Big Four Part 8

As he lifted the receiver, the man made a sudden, catlike jump at me. I was ready for him. In another minute we were locked together, staggering round the room.

Suddenly I felt him slip and falter. I pressed my advantage. He went down before me. And then, in the very flush of victory, an extraordinary thing happened.

I felt myself flying forwards. Head first, I crashed into the wall in a complicated heap. I was up in a minute, but the door was already closing behind my late adversary. I rushed to it and shook it, it was locked on the outside. I seized the telephone from Poirot.

"Is that the bureau? Stop a man who is coming out.

A tall man, with a b.u.t.toned-up overcoat and a soft hat.

He is wanted by the police."

THE BIG FOUR 63

Very few minutes elapsed before we heard a noise in the corridor outside. The key was turned and the door flung open. The manager himself stood in the doorway.

"The man--you have got him?" I cried.

"No, monsieur. No one has descended."

"You must have pa.s.sed him."

"We have pa.s.sed no one, monsieur. It is incredible that he can have escaped."

"You have pa.s.sed some one, I think," said Poirot, in his gentle voice. "One of the hotel staff, perhaps?" "Only a waiter carrying a tray, monsieur."

"Ah!" said Poirot, in a tone that spoke infinities.

"So that was why he wore his overcoat b.u.t.toned up to his chin," mused Poirot, when we had finally got rid of the excited hotel officials.

"I'm awfully sorry, Poirot," I murmured, rather crestfallen. "I thought I'd downed him all right."

"Yes, that was a j.a.panese trick, I fancy. Do not distress yourself, mon ami. All went according to plan-- his plan. That is what I wanted."

"What's this?" I cried, pouncing on a brown object that lay on the floor.

It was a slim pocket-book of brown leather, and had evidently fallen from our visitor's pocket during his struggle with me. It contained two receipted bills in the name of M. Felix Laon, and a folded-up piece of paper which made my heart beat faster. It was a half sheet of note-paper on which a few words were scrawled in pencil but they were words of supreme importance.

"The next meeting of the council will be on Friday at 34 Rue des Ech.e.l.les at 11 a.m."

It was signed with a big figure 4.

And to-day was Friday, and the clock on the mantelpiece showed the hour to be 10.30.

64 Agatha Christie "My G.o.d, what a chance!" I cried. "Fate is playing into our hands. We must start at once--though. What stupendous luck."

"So that was why he came," murmured Poirot. "I see it all now."

"See what? Come on, Poirot, don't stay daydreaming there."

Poirot looked at me, and slowly shook his head, smiling as he did so.

" 'Will you walk into my parlour, said the spider to the fly?' That is your little English nursery rhyme, is it not? No, no--they are subtle--but not so subtle as Hercule Poirot."

"What on earth are you driving at, Poirot?"

"My friend, I have been asking myself the reason of this morning's visit. Did our visitor really hope to succeed in bribing me? Or, alternatively, in frightening me into abandoning my task? It seemed hardly credible.

Why, then, did he come? And now I see the whole plan --very neat--very pretty--the ostensible reason to bribe or frighten me--the necessary struggle which he took no pains to avoid, and which should make the dropped pocket-book natural and reasonable--and finally--the pitfall! Rue des Esch.e.l.les, 11 a.m.? I think not, mon ami One does not catch Hercule Poirot as easily as that."

"Good heavens," I gasped. Poirot was frowning to himself.

"There is still one thing I do not understand."

"What is that?"

"The time, Hastings--the time. If they wanted to decoy me away, surely night time would be better? Why this early hour? Is it possible that something is about to happen this morning? Something which they are anxious Hercule Poirot should not know about?"

THE BIG FOUR 65

He shook his head.

"We shall see. Here I sit, mon ami. We do not stir out this morning. We await events here."

It was at half-past eleven exactly that the summons came. A. pet.i.t bleu. Poirot tore it open, then handed it to me. It was from Madame Olivier, the world-famous scientist, whom we had visited yesterday in connection with the Halliday case. It asked us to come out to Pa.s.sy at once.

We obeyed the summons without an instant's delay.

Madame Olivier received us in the same small salon. I was struck anew with the wonderful power of this woman, with her long nun's face and burning eyes--this brilliant successor of Becquerel and the Curies. She came to the point at once.

"Messieurs, you interviewed me yesterday about the disappearance of M. Halliday. I now learn that you returned to the house a second time, and asked to see my secretary, Inez Veroneau. She left the house with you, and has not returned here since."

"Is that all, madame?"

"No, monsieur, it is not. Last night the laboratory was broken into, and several valuable papers and memoranda were stolen. The thieves had a try for something more precious still, but luckily they failed to open the big safe."

"Madame, these are the facts of the case. Your late secretary, Madame Veroneau, was really the Countess Rossakoff, an expert thief, and it was she who was responsible for the disappearance of M. Halliday. How long had she been with you?"

"Five months, monsieur. What you say amazes me."

