Evil Under the Sun

Poirot said:

‘She may not have been actively unkind-that I will grant. But you were not fond of her-Oh no-I think you disliked her very much. That was very plain to see.’

Linda said:

‘Perhaps I didn’t like her very much. But one can’t say that when a person is dead. It wouldn’t be decent.’

Poirot sighed. He said: 

‘They taught you that at your school?’

‘More or less, I suppose.’

Hercule Poirot said:

‘When a person has been murdered, it is more important to be truthful than to be decent.’

Linda said:

‘I suppose youwould say a thing like that.’

‘I would say it and I do say it. It is my business, you see, to find out who killed Arlena Marshall.’

Linda muttered:

‘I want to forget it all. It’s so horrible.’

Poirot said gently:

‘But you can’t forget, can you?’

Linda said:

‘I suppose some beastly madman killed her.’

Hercule Poirot murmured:

‘No, I do not think it was quite like that.’

Linda caught her breath. She said:

‘You sound-as though youknew?’

Poirot said:

‘Perhaps I do know.’ He paused and went on: ‘Will you trust me, my child, to do the best I can for you in your bitter trouble?’

Linda sprang up. She said:

‘I haven’t any trouble. There is nothing you can do for me. I don’t know what you are talking about.’

Poirot said, watching her: 

‘I am talking aboutcandles…’

He saw the terror leap into her eyes. She cried:

‘I won’t listen to you. I won’t listen.’

She ran across the beach, swift as a young gazelle and went flying up the zigzag path.

Poirot shook his head. He looked grave and troubled.

Chapter 11

I

Inspector Colgate was reporting to the Chief Constable.

‘I’ve got on to one thing, sir, and something pretty sensational. It’s about Mrs Marshall’s money. I’ve been into it with her lawyers. I’d say it’s a bit of a shock to them. I’ve got proof of the blackmail story. You remember she was left fifty thousand pounds by old Erskine? Well, all that’s left of that is about fifteen thousand.’

The Chief Constable whistled.

‘Whew, what’s become of the rest?’

‘That’s the interesting point, sir. She’s sold out stuff from time to time, and each time she’s handled it in cash or negotiable securities-that’s to say she’s handed out money to someone that she didn’t want traced. Blackmail all right.’

The Chief Constable nodded. 

‘Certainly looks like it. And the blackmailer is here in this hotel. That means it must be one of those three men. Got anything fresh on any of them?’

‘Can’t say I’ve got anything definite, sir. Major Barry’s a retired Army man, as he says. Lives in a small flat, has a pension and a small income from stocks.But he’s paid in pretty considerable sums into his account in the last year.’

‘That sounds promising. What’s his explanation?’

‘Says they’re betting gains. It’s perfectly true that he goes to all the large race meetings. Places his bets on the course too, doesn’t run an account.’

The Chief Constable nodded.

‘Hard to disprove that,’ he said. ‘But it’s suggestive.’

Colgate went on.

‘Next, the Reverend Stephen Lane. He’sbona fide all right-had a living at St Helen’s, Whiteridge, Surrey-resigned his living just over a year ago owing to ill-health. His ill-health amounted to his going into a nursing home for mental patients. He was there for over a year.’

‘Interesting,’ said Weston.

‘Yes, sir. I tried to get as much as I could out of the doctor in charge but you know what these medicos are-it’s difficult to pin them down to anything you can get hold of. But as far as I can make out, his reverence’s trouble was an obsession about the devil-especially the devil in the guise of a woman-scarlet woman-whore of Babylon.’

‘H’m,’ said Weston. ‘There have been precedents for murder there.’

‘Yes, sir. It seems to me that Stephen Lane is at least a possibility. The late Mrs Marshall was a pretty good example of what a clergyman would call a Scarlet Woman-hair and goings on and all. Seems to me it’s not impossible he may have felt it his appointed task to dispose of her. That is if he is really batty.’

‘Nothing to fit in with the blackmail theory?’

‘No, sir, I think we can wash him out as far as that’s concerned. Has some private means of his own, but not very much, and no sudden increase lately.’

‘What about his story of his movements on the day of the crime?’

‘Can’t get any confirmation of them. Nobody remembers meeting a parson in the lanes. As to the book at the church, the last entry was three days before and nobody had looked at it for about a fortnight. He could have quite easily gone over the day before, say, or even a couple of days before, and dated his entry the 25th.’

Weston nodded. He said:

‘And the third man?’