Hercule Poirot's Casebook

'Well, have your Belgian down. Let him try his wits on this

business. I'll bet he can't make more of it than we can.'

Without replying, Sir George stretched a hand to the telephone.

CHAPTER 4

Blinking a little, Hercule Poirot turned his head from one man

to the other. Very delicately he smothered a yawn.

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It was half-past two in the morning. He had been roused

from sleep and rushed down through the darkness in a big

Rolls Royce. Now he had just f'mished hearing what the two

men had to tell him.

'Those are the facts, M. Poirot,' said Lord Mayfield.

He leaned back in his chair, and slowly f'med his monocle in

one eye. Through it a shrewd, pale-blue eye watched Poirot

attentively. Besides being shrewd the eye was def'mitely

sceptical. Poirot cast a swift glance at Sir George Carrington.

That gentleman was leaning forward with an expression of

almost childlike hopefulness on his face.

Poirot said slowly:

'I have the facts, yes. The maid screams, the secretary goes

out, the nameless watcher comes in, the plans are there on top

of the desk, he snatches them up and goes. The facts - they are

all very convenient.'

Something in the way he uttered the last phrase seemed to

attract Lord Mayfield's attention. He sat up a little straighter,

his monocle dropped. It was as though a new alertness came to

him.

'I beg your pardon, M. Poirot?'

'I said, Lord Mayfield, that the facts were all very conve-nient

- for the thief. By the way, you are sure it was a man you

saw?'

Lord Mayfield shook his head.

'That I couldn't say. It was just a - shadow. In fact, I was

almost doubtful if I had seen anyone.'

Poirot transferred his gaze to the Air Marshal.

'And you, Sir George? Could you say if it was a man or a

woman?'

'I didn't see anyone myself.'

Poirot nodded thoughtfully. Then he skipped suddenly to

his feet and went over to the writing-table.

'I can assure you that the plans are not there,' said Lord

Mayfield. 'We have all three been through those papers half a

dozen times.'

'All three? You mean, your secretary also?'

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'Yes, Carlile.'

Poirot turned suddenly.

'Tell me, Lord Mayfield, which paper was on top when you

went over to the desk?'

Mayfield frowned a little in the effort of remembrance.

'Let me see - yes, it was a rough memorandum of some sort

of our air defence positions.'

Deftly, Poirot nipped out a paper and brought it over.

'Is this the one, Lord Mayfield?'

Lord Mayfield took it and glanced over it.

'Yes, that's the one.'

Poirot took it over to Carrington.

'Did you notice this paper on the desk?'

Sir George took it, held it away from him, then slipped on his

pincenez.

'Yes, that's right. I looked through them too, with Carlile

and Mayfield. This was on top.'

Poirot nodded thoughtfully. He replaced the paper on the

desk. Mayfield looked at him in a slightly puzzled manner.

'If there are any other questions -' he began.

'But yes, certainly there is a question. Carlile. Carlile is the

question!'

Lord Mayfield's colour rose a little.

'Carlile, M. Poirot, is quite above suspicion! He has been my

confidential secretary for nine years. He has access to all my

private papers, and I may point out to you that he could have

made a copy of the plans and a tracing of the spedfications

quite easily without anyone being the wiser.'

'I appreciate your point,' said Poirot. 'If he had been guilty

there would be no need for him to stage a clumsy robbery.'

'In any case,' said Lord Mayfield, 'I am sure of Carlile. I will

guarantee him.'

'Carlile,' said Carrington gruffly, 'is all right.'

Poirot spread out his hands gracefully.

'And this Mrs Vanderlyn - she is all wrong?'

'She's a wrong 'un all right,' said Sir George.

Lord Mayfield said in more measured tones:

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'I think, M. Poirot, that there can be no doubt of Mrs

Vanderlyn's - well - activities. The Foreign Office can give you

more precious data as to that.'

'And the maid, you take it, is in with her mistress?'

'Not a doubt of it,' said Sir George.

'It seems to me a plausible assumption,' said Lord Mayfield

more cautiously.

There was a pause. Poirot sighed, and absent-mindedly rearranged

one or two articles on a table at his right hand. Then he said:

'I take it that these papers represented money? That is, the

stolen papers would be definitely worth a large sum in cash.'

'If presented in a certain quarter - yes.'

'Such as?'

Sir George mentioned the names of two European powers.

Poirot nodded.

'That fact would be known to anyone, I take it?'

'Mrs Vanderlyn would know it all right.'

'I said to anyone?' 'I suppose so, yes.'

'Anyone with a minimum of intelligence would appreciate

the Cash value of the plans?'

'Yes, but M. Poirot -' Lord Mayfield was looking rather

uncomfortable.'

Poirot held up a hand.

'I do what you call explore all the avenues.'

Suddenly he rose again, stepped nimbly out of the window

and with a flashlight examined the edge of the grass at the

farther side of the terrace.

The two men watched him.

He came in again, sat down and said:

'Tell me, Lord Mayfield, this malefactor, this skulker in the

shadows, you do not have him pursued?'

Lord Mayfield shrugged his shoulders.