Chief Inspector1 Neele was sitting behind his desk looking very official and formal. He greetedPoirot politely and motioned him to a chair. As soon as the young man who had introduced Poirotto the presence had left, Chief Inspector Neele’s manner changed.
“And what are you after now, you secretive old devil?” he said.
“As to that,” said Poirot, “you already know.”
“Oh yes, I’ve rustled2 up some stuff but I don’t think there’s much for you from that particularhole.”
“Why call it a hole?”
“Because you’re so exactly like a good mouser. A cat sitting over a hole waiting for the mouseto come out. Well, if you ask me, there isn’t any mouse in this particular hole. Mind you, I don’tsay that you couldn’t unearth3 some dubious4 transactions. You know these financiers. I daresaythere’s a lot of hoky-poky business, and all that, about minerals and concessions5 and oil and allthose things. But Joshua Restarick Ltd. has got a good reputation. Family business—or used to be—but you can’t call it that now. Simon Restarick hadn’t any children, and his brother AndrewRestarick only has this daughter. There was an old aunt on the mother’s side. Andrew Restarick’sdaughter lived with her after she left school and her own mother died. The aunt died of a strokeabout six months ago. Mildly potty, I believe — belonged to a few rather peculiar6 religioussocieties. No harm in them. Simon Restarick was a perfectly7 plain type of shrewd businessman,and had a social wife. They were married rather late in life.”
“And Andrew?”
“Andrew seems to have suffered from wanderlust. Nothing known against him. Never stayedanywhere long, wandered about South Africa, South America, Kenya and a good many otherplaces. His brother pressed him to come back more than once, but he wasn’t having any. He didn’tlike London or business, but he seems to have had the Restarick family flair8 for making money.
He went after mineral deposits, things like that. He wasn’t an elephant hunter or an archaeologistor a plant man or any of those things. All his deals were business deals and they always turned outwell.”
“So he also in his way is conventional?”
“Yes, that about covers it. I don’t know what made him come back to England after his brotherdied. Possibly a new wife—he’s married again. Good-looking woman a good deal younger than heis. At the moment they’re living with old Sir Roderick Horsefield whose sister had marriedAndrew Restarick’s uncle. But I imagine that’s only temporary. Is any of this news to you? Or doyou know it all already?”
“I’ve heard most of it,” said Poirot. “Is there any insanity9 in the family on either side?”
“Shouldn’t think so, apart from old Auntie and her fancy religions. And that’s not unusual in awoman who lives alone.”
“So all you can tell me really is that there is a lot of money,” said Poirot.
“Lots of money,” said Chief Inspector Neele. “And all quite respectable. Some of it, mark you,Andrew Restarick brought into the firm. South African concessions, mines, mineral deposits. I’dsay that by the time these were developed, or placed on the market, there’d be a very large sum ofmoney indeed.”
“And who will inherit it?” said Poirot.
“That depends on how Andrew Restarick leaves it. It’s up to him, but I’d say that there’s no oneobvious, except his wife and his daughter.”
“So they both stand to inherit a very large amount of money one day?”
“I should say so. I expect there are a good many family trusts and things like that. All the usualCity gambits.”
“There is, for instance, no other woman in whom he might be interested?”
“Nothing known of such a thing. I shouldn’t think it likely. He’s got a good-looking new wife.”
“A young man,” said Poirot thoughtfully, “could easily learn all this?”
“You mean and marry the daughter? There’s nothing to stop him, even if she was made a wardof Court or something like that. Of course her father could then disinherit her if he wanted to.”
Poirot looked down at a neatly10 written list in his hand.
“What about the Wedderburn Gallery?”
“I wondered how you’d got onto that. Were you consulted by a client about a forgery11?”
“Do they deal in forgeries12?”
“People don’t deal in forgeries,” said Chief Inspector Neele reprovingly. “There was a ratherunpleasant business. A millionaire from Texas over here buying pictures, and paying incrediblesums for them. They sold him a Renoir and a Van Gogh. The Renoir was a small head of a girland there was some query13 about it. There seemed no reason to believe that the WedderburnGallery had not bought it in the first place in all good faith. There was a case about it. A greatmany art experts came and gave their verdicts. In fact, as usual, in the end they all seemed tocontradict each other. The gallery offered to take it back in any case. However, the millionairedidn’t change his mind, since the latest fashionable expert swore that it was perfectly genuine. Sohe stuck to it. All the same there’s been a bit of suspicion hanging round the gallery ever since.”
Poirot looked again at his list.
“And what about Mr. David Baker14? Have you looked him up for me?”
“Oh, he’s one of the usual mob. Riffraff—go about in gangs and break up nightclubs. Live onpurple hearts—heroin—Coke—Girls go mad about them. He’s the kind they moan over saying hislife has been so hard and he’s such a wonderful genius. His painting is not appreciated. Nothingbut good old sex, if you ask me.”
Poirot consulted his list again.
“Do you know anything about Mr. Reece-Holland, MP?”
“Doing quite well, politically. Got the gift of the gab15 all right. One or two slightly peculiartransactions in the City, but he’s wriggled16 out of them quite neatly. I’d say he was a slippery one.
He’s made quite a good deal of money off and on by rather doubtful means.”
Poirot came to his last point.
“What about Sir Roderick Horsefield?”
