Five Little Pigs

‘Oh, don’t misunderstand me. I wouldn’t go further than to say that I believe that feeling was at the back of his mind. I don’t know that he ever quite realized himself that that is what he felt. Philip and I have nothing much in common, but there is a link, you know, between people of the same blood. One brother often knows what the other brother is thinking.’

‘And after the tragedy?’

Meredith Blake shook his head. A spasm of pain crossed his face. He said:

‘Poor Phil. He was terribly cut up. Just broken up by it. He’d always been devoted to Amyas, you see. There was an element of hero worship about it, I think. Amyas Crale and I are the same age. Philip was two years younger. And he looked up to Amyas always. Yes-it was a great blow to him. He was-he was terribly bitter against Caroline.’

‘He, at least, had no doubts, then?’

Meredith Blake said:

‘None of us had any doubts…’

There was a silence. Then Blake said with the irritable plaintiveness of a weak man:

‘It was all over-forgotten-and nowyou come-raking it all up…’

‘Not I. Caroline Crale.’

Meredith stared at him: ‘Caroline?What do you mean?’

Poirot said, watching him:

‘Caroline Crale the second.’

Meredith’s face relaxed.

‘Ah yes, the child. Little Carla. I-I misunderstood you for a moment.’

‘You thought I meant the original Caroline Crale? You thought that it was she who would not-how shall I say it-rest easy in her grave?’

Meredith Blake shivered.

‘Don’t, man.’

‘You know that she wrote to her daughter-the last words she ever wrote-that she was innocent?’

Meredith stared at him. He said-and his voice sounded utterly incredulous:

‘Caroline wrotethat?’

‘Yes.’

Poirot paused and said:

‘It surprises you?’

‘It would surprise you if you’d seen her in court. Poor, hunted, defenceless creature. Not even struggling.’

‘A defeatist?’

‘No, no. She wasn’t that. It was, I think, the knowledge that she’d killed the man she loved-or I thought it was that.’

‘You are not so sure now?’

‘To write a thing like that-solemnly-when she was dying.’

Poirot suggested:

‘A pious lie, perhaps.’

‘Perhaps.’ But Meredith was dubious. ‘That’s not-that’s not like Caroline…’

Hercule Poirot nodded. Carla Lemarchant had said that. Carla had only a child’s obstinate memory. But Meredith Blake had known Caroline well. It was the first confirmation Poirot had got that Carla’s belief was to be depended upon.

Meredith Blake looked up at him. He said slowly:

‘If-ifCaroline was innocent-why, the whole thing’s madness! I don’t see-any other possible solution…’

He turned sharply on Poirot.

‘And you? What do you think?’

There was a silence.

‘As yet,’ said Poirot at last, ‘I think nothing. I collect only the impressions. What Caroline Crale was like. What Amyas Crale was like. What the other people who were there at the time were like. What happened exactly on those two days.That is what I need. To go over the facts laboriously one by one. Your brother is going to help me there. He is sending me an account of the events as he remembers them.’

Meredith Blake said sharply:

‘You won’t get much from that. Philip’s a busy man. Things slip his memory once they’re past and done with. Probably he’ll remember things all wrong.’

‘There will be gaps, of course. I realize that.’

‘I tell you what-’ Meredith paused abruptly, then went on, reddening a little as he spoke. ‘If you like, I-I could do the same. I mean, it would be a kind of check, wouldn’t it?’

Hercule Poirot said warmly:

‘It would be most valuable. An idea of the first excellence!’

‘Right. I will. I’ve got some old diaries somewhere. Mind you,’ he laughed awkwardly. ‘I’m not much of a hand at literary language. Even my spelling’s not too good. You-you won’t expect too much?’

‘Ah, it is not the style I demand. Just a plain recital of everything you can remember. What every one said, how they looked-just what happened. Never mind if it doesn’t seem relevant. It all helps with the atmosphere, so to speak.’

‘Yes, I can see that. It must be difficult visualizing people and places you have never seen.’

Poirot nodded.

‘There is another thing I wanted to ask you. Alderbury is the adjoining property to this, is it not? Would it be possible to go there-to see with my own eyes where the tragedy occurred?’

Meredith Blake said slowly:

‘I can take you over there right away. But, of course, it is a good deal changed.’

‘It has not been built over?’

‘No, thank goodness-not quite so bad as that. But it’s a kind of hostel now-it was bought by some society. Hordes of young people come down to it in the summer, and of course all the rooms have been cut up and partitioned into cubicles, and the grounds have been altered a good deal.’

‘You must reconstruct it for me by your explanations.’

‘I’ll do my best. I wish you could have seen it in the old days. It was one of the loveliest properties I know.’

He led the way out through the window and began walking down a slope of lawn.

‘Who was responsible for selling it?’