"I tried, j.a.pp, I tried. But even when you grow vegetable marrows you cannot get away from murder."
He sighed. I knew of what he was thinking-that strange affair at Fernley Park. How I regretted that I had been far away at that time.
"And Captain Hastings too," said j.a.pp. "How are you, sir?" "Very fit, thanks," I said.
"And now there are more murders?" continued j.a.pp, facetiously. "As you say-more murders."
"Well, you mustn"t be depressed, old c.o.c.k," said j.a.pp. "Even if you can"t see your way clear-well-you can"t go about at your time of life and expect to have the success you used to do. We all of us get stale as the years go by. Got to give the young "uns a chance, you know."
"And yet the old dog is the one who knows the tricks," murmured Poirot. "He is cunning. He does not leave the scent."
"Oh! well-we"re talking about human beings, not dogs."
"Is there so much difference?"
"Well, it depends how you look at things. But you"re a caution, isn"t he, Captain Hastings? Always was. Looks much the same-hair a bit thinner on top but the face fungus fuller than ever."
"Eh?" said Poirot. "What is that?"
"He"s congratulating you on your moustaches," I said, soothingly. "They are luxuriant, yes," said Poirot, complacently caressing them. j.a.pp went off into a roar of laughter.
"Well," he said, after a minute or two, "I"ve done your bit of business. Those finger-prints you sent me-"
"Yes?" said Poirot, eagerly.
"Nothing doing. Whoever the gentleman may be-he hasn"t pa.s.sed throughour hands. On the other hand, I wired to Melbourne and n.o.body of that description or name is known there."
"Ah!"
"So there may be something fishy after all. But he"s not one of the lads."
"As to the other business," went on j.a.pp.
"Yes?"
"Lazarus and Son have a good reputation. Quite straight and honourable in their dealings. Sharp, of course-but that"s another matter. You"ve got to be sharp in business. But they"re all right. They"re in a bad way, though-financially, I mean."
"Oh!-is that so?"
"Yes-the slump in pictures has. .h.i.t them badly. And antique furniture too. All this modern continental stuff coming into fashion. They built new premises last year and-well-as I say, they"re not far from Queer Street."
"I am much obliged to you."
"Not at all. That sort of thing isn"t my line, as you know. But I made a point of finding out as you wanted to know. We can always get information."
"My good j.a.pp, what should I do without you?"
"Oh! that"s all right. Always glad to oblige an old friend. I let you in on some pretty good cases in the old days, didn"t I?"
This, I realized, was j.a.pp"s way of acknowledging indebtedness to Poirot, who had solved many a case which had baffled the inspector.
"They were the good days-yes."
"I wouldn"t mind having a chat with you now and again even in these days. Your methods may be old-fashioned but you"ve got your head screwed on the right way, M. Poirot."
"What about my other question. The Dr MacAllister?"
"Oh, him! He"s a woman"s doctor. I don"t mean a gynaecologist. I mean one of these nerve doctors-tell you to sleep in purple walls and orange ceiling-talk to you about your libido, whatever that is-tell you to let it rip. He"s a bit of a quack, if you ask me-but he gets the women all right. They flock to him. Goes abroad a good deal-does some kind of medical work in Paris, I believe."
"Why Dr MacAllister?" I asked, bewildered. I had never heard of the name. "Where does he come in?"
"Dr MacAllister is the uncle of Commander Challenger," explained Poirot. "You remember he referred to an uncle who was a doctor?"
"How thorough you are," I said. "Did you think he had operated on Sir Matthew?"
"He"s not a surgeon," said j.a.pp.
"Mon ami," said Poirot, "I like to inquire into everything. Hercule Poirot is a good dog. The good dog follows the scent, and if, regrettably, there is no scent to follow, he noses around-seeking always something that is not very nice. So also, does Hercule Poirot. And often-Oh! so often-does he find it!"
"It"s not a nice profession, ours," said j.a.pp. "Stilton, did you say? I don"t mind if I do. No, it"s not a nice profession. And yours is worse than mine-not official, you see, and therefore a lot more worming yourself into places in underhand ways."
"I do not disguise myself, j.a.pp. Never have I disguised myself."
"You couldn"t," said j.a.pp. "You"re unique. Once seen, never forgotten."
Poirot looked at him rather doubtfully.
"Only my fun," said j.a.pp. "Don"t mind me. Gla.s.s of port? Well, if you say so."
