Agatha Christie - Murder Is Easy

Agatha Christie

Chapter 1

England! England after many years! How was he going to like it? LukeFitzwilliam asked himself that question as he walked down thegangplank to the dock. It was present at the back of his mind allthrough the wait in the customs shed. It came suddenly to the forewhen he was finally seated in the boat train. Here he was, honorablyretired on a pension, with some small private means of his own, agentleman of leisure, come home to England. What was he going to dowith himself? With an effort, Luke Fitzwilliam averted his eyes from thelandscape outside the railway-carriage window and settled down to aperusal of the papers he had just bought. The Times, the Daily Clarionand Punch.

He started with the Daily Clarion. The Clarion was given over entirelyto Epsom.

He had drawn a horse in the club sweep and he looked now to seewhat the Clarion's racing correspondent thought of its chances. Hefound it dismissed contemptuously in a sentence:

Of the others, Jujube the II, Mark's Mile, Santony and Jerry Boy arehardly likely to qualify for a place. A likely outsider is -

But Luke paid no attention to the likely outsider. His eye had shifted tothe betting. Jujube the II was listed at a modest 40 to 1. He glanced athis watch. A quarter to four.

"Well," he thought, "it's over now." And he wished he'd had a bet onClarigold, who was the second favorite.

Then he opened the Times and became absorbed in more seriousmatters. A full half hour afterward the train slowed down and finallystopped. Luke looked out of the window.

They were in a large empty-looking station with many platforms. Hecaught sight of a bookstall some way up the platform with a placardDERBY RESULT. Luke opened the door, jumped out, and ran towardthe bookstall. A moment later he was staring with a broad grin at a fewsmudged lines in the stop press.

DERBY RESULT

1st - Jujube the II

2nd - Mazeppa

3rd - Clarigold

Luke grinned broadly. A hundred pounds to blow! Good old Jujube theII, so scornfully dismissed by all the tipsters. He folded the paper, stillgrinning to himself, and turned back - to face emptiness. In theexcitement of Jujube the II's victory, his train had slipped out of thestation unnoticed by him. "When the devil did that train go out?" hedemanded of a gloomy-looking porter.

"What train? There hasn't been no train since the 3:14."

"There was a train here just now. I got out of it. The boat express."

"The boat express don't stop anywhere till London."

"But it did," Luke assured him. "I got out of it."

Faced by facts, the porter changed his ground. "You didn't ought tohave done," he said reproachfully. "It don't stop here."

"But it did."

"That was signal, that was. Signal against it. It didn't what you'd call

'stop.' You didn't ought to have got out."

"We'll admit that," said Luke. "The wrong is done, past all recall. WhatI'm trying to get at is, what do you, a man experienced in the servicesof the railway company, advise me to do?"

"Reckon," said the porter, "you'd best go on by the 4:25."

"If the 4:25 goes to London," said Luke, "the 4:25 is the train for me."

Reassured on that point, Luke strolled up and down the platform. Alarge board informed him that he was at FENNY CLAYTON JUNCTION

FOR WYCHWOOD UNDER ASHE, and presently a train consisting ofone carriage pushed backward by an antiquated little engine cameslowly puffing in and deposited itself in a modest way.

At last, with immense importance, the London train came in. Lukescrutinized each compartment. The first, a smoker, contained agentleman of military aspects smoking a cigar. He passed on to thenext one, which contained a tired-looking, genteel young woman,possibly a nursery governess, and an active-looking small boy of aboutthree. Luke passed on quickly. The next door was open and thecarriage contained one passenger, an elderly lady. She reminded Lukeslightly of one of his aunts, his Aunt Mildred, who had courageouslyallowed him to keep a grass snake when he was ten years old. AuntMildred had been decidedly a good aunt as aunts go. Luke entered thecarriage and sat down.

After some five minutes of intense activity on the part of milk vans,luggage trucks and other excitements, the train moved slowly out ofthe station. Luke unfolded his paper and turned to such items of newsas might interest a man who had already read his morning paper. Hedid not hope to read it for long. Being a man of many aunts, he wasfairly certain that the nice old lady in the corner did not propose totravel in silence to London. He was right - a window that neededadjusting, a dropped umbrella, and the old lady was telling him what agood train this was. "Only an hour and ten minutes. That's very good,you know, very good indeed. Much better than the morning one. Thattakes an hour and forty minutes." She went on: "Of course, nearlyeveryone goes by the morning one. I mean when it is the cheap way it'ssilly to go up in the afternoon. I meant to go up this morning but WonkyPooh was missing - that's my cat, a Persian; such a beauty, only he'shad a painful ear lately - and of course I couldn't leave home till he wasfound!"

Luke murmured, "Of course not," and let his eyes drop ostentatiouslyto his paper. But it was of no avail. The flood went on:

"So I just made the best of a bad job and took the afternoon traininstead, and, of course, it's a blessing in one way, because it's not socrowded - not that that matters when one is traveling first class. Ofcourse, I don't usually do that, but really I was so upset because, yousee, I'm going up on very important business, and I wanted to think outexactly what I was going to say - just quietly, you know." Lukerepressed a smile.

"So I thought, just for once, the expense was quite permissible. Ofcourse," she went on quickly, with a swift glance at Luke's bronzedface, "I know soldiers on leave have to travel first class, I mean, beingofficers, it's expected of them."

Luke sustained the inquisitive glance of a pair of bright twinkling eyes.He capitulated at once. It would come to it, he knew, in the end. "I'mnot a soldier," he said.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean - I just thought - you were so brown -perhaps home from the East on leave."

"I'm home from the East," said Luke, "but not on leave." He stalled offfurther researches with a bald statement, "I'm a policeman."

"In the police? Now, really, that's very interesting. A dear friend ofmine, her boy has just joined the Palestinian police."

"Mayang Straits," said Luke, taking another short cut.

"Oh, dear; very interesting. Really, it's quite a coincidence - I meanthat you should be traveling in this carriage. Because, you see, thisbusiness I'm going up to town about - well, actually it is to ScotlandYard I'm going."

"Really?" said Luke.

The old lady continued happily, "Yes, I meant to go up this morning,and then, as I told you, I was so worried about Wonky Pooh. But you