Death in the Clouds (Hercule Poirot 12)

‘Not at all easy for a layman.’

‘Then we’ll have to search you extra carefully,’ said Japp, who was always fond of his joke. ‘Rogers!’

The doctor and the constable left the room together.

Japp tilted back his chair and looked at Poirot.

‘Rum business, this,’ he said. ‘Bit too sensational to be true. I mean, blowpipes and poisoned darts in an aeroplane—well, it insults one’s intelligence.’

‘That, my friend, is a very profound remark,’ said Poirot.

‘A couple of my men are searching the plane,’ said Japp. ‘We’ve got a fingerprint man and a photographer coming along. I think we’d better see the stewards next.’

He strode to the door and gave an order. The two stewards were ushered in. The younger steward had recovered his balance. He looked more excited than anything else. The other steward still looked white and frightened.

‘That’s all right, my lads,’ said Japp. ‘Sit down. Got the passports there? Good.’

He sorted through them quickly.

‘Ah, here we are. Marie Morisot—French passport. Know anything about her?’

‘I’ve seen her before. She crossed to and fro from England fairly often,’ said Mitchell.

‘Ah! in business of some kind. You don’t know what her business was?’

Mitchell shook his head. The younger steward said, ‘I remember her too. I saw her on the early service—the eight o’clock from Paris.’

‘Which of you was the last to see her alive?’

‘Him.’ The younger steward indicated his companion.

‘That’s right,’ said Mitchell. ‘That’s when I took her her coffee.’

‘How was she looking then?’

‘Can’t say I noticed. I just handed her the sugar and offered her milk, which she refused.’

‘What time was that?’

‘Well, I couldn’t say exactly. We were over the Channel at the

time. Might have been somewhere about two o’clock.’

‘Thereabouts,’ said Albert Davis, the other steward.

‘When did you see her next?’

‘When I took the bills round.’

‘What time was that?’

‘About a quarter of an hour later. I thought she was asleep—Crikey, she must have been dead then!’

The steward’s voice sounded awed.

‘You didn’t see any signs of this—’ Japp indicated the little wasp-like dart.

‘No, sir, I didn’t.’