Chapter XVIII. The Telegram

by Agatha Christie

　　Baffled for the moment, Tommy strolled into the restaurant, andordered a meal of surpassing excellence. His four days'imprisonment had taught him anew to value good food.He was in the middle of conveying a particularly choice morsel ofSole a la Jeanette to his mouth, when he caught sight of Juliusentering the room. Tommy waved a menu cheerfully, and succeededin attracting the other's attention. At the sight of Tommy,Julius's eyes seemed as though they would pop out of his head.He strode across, and pump-handled Tommy's hand with what seemedto the latter quite unnecessary vigour."Holy snakes!" he ejaculated. "Is it really you?""Of course it is. Why shouldn't it be?""Why shouldn't it be? Say, man, don't you know you've been givenup for dead? I guess we'd have had a solemn requiem for you inanother few days.""Who thought I was dead?" demanded Tommy."Tuppence.""She remembered the proverb about the good dying young, Isuppose. There must be a certain amount of original sin in me tohave survived. Where is Tuppence, by the way?""Isn't she here?""No, the fellows at the office said she'd just gone out.""Gone shopping, I guess. I dropped her here in the car about anhour ago. But, say, can't you shed that British calm of yours,and get down to it? What on God's earth have you been doing allthis time?""If you're feeding here," replied Tommy, "order now. It's goingto be a long story."Julius drew up a chair to the opposite side of the table,summoned a hovering waiter, and dictated his wishes. Then heturned to Tommy."Fire ahead. I guess you've had some few adventures.""One or two," replied Tommy modestly, and plunged into hisrecital.Julius listened spellbound. Half the dishes that were placedbefore him he forgot to eat. At the end he heaved a long sigh."Bully for you. Reads like a dime novel!""And now for the home front," said Tommy, stretching out his handfor a peach."We-el," drawled Julius, "I don't mind admitting we've had someadventures too."He, in his turn, assumed the role of narrator. Beginning with hisunsuccessful reconnoitring at Bournemouth, he passed on to hisreturn to London, the buying of the car, the growing anxieties ofTuppence, the call upon Sir James, and the sensationaloccurrences of the previous night."But who killed her?" asked Tommy. "I don't quite understand.""The doctor kidded himself she took it herself," replied Juliusdryly."And Sir James? What did he think?""Being a legal luminary, he is likewise a human oyster," repliedJulius. "I should say he 'reserved judgment.' " He went on todetail the events of the morning."Lost her memory, eh?" said Tommy with interest. "By Jove, thatexplains why they looked at me so queerly when I spoke ofquestioning her. Bit of a slip on my part, that! But it wasn'tthe sort of thing a fellow would be likely to guess.""They didn't give you any sort of hint as to where Jane was?"Tommy shook his head regretfully."Not a word. I'm a bit of an ass, as you know. I ought to havegot more out of them somehow.""I guess you're lucky to be here at all. That bluff of yours wasthe goods all right. How you ever came to think of it all so patbeats me to a frazzle!""I was in such a funk I had to think of something," said Tommysimply.There was a moment's pause, and then Tommy reverted to Mrs.Vandemeyer's death."There's no doubt it was chloral?""I believe not. At least they call it heart failure induced byan overdose, or some such claptrap. It's all right. We don'twant to be worried with an inquest. But I guess Tuppence and Iand even the highbrow Sir James have all got the same idea.""Mr. Brown?" hazarded Tommy."Sure thing."Tommy nodded."All the same," he said thoughtfully, "Mr. Brown hasn't gotwings. I don't see how he got in and out.""How about some high-class thought transference stunt? Somemagnetic influence that irresistibly impelled Mrs. Vandemeyer tocommit suicide?"Tommy looked at him with respect."Good, Julius. Distinctly good. Especially the phraseology. Butit leaves me cold. I yearn for a real Mr. Brown of flesh andblood. I think the gifted young detectives must get to work,study the entrances and exits, and tap the bumps on theirforeheads until the solution of the mystery dawns on them. Let'sgo round to the scene of the crime. I wish we could get hold ofTuppence. The Ritz would enjoy the spectacle of the gladreunion."Inquiry at the office revealed the fact that Tuppence had not yetreturned."All the same, I guess I'll have a look round upstairs," saidJulius. "She