The following post is done for a creative writing assignment by Faustina Glory V, Melanie D’Souza and Shreya Sunil. This is an abridged story of The Clocks, originally written by Agatha Christie in the year 1963.
Sheila Webb , a typist at the Cavendish Secretarial Bureau arrives at her afternoon appointment at Wilbraham Crescent in Crowdean. Here she finds a well-dressed man who was stabbed to death. A blind woman, Miss Pebmarsh, the owner of the house, then enters the house almost about to step on the corpse. At that sight, Sheila runs screaming out of the house and into the arms of a young man passing down the street.
Here is where we are introduced to a new character, Colin Lamb, who takes Sheila into his care. He enters the house, and witnesses the dead body. He has a conversation with Miss Pebmarsh to find out what had happened. He takes Sheila into the house and comforts her after which he calls the police. He calls his friend detective inspector Dick Hardcastle and informs him about the situation. The policemen arrive and do their investigation. Hardcastle then, with Colin, interviews Miss Pebmarsh and Sheila separately. He then enquires about the clocks which the blind lady says she is unaware of. ‘The cuckoo clock struck three all right, but all the others were about an hour fast. How very odd!’
The dead man’s business card which stated that his name is Mr. R. H. Curry he worked at an insurance company proves to be false and his clothing revealed nothing else, as all his labels had been removed. Hardcastle and Colin then head towards the Cavendish Secretarial Bureau, Palace Street. Colin then says that he was present there in order to find house number 61. They then enquire Miss Martindale about Sheila. She says that she is unaware of why Miss Pebmarsh asked for Sheila in particular and was not sure if it was actually Miss Pebmarsh that she spoke to on call either. She also denied to know anyone named Curry.
Hardcastle and Colin begin enquiring Miss Pebmarsh’s neighbours starting from house number 18 where Mr. Waterhouse and his sister reside. Mrs. Waterhouse tells them that she had not witnessed anything suspicious but she also says that he had seen Miss Pebmarsh passing her gate earlier that morning. ‘Miss Pebmarsh went out to the post office and the shops but she turned left instead of right, and that telephone call, according to Miss Martindale, was put through about ten minutes to two.’ said Colin.
They then enquire Mrs. Curtin who works as a maid at Miss Pebmarsh’s house. She confirms that she had never seen any other clock in the house except for the grandfather clock and the cuckoo clock, exactly what Miss Pebmarsh said earlier. Colin Lamb then reveals that he is a marine biologist and he was at Wilbraham Crescent in order to investigate a clue from a note found in a dead agent’s pocket – letter M, number 61, and a sketch of a crescent moon drawn on a sheet of hotel writing paper. The next morning Hardcastle realizes that one of the clocks are missing. ‘The Pebmarsh woman could have done it. She could have picked up the clock after I left the room and gone straight to the kitchen with it.’ says Hardcastle. They suspect Sheila too since she had gone back to the house after she was asked to leave saying that she left one of her gloves in there. As they discuss the different possibilities they also reveal that Mr. Curry was stabbed with a kitchen knife.
They then visit Diana Lodge, house number 20. The house seemed in a tumbledown condition with gutters that could do with repairing. ‘It sounds,’ says Colin, ‘like the Moated Grange.’ The singer or crooner appeared to be approaching the front door and words began to be discernible. Post a conversation about her obsession with cats, they visit the back garden. But Diana Lodge could be described as a fully detached house from the rest.
‘61 really backs on Mrs Hemming’s house—but a corner of it touches on 19, so that’s good enough. It will give you a chance to look at your Mr Bland. No foreign help, by the way.’ The sitting-room evinced several proofs of prosperity and the household looked expensive. Just like the rest, they could not collect any valid evidence from him. He then introduces them to his wife Valerie, who is unwell but however still joins in the conversation. She claims that neither has she seen Mr. Curry nor does she have information about the murder.
They then visited Mrs Ramsay, No. 62, Wilbraham Crescent. Her two sons seemed to have much more information about the case than Mrs. Ramsay herself. “There was the handle off a cup, a fragment of willow pattern china, a broken trowel, a rusty fork, a coin, a clothes‐peg, a bit of iridescent glass and half a pair of scissors.” In their collection out of which Colin took some which he felt may be used as evidence.
