Hercule Poirot's Christmas Read online

  She reflected a minute.

  ‘When we went in my father-in-law was telephoning.’

  ‘To his lawyer, I understand?’

  ‘Yes, he was suggesting that Mr—was it Charlton?—I don’t quite remember the name—should come over as he, my father-in-law, wanted to make a new will. His old one, he said, was quite out of date.’

  Poirot said:

  ‘Think carefully, madame; in your opinion did your father-in-law deliberately ensure that you should all overhear this conversation, or was it just by chance that you overheard it?’

  Hilda Lee said:

  ‘I am almost sure that he meant us to overhear.’

  ‘With the object of fomenting doubt and suspicions among you?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘So that, really, he may not have meant to alter his will at all?’

  She demurred.

  ‘No, I think that part of it was quite genuine. He probably did wish to make a new will—but he enjoyed underlining the fact.’

  ‘Madame,’ said Poirot, ‘I have no official standing and my questions, you understand, are not perhaps those that an English officer of the law would ask. But I have a great desire to know what form you think that new will would have taken. I am asking, you perceive, not for your knowledge, but simply for your opinion. Les femmes, they are never slow to form an opinion, Dieu merci.’

  Hilda Lee smiled a little.

  ‘I don’t mind saying what I think. My husband’s sister Jennifer married a Spaniard, Juan Estravados. Her daughter, Pilar, has just arrived here. She is a very lovely girl—and she is, of course, the only grandchild in the family. Old Mr Lee was delighted with her. He took a tremendous fancy to her. In my opinion, he wished to leave her a considerable sum in his new will. Probably he had only left her a small portion or even nothing at all in an old one.’

  ‘Did you know your sister-in-law at all?’

  ‘No, I never met her. Her Spanish husband died in tragic circumstances, I believe, soon after the marriage. Jennifer herself died a year ago. Pilar was left an orphan. This is why Mr Lee sent for her to come and live with him in England.’

  ‘And the other members of the family, did they welcome her coming?’

  Hilda said quietly:

  ‘I think they all liked her. It was very pleasant to have someone young and alive in the house.’

  ‘And she, did she seem to like being here?’

  Hilda said slowly:

  ‘I don’t know. It must seem cold and strange to a girl brought up in the South—in Spain.’

  Johnson said:

  ‘Can’t be very pleasant being in Spain just at present. Now, Mrs Lee, we’d like to hear your account of the conversation this afternoon.’

  Poirot murmured:

  ‘I apologize. I have made the digressions.’

  Hilda Lee said:

  ‘After my father-in-law finished telephoning, he looked round at us and laughed, and said we all looked very glum. Then he said he was tired and should go to bed early. Nobody was to come up and see him this evening. He said he wanted to be in good form for Christmas Day. Something like that.’

  ‘Then—’ Her brows knit in an effort of remembrance. ‘I think he said something about its being necessary to be one of a large family to appreciate Christmas, and then he went on to speak of money. He said it would cost him more to run this house in future. He told George and Magdalene they would have to economize. Told her she ought to make her own clothes. Rather an old-fashioned idea, I’m afraid. I don’t wonder it annoyed her. He said his own wife had been clever with her needle.’

  Poirot said gently:

  ‘Is that all that he said about her?’

  Hilda flushed.

  ‘He made a slighting reference to her brains. My husband was very devoted to his mother, and that upset him very much. And then, suddenly Mr Lee began shouting at us all. He worked himself up about it. I can understand, of course, how he felt—’

  Poirot said gently, interrupting her:

  ‘How did he feel?’

  She turned her tranquil eyes upon him.

  ‘He was disappointed, of course,’ she said. ‘Because there are no grandchildren—no boys, I mean—no Lees to carry on. I can see that that must have festered for a long time. And suddenly he couldn’t keep it in any longer and vented his rage against his sons—saying they were a lot of namby-pamby old women—something like that. I felt sorry for him, then, because I realized how his pride was hurt by it.’

  ‘And then?’

  ‘And then,’ said Hilda slowly, ‘we all went away.’

  ‘That was the last you saw of him?’

  She bowed her head.

  ‘Where were you at the time the crime occurred?’

  ‘I was with my husband in the music-room. He was playing to me.’

  ‘And then?’

  ‘We heard tables and chairs overturned upstairs, and china being broken—some terrible struggle. And then that awful scream as his throat was cut…’

  Poirot said:

  ‘Was it such an awful scream? Was it’—he paused—‘like a soul in hell?’

  Hilda Lee said:

  ‘It was worse than that!’

  ‘What do you mean, madame?’

