chapter 6 consultation

hercule poirot rejoined his friend, inspector japp. the latter had a grin on his face.

"hullo, old boy," he said. "you've had a pretty near squeak of being locked up in a police cell."

"i fear," said poirot gravely, "that such an occurrence might have damaged me professionally."

"well," said japp with a grin, "detectives do turn out to be criminals sometimes - in storybooks."

a tall thin man with an intelligent melancholy face joined them, and japp introduced him.

"this is monsieur fournier, of the sыreté. he has come over to collaborate with us about this business."

"i think i have had the pleasure of meeting you once some years ago, m. poirot," said fournier, bowing and shaking hands. "i have also heard of you from m. giraud."

a very faint smile seemed to hover on his lips. and poirot, who could well imagine the terms in which giraud - whom he himself had been in the habit of referring to disparagingly as the "human foxhound" - had spoken of him, permitted himself a small discreet smile in reply.

"i suggest," said poirot, "that both you gentlemen should dine with me at my rooms. i have already invited maotre thibault. that is, if you and my friend japp do not object to my collaboration."

"that's all right, old cock," said japp, slapping him heartily on the back. "you're in on this on the ground floor."

"we

shall

be

indeed

honored,"

murmured

the

frenchman

ceremoniously.

"you see," said poirot, "as i said to a very charming young lady just now, i am anxious to clear my character."

"that jury certainly didn't like the look of you," agreed japp, with a renewal of his grin. "best joke i've heard for a long time."

by common consent, no mention of the case was made during the very excellent meal which the little belgian provided for his friends.

"after all, it is possible to eat well in england," murmured fournier appreciatively, as he made delicate use of a thoughtfully provided toothpick.

"a delicious meal, m. poirot," said thibault.

"bit frenchified, but damn good," pronounced japp.

"a meal should always lie lightly on the estomac," said poirot. "it should not be so heavy as to paralyze thought."

"i can't say my stomach ever gives me much trouble," said japp. "but i won't argue the point. well, we'd better get down to business. i know that m. thibault has got an appointment this evening, so i suggest that we should start by consulting him on any point that seems likely to be useful."

"i am your service, gentlemen. naturally, i can speak more freely here than in a coroner's court. i had a hurried conversation with inspector japp before the inquest and he indicated a policy of reticence - the bare necessary facts."

"quite right," said japp. "don't ever spill the beans too soon. but now let's hear all you can tell us of this giselle woman."

"to speak the truth, i know very little. i know her as the world knew her

-as a public character. of her private life as an individual i know very little. probably m. fournier here can tell you more than i can. but i will say to you this: madame giselle was what you call in this country 'a character.' she was unique. of her antecedents nothing is known. i have an idea that as a young woman she was good-looking. i believe that as a result of smallpox she lost her looks. she was - i am giving you my impressions - a woman who enjoyed power - she had power. she was a keen woman of business. she was the type of hard-headed frenchwoman who would never allow sentiment to affect her business interests, but she had the reputation of carrying on her profession with scrupulous honesty."

he looked for assent to fournier. that gentleman nodded his dark melancholic head.

"yes," he said, "she was honest, according to her lights. yet the law could have called her to account if only evidence had been forthcoming; but that -" he shrugged his shoulders despondently. "it is too much to ask - with human nature what it is."

"you mean?"

"chantage."

"blackmail?" echoed japp.

"yes, blackmail of a peculiar and specialized kind. it was madame giselle's custom to lend money on what i think you call in this country

'note of hand alone.' she used her discretion as to the sums she lent and the methods of repayment, but i may tell you that she had her own methods of getting paid."

poirot leaned forward interestedly.

"as maotre thibault said today, madame giselle's clientele lay amongst the upper and professional classes. those classes are particularly vulnerable to the force of public opinion. madame giselle had her own intelligence service. it was her custom, before lending money - that is, in the case of a large sum - to collect as many facts as possible about the client in question, and her intelligence system, i may say, was an extraordinarily good one. i will echo what our friend has said - according to her lights, madame giselle was scrupulously honest. she kept faith with those who kept faith with her. i honestly believe that she has never made use of her secret knowledge to obtain money from anyone, unless that money was already owed to her."

"you mean," said poirot, "that this secret knowledge was her form of security?"

"exactly. and in using it she was perfectly ruthless and deaf to any finer shades of feeling. and i will tell you this, gentlemen: her system paid! very, very rarely did she have to write off a bad debt. a man or woman in a prominent position would go to desperate lengths to obtain the money which would obviate a public scandal. as i say, we knew of her activities, but as for prosecution -" he shrugged his shoulders -

"that is a more difficult matter. human nature is human nature."

"and supposing," said poirot, "that she did, as you say happened occasionally, have to write off a bad debt? what then?"

"in that case," said fournier slowly, "the information she held was published, or was given to the person concerned in the matter."

there was a moment's silence. then poirot said:

"financially, that did not benefit her?"

"no," said fournier. "not directly, that is."

"but indirectly?"

"indirectly," said japp, "it made the others pay up, eh?"

"exactly," said fournier. "it was valuable for what you call the moral effect."

"immoral effect, i should call it," said japp. "well -" he rubbed his nose thoughtfully - "it opens up a very pretty line in motives for murder - a very pretty line. then there's the question of who is going to come into her money." he appealed to thibault. "can you help us there at all?"

"there was a daughter," said the lawyer. "she did not live with her mother; indeed, i fancy that her mother has never seen her since she was a tiny child. but she made a will many years ago now, leaving everything, with the exception of a small legacy to her maid, to her daughter, anne morisot. as far as i know, she has never made another."

"and her fortune is large?" asked poirot.

the lawyer shrugged his shoulders.

"at a guess, eight or nine million francs."

poirot pursed his lips to a whistle. japp said, "lord, she didn't look it!

let me see. what's the exchange? - that's - why, that must be well over a hundred thousand pounds! whew!"

"mademoiselle anne morisot will be a very wealthy young woman," said poirot.

"just as well she wasn't on that plane," said japp dryly. "she might have been suspected of bumping off her mother to get the dibs. how old would she be?"

"i really cannot say. i should imagine about twenty-four or five."

"well, there doesn't seem anything to connect her with the crime. we'll have to get down to this blackmailing business. everyone on that plane denies knowing madame giselle. one of them is lying. we've got to find out which. an examination of her private papers might help, eh, fournier?"

"my friend," said the frenchman, "immediately the news came through, after i had conversed with scotland yard on the telephone, i went straight to her house. there was a safe there containing papers. all those papers had been burned."

"burned? who by? why?"

"madame giselle had a confidential maid, ?lise. ?lise had instructions, in the event of anything happening to her mistress, to open the safe, the combination of which she knew, and burn the contents."

"what? but that's amazing!" japp stared.

"you see," said fournier, "madame giselle had her own code. she kept faith with those who kept faith with her. she gave her promise to her clients that she would deal honestly with them. she was ruthless, but she was also a woman of her word."

japp shook his head dumbly. the four men were silent, ruminating on the strange character of the dead woman. maotre thibault rose.

"i must leave you, messieurs. i have to keep an appointment. if there is any further information i can give you at any time, you know my address."

he shook hands with them ceremoniously and left the apartment.