After having a small discussion about the Ramsays, Colin and Inspector Hardcastle move on to their next subject, the McNaughton’s. An elderly couple- retired professor, who is now invested in gardening, moved just about a year ago. Entering there were rose bushes and a thick bed of autumn crocus under the windows. Mrs. McNaughton, Inspector noticed, usually had a worried expression on her face. She rambled on about how it was odd to have a burglary at noon and how such terrible things happen quite often these days. Soon she proved to be of no help and Mr.McNaughton who was busy gardening at the moment was questioned. He had heard the screams but didn’t think big of it as the Ramsay boys were always upto something mischievous and this was just another of their doing. He says that the screams was about half-past two and right after lunch he resumed his work of clearing his garden and adding to the compost heap. When the Inspector asked if he had seen anyone in the garden at No.19 while he was at his compost heap, McNaughton only shook his head. Hardcastle remarked that Mrs.McNaughton was the type of person who would want to be involved in such a case because it’s exciting but in reality has nothing to do with it. After discussing more of the peculiarities in people’s reports of the murder they move on to their next course of action. Colin mentions he’s going to London to make a report and meet a private detective, Hercule Poirot.
The Inspector on the other hand decided to meet Mrs Lawton, Sheila’s aunt who lived on gloomy Palmerston road. While on his way he noticed a girl approaching him but hesitates midway and decides to walk past him, he realized the face was familiar but was annoyed he could not recall. Mrs Lawton was a tall, thin woman. She was unhappy about his uncalled visit but let him in after his introduction, he observed that although shabby the house had an expensive vintage touch to it. Sheila was kept late at work that night that worked to his advantage. He discovers that Sheila’s birth name was Rosemary Sheila but she went with Sheila. Mrs Lawton goes on to say that Sheila had come from London towards the end of November and had been working forthe Cavendish Bureau ever since. She didn’t know was Mr. Webb’s profession was which raised a red flag for the inspector, that she might not be telling the whole truth. So he explains that Sheila was being framed for this murder which Mrs Lawton refused to believe. Hardcastle then ventured to ask more about her parents which led him to discover that Sheila was the illegitimate child of Mrs.Lawton’s sister and was put under the care of her as her sister, Ann was determined not to give up on her career and wanted to start a new life for herself, she was clear-cut in her decisions. As for Mrs Lawton being a widow was okay with this. Inspector also realizes that the dead man might not be as sinister as he is made to seem. With the help of Mrs Lawton he finds out the hesitating girl was Edna Brent who came looking for Sheila but couldn’t wait for long.
Colin goes to Colonel Beck to report on his findings about the Larkin case and the new coincidental case he trudged upon. He then meets up with Hercule Poirot. Colin wanted to give this case to him in hopes of relieving his boredom as he was now extensively reading all sorts of things, he desperately needed a problem to solve.He thought he might enjoy this. Poirot lectures Colin a good deal about writers and fiction in general. Colin then describes the crime scene, the facts of the case and everything else in detail to which Poirot had one response : Épantant. Impatiently Colin asks for the answers and Poirot says that they’re only at the beginning of facts and asked him to come up with something and that this is a simple crime. Poirot asks him to talk to Sheila again, come up with an excuse to meet Mrs. Pebmarsh again , go to the typewriting bureau on the pretence of having some manuscript typed, make friends and then report back to him.
The inquest was well intended by the general public, the proceedings were dry. It came out that the victim was killed in a state of coma due to th administration of a drug, chloral hydrate and he was stabbed while unconscious from consuming the drug. There were discrepancies in the timing about when this took place. After the inquest concluded, people began to move out except Edna Brent. Once again she hesitated, hovering uncertainly she finally nerved herself to speak to the young policeman at the entrance asking if she could speak with Inspector Hardcastle. Unfortunately he was busy at that moment so she went away frowning perlexedly. Suddenly with an air of resolution she turned off from Albany Road in the direction of Wilbraham Crescent. Colin noticed that Sheila had given her evidence very well, nervous but not unduly nervous. He spoke to her for a while and asked her out for lunch. He thinks back on what his peers had told him, and realised they were correct, he minded about Sheila. He had fallen in love with her.
The buzzer on Hardcastle’s table sounded and then the news came : ‘They’ve found a girl dead in a telephone box on Wilbraham Crescent’, he said. ‘How?’
‘Strangled. With her own scarf!’
She was found by Miss Waterhouse. Frustrated with this new turnof events Hardcastle sits behind his desk. Just then a nervous looking Pierce, the constable who stood at the entrance the other day requests to meet him. He confesses that girl who died wanted to speak with Hardcastle but he was busy at that moment. Pierce didn’t think she thought it was a matter of relevance and thought it was just something she merely was worried about. Inspector asked few more details of that conversation and dismissed him as it was no use blaming him. He had a lot of conflicting questions as to what could be the reason she wanted to see both Sheila and himself. Why did she go to Wilbraham Crescent?
