so, of course,’ said Dr Roberts slowly.
Superintendent Battle cleared his throat.
‘Well, I won’t keep you any longer, doctor. Thank you for your help. Perhaps you’ll leave your address.’
‘Certainly. 200 Gloucester Terrace, W.2. Telephone No. Bayswater 23896.’
‘Thank you. I may have to call upon you shortly.’
‘Delighted to see you any time. Hope there won’t be too much in the papers. I don’t want my nervous patients upset.’
Superintendent Battle looked round at Poirot.
‘Excuse me, M. Poirot. If you’d like to ask any questions, I’m sure the doctor wouldn’t mind.’
‘Of course not. Of course not. Great admirer of yours, M. Poirot. Little grey cells—order and method. I know all about it. I feel sure you’ll think of something most intriguing to ask me.’
Hercule Poirot spread out his hands in his most foreign manner.
‘No, no. I just like to get all the details clear in my mind. For instance, how many rubbers did you play?’
‘Three,’ said Roberts promptly. ‘We’d got to one game all, in the fourth rubber, when you came in.’
‘And who played with who?’
‘First rubber, Despard and I against the ladies. They beat us, God bless ’em. Walk over; we never held a card.
‘Second rubber, Miss Meredith and I against Despard and Mrs Lorrimer. Third rubber, Mrs Lorrimer and I against Miss Meredith and Despard. We cut each time, but it worked out like a pivot. Fourth rubber, Miss Meredith and I again.’
‘Who won and who lost?’
‘Mrs Lorrimer won every rubber. Miss Meredith won the first and lost the next two. I was a bit up and Miss Meredith and Despard must have been down.’
Poirot said, smiling, ‘The good superintendent has asked you your opinion of your companions as candidates for murder. I now ask you for your opinion of them as bridge players.’
‘Mrs Lorrimer’s first class,’ Dr Roberts replied promptly. ‘I’ll bet she makes a good income a year out of bridge. Despard’s a good player, too—what I call a sound player—long-headed chap. Miss Meredith you might describe as quite a safe player. She doesn’t make mistakes, but she isn’t brilliant.’
‘And you yourself, doctor?’
Roberts’ eyes twinkled.
‘I overcall my hand a bit, or so they say. But I’ve always found it pays.’
Poirot smiled.
Dr Roberts rose.
‘Anything more?’
Poirot shook his head.
‘Well, goodnight, then. Goodnight, Mrs Oliver. You ought to get some copy out of this. Better than your untraceable poisons, eh?’
Dr Roberts left the room, his bearing springy once more. Mrs Oliver said bitterly as the door closed behind him:
‘Copy! Copy indeed! People are so unintelligent. I could invent a better murder any day than anything real. I’m never at a loss for a plot. And the people who read my books like untraceable poisons!’
Mrs Lorrimer came into the dining-room like a gentlewoman. She looked a little pale, but composed.
‘I’m sorry to have to bother you,’ Superintendent Battle began.
‘You must do your duty, of course,’ said Mrs Lorrimer quietly. ‘It is, I agree, an unpleasant position in which to be placed, but there is no good shirking it. I quite realize that one of the four people in that room must be guilty. Naturally, I can’t expect you to take my word that I am not the person.’
She accepted the chair that Colonel Race offered her and sat down opposite the superintendent. Her intelligent grey eyes met his. She waited attentively.
‘You knew Mr Shaitana well?’ began the superintendent.
‘Not very well. I have known him over a period of some years, but never intimately.’
‘Where did you meet him?’
‘At a hotel in Egypt—the Winter Palace at Luxor, I think.’
‘What did you think of him?’
Mrs Lorrimer shrugged her shoulders slightly.
‘I thought him—I may as well say so—rather a charlatan.’
‘You had—excuse me for asking—no motive for wishing him out of the way?’
Mrs Lorrimer looked slightly amused.
‘Really, Superintendent Battle, do you think I should admit it if I had?’
‘You might,’ said Battle. ‘A really intelligent person might know that a thing was bound to come out.’
Mrs Lorrimer inclined her head thoughtfully.
‘There is that, of course. No, Superintendent Battle, I had no motive for wishing Mr Shaitana out of the way. It is really a matter of indifference to me whether he is alive or dead. I thought him a poseur, and rather theatrical, and sometimes he irritated me. That is—or rather was—my attitude towards him.’
‘That is that, then. Now, Mrs Lorrimer, can you tell me anything about your three companions?’
‘I’m afraid not. Major Despard and Miss Meredith I met for the first time tonight. Both of them seem charming people. Dr Roberts I know slightly. He’s a very popular doctor, I believe.’
‘He is not your own doctor?’
‘Oh, no.’
‘Now, Mrs Lorrimer, can you tell me how often you got up from your seat tonight, and will you also describe the movements of the other three?’
Mrs Lorrimer did not take any time to think.
‘I thought you would probably ask me that. I have been trying to think it out. I got up once myself when I was dummy. I went over to the fire. Mr Shaitana was alive then. I mentioned to him how nice it was to see a wood fire.’
‘And he answered?’
‘That he hated radiators.’
‘Did anyone overhear your conversation?’
‘I don’t think so. I lowered my voice, not to interrupt the players.’ She added dryly: ‘In fact, you have only my word for it that Mr Shaitana was alive and spoke to me.’
Superintendent Battle made no protest. He went on with his quiet methodical questioning.
‘What time was that?’
‘I should think we had been playing a little over an hour.’
‘What about the others?’
‘Dr Roberts got me a drink. He also got himself one—that was later. Major Despard also went to get a drink—at about 11.15, I should say.’
‘Only once?’
‘No—twice, I think. The men moved about a fair amount—but I didn’t notice what they did. Miss Meredith left her seat once only, I think. She went round to look at her partner’s hand.’
‘But she remained near the bridge table?’
‘I