C ONCERNING A D OOR
I“I ’m sorry to bother you again, Miss Blacklock—”
“Oh, it doesn’t matter. I suppose, as the inquest was adjourned1 for a week, you’re hoping to get more evidence?”
Detective-Inspector2 Craddock nodded.
“To begin with, Miss Blacklock, Rudi Scherz was not the son of the proprietor3 of the Hotel des Alpes at Montreux.
He seems to have started his career as an orderly in a hospital at Berne. A good many of the patients missed smallpieces of jewellery. Under another name he was a waiter at one of the small winter sports places. His speciality therewas making out duplicate bills in the restaurant with items on one that didn’t appear on the other. The difference, ofcourse, went into his pocket. After that he was in a department store in Zürich. There losses from shoplifting wererather above the average whilst he was with them. It seems likely that the shoplifting wasn’t entirely4 due tocustomers.”
“He was a picker up of unconsidered trifles, in fact?” said Miss Blacklock dryly. “Then I was right in thinking thatI had not seen him before?”
“You were quite right—no doubt you were pointed5 out to him at the Royal Spa Hotel and he pretended torecognize you. The Swiss police had begun to make his own country rather too hot for him, and he came over herewith a very nice set of forged papers and took a job at the Royal Spa.”
“Quite a good hunting ground,” said Miss Blacklock dryly. “It’s extremely expensive and very well-off people staythere. Some of them are careless about their bills, I expect.”
“Yes,” said Craddock. “There were prospects6 of a satisfactory harvest.”
Miss Blacklock was frowning.
“I see all that,” she said. “But why come to Chipping Cleghorn? What does he think we’ve got here that couldpossibly be better than the rich Royal Spa Hotel?”
“You stick to your statement that there’s nothing of especial value in the house?”
“Of course there isn’t. I should know. I can assure you Inspector, we’ve not got an unrecognized Rembrandt oranything like that.”
“Then it looks, doesn’t it, as though your friend Miss Bunner was right? He came here to attack you.”
(“There, Letty, what did I tell you!”
“Oh, nonsense, Bunny.”)
“But is it nonsense?” said Craddock. “I think, you know, that it’s true.”
Miss Blacklock stared very hard at him.
“Now, let’s get this straight. You really believe that this young man came out here—having previously7 arranged bymeans of an advertisement that half the village would turn up agog8 at that particular time—”
“But he mayn’t have meant that to happen,” interrupted Miss Bunner eagerly. “It may have been just a horrid9 sortof warning—to you, Letty—that’s how I read it at the time—‘A murder is announced’—I felt in my bones that it wassinister—if it had all gone as planned he would have shot you and got away—and how would anyone have everknown who it was?”
“That’s true enough,” said Miss Blacklock. “But—”
“I knew that advertisement wasn’t a joke, Letty. I said so. And look at Mitzi—she was frightened, too!”
“Ah,” said Craddock, “Mitzi. I’d like to know rather more about that young woman.”
“Her permit and papers are quite in order.”
“I don’t doubt that,” said Craddock dryly. “Scherz’s papers appeared to be quite correct, too.”
“But why should this Rudi Scherz want to murder me? That’s what you don’t attempt to explain, InspectorCraddock.”
“There may have been someone behind Scherz,” said Craddock slowly. “Have you thought of that?”
He used the words metaphorically10 though it flashed across his mind that if Miss Marple’s theory was correct, thewords would also be true in a literal sense. In any case they made little impression on Miss Blacklock, who still lookedsceptical.
“The point remains11 the same,” she said. “Why on earth should anyone want to murder me?”
“It’s the answer to that that I want you to give me, Miss Blacklock.”
“Well, I can’t! That’s flat. I’ve no enemies. As far as I’m aware I’ve always lived on perfectly12 good terms with myneighbours. I don’t know any guilty secrets about anyone. The whole idea is ridiculous! And if what you’re hinting isthat Mitzi has something to do with this, that’s absurd, too. As Miss Bunner has just told you she was frightened todeath when she saw that advertisement in the Gazette. She actually wanted to pack up and leave the house then andthere.”
“That may have been a clever move on her part. She may have known you’d press her to stay.”
“Of course, if you’ve made up your mind about it, you’ll find an answer to everything. But I can assure you that ifMitzi had taken an unreasoning dislike to me, she might conceivably poison my food, but I’m sure she wouldn’t go infor all this elaborate rigmarole.
“The whole idea’s absurd. I believe you police have got an anti-foreigner complex. Mitzi may be a liar13 but she’snot a cold-blooded murderer. Go and bully14 her if you must. But when she’s departed in a whirl of indignation, or shutherself up howling in her room, I’ve a good mind to make you cook the dinner. Mrs. Harmon is bringing some oldlady who is staying with her to tea this afternoon and I wanted Mitzi to make some little cakes—but I suppose you’llupset her completely. Can’t you possibly go and suspect somebody else?”
