Chapter One

Mrs. McGillicuddy panted along the platform in the wake of the porter carrying her suitcase. Mrs. McGillicuddy was short and stout, the porter was tall and free-striding. In addition, Mrs. McGillicuddy was burdened with a large quantity of parcels; the result of a day’s Christmas shopping. The race was, therefore, an uneven one, and the porter turned the corner at the end of the platform whilst Mrs. McGillicuddy was still coming up the straight.

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Chapter Two

True to the precepts handed down to her by her mother and grandmother—to wit: that a true lady can neither be shocked nor surprised—Miss Marple merely raised her eyebrows and shook her head, as she said:

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Chapter Three

“Less serious? Fiddlesticks!” said Mrs. McGillicuddy. “It was murder!”

She looked defiantly at Miss Marple and Miss Marple looked back at her.

“Go on, Jane,” said Mrs. McGillicuddy. “Say it was all a mistake! Say I imagined the whole thing! That’s what you think now, isn’t it?”

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Chapter Four

The name of Lucy Eyelesbarrow had already made itself felt in certain circles.

Lucy Eyelesbarrow was thirty-two. She had taken a First in Mathematics at Oxford, was acknowledged to have a brilliant mind and was confidently expected to take up a distinguished academic career.

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Chapter Five

“I suppose it will be all right if I just practise a few iron shots in the park?” asked Lucy.

“Oh, yes, certainly. Are you fond of golf?”

“I’m not much good, but I like to keep in practice. It’s a more agreeable form of exercise than just going for a walk.”

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Chapter Six

I

A few minutes later Lucy, rather pale, left the barn, locked the door and put the key back on the nail.

She went rapidly to the stables, got out her car and drove down the back drive. She stopped at the post office at the end of the road. She went into the telephone box, put in the money and dialled.

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Chapter Seven

I

“We’d better have the Yard in on it, is that what you think, Bacon?”

The Chief Constable looked inquiringly at Inspector Bacon. The inspector was a big stolid man—his expression was that of one utterly disgusted with humanity.

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Chapter Eight

I

On entering the library Mr. Wimborne blinked a little as his shrewd old eyes went past Inspector Bacon whom he had already met, to the fair-haired, good-looking man beyond him.

Inspector Bacon performed introductions.

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Chapter Nine

I

The only people who really did justice to Lucy’s excellent lunch were the two boys and Cedric Crackenthorpe who appeared completely unaffected by the circumstances which had caused him to return to England. He seemed, indeed, to regard the whole thing as a rather good joke of a macabre nature.

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Chapter Ten

I

Miss Marple, sitting erect against a background of china dogs and presents from Margate, smiled approvingly at Inspector Dermot Craddock.

“I’m so glad,” she said, “that you have been assigned to the case. I hoped you would be.”

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Chapter Eleven

I

“I simply can’t make you out,” said Cedric Crackenthorpe.

He eased himself down on the decaying wall of a long derelict pigsty and stared at Lucy Eyelesbarrow.

“What can’t you make out?”

“What you’re doing here?”

“I’m earning my living.”

“As a skivvy?” he spoke disparagingly.

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Chapter Twelve

I

“Girl! You, girl! Come in here.”

Lucy turned her head, surprised. Old Mr. Crackenthorpe was beckoning to her fiercely from just inside a door.

“You want me, Mr. Crackenthorpe?”

“Don’t talk so much. Come in here.”

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Chapter Thirteen

I

“It’s so very kind of you to have asked me to take tea with you,” said Miss Marple to Emma Crackenthorpe.

Miss Marple was looking particularly woolly and fluffy—a picture of a sweet old lady. She beamed as she looked round her—at Harold Crackenthorpe in his well-cut dark suit, at Alfred handing her sandwiches with a charming smile, at Cedric standing by the mantelpiece in a ragged tweed jacket scowling at the rest of his family.

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Chapter Fourteen

I

Dermot Craddock was fraternizing with Armand Dessin of the Paris Prefecture. The two men had met on one or two occasions and got on well together. Since Craddock spoke French fluently, most of their conversation was conducted in that language.

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Chapter Fifteen

I

Inspector Craddock had made an appointment with Harold Crackenthorpe at his office, and he and Sergeant Wetherall arrived there punctually. The office was on the fourth floor of a big block of City offices. Inside everything showed prosperity and the acme of modern business taste.

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Chapter Sixteen

When Craddock got to 4 Madison Road he found Lucy Eyelesbarrow with Miss Marple.
He hesitated for a moment in his plan of campaign and then decided that Lucy Eyelesbarrow might prove a valuable ally.

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Chapter Seventeen

I

Craddock had to wait a few minutes whilst Quimper finished his evening surgery, and then the doctor came to him. He looked tired and depressed.

He offered Craddock a drink and when the latter accepted he mixed one for himself as well.

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Chapter Eighteen

I

Craddock was escorted by the boys through the back door into the house. This was, it seemed, their common mode of entrance. The kitchen was bright and cheerful. Lucy, in a large white apron, was rolling out pastry. Leaning against the dresser, watching her with a kind of dog-like attention, was Bryan Eastley. With one hand he tugged at his large fair moustache.

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Chapter Nineteen

I

“Not what you’d call conclusive,” said Sergeant Wetherall with his usual gloom.

Craddock was reading through the report on Harold Crackenthorpe’s alibi for 20th December.

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Chapter Twenty

I

Over the telephone, Craddock’s voice came in sharp disbelief.

“Alfred?” he said. “Alfred?”

Inspector Bacon, shifting the telephone receiver a little, said: “You didn’t expect that?”

“No, indeed. As a matter of fact, I’d just got him taped for the murderer!”

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