Agatha Christie Other - 01 - The Man in the Brown Suit by Agatha Christie

Author:Agatha Christie
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Mystery
Published: 2010-06-22T23:00:00+00:00

The Man in the Brown Suit

Chapter 20

I drove to the hotel. There was no one in the lounge that I knew. I ran upstairs and tapped on Suzanne's door. Her voice bade me “come in.” When she saw who it was she literally fell on my neck.

“Anne, dear, where have you been? I've been worried to death about you. What have you been doing?”

“Having adventures,” I replied. “Episode III of The Perils of Pamela'.” I told her the whole story. She gave vent to a deep sigh when I finished.

“Why do these things always happen to you?” she demanded plaintively. “Why does no one gag me and bind me hand and foot?”

“You wouldn't like it if they did,” I assured her. “To tell you the truth, I'm not nearly so keen on having adventures myself as I was. A little of that sort of thing goes a long way.”

Suzanne seemed unconvinced. An hour or two of gagging and binding would have changed her view quickly enough. Suzanne likes thrills, but she hates being uncomfortable.

“And what are we all doing now?” she asked.

“I don't quite know,” I said thoughtfully. “You still go to Rhodesia, of course, to keep an eye on Pagett -”

“And you?”

That was just my difficulty. Had Chichester gone on the Kilmorden, or had he not? Did he mean to carry out his original plan of going to Durban? The hour of his leaving Muizenberg seemed to point to an affirmative answer to both questions. In that case, I might go to Durban by train. I fancied that I should get there before the boat. On the other hand, if the news of my escape were wired to Chichester, and also the information that I had left Cape Town for Durban, nothing was simpler for him than to leave the boat at either Port Elizabeth or East London and so give me the slip completely.

It was rather a knotty problem.

“We'll inquire about trains to Durban anyway,” I said.

“And it's not too late for morning tea,” said Suzanne. “We'll have it in the lounge.”

The Durban train left at 8:15 that evening, so they told me at the office. For the moment I postponed a decision, and joined Suzanne for somewhat belated “eleven o'clock tea.”

“Do you feel that you would really recognize Chichester again - in any other disguise, I mean?” asked Suzanne.

I shook my head ruefully.

“I certainly didn't recognize him as the stewardess, and never should have but for your drawing.”

“The man's a professional actor, I'm sure of it,” said Suzanne thoughtfully. “His makeup is perfectly marvellous. He might come off the boat as a navvy or something, and you'd never spot him.”

“You're very cheering,” I said.

At that minute Colonel Race stepped in through the window and came and joined us.

“What is Sir Eustace doing?” asked Suzanne. “I haven't seen him about today.”

Rather an odd expression passed over the Colonel's face.

“He's got a little trouble of his own to attend to which is keeping him busy.”

“Tell us about it.”

“I mustn't tell tales out of school.

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