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Authors: Agatha Christie
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with my own affairs. Some people I know spend their entire time looking out of the window and noticing who passes and who calls on whom. That is more a habit of invalids or of people who’ve got nothing better to do than to speculate and gossip about their neighbours’ affairs.’
Miss Waterhouse spoke with such acerbity that the inspector felt sure that she had some one particular person in mind. He said hastily, ‘Quite so. Quite so.’ He added, ‘Since Miss Pebmarsh passed your front gate, she might have been going to telephone, might she not? That is where the public telephone box is situated?’
‘Yes. It’s opposite Number 15.’
‘The important question I have to ask you, Miss Waterhouse, is if you saw the arrival of this man–the mystery man as I’m afraid the morning papers have called him.’
Miss Waterhouse shook her head. ‘No, I didn’t see him or any other caller.’
‘What were you doing between half past one and three o’clock?’
‘I spent about half an hour doing the crossword in The Times, or as much of it as I could, then I went out to the kitchen and washed up the lunch. Let me see. I wrote a couple of letters, made some cheques out for bills, then I went upstairs and sorted out some things I wanted to take to the cleaners. I think it was from my bedroom that I noticed a certain amount of commotion next door. I distinctly heard someone screaming, so naturally I went to the window. There was a young man and a girl at the gate. He seemed to be embracing her.’
Sergeant Lamb shifted his feet but Miss Waterhouse was not looking at him and clearly had no idea that he had been that particular young man in question.
‘I could only see the back of the young man’s head. He seemed to be arguing with the girl. Finally he sat her down against the gate post. An extraordinary thing to do. And he strode off and went into the house.’
‘You had not seen Miss Pebmarsh return to the house a short time before?’
Miss Waterhouse shook her head. ‘No. I don’t really think I had looked out the window at all until I heard this extraordinary screaming. However, I didn’t pay much attention to all this. Young girls and men are always doing such extraordinary things–screaming, pushing each other, giggling or making some kind of noise–that I had no idea it was anything serious. Not until some cars drove up with policemen did I realize anything out of the ordinary had occurred.’
‘What did you do then?’
‘Well, naturally I went out of the house, stood on the steps and then I walked round to the back garden. I wondered what had happened but there didn’t seem to be anything much to see from that side. When I got back again there was quite a little crowd gathering. Somebody told me there’d been a murder in the house. It seemed to me most extraordinary. Most extraordinary!’ said Miss Waterhouse with a great deal of disapproval.
‘There is nothing else you can think of? That you can tell us?’
‘Really, I’m afraid not.’
‘Has anybody recently written to you suggesting insurance, or has anybody called upon you or proposed calling upon you?’
‘No. Nothing of the kind. Both James and I have taken out insurance policies with the Mutual Help Assurance Society. Of course one is always getting letters which are really circulars or advertisements of some kind but I don’t recall anything of that kind recently.’
‘No letters signed by anybody called Curry?’
‘Curry? No, certainly not.’
‘And the name of Curry means nothing to you in any way?’
‘No. Should it?’
Hardcastle smiled. ‘No. I really don’t think it should,’ he said. ‘It just happens to be the name that the man who was murdered was calling himself by.’
‘It wasn’t his real name?’
‘We have some reason to think that it was not his real name.’
‘A swindler of some kind, eh?’ said Miss Waterhouse.
‘We can’t say that till we have evidence to prove it.’
‘Of course not, of
Miss Waterhouse spoke with such acerbity that the inspector felt sure that she had some one particular person in mind. He said hastily, ‘Quite so. Quite so.’ He added, ‘Since Miss Pebmarsh passed your front gate, she might have been going to telephone, might she not? That is where the public telephone box is situated?’
‘Yes. It’s opposite Number 15.’
‘The important question I have to ask you, Miss Waterhouse, is if you saw the arrival of this man–the mystery man as I’m afraid the morning papers have called him.’
Miss Waterhouse shook her head. ‘No, I didn’t see him or any other caller.’
‘What were you doing between half past one and three o’clock?’
‘I spent about half an hour doing the crossword in The Times, or as much of it as I could, then I went out to the kitchen and washed up the lunch. Let me see. I wrote a couple of letters, made some cheques out for bills, then I went upstairs and sorted out some things I wanted to take to the cleaners. I think it was from my bedroom that I noticed a certain amount of commotion next door. I distinctly heard someone screaming, so naturally I went to the window. There was a young man and a girl at the gate. He seemed to be embracing her.’
Sergeant Lamb shifted his feet but Miss Waterhouse was not looking at him and clearly had no idea that he had been that particular young man in question.
‘I could only see the back of the young man’s head. He seemed to be arguing with the girl. Finally he sat her down against the gate post. An extraordinary thing to do. And he strode off and went into the house.’
‘You had not seen Miss Pebmarsh return to the house a short time before?’
Miss Waterhouse shook her head. ‘No. I don’t really think I had looked out the window at all until I heard this extraordinary screaming. However, I didn’t pay much attention to all this. Young girls and men are always doing such extraordinary things–screaming, pushing each other, giggling or making some kind of noise–that I had no idea it was anything serious. Not until some cars drove up with policemen did I realize anything out of the ordinary had occurred.’
‘What did you do then?’
‘Well, naturally I went out of the house, stood on the steps and then I walked round to the back garden. I wondered what had happened but there didn’t seem to be anything much to see from that side. When I got back again there was quite a little crowd gathering. Somebody told me there’d been a murder in the house. It seemed to me most extraordinary. Most extraordinary!’ said Miss Waterhouse with a great deal of disapproval.
‘There is nothing else you can think of? That you can tell us?’
‘Really, I’m afraid not.’
‘Has anybody recently written to you suggesting insurance, or has anybody called upon you or proposed calling upon you?’
‘No. Nothing of the kind. Both James and I have taken out insurance policies with the Mutual Help Assurance Society. Of course one is always getting letters which are really circulars or advertisements of some kind but I don’t recall anything of that kind recently.’
‘No letters signed by anybody called Curry?’
‘Curry? No, certainly not.’
‘And the name of Curry means nothing to you in any way?’
‘No. Should it?’
Hardcastle smiled. ‘No. I really don’t think it should,’ he said. ‘It just happens to be the name that the man who was murdered was calling himself by.’
‘It wasn’t his real name?’
‘We have some reason to think that it was not his real name.’
‘A swindler of some kind, eh?’ said Miss Waterhouse.
‘We can’t say that till we have evidence to prove it.’
‘Of course not, of
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