  ‘It was like someone who had no soul…It was inhuman like a beast…’

  Poirot said gravely:

  ‘So—you have judged him, madame?’

  She raised a hand in sudden distress. Her eyes fell and she stared down at the floor.

  XIV

  Pilar came into the room with the wariness of an animal who suspects a trap. Her eyes went quickly from side to side. She looked not so much afraid as deeply suspicious.

  Colonel Johnson rose and put a chair for her. Then he said:

  ‘You understand English, I suppose, Miss Estravados?’

  Pilar’s eyes opened wide. She said:

  ‘Of course. My mother was English. I am really very English indeed.’

  A faint smile came to Colonel Johnson’s lips, as his eyes took in the black gloss of her hair, the proud dark eyes, and the curling red lips. Very English! An incongruous term to apply to Pilar Estravados.

  He said:

  ‘Mr Lee was your grandfather. He sent for you to come from Spain. And you arrived a few days ago. Is that right?’

  Pilar nodded.

  ‘That is right. I had—oh! a lot of adventures getting out of Spain—there was a bomb from the air and the chauffeur he was killed—where his head had been there was all blood. And I could not drive a car, so for a long way I had to walk—and I do not like walking. I never walk. My feet were sore—but sore—’

  Colonel Johnson smiled. He said:

  ‘At any rate you arrived here. Had your mother spoken to you of your grandfather much?’

  Pilar nodded cheerfully.

  ‘Oh, yes, she said he was an old devil.’

  Hercule Poirot smiled. He said:

  ‘And what did you think of him when you arrived, mademoiselle?’

  Pilar said:

  ‘Of course he was very, very old. He had to sit in a chair—and his face was all dried up. But I liked him all the same. I think that when he was a young man, he must have been handsome—very handsome, like you,’ said Pilar to Superintendent Sugden. Her eyes dwelt with naïve pleasure on his handsome face, which had turned brick-red at the compliment.

  Colonel Johnson stifled a chuckle. It was one of the few occasions when he had seen the stolid superintendent taken aback.

  ‘But of course,’ Pilar continued regretfully, ‘he could never have been so big as you.’

  Hercule Poirot sighed.

  ‘You like, then, big men, señorita?’ he inquired.

  Pilar agreed enthusiastically.

  ‘Oh, yes, I like a man to be very big, tall, and the shoulders broad, and very, very strong.’

  Colonel Johnson said sharply:

  ‘Did you see much of your grandfather when you arrived here?’

  Pila
r said:

  ‘Oh, yes. I went to sit with him. He told me things—that he had been a very wicked man, and all the things he did in South Africa.’

  ‘Did he ever tell you that he had diamonds in the safe in his room?’

  ‘Yes, he showed them to me. But they were not like diamonds—they were just like pebbles—very ugly—very ugly indeed.’

  Superintendent Sugden said shortly:

  ‘So he showed them to you, did he?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘He didn’t give you any of them?’

  Pilar shook her head.

  ‘No, he did not. I thought that perhaps one day he would—if I were very nice to him and came often to sit with him. Because old gentlemen they like very much young girls.’

  Colonel Johnson said:

  ‘Do you know that those diamonds have been stolen?’

  Pilar opened her eyes very wide.

  ‘Stolen?’

  ‘Yes, have you any idea who might have taken them?’

  Pilar nodded her head.

  ‘Oh, yes,’ she said. ‘It would be Horbury.’

  ‘Horbury? You mean the valet?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Why do you think that?’

  ‘Because he has the face of a thief. His eyes go so, from side to side, he walks softly and listens at doors. He is like a cat. And all cats are thieves.’

  ‘H’m,’ said Colonel Johnson. ‘We’ll leave it at that. Now I understand that all the family were up in your grandfather’s room this afternoon, and that some—er—angry words passed.’

  Pilar nodded and smiled.

  ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘It was great fun. Grandfather made them oh! so angry!’

  ‘Oh, you enjoyed it, did you?’

  ‘Yes. I like to see people get angry. I like it very much. But here in England they do not get angry like they do in Spain. In Spain they take out their knives and they curse and shout. In England they do nothing, just get very red in the face and shut up their mouths tight.’

  ‘Do you remember what was said?’

  Pilar seemed rather doubtful.

  ‘I am not sure. Grandfather said they were no good—that they had not got any children. He said I was better than any of them. He liked me, very much.’

  ‘Did he say anything about money or a will?’

  ‘A will—no, I don’t think so. I don’t remember.’

  ‘What happened?’

  ‘They all went away—except Hilda—the fat one, David’s wife, she stayed behind.’

  ‘Oh, she did, did she?’

