Chapters (33)
- Dedication
- Acknowledgments
- 1. Runaway Jennie
- 2. Murder in Three Rooms
- 3. At the Bloxham Hotel
- 4. The Frame Widens
- 5. Ask a Hundred People
- 6. The Sherry Conundrum
- 7. Two Keys
- 8. Assembling Our Thoughts
- 9. A Visit to Great Holling
- 10. Slander’s Mark
- 11. Two Recollections
- 12. A Grievous Wound
- 13. Nancy Ducane
- 14. The Mind in the Mirror
- 15. The Fourth Cufflink
- 16. A Lie for a Lie
- 17. The Older Woman and the Younger Man
- 18. Knock and See Who Comes to the Door
- 19. The Truth at Last
- 20. How It All Went Wrong
- 21. All the Devils Are Here
- 22. The Monogram Murders
- 23. The Real Ida Gransbury
- 24. The Blue Jug and Bowl
- 25. If Murder Began with a D
- Epilogue
- About the Author
- Also by Sophie Hannah
- Also by Agatha Christie
- Credits
- About the Publisher
“I wouldn’t and I don’t. You’ve got to be careful what questions you ask the question-asking sort. Did you find out anything else about Jennie?”
“Nothing I can tell you, I’m afraid.”
“Then why don’t I tell you something instead? Mr. Poirot’ll want to know.” Fee propelled me toward an unoccupied table. We sat down. She said, “That night Jennie came in, when she was all sixes and sevens—last Thursday. I told Mr. Poirot I noticed something, and then it escaped me. Well, I’ve remembered what it was. It was dark, and I hadn’t pulled the curtains across. I never do. Might as well light up the alley, I always think. And folk who can see in are more likely to come in.”
“Especially if they catch sight of you in the window,” I teased her.
Her eyes widened. “That’s just it,” she said.
“What do you mean?”
“After I made her shut the door, Jennie darted over to the window and stared out. She was acting as if someone out there was after her. She stared and stared out of the window, but all she would have seen was herself, this room, and me—my reflection, I mean. And I saw her. That’s how I knew who she was. You ask Mr. Poirot, he’ll tell you. I said, ‘Oh, it’s you, is it?’ before she’d turned round. The window was like a mirror, see, with it being all lit up in here and dark outside. Now, you might say that maybe she was trying to see outside even if she wasn’t having much luck, but that’s not true.”
“What do you mean?”
“She wasn’t looking out for anyone following her. She was watching me, like I was watching her. My eyes could see hers reflected, and hers could see mine—like with a mirror, if you know how that is?”
I nodded. “Whenever you can see someone in a mirror, they can always see you too.”
“Right enough. And Jennie was watching me, I swear: waiting to see what I’d say or do about her coming in all of a pet. This’ll sound funny, Mr. Catchpool, but it was like I could see more than her eyes. I could see her mind, if that don’t sound too fanciful. I’d swear she was waiting for me to take charge.”
“Anyone sensible would wait for you to take charge.” I smiled.
“Tschk.” Fee made a noise that suggested irritation. “I don’t know how I forgot it, if you must know. I want to grab hold of me and give me a good shaking for not remembering before now. I swear I didn’t imagine it. Her reflection was staring mine right in the eyes, as if . . .” Fee frowned. “As if I was the danger and not nobody outside on the street. But why would she look at me that way? Can you make sense of it? I can’t.”