“I tell you what, though,” said Miss Monro suddenly. “I’ve got a photograph if that would be any good?”
“You have a photograph?”
Poirot almost sprang from his seat with excitement.
“It’s quite an old one—eight years old at least.”
“Ça ne fait rien! No matter how old and faded! Ah, ma foi, but what stupendous luck! You will permit me to inspect that photograph, mademoiselle?”
“Why, of course.”
“Perhaps you will even permit me to have a copy made? It would not take long.”
“Certainly if you like.”
Miss Monro rose.
“Well, I must run away,” she declared archly. “Very glad to have met you and your friend, Mr. Poirot.”
“And the photograph? When may I have it?”
“I’ll look it out tonight. I think I know where to lay my hands upon it. And I’ll send it to you right away.”
“A thousand thanks, mademoiselle. You are all that is of the most amiable. I hope that we shall soon be able to arrange another little lunch together.”
“As soon as you like,” said Miss Monro. “I’m willing.”
“Let me see, I do not think that I have your address?”
With a grand air, Miss Monro drew a card from her handbag, and handed it to him. It was a somewhat dirty card, and the original address had been scratched out and another substituted in pencil.
Then, with a good many bows and gesticulations on Poirot’s part, we bade farewell to the lady and got away.
“Do you really think this photograph so important?” I asked Poirot.
“Yes, mon ami. The camera does not lie. One can magnify a photograph, seize salient points that otherwise would remain unnoticed. And then there are a thousand details—such as the structure of the ears, which no one could ever describe to you in words. Oh, yes, it is a great chance, this, which has come our way! That is why I propose to take precautions.”
He went across to the telephone as he finished speaking, and gave a number which I knew to be that of a private detective agency which he sometimes employed. His instructions were clear and definite. Two men were to go to the address he gave, and, in general terms, were to watch over the safety of Miss Monro. They were to follow her wherever she went.
Poirot hung up the receiver and came back to me.
“Do you really think that necessary, Poirot?” I asked.
“It may be. There is no doubt that we are watched, you and I, and since that is so, they will soon know with whom we were lunching today. And it is possible that Number Four will scent danger.”
About twenty minutes later the telephone bell rang. I answered it. A curt voice spoke into the phone.
“Is that Mr. Poirot? St. James’s Hospital speaking. A young woman was brought in ten minutes ago. Street accident. Miss Flossie Monro. She is asking very urgently for Mr. Poirot. But he must come at once. She can’t possibly last long.”
I repeated the words to Poirot. His face went white.
“Quick, Hastings. We must go like the wind.”
A taxi took us to the hospital in less than ten minutes. We asked for Miss Monro, and were taken immediately to the Accident Ward. But a white-capped sister met us in the doorway.
Poirot read the news in her face.
“It is over, eh?”
“She died six minutes ago.”
Poirot stood as though stunned.
The nurse, mistaking his emotion, began speaking gently.
“She did not suffer, and she was unconscious towards the last. She was run over by a motor, you know—and the driver of the car did not even stop. Wicked, isn’t it? I hope someone took the number.”
“The stars fight against us,” said Poirot, in a low voice.
“You would like to see her?”
The nurse led the way, and we followed.
Poor Flossie Monro, with her rouge and her dyed hair. She lay there very peacefully, with a little smile on her lips.
“Yes,” murmured Poirot. “The stars fight against us—but is it the stars?” He lifted his head as though struck by a sudden idea. “Is it the stars, Hastings? If it is not—if it is not … Oh, I swear to you, my friend, standing here by this poor woman’s body, that I will have no mercy when the time comes!”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
But Poirot had turned to the nurse and was eagerly demanding information. A list of the articles found in her handbag was finally obtained. Poirot gave a suppressed cry as he read it over.
“You see, Hastings, you see?”
“See what?”
“There is no mention of a latchkey. But she must have had a latchkey with her. No, she was run down in cold blood, and the first person who bent over her took the key from her bag. But we may yet be in time. He may not have been able to find at once what he sought.”
Another taxi took us to the address Flossie Monro had given us, a squalid block of Mansions in an unsavoury neighbourhood. It was some time before we could gain admission to Miss Monro’s flat, but we had at least the satisfaction of knowing that no one could leave it whilst we were on guard outside.
Eventually we got in. It was plain that someone had been before us. The contents of drawers and cupboards were strewn all over the floor. Locks had been forced, and small tables had even been overthrown, so violent had been the searcher’s haste.
Poirot began to hunt through the débris. Suddenly he stood erect with a cry, holding out something. It was an old-fashioned photograph frame—empty.
He turned it slowly over. A
ffixed to the back was a small round label—a price label.
“It cost four shillings,” I commented.
“Mon Dieu! Hastings, use your eyes. That is a new clean label. It was stuck there by the man who took out the photograph, the man who was here before us, but knew that we should come, and so left this for us—Claud Darrell—alias Number Four.”
Fifteen
THE TERRIBLE CATASTROPHE
It was after the tragic death of Miss Flossie Monro that I began to be aware of a change in Poirot. Up to now, his invincible confidence in himself had stood the test. But it seemed as though, at last, the long strain was beginning to tell. His manner was grave and brooding, and his nerves were on edge. In these days he was as jumpy as a cat. He avoided all discussion of the Big Four as far as possible, and seemed to throw himself into his ordinary work with almost his old ardour. Nevertheless, I knew that he was secretly active in the big matter. Extraordinary-looking Slavs were constantly calling to see him, and though he vouchsafed no explanation as to these mysterious activities, I realized that he was building some new defence or weapon of opposition with the help of these somewhat repulsive-looking foreigners. Once, purely by chance, I happened to see the entries in his passbook—he had asked me to verify some small item—and I noticed the paying out of a huge sum—a huge sum even for Poirot who was coining money nowadays—to some Russian with apparently every letter of the alphabet in his name.
But he gave no clue as to the line on which he proposed to operate. Only over and over again he gave utterance to one phrase. “It is a mistake to underestimate your adversary. Remember that, mon ami.” And I realized that that was the pitfall he was striving at all costs to avoid.
So matters went on until the end of March, and then one morning Poirot made a remark which startled me considerably.
“This morning, my friend, I should recommend the best suit. We go to call upon the Home Secretary.”
“Indeed? That is very exciting. He has called you in to take up a case?”
“Not exactly. The interview is of my seeking. You may remember my saying that I once did him some small service? He is inclined to be foolishly enthusiastic over my capabilities in consequence, and I am about to trade on this attitude of his. As you know, the French Premier, M. Desjardeaux, is over in London, and at my request the Home Secretary has arranged for him to be present at our little conference this morning.”