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‘So the person who did it? That person also would have got wet, one would think.’
‘Yes, yes, I suppose so.’
‘That was not specially noticed?’
‘No, no, the Inspector asked me about that. You see, by the end of the evening nearly everyone was a bit dishevelled or damp or floury. There doesn’t seem to be any useful clues there at all. I mean, the police didn’t think so.’
‘No,’ said Poirot. ‘I suppose the only clue was the child herself. I hope you will tell me all you know about her.’
‘About Joyce?’
Mrs Drake looked slightly taken aback. It was as though Joyce in her mind had by now retreated so far out of things that she was quite surprised to be reminded of her.
‘The victim is always important,’ said Poirot. ‘The victim, you see, is so often the cause of the crime.’
‘Well, I suppose, yes, I see what you mean,’ said Mrs Drake, who quite plainly did not. ‘Shall we come back to the drawing-room?’
‘And then you will tell me about Joyce,’ said Poirot.
They settled themselves once more in the drawing-room.
Mrs Drake was looking uncomfortable.
‘I don’t know really what you expect me to say, Monsieur Poirot,’ she said. ‘Surely all information can be obtained quite easily from the police or from Joyce’s mother. Poor woman, it will be painful for her, no doubt, but—’
‘But what I want,’ said Poirot, ‘is not a mother’s estimate of a dead daughter. It is a clear, unbiased opinion from someone who has a good knowledge of human nature. I should say, Madame, that you your self have been an active worker in many welfare and social fields here. Nobody, I am sure, could sum up more aptly the character and disposition of someone whom you know.’
‘Well—it is a little difficult. I mean, children of that age—she was thirteen, I think, twelve or thirteen—are very much alike at a certain age.’
‘Ah no, surely not,’ said Poirot. ‘There are very great differences in character, in disposition. Did you like her?’
Mrs Drake seemed to find the question embar rassing.
‘Well, of course I—I liked her. I mean, well, I like all children. Most people do.’
‘Ah, there I do not agree with you,’ said Poirot. ‘Some children I consider are most unattractive.’
‘Well, I agree, they’re not brought up very well nowadays. Everything seems left to the school, and of course they lead very permissive lives. Have their own choice of friends and—er—oh, really, Monsieur Poirot.’
‘Was she a nice child or not a nice child?’ said Poirot insistently.
Mrs Drake looked at him and registered censure.
‘You must realize, Monsieur Poirot, that the poor child is dead.’’
‘Dead or alive, it matters. Perhaps if she was a nice child, nobody would have wanted to kill her, but if she was not a nice child, somebody might have wanted to kill her, and did so—’
‘Well, I suppose—Surely it isn’t a question of niceness, is it?’
‘It could be. I also understand that she claimed to have seen a murder committed.’
‘Oh that,’ said Mrs Drake contemptuously.
‘You did not take that statement seriously?’
‘Well, of course I didn’t. It was a very silly thing to say.’
‘How did she come to say it?’
‘Well, I think really they were all rather excited about Mrs Oliver being here. You are a very famous person, you must remember, dear,’ said Mrs Drake, addressing Mrs Oliver.
The word ‘dear’ seemed included in her speech without any accompanying enthusiasm.
‘I don’t suppose the subject would ever have arisen otherwise, but the children were excited by meeting a famous authoress—’
‘So Joyce said that she had seen a murder committed,’ said Poirot thoughtfully.
‘Yes, she said something of the kind. I wasn’t really listening.’
‘But you do remember that she said it?’
‘Oh yes, she said it. But I didn’t believe it,’ said Mrs Drake. ‘Her sister hushed her up at once, very properly.’
And she was annoyed about that, was she?’
‘Yes, she went on saying that it was true.’
‘In fact, she boasted about it.’
‘When you put it that way, yes.’
‘It might have been true, I suppose,’ said Poirot.
‘Nonsense! I don’t believe it for one minute,’ said Mrs Drake. ‘It’s the sort of stupid thing Joyce would say.’