  ‘Yes. David looked very funny. He was all shaking and oh! so white. He looked as though he might be sick.’

  ‘And what then?’

  ‘Then I went and found Stephen. We danced to the gramophone.’

  ‘Stephen Farr?’

  ‘Yes. He is from South Africa—he is the son of Grandfather’s partner. He is very handsome too. Very brown and big, and he has nice eyes.’

  Johnson asked:

  ‘Where were you when the crime occurred?’

  ‘You ask where I was?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘I had gone into the drawing-room with Lydia. And then I went up to my room and did my face. I was going to dance again with Stephen. And then, far away, I heard a scream and everyone was running, so I went too. And they were trying to break down Grandfather’s door. Harry did it with Stephen, they are both big strong men.’

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘And then—crash—down it went—and we all looked in. Oh, such a sight—everything smashed and knocked over, and Grandfather lying in a lot of blood, and his throat was cut like this’—she made a vivid dramatic gesture at her own neck—‘right up under his ear.’

  She paused, having obviously enjoyed her narrative.

  Johnson said:

  ‘The blood didn’t make you feel ill?’

  She stared.

  ‘No, why should it? There is usually blood when people are killed. There was, oh! so much blood everywhere!’

  Poirot said: ‘Did anyone say anything?’

  Pilar said:

  ‘David said such a funny thing—what was it? Oh, yes. The mills of God—that is what he said’—she repeated it with emphasis on each word—‘The mills—of—God—What does that mean? Mills are what make flour, are they not?’

  Colonel Johnson said:

  ‘Well, I don’t think there is anything more just now, Miss Estravados.’

  Pilar got up obediently. She flashed a quick charming smile at each man in turn.

  ‘I will go now, then.’ She went out.

  Colonel Johnson said:

  ‘The mills of God grind slowly, but they grind exceeding small. And David Lee said that!’

  XV

  As the door opened once more, Colonel Johnson looked up. For a moment he took the entering figure to be that of Harry Lee, but as Stephen Farr advanced into the room he saw his error.

  ‘Sit down, Mr Farr,’ he said.

  Stephen sat. His eyes, cool, intelligent eyes, went from one to the other of the three men. He said:

  ‘I’m afraid I shan’t be much use to you. But please ask me anything that you think may help. Perhaps I’d better explain, to start with, who I am. My father, Ebenezer Farr, was Simeon Lee’s partner in South Africa in the old days. I’m talking of over forty years ago.’

  He paused.

  ‘My dad talked to me a lot about Simeon Lee—what a personality he was. He and Dad cleaned up a good bit together. Simeon Lee went home with a fortune and my father didn’t do badly either. My father always told me that when I came to this country I was to look up Mr Lee. I said once that it was a long time ago and that he’d probably not know who I was, but Dad scoffed at the idea. He said, “When two men have been through what Simeon and I went through, they don’t forget.” Well, my father died a couple of years ago. This year I came over to England for the first time, and I thought I’d act on Dad’s advice and look up Mr Lee.’

  With a slight smile he went on:

  ‘I was just a little nervous when I came along here, but I needn’t have been. Mr Lee gave me a warm welcome and absolutely insisted that I should stay with the family over Christmas. I was afraid I was butting in, but he wouldn’t hear of a refusal.’

  He added rather shyly:

  ‘They were all very nice to me—Mr and Mrs Alfred Lee couldn’t have been nicer. I’m terribly sorry for them that all this should come upon them.’

  ‘How long have you been here, Mr Farr?’

  ‘Since yesterday.’

  ‘Did you see Mr Lee today at all?’

  ‘Yes, I had a chat with him this morning. He was in good spirits then and anxious to hear about a lot of people and places.’

  ‘That was the last time you saw him?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Did he mention to you that he kept a quantity of uncut diamonds in his safe?’

  ‘No.’

  He added before the other could speak:

  ‘Do you mean that this business was murder and robbery?’

  ‘We’re not sure yet,’ said Johnson. ‘Now to come to the events of this evening, will you tell me, in your own words, what you were doing?’

  ‘Certainly. After the ladies left the dining-room I stayed and had a glass of port. Then I realized that the Lees had family business they wanted to discuss and that my being there was hampering them so I excused myself and left them.’

  ‘And what did you do then?’

  Stephen Farr leaned back in his chair. His forefinger caressed his jaw. He said rather woodenly:

  ‘I—er—went along to a big room with a parquet floor—a kind of ballroom, I fancy. There’s a gramophone there and dance records. I put some records on.’

  Poirot said:

  ‘It was possible, perhaps, that someone might join you there?’

  A very faint smile curved Stephen Farr’s lips. He answered: