Read Online Cards on the Table by Agatha Christie - Free Book Online Page B

got a sense of humour. Now I’m going to ask you one more thing.”
    â€œI’m a strictly moral man, superintendent.”
    â€œOh, that wasn’t my meaning. No, I was going to ask you if you’d give me the names of four friends—people who’ve known you intimately for a number of years. Kind of references, if you know what I mean.”
    â€œYes, I think so. Let me see now. You’d prefer people who are actually in London now?”
    â€œIt would make it a bit easier, but it doesn’t really matter.”
    The doctor thought for a minute or two, then with his fountain pen he scribbled four names and addresses on a sheet of paper and pushed it across the desk to Battle.
    â€œWill those do? They’re the best I can think of on the spur of the moment.”
    Battle read carefully, nodded his head in satisfaction and put the sheet of paper away in an inner pocket.
    â€œIt’s just a question of elimination,” he said. “The sooner I can get one person eliminated and go onto the next, the better it is for everyone concerned. I’ve got to make perfectly certain that you weren’t on bad terms with the late Mr. Shaitana, that you had no private connections or business dealings with him, that there was no question of his having injured you at any time and your bearing resentment. I may believe you when you say you only knew him slightly—but it isn’t a question of my belief. I’ve got to say I’ve made sure .”
    â€œOh, I understand perfectly. You’ve got to think everybody’s a liar till he’s proved he’s speaking the truth. Here are my keys, superintendent. That’s the drawers of the desk—that’s the bureau—that little one’s the key of the poison cupboard. Be sure to lock it up again. Perhaps I’d better just have a word with my secretary.”
    He pressed a button on his desk.
    Almost immediately the door opened and a competent-looking young woman appeared.
    â€œYou rang, doctor?”
    â€œThis is Miss Burgess—Superintendent Battle from Scotland Yard.”
    Miss Burgess turned a cool gaze on Battle. It seemed to say:
    â€œDear me, what sort of an animal is this?”
    â€œI should be glad, Miss Burgess, if you will answer any questions Superintendent Battle may put to you, and give him any help he may need.”
    â€œCertainly, if you say so, doctor.”
    â€œWell,” said Roberts, rising, “I’ll be off. Did you put the morphia in my case? I shall need it for the Lockheart case.”
    He bustled out, still talking, and Miss Burgess followed him.
    â€œWill you press that button when you want me, Superintendent Battle?”
    Superintendent Battle thanked her and said he would do so. Then he set to work.
    His search was careful and methodical, though he had no great hopes of finding anything of importance. Roberts’ ready acquiescence dispelled the chance of that. Roberts was no fool. He would realize that a search would be bound to come and he would make provisions accordingly. There was, however, a faint chance that Battle might come across a hint of the information he was really after, since Roberts would not know the real object of his search.
    Superintendent Battle opened and shut drawers, rifled pigeonholes, glanced through a chequebook, estimated the unpaid bills—noted what those same bills were for, scrutinized Roberts’ passbook, ran through his case notes and generally left no written documentunturned. The result was meagre in the extreme. He next took a look through the poison cupboard, noted the wholesale firms with which the doctor dealt, and the system of checking, relocked the cupboard and passed on to the bureau. The contents of the latter were of a more personal nature, but Battle found nothing germane to his search. He shook his head, sat down in the doctor’s chair and pressed the desk button.
    Miss Burgess appeared with