Agatha Christie – A Murder Is Announced

‘Oh, yes. He was a millionaire, wasn’t he?’

‘Oh, several times over—though his finances fluctuated. He always risked most of what he made on some new coup.’

She spoke with a certain animation, her eyes brightened by memory.

‘Anyway he died a very rich man. He had no children. He left his fortune in trust for his wife during her lifetime and after death to me absolutely.’

A vague memory stirred in the Inspector’s mind.

IMMENSE FORTUNE TO COME TO FAITHFUL SECRETARY

—something of that kind.

‘For the last twelve years or so,’ said Miss Blacklock with a slight twinkle, ‘I’ve had an excellent motive for murdering Mrs Goedler—but that doesn’t help you, does it?’

‘Did—excuse me for asking this—did Mrs Goedler resent her husband’s disposition of his fortune?’

Miss Blacklock was now looking frankly amused.

‘You needn’t be so very discreet. What you really mean is, was I Randall Goedler’s mistress? No, I wasn’t. I don’t think Randall ever gave me a sentimental thought, and I certainly didn’t give him one. He was in love with Belle (his wife), and remained in love with her until he died. I think in all probability it was gratitude on his part that prompted his making his will. You see, Inspector, in the very early days, when Randall was still on an insecure footing, he came very near to disaster. It was a question of just a few thousands of actual cash. It was a big coup, and a very exciting one; daring, as all his schemes were; but he just hadn’t got that little bit of cash to tide him over. I came to the rescue. I had a little money of my own. I believed in Randall. I sold every penny I had out and gave it to him. It did the trick. A week later he was an immensely wealthy man.

‘After that, he treated me more or less as a junior partner. Oh! they were exciting days.’ She sighed. ‘I enjoyed it all thoroughly. Then my father died, and my only sister was left a hopeless invalid. I had to give it all up and go and look after her. Randall died a couple of years later. I had made quite a lot of money during our association and I didn’t really expect him to leave me anything, but I was very touched, yes, and very proud to find that if Belle predeceased me (and she was one of those delicate creatures whom everyone always says won’t live long) I was to inherit his entire fortune. I think really the poor man didn’t know who to leave it to. Belle’s a dear, and she was delighted about it. She’s really a very sweet person. She lives up in Scotland. I haven’t seen her for years—we just write at Christmas. You see, I went with my sister to a sanatorium in Switzerland just before the war. She died of consumption out there.’

She was silent for a moment or two, then said:

‘I only came back to England just over a year ago.’

‘You said you might be a rich woman very soon…How soon?’

‘I heard from the nurse attendant who looks after Belle Goedler that Belle is sinking rapidly. It may be—only a few weeks.’

She added sadly:

‘The money won’t mean much to me now. I’ve got quite enough for my rather simple needs. Once I should have enjoyed playing the markets again—but now…Oh, well, one grows old. Still, you do see, Inspector, don’t you, that if Patrick and Julia wanted to kill me for a financial reason they’d be crazy not to wait for another few weeks.’

‘Yes, Miss Blacklock, but what happens if you should predecease Mrs Goedler? Who does the money go to then?’

‘D’you know, I’ve never really thought. Pip and Emma, I suppose…’

Craddock stared and Miss Blacklock smiled.

‘Does that sound rather crazy? I believe, if I predecease Belle, the money would go to the legal offspring—or whatever the term is—of Randall’s only sister, Sonia. Randall had quarrelled with his sister. She married a man whom he considered a crook and worse.’

‘And was he a crook?’

‘Oh, definitely, I should say. But I believe a very attractive person to women. He was a Greek or a Roumanian or something—what was his name now—Stamfordis, Dmitri Stamfordis.’