The evening became thoroughly harmonious. We were soon in the middle of reminiscences. This case, that case, and the other. I must say that I, too, enjoyed talking over the past. Those had been good days. How old and experienced I felt now!
Poor old Poirot. He was perplexed by this case-I could see that. His powers were not what they were. I had the feeling that he was going to fail-that the murderer of Maggie Buckley would never be brought to book.
"Courage, my friend," said Poirot, slapping me on the shoulder. "All is not lost. Do not pull the long face, I beg of you."
"That"s all right. I"m all right."
"And so am I. And so is j.a.pp."
"We"re all all right," declared j.a.pp, hilariously.
And on this pleasant note we parted.
The following morning we journeyed back to St Loo. On arrival at the hotel Poirot rang up the nursing home and asked to speak to Nick.
Suddenly I saw his face change-he almost dropped the instrument. "Comment? What is that? Say it again, I beg."
He waited for a minute or two listening. Then he said: "Yes, yes, I will come at once."
He turned a pale face to me.
"Why did I go away, Hastings? Mon Dieu! Why did I go away?"
"What has happened?"
"Mademoiselle Nick is dangerously ill. Cocaine poisoning. They have got at her after all. Mon Dieu! Mon Dieu! Why did I go away?"
Chapter 17 A Box of Chocolates.
All the way to the nursing home Poirot murmured and muttered to himself. He was full of self-reproach.
"I should have known," he groaned. "I should have known! And yet, what could I do? I took every precaution. It is impossible-impossible. No one could get to her! Who has disobeyed my orders?"
At the nursing home we were shown into a little room downstairs, and after a few minutes Dr Graham came to us. He looked exhausted and white.
"She"ll do," he said. "It"s going to be all right. The trouble was knowing how much she"d taken of the d.a.m.ned stuff."
"What was it?" "Cocaine." "She will live?" "Yes, yes, she"ll live."
"But how did it happen? How did they get at her? Who has been allowed in?" Poirot fairly danced with impotent excitement.
"n.o.body has been allowed in."
"Impossible."
"It"s true."
"But then-"
"It was a box of chocolates."
"Ah! Sacre. And I told her to eat nothing-nothing -that came from outside."
"I don"t know about that. It"s hard work keeping a girl from a box of chocolates. She only ate one, thank goodness."
"Was the cocaine in all the chocolates?"
"No. The girl ate one. There were two others in the top layer. The rest were all right."
"How was it done?"
"Quite clumsily. Chocolate cut in half-the cocaine mixed with the filling and the chocolate stuck together again. Amateurishly. What you might call a homemade job."
Poirot groaned.
"Ah! if I knew-if I knew. Can I see Mademoiselle?"
"If you come back in an hour I think you can see her," said the doctor. "Pull yourself together, man. She isn"t going to die."
For another hour we walked the streets of St Loo. I did my best to distract Poirot"s mind-pointing out to him that all was well, that, after all, no mischief had been done.
But he only shook his head, and repeated at intervals: "I am afraid, Hastings, I am afraid..."
And the strange way he said it made me, too, feel afraid.
Once he caught me by the arm.
"Listen, my friend. I am all wrong. I have been all wrong from the beginning."
"You mean it isn"t the money-"
"No, no, I am right about that. Oh, yes. But those two-it is too simple-too easy, that. There is another twist still. Yes, there is something!"
And then in an outburst of indignation: "Ah! cette pet.i.te! Did I not forbid her? Did I not say, "Do not touch anything from outside?" And she disobeys me-me, Hercule Poirot. Are not four escapes from death enough for her? Must she take a fifth chance? Ah, c"est in oui!"
At last we made our way back. After a brief wait we were conducted upstairs.
Nick was sitting up in bed. The pupils of her eyes were widely dilated. She looked feverish and her hands kept twitching violently.
"At it again," she murmured.
Poirot experienced real emotion at the sight of her. He cleared his throat and took her hand in his.
"Ah! Mademoiselle-Mademoiselle."
"I shouldn"t care," she said, defiantly, "if they had got me this time. I"m sick of it all-sick of it!"
"Pauvre pet.i.te!"
"Something in me doesn"t like to give them best!"
"That is the spirit-le sport-you must be the good sport, Mademoiselle."
"Your old nursing home hasn"t been so safe after all," said Nick.
"If you had obeyed orders, Mademoiselle-"
She looked faintly astonished.
"But I have."
"Did I not impress upon you that you were to eat nothing that came from outside?"