Murder in Mesopotamia

Chapter 12. ‘I Didn’t Believe…’

‘No. No!’

Dr Leidner sprang up and walked up and down in an agitated manner.

‘It’s impossible what you say, Reilly. Absolutely impossible. One of us? Why, every single member of the expedition was devoted to Louise!’

A queer little expression pulled down the corners of Dr Reilly’s mouth. Under the circumstances it was difficult for him to say anything, but if ever a man’s silence was eloquent his was at that minute.

‘Quite impossible,’ reiterated Dr Leidner. ‘They were all devoted to her, Louise had such wonderful charm. Everyone felt it.’

Dr Reilly coughed.

‘Excuse me, Leidner, but after all that’s only your opinion. If any member of the expedition had disliked your wife they would naturally not advertise the fact to you.’

Dr Leidner looked distressed.

‘True – quite true. But all the same, Reilly, I think you are wrong. I’m sure everyone was fond of Louise.’

He was silent for a moment or two and then burst out:

‘This idea of yours is infamous. It’s – it’s frankly incredible.’

‘You can’t get away from – er – the facts,’ said Captain Maitland.

‘Facts? Facts? Lies told by an Indian cook and a couple of Arab house-boys. You know these fellows as well as I do, Reilly, so do you, Maitland. Truth as truth means nothing to them. They say what you want them to say as a mere matter of politeness.’

‘In this case,’ said Dr Reilly dryly, ‘they are saying what we don’t want them to say. Besides, I know the habits of your household fairly well. Just outside the gate is a kind of social club. Whenever I’ve been over here in the afternoon I’ve always found most of your staff there. It’s the natural place for them to be.’

‘All the same I think you are assuming too much. Why shouldn’t this man – this devil – have got in earlier and concealed himself somewhere?’

‘I agree that that is not actually impossible,’ said Dr Reilly coolly. ‘Let us assume that a stranger did somehow gain admission unseen. He would have to remain concealed until the right moment (and he certainly couldn’t have done so in Mrs Leidner’s room, there is no cover there) and take the risk of being seen entering the room and leaving it – with Emmott and the boy in the courtyard most of the time.’

‘The boy. I’d forgotten the boy,’ said Dr Leidner. ‘A sharp little chap. But surely, Maitland, the boy must have seen the murderer go into my wife’s room?’

‘We’ve elucidated that. The boy was washing pots the whole afternoon with one exception. Somehow around half-past one – Emmott can’t put it closer than that – he went up to the roof and was with you for ten minutes – that’s right, isn’t it?’

‘Yes. I couldn’t have told you the exact time but it must have been about that.’

‘Very good. Well, during that ten minutes, the boy, seizing his chance to be idle, strolled out and joined the others outside the gate for a chat. When Emmott came down he found the boy absent and called him angrily, asking him what he meant leaving his work. As far as I can see, your wife must have been murdered during that ten minutes.’

With a groan Dr Leidner sat down and hid his face in his hands.

Dr Reilly took up the tale, his voice quiet and matter-of-fact.

‘The time fits in with my evidence,’ he said. ‘She’d been dead about three hours when I examined her. The only question is – who did it?’

There was a silence. Dr Leidner sat up in his chair and passed a hand over his forehead.

‘I admit the force of your reasoning, Reilly,’ he said quietly. ‘It certainly seems as though it were what people call “an inside job”. But I feel convinced that somewhere or other there is a mistake. It’s plausible but there must be a flaw in it. To begin with, you are assuming that an amazing coincidence has occurred.’

‘Odd that you should use that word,’ said Dr Reilly.

Without paying any attention Dr Leidner went on: ‘My wife receives threatening letters. She has reason to fear a certain person. Then she is – killed. And you ask me to believe that she is killed – not by that person – but by someone entirely different! I say that that is ridiculous.’

‘It seems so – yes,’ said Reilly meditatively.

He looked at Captain Maitland. ‘Coincidence – eh? What do you say, Maitland? Are you in favour of the idea? Shall we put it up to Leidner?’

Captain Maitland gave a nod.

‘Go ahead,’ he said shortly.

‘Have you ever heard of a man called Hercule Poirot, Leidner?’

Dr Leidner stared at him, puzzled.

‘I think I have heard the name, yes,’ he said vaguely. ‘I once heard a Mr Van Aldin speak of him in very high terms. He is a private detective, is he not?’

‘That’s the man.’

‘But surely he lives in London, so how will that help us?’

‘He lives in London, true,’ said Dr Reilly, ‘but this is where the coincidence comes in. He is now, not in London, but in Syria, and he will actually pass through Hassanieh on his way to Baghdad tomorrow!’

‘Who told you this?’

‘Jean Berat, the French consul. He dined with us last night and was talking about him. It seems he has been disentangling some military scandal in Syria. He’s coming through here to visit Baghdad, and afterwards returning through Syria to London. How’s that for a coincidence?’

Dr Leidner hesitated a moment and looked apologetically at Captain Maitland.

‘What do you think, Captain Maitland?’

‘Should welcome co-operation,’ said Captain Maitland promptly. ‘My fellows are good scouts at scouring the countryside and investigating Arab blood feuds, but frankly, Leidner, this business of your wife’s seems to me rather out of my class. The whole thing looks confoundedly fishy. I’m more than willing to have the fellow take a look at the case.’

‘You suggest that I should appeal to this man Poirot to help us?’ said Dr Leidner. ‘And suppose he refuses?’

‘He won’t refuse,’ said Dr Reilly.

‘How do you know?’

‘Because I’m a professional man myself. If a really intricate case of, say, cerebro-spinal meningitis comes my way and I’m invited to take a hand, I shouldn’t be able to refuse. This isn’t an ordinary crime, Leidner.’

‘No,’ said Dr Leidner. His lips twitched with sudden pain. ‘Will you then, Reilly, approach this Hercule Poirot on my behalf?’

‘I will.’

Dr Leidner made a gesture of thanks.

‘Even now,’ he said slowly, ‘I can’t realize it – that Louise is really dead.’

I could bear it no longer.

‘Oh! Doctor Leidner,’ I burst out, ‘I – I can’t tell you how badly I feel about this. I’ve failed so badly in my duty. It was my job to watch over Mrs Leidner – to keep her from harm.’

Dr Leidner shook his head gravely.

‘No, no, nurse, you’ve nothing to reproach yourself with,’ he said slowly. ‘It’s I, God forgive me, who am to blame…I didn’t believe – all along I didn’t believe…I didn’t dream for one moment that there was any real danger…’

He got up. His face twitched.

‘I let her go to her death…Yes, I let her go to her death – not believing–’

He staggered out of the room.

Dr Reilly looked at me.

‘I feel pretty culpable too,’ he said. ‘I thought the good lady was playing on his nerves.’

‘I didn’t take it really seriously either,’ I confessed.

‘We were all three wrong,’ said Dr Reilly gravely.

‘So it seems,’ said Captain Maitland.