Hercule Poirot's Casebook

'But - but it's incredible. I laid them there not three minutes

ago.'

Lord Mayfield said good-humouredly:

'You must have made a mistake, they must be still in the

safe.'

'I don't see how - I know I put them there?

Lord Mayfield brushed past him to the open safe. Sir

George joined them. A very few minutes sufficed to show that

the plans of the bomber were not there.

Dazed and unbelieving, the three men returned to the desk

and once more turned over the papers.

'My God!' said Mayfield. 'They're gone!'

Mr Carlile cried:

'But it's impossible!'

'Who's been in this room?' snapped out the Minister.

'No one. No one at all.'

'Look here, Carlile, those plans haven't vanished into thin

air. Someone has taken them. Has Mrs Vanderlyn been in

here?'

'Mrs Vanderlyn? Oh, no, sir.'

'I'll back that,' said Carrington. He sniffed the air! 'You'd

soon smell if she had. That scent of hers.'

'Nobody has been in here,' insisted Carlile. 'I can't under-stand

it.'

'Look here, Carlile,' said Lord Mayfield. 'Pull yourself

together. We've got to get to the bottom of this. You're

absolutely sure the plans were in the safe?'

'Absolutely.'

'You actually saw them? You didn't just assume they were

among the others?'

17

'No, no, Lord Mayfield. I saw them. I put them on top of the

others on the desk.'

'And since then, you say, nobody has been in the room. Have

you been out of the room?'

'No - at least - yes.'

'Ah!' cried Sir George. 'Now we're getting at it!'

Lord Mayfield said sharply:

'What on earth -' when Carlile interrupted.

'In the normal course of events, Lord Mayfield, I should

not, of course, have dreamt of leaving the room when

important papers were lying about, but hearing a woman

scream '

'A woman scream?' ejaculated Lord Mayfield in a surprised

voice.

'Yes, Lord Mayfield. It startled me more than I can say. I

was just laying the papers on the desk when I heard it, and

naturally I ran out into the hall.'

'Who screamed?'

'Mrs Vanderlyn's French maid. She was standing halfway

up the stairs, looking very white and upset and shaking all over.

She said she had seen a ghost.'

'Seen a ghost?'

'Yes, a tall woman dressed all in white who moved without

a sound and floated in the air.'

'What a ridiculous story!'

'Yes, Lord Mayfield, that is what I told her. I must say she

seemed rather ashamed of herself. She went off upstairs and I

came back in here.'

'How long ago was this?'

'Just a minute or two before you and Sir George came in.'

'And you were out of the room - how long?'

The secretary considered.

'Two minutes - at the most three.'

'Long enough,' groaned Lord Mayfield. Suddenly he

clutched his friend's arm.

'George, that shadow I saw - slinking away from this

18

window. That was it! As soon as Carlile left the room, he

nipped in, seized the plans and made off.'

'Dirty work,' said Sir George.

Then he seized his friend by the arm.

'Look here, Charles, this is the devil of a business. What the

hell are we going to do about it?'

CHAPTER3

'At any rate give it a trial, Charles.'

It was half an hour later. The two men were in Lord

Mayfield's study, and Sir George had been expending a

considerable amount of persuasion to induce his friend to adopt

a certain course.

Lord Mayfield, at first most unwilling, was gradually

becoming less averse to the idea.

Sir George went on:

'Don't be so damned pig-headed, Charles.'

Lord Mayfield said slowly:

'Why drag in a wretched foreigner we know nothing about?'

'But I happen to know a lot about him. The man's a marvel.'

'Humph.'

'Look here, Charles. It's a chance! Discretion is the essence

of this business. If it leaks out '

'When it leaks out is what you mean!'

'Not necessarily. This man, Hercule Poirot '

'Will come down here and produce the plans like a conjurer

taking rabbits out of his hat, I suppose?'

'He'll get at the truth. And the truth is what we want. Look

here, Charles, I take all responsibility on myself.'

Lord Mayfield said slowly:

'Oh, well, have it your own way, but I don't see what the

fellow can do...'

19

Sir George picked up the phone.

'I'm going to get through to him - now.'

'He'll be in bed.'

'He can get up. Dash it all, Charles, you can't let that woman

get away with it.'

'Mrs Vandcrlyn, you mean?'

'Yes. You don't doubt, do you, that she's at the bottom of

this?'

'No, I don't. She's turned the tables on me with a vengeance.

I don't like admitting, George, that a woman's been too clever

for us. It goes against the grain. But it's true. We shan't be able

to prove anything against her, and yet we both know that she's

been the prime mover in the affair.'

'Women are the devil,' said Carrington with feeling.

'Nothing to connect her with it, damn it all! We may believe

that she put the girl up to that screaming trick, and that the man

lurking outside was her accomplice, but the devil of it is we

can't prove it.'

'Perhaps Hercule Poirot can.'

Suddenly Lord Mayfield laughed.

'By the Lord, George, I thought you were too much of an old

John Bull to put your trust in a Frenchman, however clever.'

'He's not even a Frenchman, he's a Belgian,' said Sir George

in a rather shamefaced manner.