"It is true, nevertheless. These papers, were they easy to find? Or do you think an inside knowledge was shown?"

66 Agatha Christie "It is rather curious that the thieves knew exactly where to look. You think Inez--"

"Yes, I have no doubt that it was upon her information that they acted. But what is this precious thing that the thieves failed to find? Jewels?"

Madame Olivier shook her head with a faint smile. "Something much more precious than that, monsieur."

She looked round her, then bent forward, lowering her voice. "Radium, monsieur."

"Radium?"

"Yes, monsieur. I am now at the crux of my experiments.

I possess a small portion of radium myself-- more has been lent to me for the process I am at work upon. Small though the actual quant.i.ty is, it comprises a large amount of the world's stock and represents a value of millions of francs."

"And where is it?"

"In its leaden case in the big safe--the safe purposely appears to be of an old and worn-out pattern, but it is really a triumph of the safe-makers' art. That is probably why the thieves were unable to open it."

"How long are you keeping this radium in your possession?"

"Only for two days more, monsieur. Then my experiments will be concluded."

Poirot's eyes brightened.

"And Inez Veroneau is aware of the fact? Good- then our friends will come back. Not a word of me to any one, madame. But rest a.s.sured, I will save your radium for you. You have a key of the door leading from the laboratory to the garden?"

"Yes, monsieur. Here it is. I have a duplicate for myself. And here is the key of the garden door leading out into the alleyway between this villa and the next one."

THE BIO FOUR 67 "I thank you, madame. To-night, go to bed as usual, have no fears, and leave all to me. But not a word to any one--not to your two a.s.sistants--Mademoiselle Claude and Monsieur Henri, is it not?--particularly not a word to them."

Poirot left the villa rubbing his hands in great satisfaction.

"What are we going to do now?" I asked.

"Now, Hastings, we are about to leave Paris--for England."

"What?"

"We will pack our effects, have lunch, and drive to theGareduNord."

"But the radium?"

"I said we were going to leave for England--I did not say we were going to arrive there. Reflect a moment, Hastings. It is quite certain that we are being watched and followed. Our enemies must believe that we are going back to England, and they certainly will not believe that unless they see us get on board the train and start."

"Do you mean we are to slip off again at the last minute?" "No, Hastings. Our enemies will be satisfied with nothing less than a bonafide departure."

"But the train doesn't stop until Calais?"

"It will stop if it is paid to do so."

"Oh, come now, Poirot--surely you can't pay an express to stop--they'd refuse."

"My dear friend, have you never remarked the little handle--the signale d'arret-- penalty for improper use, 100 francs, I think?"

"Oh! you are going to pull that?"

"Or rather a friend of mine, Pierre Combeau, will do so. Then, while he is arguing with the guard, and making a big scene, and all the train is agog with interest, 68 Agatha Christie you and I will fade quietly away."

We duly carried out Poirot's plan. Pierre Combeau, an old crony of Poirot's, and who evidently knew my little friend's methods pretty well, fell in with the arrangements.

The communication cord was pulled just as we got to the outskirts of Paris. Combeau "made a scene" in the most approved French fas.h.i.+on and Poirot and I were able to leave the train without any one being interested in our departure. Our first proceeding was to make a considerable change in our appearance. Poirot had brought the materials for this with him in a small case. Two loafers in dirty blue blouses were the result.

We had dinner in an obscure hostelry, and started back to Paris afterwards.

It was close on eleven o'clock when we found ourselves once more in the neighbourhood of Madame Olivier's villa. We looked up and down the road before slipping into the alleyway. The whole place appeared to be perfectly deserted. One thing we could be quite certain of, no one was following us.

"I do not expect them to be here yet," whispered Poirot to me. "Possibly they may not come until tomorrow night, but they know perfectly well that there are only two nights on which the radium will be there."

Very cautiously we turned the key in the garden door.

It opened noiselessly and we stepped into the garden.

And then, with complete unexpectedness, the blow fell. In a minute we were surrounded, gagged and bound. At least ten men must have been waiting for us.

Resistance was useless. Like two helpless bundles we were lifted up and carried along. To my intense astonishment, they took us towards the house and not away from it. With a key they opened the door into the laboratory and carried us into it. One of the men stooped down before the big safe. The door of it swung open. I

THE BIG FOUR 69

felt an unpleasant sensation down my spine. Were they going to bundle us into it, and leave us there to asphyxiate slowly?

However, to my amazement, I saw that from the inside of the safe steps led down beneath the floor. We were thrust down this narrow way and eventually came out into a big subterranean chamber. A woman stood there, tall and imposing, with a black velvet mask covering her face. She was clearly in command of the situation by her gestures of authority. The men slung us down on the floor and left us--alone with the mysterious creature in the mask. I had no doubt who she was.

This was the unknown Frenchwoman--Number Three of the Big Four.

She knelt down beside us and removed the gags, but left us bound, then rising and facing us, with a sudden swift gesture she removed her mask.