v
alfred was divided between nervousness, enjoyment, and a morbid fear of being blamed for
everything that had occurred! he had only been a fortnight in mr. morley’s employment, and
during that fortnight he had consistently and unvaryingly done everything wrong. persistent blame
had sapped his self-confidence.
“he was a bit rattier than usual, perhaps,” said alfred in answer to a question, “nothing else as i
can remember. i’d never have thought he was going to do himself in.”
poirot interposed.
“you must tell us,” he said, “everything that you can remember about this morning. you are a
very important witness, and your recollections may be of immense service to us.”
alfred’s face was suffused by vivid crimson and his chest swelled. he had already given japp a
brief account of the morning’s happenings. he proposed now to spread himself. a comforting
sense of importance oozed into him.
“i can tell you orl right,” he said. “just you ask me.”
“to begin with, did anything out of the way happen this morning?”
alfred reflected a minute and then said rather sadly: “can’t say as it did. it was orl just as
usual.”
“did any strangers come to the house?”
“no, sir.”
“not even among the patients?”
“i didn’t know as you meant the patients. nobody come what hadn’t got an appointment, if
that’s what you mean. they were all down in the book.”
japp nodded. poirot asked:
“could anybody have walked in from outside?”
“no, they couldn’t. they’d have to have a key, see?”
“but it was quite easy to leave the house?”
“oh, yes, just turn the handle and go out and pull the door to after you. as i was saying most of
’em do. they often come down the stairs while i’m taking up the next party in the lift, see?”
“i see. now just tell us who came first this morning and so on. describe them if you can’t
remember their names.”
alfred reflected a minute. then he said: “lady with a little girl, that was for mr. reilly and a
mrs. soap or some such name for mr. morley.”
poirot said:
“quite right. go on.”
“then another elderly lady—bit of a toff she was—come in a daimler. as she went out a tall
military gent come in, and just after him, you came,” he nodded to poirot.
“right.”
“then the american gent came—”
japp said sharply:
“american?”
“yes, sir. young fellow. he was american all right—you could tell by his voice. come early,
he did. his appointment wasn’t till eleven thirty—and what’s more he didn’t keep it—neither.”
japp said sharply:
“what’s that?”
“not him. come in for him when mr. reilly’s buzzer went at eleven thirty—a bit later it was, as
a matter of fact, might have been twenty to twelve—and he wasn’t there. must have funked it and
gone away.” he added with a knowledgeable air, “they do sometimes.”
poirot said:
“then he must have gone out soon after me?”
“that’s right, sir. you went out after i’d taken up a toff what come in a rolls. coo—it was a
loverly car, mr. blunt—eleven thirty. then i come down and let you out, and a lady in. miss
some berry seal, or something like that—and then i—well, as a matter of fact i just nipped down
to the kitchen to get my elevenses, and when i was down there the buzzer went—mr. reilly’s
buzzer—so i come up and, as i say, the american gentleman had hooked it. i went and told mr.
reilly and he swore a bit, as is his way.”
poirot said:
“continue.”
“lemme see, what happened next? oh, yes, mr. morley’s buzzer went for that miss seal, and
the toff came down and went out as i took miss whatsername up in the lift. then i come down
again and two gentlemen came—one a little man with a funny squeaky voice—i can’t remember
his name. for mr. reilly, he was. and a fat foreign gentleman for mr. morley.
“miss seal wasn’t very long—not above a quarter of an hour. i let her out and then i took up the
foreign gentleman. i’d already taken the other gent into mr. reilly right away as soon as he came.”
japp said:
“and you didn’t see mr. amberiotis, the foreign gentleman, leave?”
“no, sir, i can’t say as i did. he must have let himself out. i didn’t see either of those two
gentlemen go.”
“where were you from twelve o’clock onwards?”
“i always sit in the lift, sir, waiting until the front doorbell or one of the buzzers goes.”
poirot said:
“and you were perhaps reading?”
alfred blushed again.
“there ain’t no harm in that, sir. it’s not as though i could be doing anything else.”
“quite so. what were you reading?”
“death at eleven-forty-five, sir. it’s an american detective story. it’s a corker, sir, it really is!
all about gunmen.”
poirot smiled faintly. he said:
“would you hear the front door close from where you were?”
“you mean anyone going out? i don’t think i should, sir. what i mean is, i shouldn’t notice it!
you see, the lift is right at the back of the hall and a little round the corner. the bell rings just
behind it, and the buzzers too. you can’t miss them.”
poirot nodded and japp asked:
“what happened next?”
alfred frowned in a supreme effort of memory.
“only the last lady, miss shirty. i waited for mr. morley’s buzzer to go, but nothing happened
and at one o’clock the lady who was waiting, she got rather ratty.”
“it did not occur to you to go up before and see if mr. morley was ready?”
alfred shook his head very positively.
“not me, sir. i wouldn’t have dreamed of it. for all i knew the last gentleman was still up there.
i’d got to wait for the buzzer. of course if i’d knowed as mr. morley had done himself in—”
alfred shook his head with morbid relish.
poirot asked:
“did the buzzer usually go before the patient came down, or the other way about?”
“depends. usually the patient would come down the stairs and then the buzzer would go. if
they rang for the lift, that buzzer would go perhaps as i was bringing them down. but it wasn’t
fixed in any way. sometimes mr. morley would be a few minutes before he rang for the next
patient. if he was in a hurry, he’d ring as soon as they were out of the room.”
“i see—” poirot paused and then went on:
“were you surprised at mr. morley’s suicide, alfred?”
“knocked all of a heap, i was. he hadn’t no call to go doing himself in as far as i can see—oh!”
alfred’s eyes grew large and round. “oo—er—he wasn’t murdered, was he?”
poirot cut in before japp could speak.
“supposing he were, would it surprise you less?”
“well, i don’t know, sir, i’m sure. i can’t see who’d want to murder mr. morley. he was—well,
he was a very ordinary gentleman, sir. was he really murdered, sir?”
poirot said gravely:
“we have to take every possibility into account. that is why i told you you would be a very
important witness and that you must try and recollect everything that happened this morning.”
he stressed the words and alfred frowned with a prodigious effort of memory.
“i can’t think of anything else, sir. i can’t indeed.”
alfred’s tone was rueful.
“very good, alfred. and you are quite sure no one except patients came to the house this
morning?”
“no stranger did, sir. that miss nevill’s young man came round—and in a rare taking not to
find her here.”
japp said sharply:
“when was that?”
“some time after twelve it was. when i told him miss nevill was away for the day, he seemed
very put out and he said he’d wait and see mr. morley. i told him mr. morley was busy right up to
lunch time, but he said: never mind, he’d wait.”
poirot asked:
“and did he wait?”
a startled look came into alfred’s eyes. he said:
“cor—i never thought of that! he went into the waiting room, but he wasn’t there later. he
must have got tired of waiting, and thought he’d come back another time.”