might be in my sitting-room." He disappeared.Suddenly a diminutive boy spoke at Tommy's elbow:"The young lady--she's gone away by train, I think, sir," hemurmured shyly."What?" Tommy wheeled round upon him.The small boy became pinker than before."The taxi, sir. I heard her tell the driver Charing Cross and tolook sharp."Tommy stared at him, his eyes opening wide in surprise.Emboldened, the small boy proceeded. "So I thought, having askedfor an A.B.C. and a Bradshaw."Tommy interrupted him:"When did she ask for an A.B.C. and a Bradshaw?""When I took her the telegram, sir.""A telegram?""Yes, sir.""When was that?""About half-past twelve, sir.""Tell me exactly what happened."The small boy drew a long breath."I took up a telegram to No. 891--the lady was there. She openedit and gave a gasp, and then she said, very jolly like: 'Bring meup a Bradshaw, and an A.B.C., and look sharp, Henry.' My nameisn't Henry, but----""Never mind your name," said Tommy impatiently. "Go on.""Yes, sir. I brought them, and she told me to wait, and lookedup something. And then she looks up at the clock, and 'Hurry up,'she says. 'Tell them to get me a taxi,' and she begins a-shovingon of her hat in front of the glass, and she was down in twoticks, almost as quick as I was, and I seed her going down thesteps and into the taxi, and I heard her call out what I toldyou."The small boy stopped and replenished his lungs. Tommy continuedto stare at him. At that moment Julius rejoined him. He held anopen letter in his hand."I say, Hersheimmer"--Tommy turned to him--"Tuppence has gone offsleuthing on her own."" Shucks!""Yes, she has. She went off in a taxi to Charing Cross in thedeuce of a hurry after getting a telegram." His eye fell on theletter in Julius's hand. "Oh; she left a note for you. That'sall right. Where's she off to?"Almost unconsciously, he held out his hand for the letter, butJulius folded it up and placed it in his pocket. He seemed atrifle embarrassed."I guess this is nothing to do with it. It's about somethingelse--something I asked her that she was to let me know about.""Oh!" Tommy looked puzzled, and seemed waiting for more."See here," said Julius suddenly, "I'd better put you wise. Iasked Miss Tuppence to marry me this morning.""Oh!" said Tommy mechanically. He felt dazed. Julius's wordswere totally unexpected. For the moment they benumbed his brain."I'd like to tell you," continued Julius, "that before Isuggested anything of the kind to Miss Tuppence, I made it clearthat I didn't want to butt in in any way between her and you----Tommy roused himself."That's all right," he said quickly. "Tuppence and I have beenpals for years. Nothing more." He lit a cigarette with a handthat shook ever so little. "That's quite all right. Tuppencealways said that she was looking out for----"He stopped abruptly, his face crimsoning, but Julius was in noway discomposed."Oh, I guess it'll be the dollars that'll do the trick. MissTuppence put me wise to that right away. There's no humbug abouther. We ought to gee along together very well."Tommy looked at him curiously for a minute, as though he wereabout to speak, then changed his mind and said nothing. Tuppenceand Julius! Well, why not? Had she not lamented the fact thatshe knew no rich men? Had she not openly avowed her intention ofmarrying for money if she ever had the chance? Her meeting withthe young American millionaire had given her the chance--and itwas unlikely she would be slow to avail herself of it. She wasout for money. She had always said so. Why blame her becauseshe had been true to her creed?Nevertheless, Tommy did blame her. He was filled with apassionate and utterly illogical resentment. It was all verywell to say things like that--but a real girl would never marryfor money. Tuppence was utterly cold-blooded and selfish, and hewould be delighted if he never saw her again! And it was arotten world!Julius's voice broke in on these meditations."Yes, we ought to get along together very well. I've heard thata girl always refuses you once--a sort of convention."Tommy caught his arm."Refuses? Did you say refuses?""Sure thing. Didn't I tell you that? She just rapped out a 'no'without any kind of reason to it. The eternal feminine, the Hunscall it, I've heard. But she'll come round right enough. Likelyenough, I hustled her some----"But Tommy interrupted regardless of decorum."What did she say in that note?" he demanded fiercely.The obliging Julius handed it to him."There's no earthly clue in it as to