The Million Dollar Bond Robbery by Agatha Christie

Author:Agatha Christie [Christie, Agatha]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery
Goodreads: 2322532
Publisher: DH Audio
Published: 1998-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

When we were in the train, speeding towards London, Poirot wrote busily for a few minutes, sealing up the result in an envelope.

‘This is for the good Inspector McNeil. We will leave it at Scotland Yard in passing, and then to the Rendezvous Restaurant, where I have asked Miss Esmée Farquhar to do us the honour of dining with us.’

‘What about Ridgeway?’

‘What about him?’ asked Poirot with a twinkle.

‘Why, you surely don’t think – you can’t –’

‘The habit of incoherence is growing upon you, Hastings. As a matter of fact I did think. If Ridgeway had been the thief – which was perfectly possible – the case would have been charming; a piece of neat methodical work.’

‘But not so charming for Miss Farquhar.’

‘Possibly you are right. Therefore all is for the best. Now, Hastings, let us review the case. I can see that you are dying to do so. The sealed package is removed from the trunk and vanishes, as Miss Farquhar puts it, into thin air. We will dismiss the thin air theory, which is not practicable at the present stage of science, and consider what is likely to have become of it. Everyone asserts the incredulity of its being smuggled ashore –’

‘Yes, but we know –’

‘You may know, Hastings, I do not. I take the view that, since it seemed incredible, it was incredible. Two possibilities remain: it was hidden on board – also rather difficult – or it was thrown overboard.’

‘With a cork on it, do you mean?’

‘Without a cork.’

I stared.

‘But if the bonds were thrown overboard, they couldn’t have been sold in New York.’

‘I admire your logical mind, Hastings. The bonds were sold in New York, therefore they were not thrown overboard. You see where that leads us?’

‘Where we were when we started.’

‘Jamais de la vie! If the package was thrown overboard and the bonds were sold in New York, the package could not have contained the bonds. Is there any evidence that the package did contain the bonds? Remember, Mr Ridgeway never opened it from the time it was placed in his hands in London.’

‘Yes, but then –’

Poirot waved an impatient hand.

‘Permit me to continue. The last moment that the bonds are seen as bonds is in the office of the London and Scottish Bank on the morning of the 23rd. They reappear in New York half an hour after the Olympia gets in, and according to one man, whom nobody listens to, actually before she gets in. Supposing then, that they have never been on the Olympia at all? Is there any other way they could get to New York? Yes. The Gigantic leaves Southampton on the same day as the Olympia, and she holds the record for the Atlantic. Mailed by the Gigantic, the bonds would be in New York the day before the Olympia arrived. All is clear, the case begins to explain itself. The sealed packet is only a dummy, and the moment of its substitution must be in the office in the bank.

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