فصل 06

CHAPTER SIX

Consultation

Outside the courtroom, Hercule Poirot spoke to Inspector Japp.

‘Hello, Poirot,’ smiled the inspector. ‘You had a lucky escape from being locked up in a police cell.’ He introduced a tall, thin man with a sad, clever-looking face. ‘This is Monsieur Fournier of the Surete. He has come over to England to work with us on this business.’

Fournier bowed and they shook hands.

‘I suggest,’ said Poirot, ‘that you both dine with me, at my apartment. I have also invited Maitre Thibault. You see, I wish to prove to you that I am not the murderer.’

‘That jury certainly didn’t like the look of you,’ laughed Inspector Japp.

The little Belgian detective provided an excellent meal for his friends. When they had finished eating, the four men began to discuss the mysterious murder.

‘Well,’ said Japp, ‘Maitre Thibault must go on to another appointment later this evening, so I suggest, to save time, that we start by asking him to tell us all he can about this Giselle woman.’

‘In truth,’ said the lawyer, ‘I know very little about her. Madame Giselle was what you call in this country ”a character”. She was a pretty young woman, I believe, but then she caught smallpox and lost her good looks. She was a woman who enjoyed power. She was a very clever businesswoman, who never allowed emotions to affect her work; She was known to be completely honest in her work.’

Fournier nodded. ‘Yes, she was honest, but according to her personal rules. The police could have caught her - if there had been any evidence of a crime, but…’ he sighed, sadly, ‘nobody would provide the necessary information. It’s understandable, when such information would, no doubt, destroy their own reputation.’

‘Blackmail?’ said Japp.

‘Yes. Madame Giselle had her own ways of getting people to pay back the money she lent them. Madame Giselle’s clients came from the upper and professional classes. Those people care very much what society thinks of them. They must guard their reputations. It was Madame Giselle’s habit before lending money to collect information about her clients, and her intelligence system was an extremely good one. As we said before, according to her own rules Madame Giselle was an honest woman. She protected those clients who kept their promises and paid their debts. I believe that she never used her secret knowledge to obtain money unless that money was owed to her.’

‘You mean,’ said Poirot, ‘that this knowledge was her security?’

‘Exactly, and, Gentlemen, her system worked! She very rarely lost her money. A man or woman in an important social position would do anything to get the money to pay her back and prevent a public scandal.’

‘And supposing,’ said Poirot, ‘that there was occasionally a client who couldn’t pay - what then?’

‘In that case,’ said Fournier, ‘the information was either published, or was given directly to the person who would be most seriously affected by receiving it.’

‘Financially, that did not benefit her?’

‘Not directly,’ said Fournier.

‘But it made the others pay up, eh?’ said Japp.

‘Exactly.’

Japp rubbed his nose thoughtfully. ‘Well, that certainly suggests some possible motives for murder. Who is going to inherit her money?’ he asked Thibault.

‘She had a daughter,’ said the lawyer. ‘The girl did not live with her mother - in fact, her mother had not seen her since she was a tiny child; but she made a will many years ago, leaving everything to her daughter, Anne Morisot, except for a small legacy to her maid.’

‘Is the fortune large?’ asked Poirot.

‘I would guess between eight and nine million francs.’

Poirot whistled.

‘Why, that must be well over a hundred thousand pounds!’ said Japp.

‘Mademoiselle Anne Morisot will be a very wealthy young woman,’ said Poirot.

‘She’s lucky that she wasn’t on that plane. She might have been suspected of murdering her mother for the money. How old is she now?’

‘About twenty-four or five,’ said the lawyer.

‘Well, there’s nothing to connect her with the crime. As for this blackmailing business, everyone on that plane denies knowing Madame Giselle. One of them is lying, and we must find out who it is. An examination of her private papers might help, eh, Fournier?’

‘My friend,’ said the Frenchman, ‘as soon as the news came through from Scotland Yard, I went straight to her house. There was a safe there containing papers. All those papers had been burnt.’

”Who by? Why?’

‘Madame Giselle’s maid, Elise, had orders to open the safe and burn the contents if anything ever happened to her mistress.’

‘What?’ said Japp.

‘You see, Madame Giselle promised her clients that she would deal honestly with them, and she was a woman who kept her promises.’

Japp shook his head.

Maitre Thibault rose to his feet. ‘Gentlemen, I must go now. If there is any further information I can give you, you know my address.’ He shook hands with them and left the apartment.