Evil Under the Sun

‘I-I didn’t mean to overhear. It was an accident. It was two-no, three nights ago. We were playing bridge.’ She turned towards Poirot. ‘You remember? My husband and I, M. Poirot and Miss Darnley. I was dummy. It was very stuffy in the card room, and I slipped out of the window for a breath of fresh air. I went down towards the beach and I suddenly heard voices. One-it was Arlena Marshall’s-I knew it at once-said: “It’s no good pressing me. I can’t get any more money now. My husband will suspect something.” And then a man’s voice said: “I’m not taking any excuses. You’ve got to cough up.” And then Arlena Marshall said: “You blackmailing brute!” And the man said: “Brute or not, you’ll pay up, my lady.” ’

Christine paused.

‘I’d turned back and a minute after Arlena Marshall rushed past me. She looked-well, frightfully upset.’

Weston said:

‘And the man? Do you know who he was?’

Christine Redfern shook her head.

She said:

‘He was keeping his voice low. I barely heard what he said.’

‘It didn’t suggest the voice to you of anyone you knew?’

She thought again, but once more shook her head. She said:

‘No, I don’t know. It was gruff and low. It-oh, it might have been anybody’s.’

Colonel Weston said:

‘Thank you, Mrs Redfern.’

II

When the door had closed behind Christine Redfern Inspector Colgate said:

‘Now we are getting somewhere!’

Weston said:

‘You think so, eh?’

‘Well, it’s suggestive, sir, you can’t get away from it. Somebody in this hotel was blackmailing the lady.’

Poirot murmured:

‘But it is not the wicked blackmailer who lies dead. It is the victim.’

‘That’s a bit of a setback, I agree,’ said the Inspector. ‘Blackmailers aren’t in the habit of bumping off their victims. But what it does give us is this, it suggests a reason for Mrs Marshall’s curious behaviour this morning. She’d got arendezvous with this fellow who was blackmailing her, and she didn’t want either her husband or Redfern to know about it.’

‘It certainly explains that point,’ agreed Poirot.

Inspector Colgate went on:

‘And think of the place chosen. The very spot for the purpose. The lady goes off in her float. That’s natural enough. It’s what she does every day. She goes round to Pixy Cove where no one ever goes in the morning and which will be a nice quiet place for an interview.’ 

Poirot said:

‘But yes, I too was struck by that point. It is as you say, an ideal spot for arendezvous. It is deserted, it is only accessible from the land side by descending a vertical steel ladder which is not everybody’s money,bien entendu. Moreover most of the beach is invisible from above because of the overhanging cliff. And it has another advantage. Mr Redfern told me of that one day. There is a cave on it, the entrance to which is not easy to find but where anyone could wait unseen.’

Weston said:

‘Of course, the Pixy’s Cave-remember hearing about it.’

Inspector Colgate said:

‘Haven’t heard it spoken of for years, though. We’d better have a look inside it. Never know, we might find a pointer of some kind.’

Weston said:

‘Yes, you’re right, Colgate, we’ve got the solution to part one of the puzzle.Why did Mrs Marshall go to Pixy’s Cove? We want the other half of that solution, though.Who did she go there to meet? Presumably someone staying in this hotel. None of them fitted as a lover-but a blackmailer’s a different proposition.’

He drew the register towards him.

‘Excluding the waiters, boots, etc., whom I don’t think likely, we’ve got the following. The American-Gardener, Major Barry, Mr Horace Blatt, and the Reverend Stephen Lane.’

Inspector Colgate said:

‘We can narrow it down a bit, sir. We might almost rule out the American, I think. He was on the beach all the morning. That’s so, isn’t it, M. Poirot?’

Poirot replied:

‘He was absent for a short time when he fetched a skein of wool for his wife.’

Colgate said:

‘Oh well, we needn’t count that.’

Weston said:

‘And what about the other three?’

‘Major Barry went out at ten o’clock this morning. He returned at one-thirty. Mr Lane was earlier still. He breakfasted at eight. Said he was going for a tramp. Mr Blatt went off for a sail at nine-thirty same as he does most days. Neither of them are back yet.’

‘A sail, eh?’ Colonel Weston’s voice was thoughtful.

Inspector Colgate’s voice was responsive. He said:

‘Might fit in rather well, sir.’

Weston said:

‘Well, we’ll have a word with this Major bloke-and let me see, who else is there? Rosamund Darnley. And there’s the Brewster woman who found the body with Redfern. What’s she like, Colgate?’

‘Oh, a sensible party, sir. No nonsense about her.’ 

‘She didn’t express any opinions on the death?’

The Inspector shook his head.

‘I don’t think she’ll have anything more to tell us, sir, but we’ll have to make sure. Then there are the Americans.’

Colonel Weston nodded. He said: ‘Let’s have ’em all in and get it over as soon as possible. Never know, might learn something. About the blackmailing stunt if about nothing else.’

III

Mr and Mrs Gardener came into the presence of authority together.

Mrs Gardener explained immediately.