“Nice old boy but gaga. What a nose you have, Poirot, get it into everything, don’t you? Yes,there’s been a lot of trouble in the Special Branch. It’s this craze for memoirs17. Nobody knowswhat indiscreet revelations are going to be made next. All the old boys, service and otherwise, areracing hard to bring out their own particular brand of what they remember of the indiscretions ofothers! Usually it doesn’t much matter, but sometimes—well, you know, Cabinets change theirpolicies and you don’t want to afront someone’s susceptibilities or give the wrong publicity19, so wehave to try and muffle20 the old boys. Some of them are not too easy. But you’ll have to go to theSpecial Branch if you want to nose into any of that. I shouldn’t think there was much wrong. Thetrouble is they don’t destroy the papers they should. They keep the lot. However, I don’t thinkthere is much in that, but we have evidence that a certain Power is nosing around.”
Poirot gave a deep sigh.
“Haven’t I helped?” asked the Chief Inspector.
“I am very glad to get the real lowdown from official quarters. But no, I don’t think there ismuch help in what you have told me.” He sighed and then said, “What would be your opinion ifsomeone said to you casually21 that a woman—a young attractive woman—wore a wig22?”
“Nothing in that,” said Chief Inspector Neele, and added, with a slight asperity23, “my wife wearsa wig when we’re travelling anytime. It saves a lot of trouble.”
“I beg your pardon,” said Hercule Poirot.
As the two men bade each other good-bye, the Chief Inspector asked:
“You got all the dope, I suppose, on that suicide case you were asking about in the flats? I had itsent round to you.”
“Yes, thank you. The official facts, at least. A bare record.”
“There was something you were talking about just now that brought it back to my mind. I’llthink of it in a moment. It was the usual, rather sad story. Gay woman, fond of men, enoughmoney to live upon, no particular worries, drank too much and went down the hill. And then shegets what I call the health bug24. You know, they’re convinced they have cancer or something inthat line. They consult a doctor and he tells them they’re all right, and they go home and don’tbelieve him. If you ask me it’s usually because they find they’re no longer as attractive as theyused to be to men. That’s what’s really depressing them. Yes, it happens all the time. They’relonely, I suppose, poor devils. Mrs. Charpentier was just one of them. I don’t suppose that any—”
he stopped. “Oh yes, of course, I remember. You were asking about one of our MPs, Reece-Holland. He’s a fairly gay one himself in a discreet18 way. Anyway, Louise Charpentier was hismistress at one time. That’s all.”
“Was it a serious liaison25?”
“Oh I shouldn’t say so particularly. They went to some rather questionable26 clubs together andthings like that. You know, we keep a discreet eye on things of that kind. But there was neveranything in the Press about them. Nothing of that kind.”
“I see.”
“But it lasted for a certain time. They were seen together, off and on, for about six months, but Idon’t think she was the only one and I don’t think he was the only one either. So you can’t makeanything of that, can you?”
“I do not think so,” said Poirot.
“But all the same,” he said to himself as he went down the stairs, “all the same, it is a link. Itexplains the embarrassment27 of Mr. McFarlane. It is a link, a tiny link, a link between EmlynReece-Holland, MP, and Louise Charpentier.” It didn’t mean anything probably. Why should it?
But yet—“I know too much,” said Poirot angrily to himself. “I know too much. I know a littleabout everything and everyone but I cannot get my pattern. Half these facts are irrelevant28. I want apattern. A pattern. My kingdom for a pattern,” he said aloud.
“I beg your pardon, sir,” said the lift boy, turning a startled head.
“It is nothing,” said Poirot.
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1
inspector
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| n.检查员，监察员，视察员 | |
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rustled
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| v.发出沙沙的声音( rustle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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3
unearth
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| v.发掘，掘出，从洞中赶出 | |
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dubious
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| adj.怀疑的，无把握的；有问题的，靠不住的 | |
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concessions
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| n.（尤指由政府或雇主给予的）特许权( concession的名词复数 )；承认；减价；（在某地的）特许经营权 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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flair
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| n.天赋，本领，才华；洞察力 | |
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insanity
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| n.疯狂，精神错乱；极端的愚蠢，荒唐 | |
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neatly
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| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
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11
forgery
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| n.伪造的文件等，赝品，伪造（行为） | |
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12
forgeries
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| 伪造( forgery的名词复数 )； 伪造的文件、签名等 | |
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query
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| n.疑问，问号，质问；vt.询问，表示怀疑 | |
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baker
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| n.面包师 | |
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gab
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| v.空谈，唠叨，瞎扯；n.饶舌，多嘴，爱说话 | |
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16
wriggled
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| v.扭动，蠕动，蜿蜒行进( wriggle的过去式和过去分词 )；（使身体某一部位）扭动；耍滑不做，逃避（应做的事等） | |
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17
memoirs
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| n.回忆录；回忆录传( mem,自oir的名词复数) | |
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18
discreet
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| adj.(言行)谨慎的；慎重的；有判断力的 | |
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publicity
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| n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告 | |
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muffle
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| v.围裹；抑制；发低沉的声音 | |
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casually
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| adv.漠不关心地，无动于衷地，不负责任地 | |
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wig
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| n.假发 | |
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asperity
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| n.粗鲁，艰苦 | |
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bug
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| n.虫子；故障；窃听器；vt.纠缠；装窃听器 | |
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liaison
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| n.联系，（未婚男女间的）暖昧关系，私通 | |
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questionable
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| adj.可疑的，有问题的 | |
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embarrassment
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| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
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irrelevant
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| adj.不恰当的，无关系的，不相干的 | |
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