redfern start?"
"She said she"d be waiting for me in the hall at half-past ten. I was afraid I was going to be late, but it was all right. We started off at about three minutes to the half hour."
Poirot said: "And what did you do at Gull Cove?"
"Oh, I oiled myself and sunbathed and Mrs. Redfern sketched. Then, later, I went into the sea and Christine went back to the hotel to get changed for tennis."
Weston said, keeping his voice quite casual: "Do you remember what time that was?"
"When Mrs. Redfern went back to the hotel? Quarter to twelve."
"Sure of that time-quarter to twelve?"
Linda, opening her eyes wide, said: "Oh yes. I looked at my watch."
"The watch you have on now?"
Linda glanced down at her wrist.
"Yes."
Weston said: "Mind if I see?"
She held our her wrist. He compared the watch with his own and with the hotel clock on the wall.
He said, smiling: "Correct to a second. And after that you had a bathe?"
"Yes."
"And you got back to the hotel-when?"
"Just about one o"clock. And-and then-I heard-about Arlena...."
Her voice changed.
Colonel Weston said: "Did you-er-get on with your stepmother all right?"
She looked at him for a minute without replying. Then she said: "Oh yes."
Poirot asked: "Did you like her, Mademoiselle?"
Linda said again: "Oh yes." She added: "Arlena was quite kind to me."
Weston said with rather uneasy facetiousness.
"Not the cruel stepmother, eh?"
Linda shook her head without smiling.
Weston said: "That"s good. That"s good. Sometimes, you know, there"s a bit of difficulty in families-jealousy-all that. Girl and her father great pals and then she resents it a bit when he"s all wrapped up in the new wife. You didn"t feel like that, eh?"
Linda stared at him. She said with obvious sincerity: "Oh no."
Weston said: "I suppose your father was-er-very wrapped up in her?"
Linda said simply: "I don"t know."
Weston went on: "All sorts of difficulties, as I say, arise in families. Quarrels-rows-that sort of thing. If husband and wife get ratty with each other, that"s a bit awkward for a daughter too. Anything of that sort?"
Linda said clearly: "Do you mean, did Father and Arlena quarrel?"
"Well-yes."
Weston thought to himself: "Rotten business-questioning a child about her father. Why is one a policeman? d.a.m.n it all, it"s got to be done, though."
Linda said positively: "Oh no." She added: "Father doesn"t quarrel with people. He"s not like that at all."
Weston said: "Now, Miss Linda, I want you to think very carefully. Have you any idea at all who might have killed your stepmother? Is there anything you"ve ever heard or anything you know that could help us on that point?"
Linda was silent a minute. She seemed to be giving the question a serious unhurried consideration. She said at last.
"No, I don"t know who could have wanted to kill Arlena." She added: "Except, of course, Mrs. Redfern."
Weston said: "You think Mrs. Redfern wanted to kill her? Why?"
Linda said: "Because her husband was in love with Arlena. But I don"t think she would really want to kill her. I mean she"d just feel that she wished she was dead-and that isn"t the same thing at all, is it?"
Poirot said gently: "No, it is not at all the same."
Linda nodded. A queer sort of spasm pa.s.sed across her face. She said: "And anyway, Mrs. Redfern could never do a thing like that-kill anybody. She isn"t-she isn"t violent, if you know what I mean."
Weston and Poirot nodded. The latter said: "I know exactly what you mean, my child, and I agree with you. Mrs. Redfern is not of those who, as your saying goes, "sees red." She would not be"-he leaned back half closing his eyes, picking his words with care-"shaken by a storm of feeling-seeing life narrowing in front of her-seeing a hated face-a hated white neck-feeling her hands clench-longing to feel them press into flesh-"
He stopped.
Linda moved jerkily back from the table. She said in a trembling voice: "Can I go now? Is that all?"
Colonel Weston said: "Yes, yes, that"s all. Thank you, Miss Linda."
He got up to open the door for her. Then came back to the table and lit a cigarette.
"Phew," he said. "Not a nice job, ours. I can tell you I felt a bit of a cad questioning that child about the relations between her father and her stepmother. More or less inviting a daughter to put a rope round her father"s neck. All the same, it had to be done. Murder is murder. And she"s the person most likely to know the truth of things. I"m rather thankful, though, that she"d nothing to tell us in that line."
Poirot said: "Yes, I thought you were."
Weston said with an embarra.s.sed cough: "By the way, Poirot, you went a bit far, I thought at the end. All that hands sinking into flesh business! Not quite the sort of idea to put into a kid"s head."
Hercule Poirot looked at him with thoughtful eyes. He said: "So you thought I put ideas into her head?"
"Well, didn"t you? Come now."
Poirot shook his head.
Weston sheered away from the point. He said: "On the whole we got very little useful stuff out of her. Except a more or less complete alibi for the Redfern woman. If they were together from half past ten to a quarter to twelve that lets Christine Redfern out of it. Exit the jealous wife suspect."
