A Murder Is Announced

‘Somebody might try again.’

‘That would certainly prove the truth of the theory,’ said the Chief Constable dryly. ‘By the way, look after Miss Marple, won’t you?’

‘Miss Marple? Why?’

‘I gather she is taking up residence at the Vicarage in Chipping Cleghorn and coming into Medenham Wells twice a week for her treatments. It seems that Mrs What’shername is the daughter of an old friend of Miss Marple’s. Good sporting instincts, that old bean. Oh, well, I suppose she hasn’t much excitement in her life and sniffing round after possible murderers gives her a kick.’

‘I wish she wasn’t coming,’ said Craddock seriously.

‘Going to get under your feet?’

‘Not that, sir, but she’s a nice old thing. I shouldn’t like anything to happen to her…always supposing, Imean, that there’s anythingin this theory.’

Chapter 9. Concerning a Door

‘I’m sorry to bother you again, Miss Blacklock-’

‘Oh, it doesn’t matter. I suppose, as the inquest was adjourned for a week, you’re hoping to get more evidence?’

Detective-Inspector Craddock nodded.

‘To begin with, Miss Blacklock, Rudi Scherz was not the son of the proprietor of the Hotel des Alpes at Montreux. He seems to have started his career as an orderly in a hospital at Berne. A good many of the patients missed small pieces of jewellery. Under another name he was a waiter at one of the small winter sports places. His speciality there was making out duplicate bills in the restaurant with items on one that didn’t appear on the other. The difference, of course, went into his pocket. After that he was in a department store in Zurich. There losses from shoplifting were rather above the average whilst he was with them. It seems likely that the shoplifting wasn’t entirely due to customers.’

‘He was a picker up of unconsidered trifles, in fact?’ said Miss Blacklock dryly. ‘Then I was right in thinking that I had not seen him before?’

‘You were quite right-no doubt you were pointed out to him at the Royal Spa Hotel and he pretended to recognize you. The Swiss police had begun to make his own country rather too hot for him, and he came over here with a very nice set of forged papers and took a job at the Royal Spa.’

‘Quite a good hunting ground,’ said Miss Blacklock dryly. ‘It’s extremely expensive and very well-off people stay there. Some of them are careless about their bills, I expect.’

‘Yes,’ said Craddock. ‘There were prospects of a satisfactory harvest.’

Miss Blacklock was frowning.

‘I see all that,’ she said. ‘But why come to Chipping Cleghorn? What does he think we’ve got here that could possibly be better than the rich Royal Spa Hotel?’

‘You stick to your statement that there’s nothing of especial value in the house?’

‘Of course there isn’t.I should know. I can assure you Inspector, we’ve not got an unrecognized Rembrandt or anything like that.’

‘Then it looks, doesn’t it, as though your friend Miss Bunner was right? He came here to attackyou.’

(‘There, Letty, what did I tell you!’

‘Oh, nonsense, Bunny.’)

‘But is it nonsense?’ said Craddock. ‘I think, you know, that it’s true.’

Miss Blacklock stared very hard at him.

‘Now, let’s get this straight. You really believe that this young man came out here-having previously arranged by means of an advertisement that half the village would turn up agog at that particular time-’

‘But he mayn’t have meantthat to happen,’ interrupted Miss Bunner eagerly. ‘It may have been just a horrid sort of warning-toyou, Letty-that’s how I read it at the time-“A murder is announced”-I felt in my bones that it was sinister-if it had all gone as planned he would have shot you and got away-and how would anyone have ever known who it was?’

‘That’s true enough,’ said Miss Blacklock. ‘But-’

‘I knew that advertisement wasn’t a joke, Letty. I said so. And look at Mitzi-shewas frightened, too!’

‘Ah,’ said Craddock, ‘Mitzi. I’d like to know rather more about that young woman.’

‘Her permit and papers are quite in order.’

‘I don’t doubt that,’ said Craddock dryly. ‘Scherz’s papers appeared to be quite correct, too.’

‘But why should this Rudi Scherz want to murder me? That’s what you don’t attempt to explain, Inspector Craddock.’

‘There may have been someone behind Scherz,’ said Craddock slowly. ‘Have you thought of that?’

He used the words metaphorically though it flashed across his mind that if Miss Marple’s theory was correct, the words would also be true in a literal sense. In any case they made little impression on Miss Blacklock, who still looked sceptical.

‘The point remains the same,’ she said. ‘Why on earth should anyone want to murderme?’

‘It’s the answer to that that I wantyou to give me, Miss Blacklock.’