Death in the Clouds (Hercule Poirot 12)

‘Gambling?’

‘Yes. I had an appalling run of luck.’

‘And she lent you as much as you wanted?’

‘Not at first. Only a small sum to begin with.’

‘Who sent you to her?’

‘Raymond—Mr Barraclough told me that he had heard she lent money to Society women.’

‘But later she lent you more?’

‘Yes—as much as I wanted. It seemed like a miracle at the time.’

‘It was Madame Giselle’s special kind of miracle,’ said Poirot drily. ‘I gather that before then you and Mr Barraclough had become—er—friends?’

‘Yes.’

‘But you were very anxious that your husband should not know about it?’

Cicely cried angrily, ‘Stephen’s a prig. He’s tired of me. He wants to marry someone

else. He’d have jumped at the thought of divorcing me.’

‘And you did not want—divorce?’

‘No. I—I—’

‘You liked your position—and also you enjoyed the use of a very ample income. Quite so. Les femmes, naturally, they must look after themselves. To proceed—there arose the question of repayment?’

‘Yes, and I—I couldn’t pay back the money. And then the old devil turned nasty. She knew about me and Raymond. She’d found out places and dates and everything—I can’t think how.’

‘She had her methods,’ said Poirot drily. ‘And she threatened, I suppose, to send all this evidence to Lord Horbury?’

‘Yes, unless I paid up.’

‘And you couldn’t pay?’

‘No.’

‘So her death was quite providential?’

Cicely Horbury said earnestly, ‘It seemed too, too wonderful.’

‘Ah, precisely—too, too wonderful. But it made you a little nervous, perhaps?’

‘Nervous?’

‘Well, after all, Madame, you alone of anyone on the plane had a motive for desiring her death.’

She drew in her breath sharply.

‘I know. It was awful. I was in an absolute state about it.’

‘Especially since you had been to see her in Paris the night before, and had had something of a scene with her?’

‘The old devil! She wouldn’t budge an inch. I think she actually enjoyed it. Oh, she was a beast through and through! I came away like a rag.’