II
Craddock went out to the kitchen. He asked Mitzi questions that he had asked her before and received the sameanswers.
Yes, she had locked the front door soon after four o’clock. No, she did not always do so, but that afternoon she hadbeen nervous because of “that dreadful advertisement.” It was no good locking the side door because Miss Blacklockand Miss Bunner went out that way to shut up the ducks and feed the chickens and Mrs. Haymes usually came in thatway from work.
“Mrs. Haymes says she locked the door when she came in at 5:30.”
“Ah, and you believe her—oh, yes, you believe her….”
“Do you think we shouldn’t believe her?”
“What does it matter what I think? You will not believe me.”
“Supposing you give us a chance. You think Mrs. Haymes didn’t lock that door?”
“I am thinking she was very careful not to lock it.”
“What do you mean by that?” asked Craddock.
“That young man, he does not work alone. No, he knows where to come, he knows that when he comes a door willbe left open for him—oh, very conveniently open!”
“What are you trying to say?”
“What is the use of what I say? You will not listen. You say I am a poor refugee girl who tells lies. You say that afair-haired English lady, oh, no, she does not tell lies—she is so British—so honest. So you believe her and not me.
But I could tell you. Oh, yes, I could tell you!”
She banged down a saucepan on the stove.
Craddock was in two minds whether to take notice of what might be only a stream of spite.
“We note everything we are told,” he said.
“I shall not tell you anything at all. Why should I? You are all alike. You persecute15 and despise poor refugees. If Isay to you that when, a week before, that young man come to ask Miss Blacklock for money and she sends him away,as you say, with a flea16 in the ear—if I tell you that after that I hear him talking with Mrs. Haymes—yes, out there inthe summerhouse—all you say is that I make it up!”
And so you probably are making it up, thought Craddock. But he said aloud:
“You couldn’t hear what was said out in the summerhouse.”
“There you are wrong,” screamed Mitzi triumphantly17. “I go out to get nettles18—it makes very nice vegetables,nettles. They do not think so, but I cook it and not tell them. And I hear them talking in there. He say to her ‘But wherecan I hide?’ And she say ‘I will show you’—and then she say, ‘At a quarter past six,’ and I think, ‘Ach so! That is howyou behave, my fine lady! After you come back from work, you go out to meet a man. You bring him into the house.’
Miss Blacklock, I think, she will not like that. She will turn you out. I will watch, I think, and listen and then I will tellMiss Blacklock. But I understand now I was wrong. It was not love she planned with him, it was to rob and to murder.
But you will say I make all this up. Wicked Mitzi, you will say. I will take her to prison.”
Craddock wondered. She might be making it up. But possibly she might not. He asked cautiously:
“You are sure it was this Rudi Scherz she was talking to?”
“Of course I am sure. He just leave and I see him go from the drive across to the summerhouse. And presently,”
said Mitzi defiantly19, “I go out to see if there are any nice young green nettles.”
Would there, the Inspector wondered, be any nice young green nettles in October? But he appreciated that Mitzihad had to produce a hurried reason for what had undoubtedly20 been nothing more than plain snooping.
“You didn’t hear any more than what you have told me?”
Mitzi looked aggrieved21.
“That Miss Bunner, the one with the long nose, she call and call me. Mitzi! Mitzi! So I have to go. Oh, she isirritating. Always interfering22. Says she will teach me to cook. Her cooking! It tastes, yes, everything she does, ofwater, water, water!”
“Why didn’t you tell me this the other day?” asked Craddock sternly.
“Because I did not remember—I did not think … Only afterwards do I say to myself, it was planned then—plannedwith her.”
“You are quite sure it was Mrs. Haymes?”
“Oh, yes, I am sure. Oh, yes, I am very sure. She is a thief, that Mrs. Haymes. A thief and the associate of thieves.
What she gets for working in the garden, it is not enough for such a fine lady, no. She has to rob Miss Blacklock whohas been kind to her. Oh, she is bad, bad, bad, that one!”
“Supposing,” said the Inspector, watching her closely, “that someone was to say that you had been seen talking toRudi Scherz?”
The suggestion had less effect than he had hoped for. Mitzi merely snorted and tossed her head.
“If anyone say they see me talking to him, that is lies, lies, lies, lies,” she said contemptuously. “To tell lies aboutanyone, that is easy, but in England you have to prove them true. Miss Blacklock tells me that, and it is true, is it not? Ido not speak with murderers and thieves. And no English policeman shall say I do. And how can I do cooking forlunch if you are here, talk, talk, talk? Go out of my kitchens, please. I want now to make a very careful sauce.”
Craddock went obediently. He was a little shaken in his suspicions of Mitzi. Her story about Phillipa Haymes hadbeen told with great conviction. Mitzi might be a liar (he thought she was), but he fancied that there might be somesubstratum of truth in this particular tale. He resolved to speak to Phillipa on the subject. She had seemed to him whenhe questioned her a quiet, well-bred young woman. He had had no suspicion of her.
