Free Hercule Poirot's Christmas by Agatha Christie Page B

superintendent was here just before dinner.” Then the chief is convinced the old gentleman means business and it’s up to him to cough up the stones.’
    ‘H’m, yes, I see that,’ said Colonel Johnson. ‘Any idea, Sugden, who this “member of the family” might be?’
    ‘No, sir.’
    ‘No indication whatsoever?’
    ‘None.’
    Johnson shook his head. Then he said:
    ‘Well, let’s get on with it.’
    Superintendent Sugden resumed his official manner.
    ‘I returned to the house, sir, at nine-fifteen precisely. Just as I was about to ring the front door bell, I heard a scream from inside the house, and then a confused sound of shouts and a general commotion. I rang several times and also used the knocker. It was three or four minutes before the door was answered. When the footman at last opened it I could see that something momentous had occurred. He was shaking all over and looked as though he was about to faint. He gasped out that Mr Lee had been murdered. I ran hastily upstairs. I found Mr Lee’s room in a state of wild confusion. There had evidently been a severe struggle. Mr Lee himself was lying in front of the fire with his throat cut in a pool of blood.’
    The chief constable said sharply:
    ‘He couldn’t have done it himself?’
    Sugden shook his head.
    ‘Impossible, sir. For one thing, there were the chairs and tables overturned, and the broken crockery and ornaments, and then there was no sign of the razor or knife with which the crime had been committed.’
    The chief constable said thoughtfully:
    ‘Yes, that seems conclusive. Anyone in the room?’
    ‘Most of the family were there, sir. Just standing round.’
    Colonel Johnson said sharply:
    ‘Any ideas, Sugden?’
    The superintendent said slowly:
    ‘It’s a bad business, sir. It looks to me as though one of them must have done it. I don’t see how anyone from outside could have done it and got away in time.’
    ‘What about the window? Closed or open?’
    ‘There are two windows in the room, sir. One was closed and locked. The other was open a few inches at the bottom—but it was fixed in that position by a burglar screw, and moreover, I’ve tried it and it’s stuck fast—hasn’t been opened for years, I should say. Also the wall outside is quite smooth and unbroken—no ivy or creepers. I don’t see how anyone could have left that way.’
    ‘How many doors in the room?’
    ‘Just one. The room is at the end of a passage. That door was locked on the inside. When they heard the noise of the struggle and the old man’s dying scream, and rushed upstairs, they had to break down the door to get in.’
    Johnson said sharply:
    ‘And who was in the room?’
    Superintendent Sugden replied gravely:
    ‘Nobody was in the room, sir, except the old man who had been killed not more than a few minutes previously.’

Hercule Poirot's Christmas
    VII
    Colonel Johnson stared at Sugden for some minutes before he spluttered:
    ‘Do you mean to tell me, Superintendent, that this is one of those damned cases you get in detective stories where a man is killed in a locked room by some apparently supernatural agency?’
    A very faint smile agitated the superintendent’s moustache as he replied gravely:
    ‘I do not think it’s quite as bad as that, sir.’
    Colonel Johnson said:
    ‘Suicide. It must be suicide!’
    ‘Where’s the weapon, if so? No, sir, suicide won’t do.’
    ‘Then how did the murderer escape? By the window?’ Sugden shook his head.
    ‘I’ll take my oath he didn’t do that.’
    ‘But the door was locked, you say, on the inside.’
    The superintendent nodded. He drew a key from his pocket and laid it on the table.
    ‘No fingerprints,’ he announced. ‘But just look at that key, sir. Take a look at it with that magnifying glass there.’
    Poirot bent forward. He and Johnson examined the key together. The chief constable uttered an exclamation.
    ‘By Jove, I get you. Those faint scratches on the end of the barrel. You see