The Man in the Brown Suit by Agatha Christie (best detective novels of all time TXT) đ
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- Author: Agatha Christie
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I was not going to make any mistake over that. I had a great deal of respect for Sir Eustaceâs shrewdness. It was a moment for the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. I told him the whole story, omitting nothing, up to the moment of my rescue by Harry. When I had finished, he nodded his head in approval.
âWise girl. Youâve made a clean breast of the thing. And let me tell you I should soon have caught you out if you hadnât. A lot of people wouldnât believe your story, anyway, especially the beginning part, but I do. Youâre the kind of girl who would start off like thatâat a momentâs notice, on the slenderest of motives. Youâve had amazing luck, of course, but sooner or later the amateur runs up against the professional and then the result is a foregone conclusion. I am the professional. I started on this business when I was quite a youngster. All things considered, it seemed to me a good way of getting rich quickly. I always could think things out, and devise ingenious schemesâand I never made the mistake of trying to carry out my schemes myself. Always employ the expertâthat has been my motto. The one time I departed from it I came to griefâbut I couldnât trust any one to do that job for me. Nadina knew too much. Iâm an easy-going man, kind-hearted and good tempered so long as Iâm not thwarted. Nadina both thwarted me and threatened meâjust as I was at the apex of a successful career. Once she was dead and the diamonds were in my possession, I was safe. Iâve come to the conclusion now that I bungled the job. That idiot Pagett, with his wife and family! My faultâit tickled my sense of humour to employ the fellow, with his Cinquecento poisonerâs face and his mid-Victorian soul. A maxim for you, my dear Anne. Donât let your sense of humour carry you away. For years Iâve had an instinct that it would be wise to get rid of Pagett, but the fellow was so hard-working and conscientious that I honestly couldnât find an excuse for sacking him. So I left things drift.
âBut weâre wandering from the point. The question is what to do with you. Your narrative was admirably clear, but there is one thing that still escapes me. Where are the diamonds now?â
âHarry Rayburn has them,â I said, watching him.
His face did not change, it retained its expression of sardonic good-humour.
âHâm. I want those diamonds.â
âI donât see much chance of your getting them,â I replied.
âDonât you? Now I do. I donât want to be unpleasant, but I should like you to reflect that a dead girl or so found in this quarter of the city will occasion no surprise. Thereâs a man downstairs who does those sort of jobs very neatly. Now, youâre a sensible young woman. What I propose is this: you will sit down and write to Harry Rayburn, telling him to join you here and bring the diamonds with himâââ
âI wonât do anything of the kind.â
âDonât interrupt your elders. I propose to make a bargain with you. The diamonds in exchange for your life. And donât make any mistake about it, your life is absolutely in my power.â
âAnd Harry?â
âIâm far too tender-hearted to part two young lovers. He shall go free tooâon the understanding, of course, that neither of you will interfere with me in future.â
âAnd what guarantee have I that you will keep your side of the bargain?â
âNone whatever, my dear girl. Youâll have to trust me and hope for the best. Of course, if youâre in an heroic mood and prefer annihilation, thatâs another matter.â
This was what I had been playing for. I was careful not to jump at the bait. Gradually I allowed myself to be bullied and cajoled into yielding. I wrote at Sir Eustaceâs dictation:
Dear Harry,
I think I see a chance of establishing your innocence beyond any possible doubt. Please follow my instructions minutely. Go to Agrasatoâs curio-shop. Ask to see something âout of the ordinary,â âfor a special occasion.â The man will then ask you to âcome into the back room.â Go with him. You will find a messenger who will bring you to me. Do exactly as he tells you. Be sure and bring the diamonds with you. Not a word to any one.â
Sir Eustace stopped. âI leave the fancy touches to your own imagination,â he remarked. âBut be careful to make no mistakes.â
ââYours for ever and ever, Anne,â will be sufficient,â I remarked.
I wrote in the words. Sir Eustace stretched out his hand for the letter and read it through.
âThat seems all right. Now the address.â
I gave it him. It was that of a small shop which received letters and telegrams for a consideration.
He struck the bell upon the table with his hand. Chichester-Pettigrew, alias Minks, answered the summons.
âThis letter is to go immediatelyâthe usual route.â
âVery well, Colonel.â
He looked at the name on the envelope. Sir Eustace was watching him keenly.
âA friend of yours, I think?â
âOf mine?â
The man seemed startled.
âYou had a prolonged conversation with him in Johannesburg yesterday.â
âA man came up and questioned me about your movements and those of Colonel Race. I gave him misleading information.â
âExcellent, my dear fellow, excellent,â said Sir Eustace genially. âMy mistake.â
I chanced to look at Chichester-Pettigrew as he left the room. He was white to the lips, as though in deadly terror. No sooner was he outside than Sir Eustace picked up a speaking-tube that rested by his elbow and spoke down it.
âThat you, Schwart? Watch Minks. Heâs not to leave the house without orders.â
He put the speaking-tube down again and frowned, slightly tapping the table with his hand.