‘She was a stupid girl?’
‘Well, she was the kind, I think, who liked to show off.’ said Mrs Drake. ‘You know, she always wanted to have seen more or done more than other girls.’
‘Not a very lovable character,’ said Poirot.
‘No indeed,’ said Mrs Drake. ‘Really the kind that you have to be shutting up all the time.’
‘What did the other children who were here have to say about it? Were they impressed?’
‘They laughed at her,’ said Mrs Drake. ‘So, of course, that made her worse.’
‘Well,’ said Poirot, as he rose, ‘I am glad to have your positive assurance on that point.’ He bowed politely over her hand. ‘Good-bye, Madame, thank you so much for allowing me to view the scene of this very unpleasant occurrence. I hope it has not recalled unpleasant memories too definitely to you.’
‘Of course,’ said Mrs Drake, ‘it is very painful to recall anything of this kind. I had so hoped our little party would go off well. Indeed, it was going off well and everyone seemed to be enjoying it so much till this terrible thing happened. However, the only thing one can do is to try and forget it all. of course, it’s very unfortunate that Joyce should have made this silly remark about seeing a murder.’
‘Have you ever had a murder in Woodleigh Com mon?’
‘Not that I can remember,’ said Mrs Drake firmly.
‘In this age of increased crime that we live in,’ said Poirot, ‘that really seems somewhat unusual, does it not?’
‘Well, I think there was a lorry driver who killed a pal of his—something like that—and a little girl whom they found buried in a gravel pit about fifteen miles from here, but that was years ago. They were both rather sordid and uninteresting crimes. Mainly the result of drink, I think.’
‘In fact, the kind of murder unlikely to have been witnessed by a girl of twelve or thirteen.’
‘Most unlikely, I should say. And I can assure you, Monsieur Poirot, this statement that the girl made was solely in order to impress friends and perhaps interest a famous character.’ She looked rather coldly across at Mrs Oliver.
‘In fact,’ said Mrs Oliver, ‘it’s all my fault for being at the party, I suppose.’
‘Oh, of course not, my dear, of course I didn’t mean it that way.’
Poirot sighed as he departed from the house with Mrs Oliver by his side.
‘A very unsuitable place for a murder,’ he said, as they walked down the path to the gate. ‘No atmosphere, no haunting sense of tragedy, no character worth murdering, though I couldn’t help thinking that just occasionally someone might feel like murdering Mrs Drake.’
‘I know what you mean. She can be intensely irritating sometimes. So pleased with herself and so complacent.’
‘What is her husband like?’
‘Oh, she’s a widow. Her husband died a year or two ago. He got polio and had been a cripple for years. He was a banker originally, I think. He was very keen on games and sport and hated having to give all that up and be an invalid.’
‘Yes, indeed.’ He reverted to the subject of the child Joyce. ‘Just tell me this. Did anyone who was listening take this assertion of the child Joyce about murder seriously?’
‘I don’t know. I shouldn’t have thought anyone did.’
‘The other children, for instance?’
‘Well, I was thinking really of them. No, I don’t think they believed what Joyce was saying. They thought she was making up things.’
‘Did you think that, too?’
‘Well, I did really,’ said Mrs Oliver. ‘Of course,’ she added, ‘Mrs Drake would like to believe that the murder never really happened, but she can’t very well go as far as that, can she?’
‘I understand that this may be painful for her.’
‘I suppose it is in a way,’ said Mrs Oliver, ‘but I think that by now, you know, she is actually getting quite pleased to talk about it. I don’t think she likes to have to bottle it up all the time.’
‘Do you like her?’ asked Poirot. ‘Do you think she’s a nice woman?’
‘You do ask the most difficult questions. Embarrassing ones,’ said Mrs Oliver. ‘It seems the only thing you are interested in is whether people are nice or not. Rowena Drake is the bossy type—likes running things and people. She runs this whole place more or less, I should think. But runs it very efficiently. It depends if you like bossy women. I don’t much—’
‘What about Joyce’s mother whom we are on our way to see?’
