'You induced him?' The Countess stared incredulously at the small rat-like figure. 'But how? How?'
Mr Higgs dropped his eyes bashfully.
''Ardly like to say afore a lady. But there's things no dogs won't resist. Follow me anywhere a dog will if I want 'im to. Of course you understand it won't work the same way with bitches – no, that's different, that is.'
The Countess Rossakoff turned on Poirot.
'But why? Why?'
Poirot said slowly: 'A dog trained for the purpose will carry an article in his mouth until he is commanded to loose it. He will carry it if need be for hours. Will you now tell your dog to drop what he holds?'
Vera Rossakoff stared, turned, and uttered two crisp words.
The great jaws of Cerberus opened. Then, it was really alarming, Cerberus's tongue seemed to drop out of his mouth!
Poirot stepped forward. He picked up a small package encased in pink, spongebag rubber. He unwrapped it. Inside it was a packet of white powder.
'What is it?' the Countess demanded sharply.
Poirot said softly: 'Cocaine. Such a small quantity, it would seem – but enough to be worth thousands of pounds to those willing to pay for it. Enough to bring ruin and misery to several hundred people.'
She caught her breath. She cried out: 'And you think that I – but it is not so! I swear to you it is not so! In the past I have amused myself with the jewels, the bibelots, the little curiosities – it all helps one to live, you understand. And what I feel is, why not? Why should one person own a thing more than another?'
'Just what I feel about dogs,' Mr Higgs chimed in.
'You have no sense of right or wrong,' said Poirot sadly to the Countess.
She went on: 'But drugs – that, no! For there one causes misery, pain, degeneration! I had no idea – no faintest idea – that my so charming, so innocent, so delightful little Hell was being used for that purpose!'
'I agree with you about dope,' said Mr Higgs. 'Doping of greyhounds – that's dirty, that is! I wouldn't never have nothing to do with anything like that, and I never 'ave 'ad!'
'But say you believe me, my friend,' implored the Countess.
'But of course I believe you! Have I not taken time and trouble to convict the real organiser of the dope racket. Have I not performed the twelfth Labour of Hercules and brought Cerberus up from Hell to prove my case? For I tell you this, I do not like to see my friends framed – yes, framed – for it was you who were intended to take the rap if things went wrong! It was in your handbag the emeralds would have been found and if any one had been clever enough (like me) to suspect a hiding-place in the mouth of a savage dog – eh bien, he is your dog, is he not? Even if he has accepted la petite Alice to the point of obeying her orders also! Yes, you may well open your eyes! From the first I did not like that young lady with her scientific jargon and her coat and skirt with the big pockets. Yes, pockets. Unnatural that any woman should be so disdainful of her appearance! And what does she say to me – that it is fundamentals that count! Aha! what is fundamental is pockets. Pockets in which she can carry drugs and take away jewels – a little exchange easily made whilst she is dancing with her accomplice whom she pretends to regard as a psychological case. Ah, but what a cover! No one suspects the earnest, the scientific psychologist with a medical degree and spectacles. She can smuggle in drugs, and induce her rich patients to form the habit, and put up the money for a night club and arrange that it shall be run by someone with – shall we say, a little weakness in her past! But she despises Hercule Poirot, she thinks she can deceive him with her talk of nursery governesses and vests! Eh bien, I am ready for her. The lights go off. Quickly I rise from my table and go to stand by Cerberus. In the darkness I hear her come. She opens his mouth and forces in the package, and I – delicately, unfelt by her, I snip with a tiny pair of scissors a little piece from her sleeve.'
Dramatically he produced a sliver of material.
'You observe – the identical checked tweed – and I will give it to Japp to fit it back where it belongs – and make the arrest – and say how clever once more has been Scotland Yard.'
The Countess Rossakoff stared at him in stupefaction. Suddenly she let out a wail like a foghorn.
'But my Niki – my Niki. This will be terrible for him -' She paused. 'Or do you think not?'
'There are a lot of other girls in America,' said Hercule Poirot.
'And but for you his mother would be in prison – in prison – with her hair cut off – sitting in a cell – and smelling of disinfectant! Ah, but you are wonderful – wonderful.'
Surging forward she clasped Poirot in her arms and embraced him with Slavonic fervour. Mr Higgs looked on appreciatively. The dog Cerberus beat his tail upon the floor.
Into the midst of this scene of rejoicing came the trill of a bell.
'Japp!' exclaimed Poirot, disengaging himself from the Countess's arms.
'It would be better, perhaps, if I went into the other room,' said the Countess.
She slipped through the connecting door. Poirot started towards the door to the hall.
'Guv'nor,' wheezed Mr Higgs anxiously, 'better look at yourself in the glass, 'adn't you?'
Poirot did so and recoiled. Lipstick and mascara ornamented his face in a fantastic medley.
'If that's Mr Japp from Scotland Yard, 'e'd think the worst – sure to,' said Mr Higgs.
He added, as the bell pealed again, and Poirot strove feverishly to remove crimson grease from the points of his moustache: 'What do yer want me to do – 'ook it too? What about this 'ere 'Ell 'Ound?'
'If I remember rightly,' said Hercule Poirot, 'Cerberus returned to Hell.'
'Just as you like,' said Mr Higgs. 'As a matter of fact I've taken a kind of fancy to 'im… Still, 'e's not the kind I'd like to pinch – not permanent – too noticeable, if you know what I mean. And think what he'd cost me in shin of beef or 'orseflesh! Eats as much as a young lion, I expect.'
'From the Nemean Lion to the Capture of Cerberus,' murmured Poirot. 'It is complete.'
VI
A week later Miss Lemon brought a bill to her employer.
'Excuse me, M. Poirot. Is it in order for me to pay this? Leonora, Florist. Red Roses. Eleven pounds, eight shillings and sixpence. Sent to Countess Vera Rossakoff, Hell, 13 End St, W.C.1.'
As the hue of red roses, so were the cheeks of Hercule Poirot. He blushed, blushed to the eyeballs.
'Perfectly in order. Miss Lemon. A little – er, tribute – to – to an occasion. The Countesses son has just become engaged in America – to the daughter of his employer, a steel magnate. Red roses are – I seem to remember, her favourite flower.'
'Quite,' said Miss Lemon. 'They're very expensive this time of year.'
Hercule Poirot drew himself up.
'There are moments,' he said, 'when one does not economise.'
Humming a little tune, he went out of the door. His step was light, almost sprightly. Miss Lemon stared after him. Her filing system was forgotten. All her feminine instincts were aroused.
'Good gracious,' she murmured. 'I wonder… Really – at his age!… Surely not…'
