chapter 4 mrs. rscher

we were received at andover by inspector glen, a tall, fair-haired mwith a pleasant smile.

for the sake of conciseness i think i had better give a brief r6sum6the bare facts of the case.

the crime was discovered by police constable dover at i a. m. '

the morning of the 22nd. when on his round he tried the door of tshop and found it unfastened. he entered and at first thought the plawas empty. directing his torch over the counter, however, he causight of the huddled-up body of the old woman. when the police sgeon arrived on the spot it was elicited that the woman had been strudown by a heavy blow on the back of the head, probably while she nreaching down a packet of cigarettes from the shelf behind the countdeath must have occurred about nine to seven hours previously.

"but we' ve been able to get it down a bit nearer than that, " eplained the inspector. "we' ve found a man who went in and bougsome tobacco at 5: 30. and a second man went in and found the shempty, as he thought, at five minutes past six. that puts the time atbtween 5: 30 and 6: 05. so far i haven' t been able to find any one wisaw this man ascher in the neighbourhood, but, of course, it' s earlyyet. he was in the three crowns at nine o' clock pretty far gonedrink. when we get hold of him he' ll be detained on suspicion. ""not a very desirable character, inspector?" asked poirot.

"unpleasant bit of goods. "

"he didn' t live with his wife?"

"no, they separated some years ago. ascher' s a german. he waswaiter at one time, but he took to drink and gradually becameunenployable.

his wife went into service for a bit. her last place was ascook-housekeeper to an old lady, miss rose. she allowed her husbandso much out of her wages to keep himself, but he was always gettingdrunk and coming round and making scenes at the places where shewas employed. that' s why she took the post with miss rose at thegrange. it' s three miles out of andover, dead in the country. hecouldn' t get at her there so well. when miss rose died, she left mrs.

ascher a small legacy, and the woman started this tobacco and newsagentbusiness--quite a tiny place--j ust cheap cigarettes and a fewnewspapers--that sort of thing. she j ust about managed to keep going.

ascher used to come round and abuse her now and again and she usedto give him a bit to get rid of him. she allowed him fifteen shillings a week regular. "

"had they any children?" asked poirot.

"no. there' s a niece. she' s in service near overton. very superiorsteady young woman. " ,

"and you say this man ascher used to threaten his wife?""that' s fight. he was a terror when he was in drink---cursing andswearing that he' d bash her head in. she had a hard time, did mrs.ascher. "

"what age of woman was she?"

"close on sixty--respectable and hardworking. "poirot said gravely:

"it is your opinion, inspector, that this man ascher committed thecrime?"

the inspector coughed cautiously.

"it' s a bit early to say that, mr. poirot, but i' d like to hear franzascher' s own account of how he spent yesterday evening. if he cangive a satisfactory account of himself, well and good--if not--"his pause was a pregnant one.

"nothing was missing from the shop?"

"nothing. money in the till quite undisturbed. no signs of robbery. ""you think that this man ascher came into the shop drunk, startedabusing his wife and finally struck her down?""it seems the most likely solution. but i must confess, sir, i' d like to have another look at that very odd letter you received. i was wonderingif it was j ust possible that it came from this man ascher. "poirot handed over the letter and the inspector read it with a frown.

"it doesn' t read like ascher, " he said at last. "i doubt if aschervouid use the term ' our' british police--not unless he was trying tobe

xtra cunning--and i doubt if he' s got the wits for that. then the man' swreck--all to pieces. his hand' s too shaky to print letters clearlylike

this. it' s good quality notepaper and ink, too. it' s odd that the lettershould mention the 21st of the month. of course it might be acoinci-dence. ' '

"that is possibleyes. "

"but i don' t like this kind of coincidence, mr. poirot. it' s a bit toopat. "

he was silent for a minute or two---a frown creasing his forehead.

"a. b. c. who the devil could a. b. c. be? we' ll see if mary drower(that' s the niece) can give us any help. it' s an odd business. but forthis

letter i' d have put my money on franz ascher for a certainty. ""do you know anything of mrs. ascher' s past?""she' s a hampshire woman. went into service as a girl up inlondon--that' s where she met ascher and married him. things musthave been difficult for them during the war. she actually left him forgood in 1922. they were in london then. she came back here to getaway from him, but he got wind of where she was and followed herdown here, pestering her for money--" a constable came in. "yes,briggs, what is it?"

"it' s the man ascher, sir. we' ve brought him in. ""right. bring him in here. where was he?"

"hiding in a truck on the railway siding. "

"he was, was he? bring him along. "

franz ascher was indeed a miserable and unprepossessing speci-men.

he was blubbering and cringing and blustering alternately. hisbleary eyes moved shiftily from one face to another.

"what do you want with me? i have not done nothing. it is a shameand a scandal to bring me here! you are swine, how dare you? hismanner changed suddenly. "no, no, i do not mean that--you wouldnot hurt a poor old man--not be hard on him. every one is hard onpoor old franz. poor old franz. "

mr. ascher started to weep.

"that' ll do, ascher, " said the inspector. "pull yourself together. i' maot charging you with anything--yet. and you' re not bound to make attatement unless you like. on the other hand, if you' re not concernedin the murder of your wife--"

ascher interrupted him--his voice rising to a scream.

"i did not kill her! i did not kill her! it is all lies! you are goddamnedenglish pigs--all against me. i never kill her--never. ""you threatened to often enough, ascher. '

"no, no. you do not understand. that was j ust a j oke---a good j okebetween me and alice. she understood. "

"funny kind of j oke! do you care to say where you were yesterdayevening, aschert'

"yes, yes--1 tell you everything. i did not go near alice. i am withfriends--good friends. we are at the seven stars--and then we are atthe red dog--"

he hurried on, his words tumbling over each other.

"dick willows--he was with me--and old curdie--and george--andplatt and lots of the boys. i tell you i do not never go near alice.

ach gott, it is the truth i am telling you. "his voice rose to a scream. the inspector nodded to his underling.

"take him away. detained on suspicion. "

"i don' t know what to think, " he said as the unpleasant shaking oldman with the malevolent, mouthing j aw was removed. "if it wasn' t forthe letter, i' d say he did it. "

"what about the men he mentionst'

"a bad crowd--not one of them would stick at perj ury. i' ve nodoubt he was with them the greater part of the evening. a lot dependson whether any one saw him near the shop between half-past five andsix. "

poirot shook his head thoughtfully.

"you are sure nothing was taken from the shop?"the inspector shrugged his shoulders. "that depends. a packet ortwo of cigarettes might have been taken--but you' d hardly commitmurder for that. "

"and there was nothing--how shall i put it--introduced into theshop. nothing that was odd there--incongruoust'

"there was a railway guide, " said the inspector.

"a railway guide?"

"yes. it was open and turned face downward on the counter. lookedas though some one had been looking up the trains from andover. eitherthe old woman or a customer. "

"did she sell that type of thing. 9' '

the inspector shook his head.

"she sold penny time-tables. this was a big one--kind of thing o, nlysmith' s or a big stationer would keep. "

a light came into poirot' s eyes. he leant forward.

"a railway guide, you say. a bradshaw---or an a. b. c. ?"a light came into the inspector' s eyes also.

"by the lord, " he said. "h was an a. b. c. "