where she's gone," heassured Tommy. "But you might as well see for yourself if youdon't believe me."The note, in Tuppence's well-known schoolboy writing, ran asfollows:"Dear Julius,"It's always better to have things in black and white. I don'tfeel I can be bothered to think of marriage until Tommy is found.Let's leave it till then."Yours affectionately,"Tuppence."Tommy handed it back, his eyes shining. His feelings hadundergone a sharp reaction. He now felt that Tuppence was allthat was noble and disinterested. Had she not refused Juliuswithout hesitation? True, the note betokened signs of weakening,but he could excuse that. It read almost like a bribe to Juliusto spur him on in his efforts to find Tommy, but he supposed shehad not really meant it that way. Darling Tuppence, there was nota girl in the world to touch her! When he saw her----His thoughtswere brought up with a sudden jerk."As you say," he remarked, pulling himself together, "there's nota hint here as to what she's up to. Hi--Henry!"The small boy came obediently. Tommy produced five shillings."One thing more. Do you remember what the young lady did withthe telegram?"Henry gasped and spoke."She crumpled it up into a ball and threw it into the grate, andmade a sort of noise like 'Whoop!' sir.""Very graphic, Henry," said Tommy. "Here's your five shillings.Come on, Julius. We must find that telegram."They hurried upstairs. Tuppence had left the key in her door.The room was as she had left it. In the fireplace was a crumpledball of orange and white. Tommy disentangled it and smoothed outthe telegram."Come at once, Moat House, Ebury, Yorkshire, greatdevelopments--Tommy."They looked at each other in stupefaction. Julius spoke first:"You didn't send it?""Of course not. What does it mean?""I guess it means the worst," said Julius quietly. "They've gother.""What?""Sure thing! They signed your name, and she fell into the traplike a lamb.""My God! What shall we do?""Get busy, and go after her! Right now! There's no time towaste. It's almighty luck that she didn't take the wire with her.If she had we'd probably never have traced her. But we've got tohustle. Where's that Bradshaw?"The energy of Julius was infectious. Left to himself, Tommywould probably have sat down to think things out for a goodhalf-hour before he decided on a plan of action. But with JuliusHersheimmer about, hustling was inevitable.After a few muttered imprecations he handed the Bradshaw to Tommyas being more conversant with its mysteries. Tommy abandoned itin favour of an A.B.C."Here we are. Ebury, Yorks. From King's Cross. Or St. Pancras.(Boy must have made a mistake. It was King's Cross, not CharingCross.) 12.50, that's the train she went by. 2.10, that's gone.3.20 is the next--and a damned slow train too.""What about the car?"Tommy shook his head."Send it up if you like, but we'd better stick to the train. Thegreat thing is to keep calm."Julius groaned."That's so. But it gets my goat to think of that innocent younggirl in danger!"Tommy nodded abstractedly. He was thinking. In a moment or two,he said:"I say, Julius, what do they want her for, anyway?""Eh? I don't get you?""What I mean is that I don't think it's their game to do her anyharm," explained Tommy, puckering his brow with the strain of hismental processes. "She's a hostage, that's what she is. She's inno immediate danger, because if we tumble on to anything, she'dbe damned useful to them. As long as they've got her, they've gotthe whip hand of us. See?""Sure thing," said Julius thoughtfully. "That's so.""Besides," added Tommy, as an afterthought, "I've great faith inTuppence."The journey was wearisome, with many stops, and crowdedcarriages. They had to change twice, once at Doncaster, once at asmall junction. Ebury was a deserted station with a solitaryporter, to whom Tommy addressed himself:"Can you tell me the way to the Moat House?""The Moat House? It's a tidy step from here. The big house nearthe sea, you mean?"Tommy assented brazenly. After listening to the porter'smeticulous but perplexing directions, they prepared to leave thestation. It was beginning to rain, and they turned up the collarsof their coats as they trudged through the slush of the road.Suddenly Tommy halted."Wait a moment." He ran back to the station and tackled theporter anew."Look here, do you remember a young lady who arrived by anearlier train, the 12.50 from London? She'd probably ask you theway to the Moat House."He described Tuppence as well as he could, but the porter