On the following morning Katherine and Lenox were sitting on the
terrace of the Villa Marguerite. Something in the nature of a
friendship was springing up between them, despite the difference in
age. But for Lenox, Katherine would have found life at the Villa
Marguerite quite intolerable. The Kettering case was the topic of the
moment. Lady Tamplin frankly exploited her guest's connection with the
affair for all it was worth. The most persistent rebuffs that Katherine
could administer quite failed to pierce Lady Tamplin's self-esteem.
Lenox adopted a detached attitude, seemingly amused at her mother's
manœuvres, and yet with a sympathetic understanding of Katherine's
feelings. The situation was not helped by Chubby, whose naïve delight
was unquenchable, and who introduced Katherine to all and sundry as:
"This is Miss Grey. You know that Blue Train business? She was in it up
to the ears! Had a long talk with Ruth Kettering a few hours before the
murder! Bit of luck for her, eh?"
A few remarks of this kind had provoked Katherine that morning to an
unusually tart rejoinder, and when they were alone together Lenox
observed in her slow drawl:
"Not used to exploitation, are you? You have a lot to learn, Katherine."
"I am sorry I lost my temper. I don't, as a rule."
"It is about time you learnt to blow off steam. Chubby is only an ass;
there is no harm in him. Mother, of course, is trying, but you can
lose your temper with her until Kingdom come, and it won't make any
impression. She will open large, sad blue eyes at you and not care a
bit."
Katherine made no reply to this filial observation, and Lenox presently
went on:
"I am rather like Chubby. I delight in a good murder, and
besides--well, knowing Derek makes a difference."
Katherine nodded.
"So you lunched with him yesterday," pursued Lenox reflectively. "Do
you like him, Katherine?"
Katherine considered for a minute or two.
"I don't know," she said very slowly.
"He is very attractive."
"Yes, he is attractive."
"What don't you like about him?"
Katherine did not reply to the question, or at any rate not directly.
"He spoke of his wife's death," she said. "He said he would not pretend
that it had been anything but a bit of most marvellous luck for him."
"And that shocked you, I suppose," said Lenox. She paused, and then
added in rather a queer tone of voice: "He likes you, Katherine."
"He gave me a very good lunch," said Katherine, smiling.
Lenox refused to be side-tracked.
"I saw it the night he came here," she said thoughtfully. "The way he
looked at you; and you are not his usual type--just the opposite. Well,
I suppose it is like religion--you get it at a certain age."
"Mademoiselle is wanted at the telephone," said Marie, appearing at the
window of the salon. "M. Hercule Poirot desires to speak with her."
"More blood and thunder. Go on, Katherine; go and dally with your
detective."
M. Hercule Poirot's voice came neat and precise in its intonation to
Katherine's ear.
"That is Mademoiselle Grey who speaks? _Bon._ Mademoiselle, I have a
word for you from M. Van Aldin, the father of Madame Kettering. He
wishes very much to speak with you, either at the Villa Marguerite or
at his hotel, whichever you prefer."
Katherine reflected for a moment, but she decided that for Van Aldin
to come to the Villa Marguerite would be both painful and unnecessary.
Lady Tamplin would have hailed his advent with far too much delight.
She never lost a chance of cultivating millionaires. She told Poirot
that she would much rather come to Nice.
"Excellent, Mademoiselle. I will call for you myself in an auto. Shall
we say in about three-quarters of an hour?"
Punctually to the moment Poirot appeared. Katherine was waiting for
him, and they drove off at once.
"Well, Mademoiselle, how goes it?"
She looked at his twinkling eyes, and was confirmed in her first
impression that there was something very attractive about M. Hercule
Poirot.
"This is our own Roman Policier, is it not?" said Poirot. "I made you
the promise that we should study it together. And me, I always keep my
promises."
"You are too kind," murmured Katherine.
"Ah, you mock yourself at me; but do you want to hear the developments
of the case, or do you not?"
Katherine admitted that she did, and Poirot proceeded to sketch for her
a thumbnail portrait of the Comte de la Roche.
"You think he killed her," said Katherine thoughtfully.
"That is the theory," said Poirot guardedly.
"Do you yourself believe that?"
"I did not say so. And you, Mademoiselle, what do you think?"
Katherine shook her head.
"How should I know? I don't know anything about those things, but I
should say that--"
"Yes," said Poirot encouragingly.
"Well--from what you say the Count does not sound the kind of man who
would actually kill anybody."