Crossing the hall, in his abstraction, he tried to open the wrong door. Miss Bunner, descending23 the staircase, hastilyput him right.
“Not that door,” she said. “It doesn’t open. The next one to the left. Very confusing, isn’t it? So many doors.”
“There are a good many,” said Craddock, looking up and down the narrow hall.
Miss Bunner amiably24 enumerated25 them for him.
“First the door to the cloakroom, and then the cloaks cupboard door and then the dining room—that’s on that side.
And on this side, the dummy26 door that you were trying to get through and then there’s the drawing room door proper,and then the china cupboard and the door of the little flower room, and at the end the side door. Most confusing.
Especially these two being so near together. I’ve often tried the wrong one by mistake. We used to have the hall tableagainst it, as a matter of fact, but then we moved it along against the wall there.”
Craddock had noted27, almost mechanically, a thin line horizontally across the panels of the door he had been tryingto open. He realized now it was the mark where the table had been. Something stirred vaguely28 in his mind as he asked,“Moved? How long ago?”
In questioning Dora Bunner there was fortunately no need to give a reason for any question. Any query29 on anysubject seemed perfectly natural to the garrulous30 Miss Bunner who delighted in the giving of information, howevertrivial.
“Now let me see, really quite recently—ten days or a fortnight ago.”
“Why was it moved?”
“I really can’t remember. Something to do with the flowers. I think Phillipa did a big vase—she arranges flowersquite beautifully—all autumn colouring and twigs31 and branches, and it was so big it caught your hair as you went past,and so Phillipa said, ‘Why not move the table along and anyway the flowers would look much better against the barewall than against the panels of the door.’ Only we had to take down Wellington at Waterloo. Not a print I’m reallyvery fond of. We put it under the stairs.”
“It’s not really a dummy, then?” Craddock asked, looking at the door.”
“Oh, no, it’s a real door, if that’s what you mean. It’s the door of the small drawing room, but when the roomswere thrown into one, one didn’t need two doors, so this one was fastened up.”
“Fastened up?” Craddock tried it again, gently. “You mean it’s nailed up? Or just locked?”
“Oh, locked, I think, and bolted too.”
He saw the bolt at the top and tried it. The bolt slid back easily—too easily….
“When was it last open?” he asked Miss Bunner.
“Oh, years and years ago, I imagine. It’s never been opened since I’ve been here, I know that.”
“You don’t know where the key is?”
“There are a lot of keys in the hall drawer. It’s probably among those.”
Craddock followed her and looked at a rusty32 assortment33 of old keys pushed far back in the drawer. He scannedthem and selected one that looked different from the rest and went back to the door. The key fitted and turned easily.
He pushed and the door slid open noiselessly.
“Oh, do be careful,” cried Miss Bunner. “There may be something resting against it inside. We never open it.”
“Don’t you?” said the Inspector.
His face now was grim. He said with emphasis:
“This door’s been opened quite recently, Miss Bunner. The lock’s been oiled and the hinges.”
She stared at him, her foolish face agape.
“But who could have done that?” she asked.
“That’s what I mean to find out,” said Craddock grimly. He thought—“X from outside? No—X was here—in thishouse—X was in the drawing room that night….”
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1
adjourned
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| （使）休会， （使）休庭( adjourn的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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inspector
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| n.检查员，监察员，视察员 | |
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proprietor
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| n.所有人；业主；经营者 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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prospects
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| n.希望，前途(恒为复数) | |
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previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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agog
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horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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metaphorically
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| adv. 用比喻地 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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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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liar
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| n.说谎的人 | |
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bully
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| n.恃强欺弱者，小流氓；vt.威胁，欺侮 | |
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15
persecute
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| vt.迫害，虐待；纠缠，骚扰 | |
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flea
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| n.跳蚤 | |
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triumphantly
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| ad.得意洋洋地；得胜地；成功地 | |
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nettles
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| n.荨麻( nettle的名词复数 ) | |
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defiantly
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| adv.挑战地，大胆对抗地 | |
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undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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aggrieved
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| adj.愤愤不平的，受委屈的；悲痛的；（在合法权利方面）受侵害的v.令委屈，令苦恼，侵害( aggrieve的过去式)；令委屈，令苦恼，侵害( aggrieve的过去式和过去分词) | |
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interfering
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| adj. 妨碍的 动词interfere的现在分词 | |
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descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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amiably
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| adv.和蔼可亲地，亲切地 | |
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enumerated
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| v.列举，枚举，数( enumerate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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dummy
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| n.假的东西；(哄婴儿的)橡皮奶头 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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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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garrulous
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| adj.唠叨的，多话的 | |
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31
twigs
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| 细枝，嫩枝( twig的名词复数 ) | |
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rusty
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| adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的 | |
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assortment
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| n.分类，各色俱备之物，聚集 | |
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