The Case of the City Clerk: An Agatha Christie Short Story

‘Hallo, Parker. Hardly ever see you nowadays. Didn’t know you came here.’

‘I do now and then. Especially when I want to lay my hand on an old friend.’

‘Meaning me?’

‘Meaning you. As a matter of fact, Lucas, I’ve been thinking over what we were talking about the other day.’

‘The Peterfield business? Seen the latest in the papers? No, you can’t have. It won’t be in till this evening.’

‘What is the latest?’

‘They murdered Peterfield last night,’ said Mr Bonnington, placidly eating salad.

‘Good heavens!’ cried Mr Pyne.

‘Oh, I’m not surprised,’ said Mr Bonnington. ‘Pigheaded old man, Peterfield. Wouldn’t listen to us. Insisted on keeping the plans in his own hands.’

‘Did they get them?’

‘No; it seems some woman came round and gave the professor a recipe for boiling a ham. The old ass, absent-minded as usual, put the recipe for the ham in his safe and the plans in the kitchen.’

‘Fortunate.’

‘Almost providential. But I still don’t know who’s going to take ’em to Geneva. Maitland’s in the hospital. Carslake’s in Berlin. I can’t leave. It means young Hooper.’ He looked at his friend.

‘You’re still of the same opinion?’ asked Mr Parker Pyne.

‘Absolutely. He’s been got at! I know it. I haven’t a shadow of proof, but I tell you, Parker, I know when a chap’s crooked! And I want those plans to get to Geneva. The League needs ’em. For the first time an invention isn’t going to be sold to a nation. It’s going to be handed over voluntarily to the League.

‘It’s the finest peace gesture that’s ever been attempted, and it’s got to be put through. And Hooper’s crooked. You’ll see, he’ll be drugged on the train! If he goes in a plane it’ll come down at some convenient spot! But confound it all, I can’t pass him over. Discipline! You’ve got to have discipline! That’s why I spoke to you the other day.’