"Ah! Very good," cried Poirot, "you agree with me; that is just what I
have said." He looked at her sharply. "But tell me, you have met Mr.
Derek Kettering?"
"I met him at Lady Tamplin's, and I lunched with him yesterday."
"A _mauvais sujet_," said Poirot, shaking his head; "but _les
femmes_--they like that, eh?"
He twinkled at Katherine and she laughed.
"He is the kind of man one would notice anywhere," continued Poirot.
"Doubtless you observed him on the Blue Train?"
"Yes, I noticed him."
"In the restaurant car?"
"No. I didn't notice him at meals at all. I only saw him once--going
into his wife's compartment."
Poirot nodded. "A strange business," he murmured. "I believe you said
you were awake, Mademoiselle, and looked out of your window at Lyons?
You saw no tall dark man such as the Comte de la Roche leave the train?"
Katherine shook her head. "I don't think I saw any one at all," she
said. "There was a youngish lad in a cap and overcoat who got out, but
I don't think he was leaving the train, only walking up and down the
platform. There was a fat Frenchman with a beard, in pyjamas and an
overcoat, who wanted a cup of coffee. Otherwise, I think there were
only the train attendants."
Poirot nodded his head several times. "It is like this, you see," he
confided, "the Comte de la Roche has an alibi. An alibi, it is a very
pestilential thing, and always open to the gravest suspicion. But here
we are!"
They went straight up to Van Aldin's suite, where they found Knighton.
Poirot introduced him to Katherine. After a few commonplaces had been
exchanged, Knighton said, "I will tell Mr. Van Aldin that Miss Grey is
here."
He went through a second door into an adjoining room. There was a low
murmur of voices, and then Van Aldin came into the room and advanced
towards Katherine with outstretched hand, giving her at the same time a
shrewd and penetrating glance.
"I am pleased to meet you, Miss Grey," he said simply. "I have been
wanting very badly to hear what you can tell me about Ruth."
The quiet simplicity of the millionaire's manner appealed to Katherine
strongly. She felt herself in the presence of a very genuine grief, the
more real for its absence of outward sign.
He drew forward a chair.
"Sit here, will you, and just tell me all about it."
Poirot and Knighton retired discreetly into the other room, and
Katherine and Van Aldin were left alone together. She found no
difficulty in her task. Quite simply and naturally she related her
conversation with Ruth Kettering, word for word as nearly as she
could. He listened in silence, leaning back in his chair, with one hand
shading his eyes. When she had finished he said quietly:
"Thank you, my dear."
They both sat silent for a minute or two. Katherine felt that words of
sympathy would be out of place. When the millionaire spoke, it was in a
different tone:
"I am very grateful to you, Miss Grey. I think you did something to
ease my poor Ruth's mind in the last hours of her life. Now I want
to ask you something. You know--M. Poirot will have told you--about
the scoundrel that my poor girl had got herself mixed up with. He was
the man of whom she spoke to you--the man she was going to meet. In
your judgment do you think she might have changed her mind after her
conversation with you? Do you think she meant to go back on her word?"
"I can't honestly tell you. She had certainly come to some decision,
and seemed more cheerful in consequence of it."
"She gave you no idea where she intended to meet the skunk--whether in
Paris or at Hyères?"
Katherine shook her head.
"She said nothing as to that."
"Ah!" said Van Aldin thoughtfully, "and that is the important point.
Well, time will show."
He got up and opened the door of the adjoining room. Poirot and
Knighton came back.
Katherine declined the millionaire's invitation to lunch, and Knighton
went down with her and saw her into the waiting car. He returned to
find Poirot and Van Aldin deep in conversation.
"If we only knew," said the millionaire thoughtfully, "what decision
Ruth came to. It might have been any of half a dozen. She might have
meant to leave the train at Paris and cable to me. She may have meant
to have gone on to the south of France and have an explanation with the
Count there. We are in the dark--absolutely in the dark. But we have
the maid's word for it that she was both startled and dismayed at the
Count's appearance at the station in Paris. That was clearly not part
of the preconceived plan. You agree with me, Knighton?"
The secretary started. "I beg your pardon, Mr. Van Aldin. I was not
listening."
"Day-dreaming, eh?" said Van Aldin. "That's not like you. I believe
that girl has bowled you over."
Knighton blushed.
"She is a remarkably nice girl," said Van Aldin thoughtfully, "very
nice. Did you happen to notice her eyes?"
"Any man," said Knighton, "would be bound to notice her eyes."