‘.. all conjecture’, he thought angrily. He then goes to meet Mrs. Pebmarsh, to see if she knew why Edna would want to visit Wilbraham Crescent but Mrs. Pebmarsh had no visiter since the inquest and couldn’t be of any help. The he proceeds to meet Miss Waterhouse, who looks at him in a censorious way, tells him directly that she had gone out to make a telephone call and when she opened the door there was the girl, she immediately got the police constable and then went back home and took a medicinal dose of brandy. Miss Waterhouse house seemed to have no connection with Edna whatsoever and so she didn’t have a reason to meet with Miss Waterhouse that day. He decided he still had time to go to the Cavendish Bureau. He was ushered into Miss Martindale’s office almost immediately after entering and she lashes out saying, ‘you must get to the bottom of it at once’. She was very defensive of her girls and said she will not allow another of them to be victimized or murdered but she couldnot help in relation with Edna and why she went as far as Wilbraham Crescent. So he was then allowed to question the rest of girls, he quickly studied the three of them. Janet spoke up saying that Edna didn’t show up to work at two o’ clock as she should have . Maureen goes on to say, “Sandy Cat” aka Miss Martindale was very annoyed about it and that she ought to have atleast sent an excuse. Maureen went on to say nobody knew where she went after the inquest, she seemed worried about something but she meant to be back at the office. When asked if there was something peculiar in her behaviour recently the girls replied that Edna was always on the edge and gets things muddled up like the day her stiletto heels came off. In the end Inspector Hardcastle couldn’t get his answer and Sheila Webb was the only hope left who at the moment was at the Curlew hotel, attending on Professor Purdy. Sheila seemed to not know about what had happened to Edna and was quite in a shock when she heard it from the Inspector . Professor Purdy occasionally interjected that he felt guilty for keeping Sheila out for so long and losing track of time, else she would’ve been able to know what Edna was so worried about. All she could say was mishaps was usual to Edna and she would always ask help from her but not on a personal level. Inspector could feel Sheila’s uneasiness even though she tried not to show it and she couldn’t understand why Edna would want to go all the way to her aunt’s house to speak to her. She never dared to go to Wilbraham Crescent since the day she discovered the body of a dead man. So yet again Inspector Hardcastle was caught up in conjecture but was resolute about finding the truth.
On arriving in London, Colin went to see Hercule Poirot about The Crowdean Clocks Murder. Poirot noticed illuminating remarks made by two neighbours and asked Collin to talk to them more. Poirot was also informed of the second murder and the postcard passed onto Hardcastle. “That postcard lacks only one thing, a fingerprint dipped in blood.’’ On asking his opinion on who Poirot thinks the dead man is, he simply replies, “Dilly, dilly, dilly – Come and be killed.”
Meanwhile over 10 days since the first murder, Inspector Hardcastle received a letter from Merlina Rival, real name Flossie Gapp, an occasional actor, stating the possibility that the man was her husband, Harry, from whom she had parted several years ago.
She claimed that she had last seen him more than 10 years ago. He claimed to be an insurance agent, but she later found out about his scam. He made a business by making women fall for him, getting engaged, then saying he’d invest money for them which they believed. It was until he came back from a trip he’d taken to Newcastle and said that he’d have to clear out as there was some woman he’d got into trouble. Hardcastle asked Ms. Rival if Harry had any distinguishing marks or scars, but she denied. She claimed that he was very careful of himself and wouldn’t stick his neck out doing something that he might be brought to book for.
The next day, Collin Lamb met Sheila Webb at the Buttercup Café, where he expressed his concern for her. Sheila told him of her thoughts of the inspector and what he thinks of her.
“He thinks I put myself on the spot. He thinks it’s all a trumped-up story. He thinks that Edna in some way knew about it. He thinks that Edna recognised my voice on the telephone pretending to be Miss Pebmarsh.” Collin then questioned Sheila as to why she stole the clock from the mansion. She said that she did it because it had her middle name on it, “Rosemary”. She also said that she had the clock nearly all her life. She had taken it to a clock repairing shop near the Bureau recently, but lost it somewhere else. When she found the dead man, she forgot about her clock but before leaving, remembered it, went back inside saying she forgot her gloves, and stole the clock.