Poirot said: "There are better reasons than that for leaving Mrs. Redfern out of it. It would, I am convinced, be physically impossible and mentally impossible for her to strangle anyone. She is cold rather than warm blooded, capable of deep devotion and unswerving constancy, but not of hot-blooded pa.s.sion or rage. Moreover, her hands are far too small and delicate."
Colgate said: "I agree with M. Poirot. She"s out of it. Dr. Neasden says it was a full-sized pair of hands that throttled that dame."
Weston said: "Well, I suppose we"d better see the Redferns next. I expect he"s recovered a bit from the shock now."
III.
Patrick Redfern had recovered full composure by now. He looked pale and haggard and suddenly very young, but his manner was quite composed.
"You are Mr. Patrick Redfern of Crossgates, Seldon, Princes Risborough?"
"Yes."
"How long had you known Mrs. Marshall?"
Patrick Redfern hesitated, then said: "Three months."
Weston went on: "Captain Marshall has told us that you and she met casually at a c.o.c.ktail party. Is that right?"
"Yes, that"s how it came about."
Weston said: "Captain Marshall has implied that until you both met down here you did not know each other well. Is that the truth, Mr. Redfern?"
Again Patrick Redfern hesitated a minute. Then he said: "Well-not exactly. As a matter of fact I saw a fair amount of her one way and another."
"Without Captain Marshall"s knowledge?"
Redfern flushed slightly. He said: "I don"t know whether he knew about it or not."
Hercule Poirot spoke. He murmured: "And was it also without your wife"s knowledge, Mr. Redfern?"
"I believe I mentioned to my wife that I had met the famous Arlena Stuart."
Poirot persisted.
"But she did not know how often you were seeing her?"
"Well, perhaps not."
Weston said: "Did you and Mrs. Marshall arrange to meet down here?"
Redfern was silent a minute or two. Then he shrugged his shoulders.
"Oh well," he said, "I suppose it"s bound to come out now. It"s no good my fencing with you. I was crazy about the woman-mad-infatuated-anything you like. She wanted me to come down here. I demurred a bit and then I agreed. I-I-well, I would have agreed to do any mortal thing she liked. She had that kind of effect on people."
Hercule Poirot murmured: "You paint a very clear picture of her. She was the eternal Circe. Just that!"
Patrick Redfern said bitterly: "She turned men into swine all right!" He went on: "I"m being frank with you, gentlemen. I"m not going to hide anything. What"s the use? As I say, I was infatuated with her. Whether she cared for me or not, I don"t know. She pretended to, but I think she was one of those women who lose interest in a man once they"ve got him body and soul. She knew she"d got me all right. This morning, when I found her there on the beach, dead, it was as though"-he paused-"as though something had hit me straight between the eyes. I was dazed-knocked out!"
Poirot leaned forward. "And now?"
Patrick Redfern met his eyes squarely.
He said: "I"ve told you the truth. What I want to ask is this-how much of it has got to be made public? It"s not as though it could have any bearing on her death. And if it all comes out, it"s going to be pretty rough on my wife."
"Oh, I know," he went on quickly. "You think I haven"t thought much about her up to now? Perhaps that"s true. But, though I may sound the worst kind of hypocrite, the real truth is that I care for my wife-care for her very deeply. The other"-he twitched his shoulders-"it was a madness-the kind of idiotic fool thing men do-but Christine is different. She"s real. Badly as I"ve treated her, I"ve known all along, deep down, that she was the person who really counted." He paused-sighed-and said rather pathetically: "I wish I could make you believe that."
Hercule Poirot leant forward. He said: "But I do believe it. Yes, yes, I do believe it!"
Patrick Redfern looked at him gratefully. He said: "Thank you."
Colonel Weston cleared his throat. He said: "You may take it, Mr. Redfern, that we shall not go into irrelevancies. If your infatuation for Mrs. Marshall played no part in the murder then there will be no point in dragging it into the case. But what you don"t seem to realize is that that-er-intimacy-may have a very direct bearing on the murder. It might establish, you understand, a motive for the crime."
Patrick Redfern said: "Motive?"
Weston said: "Yes, Mr. Redfern, motive! Captain Marshall, perhaps, was unaware of the affair. Suppose that he suddenly found out?"
Redfern said: "Oh G.o.d! You mean he got wise and-and killed her?"
The Chief Constable said rather dryly: "That solution had not occurred to you?"
Redfern shook his head. He said: "No-funny. I never thought of it. You see, Marshall"s such a quiet chap. I-oh, it doesn"t seem likely."
Weston asked: "What was Mrs. Marshall"s att.i.tude to her husband in all this? Was she-well, uneasy-in case it should come to his ears? Or was she indifferent?"
Redfern said slowly: "She was-a bit nervous. She didn"t want him to suspect anything."
"Did she seem afraid of him?"
"Afraid. No, I wouldn"t say that."
Poirot murmured: "Excuse me, M. Redfern, there was not, at any time, the question of a divorce?"