shookhis head. Several people had arrived by the train in question.He could not call to mind one young lady in particular. But hewas quite certain that no one had asked him the way to the MoatHouse.Tommy rejoined Julius, and explained. Depression was settling onhim like a leaden weight. He felt convinced that their quest wasgoing to be unsuccessful. The enemy had over three hours' start.Three hours was more than enough for Mr. Brown. He would notignore the possibility of the telegram having been found.The way seemed endless. Once they took the wrong turning andwent nearly half a mile out of their direction. It was past seveno'clock when a small boy told them that "t' Moat House" was justpast the next corner.A rusty iron gate swinging dismally on its hinges! An overgrowndrive thick with leaves. There was something about the placethat struck a chill to both their hearts. They went up thedeserted drive. The leaves deadened their footsteps. Thedaylight was almost gone. It was like walking in a world ofghosts. Overhead the branches flapped and creaked with a mournfulnote. Occasionally a sodden leaf drifted silently down, startlingthem with its cold touch on their cheek.A turn of the drive brought them in sight of the house. That,too, seemed empty and deserted. The shutters were closed, thesteps up to the door overgrown with moss. Was it indeed to thisdesolate spot that Tuppence had been decoyed? It seemed hard tobelieve that a human footstep had passed this way for months.Julius jerked the rusty bell handle. A jangling peal rangdiscordantly, echoing through the emptiness within. No one came.They rang again and again--but there was no sign of life. Thenthey walked completely round the house. Everywhere silence, andshuttered windows. If they could believe the evidence of theireyes the place was empty."Nothing doing," said Julius.They retraced their steps slowly to the gate."There must be a village handy," continued the young American."We'd better make inquiries there. They'll know something aboutthe place, and whether there's been anyone there lately.""Yes, that's not a bad idea."Proceeding up the road, they soon came to a little hamlet. On theoutskirts of it, they met a workman swinging his bag of tools,and Tommy stopped him with a question."The Moat House? It's empty. Been empty for years. Mrs;Sweeny's got the key if you want to go over it--next to the postoffice."Tommy thanked him. They soon found the post office, which wasalso a sweet and general fancy shop, and knocked at the door ofthe cottage next to it. A clean, wholesome-looking woman openedit. She readily produced the key of the Moat House."Though I doubt if it's the kind of place to suit you, sir. In aterrible state of repair. Ceilings leaking and all. 'Twould needa lot of money spent on it.""Thanks," said Tommy cheerily. "I dare say it'll be a washout,but houses are scarce nowadays.""That they are," declared the woman heartily. "My daughter andson-in-law have been looking for a decent cottage for I don'tknow how long. It's all the war. Upset things terribly, it has.But excuse me, sir, it'll be too dark for you to see much of thehouse. Hadn't you better wait until to-morrow?""That's all right. We'll have a look around this evening,anyway. We'd have been here before only we lost our way. What'sthe best place to stay at for the night round here?"Mrs. Sweeny looked doubtful."There's the Yorkshire Arms, but it's not much of a place forgentlemen like you.""Oh, it will do very well. Thanks. By the way, you've not had ayoung lady here asking for this key to-day?"The woman shook her head."No one's been over the place for a long time.""Thanks very much."They retraced their steps to the Moat House. As the front doorswung back on its hinges, protesting loudly, Julius struck amatch and examined the floor carefully. Then he shook his head."I'd swear no one's passed this way. Look at the dust. Thick.Not a sign of a footmark."They wandered round the deserted house. Everywhere the sametale. Thick layers of dust apparently undisturbed."This gets me," said Julius. "I don't believe Tuppence was everin this house.""She must have been."Julius shook his head without replying."We'll go over it again to-morrow," said Tommy. "Perhaps we'llsee more in the daylight."On the morrow they took up the search once more, and werereluctantly forced to the conclusion that the house had not beeninvaded for some considerable time. They might have left thevillage altogether but for a fortunate discovery of Tommy's. Asthey