‘She’s quite a nice woman. Rather stupid, I should think. I’m sorry for her. It’s pretty awful to have your daughter murdered, isn’t it? And everyone here thinks it was a sex crime which makes it worse.’
‘But there was no evidence of sexual assault, or so I understand?’
‘No, but people like to think these things happen. It makes it more exciting. You know what people are like.’
‘One thinks one does—but sometimes—well—we do not really know at all.’
‘Wouldn’t it be better if my friend Judith Butler was to take you to see Mrs Reynolds? She knows her quite well, and I’m a stranger to her.’
‘We will do as planned.’
‘The Computer Programme will go on,’ murmured Mrs Oliver rebelliously.
CHAPTER 7
Mrs Reynolds was a complete contrast to Mrs Drake. There was no air of poised competence about her, nor indeed was there ever likely to be.
She was wearing conventional black, had a moist handkerchief clasped in her hand and was clearly prepared to dissolve into tears at any moment.
‘It’s very kind of you, I’m sure,’ she said to Mrs Oli ver, ‘to bring a friend of yours down here to help us.’ She put a damp hand into Poirot’s and looked at him doubtfully. ‘And if he can help in any way I’m sure I’ll be very grateful, though I don’t see what anyone can do. Nothing will bring her back, poor child. It’s awful to think of. How anyone could deliberately kill anyone of that age. If she had only cried out—though I suppose he rammed her head under water straight away and held it there. Oh, I can’t bear to think of it. I really can’t.’
‘Indeed, Madame, I do not want to distress you. Please do not think of it. I only want to ask you a few questions that might help—help, that is, to find your daughter’s murderer. You’ve no idea yourself, I suppose, who it can possibly be?’
‘How could I have any idea? I shouldn’t have thought there was anyone, anyone living here, I mean. This is such a nice place. And the people living here are such nice people. I suppose it was just someone—some awful man who came in through one of the windows. Perhaps he’d taken drugs or something. He saw the light and that it was a party, so he gate-crashed.’
‘You are quite sure that the assailant was male?’
‘Oh, it must have been.’ Mrs Reynolds sounded shocked. ‘I’m sure it was. It couldn’t have been a woman, could it?’
‘A woman might have been strong enough.’
‘Well, I suppose in a way I know what you mean. You mean women are much more athletic nowadays and all that. But they wouldn’t do a thing like this, I’m sure. Joyce was only a child—thirteen years old.’
‘I don’t want to distress you by staying here too long, Madame, or to ask you difficult questions. That already, I am sure, the police are doing elsewhere, and I don’t want to upset you by dwelling on painful facts. It was just concerning a remark that your daughter made at the party. You were not there yourself, I think?’
‘Well, no, I wasn’t. I haven’t been very well lately and children’s parties can be very tiring. I drove them there, and then later I came back to fetch them. The three children went together, you know. Ann, that’s the older one, she is sixteen, and Leopold who is nearly eleven. What was it Joyce said that you wanted to know about?’
‘Mrs Oliver, who was there, will tell you what your daughter’s words were exactly. She said, I believe, that she had once seen a murder committed.’
‘Joyce? Oh, she couldn’t have said a thing like that. What murder could she possibly have seen committed?’
‘Well, everyone seems to think it was rather unlikely,’ said Poirot. ‘I just wondered if you thought it likely. Did she ever speak to you about such a thing?’
‘Seeing a murder? Joyce?’
‘You must remember,’ said Poirot, ‘that the term murder might have been used by someone of Joyce’s age in a rather loose way. It might have been just a question of somebody being run over by a car, or of children fighting together perhaps and one pushing another into a stream or over a bridge. Something that was not meant seriously, but which had an unfortunate result.’
‘Well, I can’t think of anything like that happening here that Joyce could have seen, and she certainly never said anything about it to me. She must have been joking.’
