Death On The Nile - Christie Agatha (электронные книги бесплатно .TXT) 📗

—-what is the reason for your presence on this boat?"

Jim Fanthorp jerked his head back.

"I decline to give you any information whatever, M. Poirot. I really think you must be mad."

"I am not mad. I am very very sane. Where is your firm? In Northampton-that is not very far from Wode Hall. What conversation did you try to overhear?

One concerning legal documents. What was the object of your remark-a remark which you uttered with obvious embarrassment and malaise? Your object was to prevent Mrs. Doyle from signing any documents unread."

He paused.

"On this boat we have had a murder, and following that murder two other murders in rapid succession. If I further give you the information that the weapon which killed Mrs. Otterbourne was a revolver owned by Mr. Andrew Penningt,,on, then perhaps you will realise that it is actually your duty to tell us all you can.

Jim Fanthorp was silent for some minutes. At last he said:

"You have rather an odd way of going about things, M. Poirot, but I appreciate the points you have made. The trouble is that I have no exact information to lay before you."

"You mean that it is a case, merely, of suspicion."

"Yes."

"And therefore you think it injudicious to speak? That may be true, legally speaking. But this is not a court of law. Colonel Race and myself are endeavouring to track down a murderer. Anything that can help us to do so may be valuable." Again Jim Fanthorp reflected. Then he said: "Very well. What is it you want you know?" "Why did you come on this trip?"

"My uncle, Mr. Carmichael, Mrs. Doyle's English solicitor, sent me. He handled a good many of her affairs. In this way, he was often in correspondence with Mr. Andrew Pennington who was Mrs. Doyle's American trustee. Several small incidents (I cannot enumerate them all) made my uncle suspicious that all was not quite as it should be."

"In plain language," said Race, "your uncle suspected that Pennington was a crook?"

Jim Fanthorp nodded, a faint smile on his face.

"You put it rather more bluntly than I should, but the main idea is correct.

Various excuses made by Pennington, certain plausible explanations of the disposal of funds, aroused my uncle's distrust.

"While these suspicions of his were still nebulous Miss Ridgeway married unexpectedly and went off on her honeymoon to Egypt. Her marriage relieved my uncle's mind, as he knew that on her return to England the estate would have to be formally settled and handed over.

"However, in a letter she wrote him from Cairo, she mentioned casually that she had unexpectedly run across Andrew Pennington. My uncle's suspicions became acute. He felt sure that Pennington, perhaps by now in a desperate position, was going to try and obtain signatures from her which would cover his own defalcations. Since my uncle had no definite evidence to lay before her, he was in a most difficult position. The only thing he could think of was to send me out there, travelling by air, with instructions to discover what was in the wind. I was to keep my eyes open and act summarily if necessary-a most unpleasant mission, I can assure you. As a matter of fact, on the occasion you mention I had to behave more or less as a cad! It was awkward, but on the whole I was satisfied with the result."

"You mean you put Mrs. Doyle on her guard?" asked Race.

"Not so much that. But I think I put the wind up Pennington. I felt convinced he wouldn't try any more funny business for some time and by then I hoped to have got intimate enough with Mr. and Mrs. Doyle to convey some kind of a warning. As a matter of fact I hoped to do so through Doyle. Mrs. Doyle was so attached to Mr. Pennington that it would have been a bit awkward to suggest things to her about him. It would have been easier for me to approach the husband."

Race nodded.

Poirot asked:

"Will you give me a candid opinion on one point, M. Fanthorp? If you were engaged in putting a swindle over, would you choose Mrs. Doyle or Mr. Doyle as a victim?"

Fanthorp smiled faintly.

"Mr. Doyle, every time. Linnet Doyle was very shrewd in business matters.

Her husband, I should fancy, is one of those trustful fellows who know nothing of business and are always ready to 'sign on the dotted line' as he himself put it." "I agree," said Poirot. He looked at Race. "And there's your motive." Jim Fanthorp said:

"But this is all pure conjecture. It isn't evidence."

Poirot said easily:

"Ah bah! we will get evidence!"

"How?"

"Possibly from Mr. Pennington himself."

Fanthorp looked doubtful.

"I wonder. I very much wonder." Race glanced at his watch.

"He's about due now."

Jim Fanthorp was quick to take the hint. He left them.

Two minutes later Andrew Pennington made his appearance.

His manner was all smiling urbanity. Only the taut line of his jaw and the wariness of his eyes betrayed the fact that a thoroughly experienced fighter was on his guard.

"Well, gentlemen," he said, "here I am."

He sat down and looked at them inquiringly.

"We asked you to come here, Mr. Pennington," began Poirot, "because it is fairly obvious that you have a very special and immediate interest in the case." Pennington raised his eyebrows slightly.

"Is that so?" Poirot said gently:

"Surely. You have known Linnet Ridgeway, I understand, since she was quite a child."

"Oh! that-" his face altered-became less alert. "I beg pardon, I didn't quite get you. Yes, as I told you this morning, I've known Linnet since she was a cute little thing in pinafores."

"You were on terms of close intimacy with her father?"

"That's so. Melhuish Ridgeway and I were close-very close."

"You were so intimately associated that on his death he appointed you business guardian to his daughter and trustee to the vast fortune she inherited."

"Why, roughly-that is so." The wariness was back again. The note.was more cautious. "I was not the only trustee, naturally--others were associated with me." "Who have since died?"

"Two of them are dead. The other, Mr. Sterndale Rockford, is alive." "Your partner?" "Yes."

"Miss Ridgeway, I understand, was not yet of age when she married?"

"She would have been twenty-one next July."

"And in the normal course of events she would have come into control of her fortune then?"

"Yes."

"But her marriage precipitated matters?"

Pennington's jaw hardenedhe shot out his chin at them aggressively.

"You'll pardon me, gentlemen, but what exact business is all this of yours?" "If you dislike answering the question-"

"There's no dislike about it. I don't mind what you ask me. But I don't see the relevance of all this."

"Oh, but surely, Mr. Pennington…" Poirot leaned forward, his eyes green and catlike-"there is the question of motivein considering that, financial considerations must always be taken into account."

Pennington said sullenly:

"By Ridgeway's will, Linnet got control of her dough when she was twenty-one or when she married."

"No conditions of any kind?"

"No conditions."

"And it is a matter, I am credibly assured, of millions." "Millions it is." Poirot said softly:

"Your resp,o, nsibilRy, Mr. Pennington, and that of your partner, has been a very grave one.

Pennington said curtly:

"We're used to responsibility. Doesn't worry us any."

"I wonder."

Something in his tone flicked the other man on the raw. He said angrily: "What the devil do you mean?"

Poifot replied with an air of engaging frankness:

"I was wondering, Mr. Pennington, whether Linnet Ridgeway's sudden marriage caused any--consternation in your office?"

"Consternation?"

"That was the word I used."

"What the hell are you driving at?"

"Something quite simple. Are Linnet Doyle's affairs in the perfect order they should be?"