Being an orphan, she assumed either of her parents were criminals, but was told that they died. The name Rosemary means “resemblance”. After her questioning, she wondered if the dead man was her father, but she was too frightened and confused and did something stupid. She later dumped the clock in the dustbin of the house next door.
Before leaving to London, Collin visited Hardcastle, who handed him a letter from Merlina Rival stating that her husband did have a scar behind his left ear from a cut with a razor when their dog jumped at him and that it was small and unimportant that she forgot to mention it. Collin then made a visit to Mrs. Ramsey regarding the whereabouts of her husband, who worked as a construction engineer and was currently in Rumania, to which she was kept uninformed.
The next morning, Collin stood staring at No.19 when he noticed an onlooker, a child at the window, Geraldine Brown, from the opposite house and decided to talk to her and get some information regarding the neighbourhood and the murders. He inferred the possibility that Mr. Curry might have somehow gotten into the house prior to his murder. The only suspicious activity was the change in the laundry services from Southern Downs Laundry to Snowflake Laundry, which had an unusually large delivery basket. The face of the delivery man was not identifiable.
The scene changes to Mrs Rivals’ encounter with Inspector Hardcastle where she appears very hesitant to discuss about Harry and the scar. The police found that the scar tissue behind Harry’s ear showed that the wound could not be older than five to six years ago and not 14 years back, when she claimed he had gotten it. The Inspector warns her of her statements, that she might be charged with perjury.
After he left, she frighteningly made a phone call from the post office and tried to talk herself out from the deal she made with the receiver but was offered more money instead to lie to the police. The next day, she was stabbed at Victoria Station.
Collin then arrived at Crowdean, five days later and received a letter from Hercule Poirot saying,
“CURLEW HOTEL 11.30
ROOM 413
(Knock three times)”
They waited for Detective Hardcastle to arrive, after which Poirot claimed that he might have figured out the “melodramatic, fantastic and completely unreal” case. He explains that the murderer used simple distractions as a cover up and “If you draw a circle round Number 19, anybody within it might have killed Mr Curry. There are also those already positioned on the spot.”
Poirot said that a valuable remark by Mrs. Hemming, ‘He just came there to be killed. How odd’, was made and the fake identity’s names were taken from a village in Somerset, Curry Rival. The man’s identity was not to be revealed so Poirot assumed that he also might not be known for having gone missing. He was also only visiting the country.
With regards to Edna’s murder, she wanted to talk to Sheila away from the work place as she believed that someone at the inquest was lying. She could have been referring to Miss Martindale’s evidence of the telephone call she had received purporting to be from Miss Pebmarsh. It was possible that there was no call at all. Miss Martindale might not have been aware of Edna’s presence in the office when she claims the call came through so Edna knew she was lying. On being confronted, Ms. Martindale acted quickly and strangled Edna with a scarf from behind and left her in the telephone box.
Poirot then says that when Colin spoke to the neighbours, Mrs Bland remarked that she liked living in Crowdean because she had a sister there. But she had inherited a large fortune a year ago from a Canadian great-uncle because she was the only surviving member of his family. Mr. Bland had two wives, the first, died after the war and he remarried almost immediately. A relative, coming from Canada for transferring their inheritance might have known the first wife well enough. Here, Mrs Bland’s sister, Miss Martindale may have been the ruling spirit. She thought up and planned the whole thing. With this, it was also possible that the murderer would have slipped over on a day trip to France or Belgium and discarded the dead man’s passport in a train or a tram so that the inquiry would take place from another country.
Colin confirmed this saying Mr Bland had mentioned recently taking a day’s trip to Boulogne.
The whole case was a scripted murder adapted from Gerry Gregson’s unpublished novel. Ms. Martindale was his secretary, who just lifted it bodily to suit her purpose.
Colin returned to Wilbraham Crescent, No.19, after cracking the Larkin case. He warned Ms. Pebmarsh, exposing her for her involvement in the crime. She tried attacking him with a pocket knife but was later arrested.
Later Poirot receives a letter from Hardcastle stating that a Mr Quentin Duguesclin of Quebec left Canada for Europe approximately four weeks ago. He had no near relatives and his plans for return were indefinite. His passport was found by the proprietor of a small restaurant in Boulogne, who handed it into the police and has not been claimed yet. Being a lifelong friend and fond of the first Mrs. Bland, he intended to look them up while he was in England. The body identified as Henry Castleton has been positively identified as Quentin Duguesclin.
The Bland woman cracked and admitted the whole thing blaming her sister and her husband entirely. Meanwhile Colin married Sheila Webb.
The End.
Serendipity 