âMay I ask you a few questions, Sir Eustace,â I said, after a minute or two of silence.
âCertainly. What excellent nerves you have, Anne. You are capable of taking an intelligent interest in things when most girls would be sniffling and wringing their hands.â
âWhy did you take Harry as your secretary instead of giving him up to the police?â
âI wanted those cursed diamonds. Nadina, the little devil, was playing off your Harry against me. Unless I gave her the price she wanted, she threatened to sell them back to him. That was another mistake I madeâI thought sheâd have them with her that day. But she was too clever for that. Carton, her husband, was dead tooâIâd no clue whatsoever as to where the diamonds were hidden. Then I managed to get a copy of a wireless message sent to Nadina by some one on board the Kilmordenâeither Carton or Rayburn, I didnât know which. It was a duplicate of that piece of paper you picked up. âSeventeen one twenty two,â it ran. I took it to be an appointment with Rayburn, and when he was so desperate to get aboard the Kilmorden I was convinced that I was right. So I pretended to swallow his statements, and let him come. I kept a pretty sharp watch upon him and hoped that I should learn more. Then I found Minks trying to play a lone hand and interfering with me. I soon stopped that. He came to heel all right. It was annoying not getting Cabin 17, and it worried me not being able to place you. Were you the innocent young girl you seemed, or were you not? When Rayburn set out to keep the appointment that night, Minks was told off to intercept him. Minks muffed it of course.â
âBut why did the wireless message say âseventeenâ instead of âseventy-oneâ?â
âIâve thought that out. Carton must have given that wireless operator his own memorandum to copy off on to a form, and he never read the copy through. The operator made the same mistake we all did, and read it as 17.1.22 instead of 1.71.22. The thing I donât know is how Minks got on to Cabin 17. It must have been sheer instinct.â
âAnd the dispatch to General Smuts? Who tampered with that?â
âMy dear Anne, you donât suppose I was going to have a lot of my plans given away, without making an effort to save them? With an escaped murderer as a secretary, I had no hesitation whatever in substituting blanks. Nobody would think of suspecting poor old Pedler.â
âWhat about Colonel Race?â
âYes, that was a nasty jar. When Pagett told me he was a Secret Service fellow, I had an unpleasant feeling down the spine. I remembered that heâd been nosing around Nadina in Paris during the Warâand I had a horrible suspicion that he was out after me! I donât like the way heâs stuck to me ever since. Heâs one of those strong, silent men who have always got something up their sleeve.â
A whistle sounded. Sir Eustace picked up the tube, listened for a minute or two, then answered:
âVery well, Iâll see him now.â
âBusiness,â he remarked. âMiss Anne, let me show you your room.â
He ushered me into a small shabby apartment, a Kafir boy brought up my small suit-case, and Sir Eustace, urging me to ask for anything I wanted, withdrew, the picture of a courteous host. A can of hot water was on the washstand, and I proceeded to unpack a few necessaries. Something hard and unfamiliar in my sponge-bag puzzled me greatly. I untied the string and looked inside.
To my utter amazement I drew out a small pearl-handled revolver. It hadnât been there when I started from Kimberley. I examined the thing gingerly. It appeared to be loaded.
I handled it with a comfortable feeling. It was a useful thing to have in a house such as this. But modern clothes are quite unsuited to the carrying of fire-arms. In the end I pushed it gingerly into the top of my stocking. It made a terrible bulge, and I expected every minute that it would go off and shoot me in the leg, but it really seemed the only place.
CHAPTER XXXIIII was not summoned to Sir Eustaceâs presence until late in the afternoon. Eleven-oâclock tea and a substantial lunch had been served to me in my own apartment, and I felt fortified for further conflict.
Sir Eustace was alone. He was walking up and down the room, and there was a gleam in his eye and a restlessness in his manner which did not escape me. He was exultant about something. There was a subtle change in his manner towards me.
âI have news for you. Your young man is on his way. He will be here in a few minutes. Moderate your transportsâI have something more to say. You attempted to deceive me this morning. I warned you that you would be wise to stick to the truth, and up to a certain point you obeyed me. Then you ran off the rails. You attempted to make me believe that the diamonds were in Harry Rayburnâs possession. At the time, I accepted your statement because it facilitated my taskâthe task of inducing you to decoy Harry Rayburn here. But, my dear Anne, the diamonds have been in my possession ever since I left the Fallsâthough I only discovered the fact yesterday.â
âYou know!â I gasped.
âIt may interest you to hear that it was Pagett who gave the show away. He insisted on boring me with a long pointless story about a wager and a tin of films. It didnât take me long to put two and two togetherâMrs. Blairâs distrust of Colonel Race, her agitation, her entreaty that I would take care of her souvenirs for her. The excellent Pagett had already unfastened the cases through an excess of zeal. Before leaving the hotel, I simply transferred all the rolls of films to
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