were retracing their steps to the gate, he gave a suddencry, and stooping, picked something up from among the leaves, andheld it out to Julius. It was a small gold brooch."That's Tuppence's!""Are you sure?""Absolutely. I've often seen her wear it."Julius drew a deep breath."I guess that settles it. She came as far as here, anyway.We'll make that pub our head-quarters, and raise hell round hereuntil we find her. Somebody must have seen her."Forthwith the campaign began. Tommy and Julius worked separatelyand together, but the result was the same. Nobody answering toTuppence's description had been seen in the vicinity. They werebaffled--but not discouraged. Finally they altered theirtactics. Tuppence had certainly not remained long in theneighbourhood of the Moat House. That pointed to her having beenovercome and carried away in a car. They renewed inquiries. Hadanyone seen a car standing somewhere near the Moat House thatday? Again they met with no success.Julius wired to town for his own car, and they scoured theneighbourhood daily with unflagging zeal. A grey limousine onwhich they had set high hopes was traced to Harrogate, and turnedout to be the property of a highly respectable maiden lady!Each day saw them set out on a new quest. Julius was like ahound on the leash. He followed up the slenderest clue. Everycar that had passed through the village on the fateful day wastracked down. He forced his way into country properties andsubmitted the owners of the motors to a searchingcross-examination. His apologies were as thorough as his methods,and seldom failed in disarming the indignation of his victims;but, as day succeeded day, they were no nearer to discoveringTuppence's whereabouts. So well had the abduction been plannedthat the girl seemed literally to have vanished into thin air.And another preoccupation was weighing on Tommy's mind."Do you know how long we've been here?" he asked one morning asthey sat facing each other at breakfast. "A week! We're nonearer to finding Tuppence, and next Sunday is the 29th!""Shucks!" said Julius thoughtfully. "I'd almost forgotten aboutthe 29th. I've been thinking of nothing but Tuppence.""So have I. At least, I hadn't forgotten about the 29th, but itdidn't seem to matter a damn in comparison to finding Tuppence.But to-day's the 23rd, and time's getting short. If we're evergoing to get hold of her at all, we must do it before the29th--her life won't be worth an hour's purchase afterwards. Thehostage game will be played out by then. I'm beginning to feelthat we've made a big mistake in the way we've set about this.We've wasted time and we're no forrader.""I'm with you there. We've been a couple of mutts, who've bittenoff a bigger bit than they can chew. I'm going to quit foolingright away!""What do you mean?""I'll tell you. I'm going to do what we ought to have done aweek ago. I'm going right back to London to put the case in thehands of your British police. We fancied ourselves as sleuths.Sleuths! It was a piece of damn-fool foolishness! I'm through!I've had enough of it. Scotland Yard for me!""You're right," said Tommy slowly. "I wish to God we'd gonethere right away.""Better late than never. We've been like a couple of babesplaying 'Here we go round the Mulberry Bush.' Now I'm goingright along to Scotland Yard to ask them to take me by the handand show me the way I should go. I guess the professional alwaysscores over the amateur in the end. Are you coming along withme?"Tommy shook his head."What's the good? One of us is enough. I might as well stayhere and nose round a bit longer. Something might turn up. Onenever knows.""Sure thing. Well, so long. I'll be back in a couple of shakeswith a few inspectors along. I shall tell them to pick out theirbrightest and best."But the course of events was not to follow the plan Julius hadlaid down. Later in the day Tommy received a wire:"Join me Manchester Midland Hotel. Important news--Julius."At 7:30 that night Tommy alighted from a slow cross-countrytrain. Julius was on the platform."Thought you'd come by this train if you weren't out when my wirearrived."Tommy grasped him by the arm."What is it? Is Tuppence found?"Julius shook his head."No. But I found this waiting in London. Just arrived."He handed the telegraph form to the other. Tommy's eyes openedas he read:"Jane Finn found. Come Manchester Midland Hotelimmediately--Peel Edgerton."Julius took the form back and folded it up."Queer," he said thoughtfully. "I thought that lawyer chap hadquit!"