The Unfaithful Servant

"Oh! Frederick, do you love me? Do you really love me? Really, truly?"

"Yes, of course I do. You know I do, my darling. How could you doubt me?"

• Read: Murder She Wrought part one
• Read: Murder She Wrought part two
• Read: Murder She Wrought part three

"And are you sure you are going to leave your wife?"

"Yes, yes, yes, you know I don't love her, I never have."

Even as he said the words, he felt a traitor. A traitor to his wife, a traitor to his mistress, a traitor to everything he had ever believed in.

He resolved that he must....

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Chapter four

"Frederick, how could you?"

Sitting on the edge of the Chesterfield, Agatha sobbed, a lace handkerchief covering her now streaming eyes.

Frederick stood stiff in his lounge suit, not sure whether to go to his wife, or to stand his ground. He peered out through expansive windows in the hope of finding some kind of inspiration. He found nothing but a view of the newly-manicured lawn.

"My dearest wife it was nothing...." he said, the strain evident in his wavering voice.

"Nothing!" Gasped Agatha. "How can you say it was nothing?"

"I mean she was nothing to me. Just a dalliance. It happens you know," he replied hastily and with a hurt edge to his voice.

Frederick buried his head in his hands in what he imagined was a display of contrition but was, in truth, an opportunity for him to try to think of a way of this mess he had created. Frederick Mayfield was not a man of instant action.

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Chapter seven

With laboured breath he crept up the stairs of the lodging house, gripping the tennis bag feverishly, feeling the leather handles slip in the sweat of his palms. Though Cynthia was expecting him, he did not want anyone else to know he was there.

As she opened the door to her room, he stepped inside, nervously checking that nobody else was about. Cynthia stepped back, alarmed at the expression on his face. He gripped the iron bar, firmly, but with indecision. Could he do it? Could he commit murder for the sake of his marriage? Would he get away with it? He imagined the rough rope, tightening around his neck, strangling the life out of him, and shivered. A moment's further hesitation and then he struck with all the strength he possessed...

"The Unfaithful Servant? Isn't that one of those murder mystery novels by that Christie woman the ladies like to read?"

Police Inspector Herbert Le Grange looked up, startled from his concentration.

"What? Oh, Harper, it's you. Yes, yes, sorry I was rather pre-occupied."

"Good is it?"

"What? Good? No, it's utter tripe. Have you read it?"

"Certainly not."

"Well if you had, you would realise how strangely similar the story is to the West Kensington killing."

"What? That servant girl? Why are you making such a fuss about that..."

"She may be just a servant girl to you, Harper, but to someone she was a daughter, a sister..."

"Really, Le Grange, I sometimes think you are on a mission..."

"Well, mission or not, Harper, you read this passage."

Harper, taking the book from his colleague, read aloud:

"He gripped the iron bar, firmly, but with indecision. Could he do it? Could he commit murder for the sake of his marriage? Would he get away with it? He imagined the rough rope, tightening around his neck, strangling the life out of him, and shivered. A moment's further hesitation and then he struck with all the strength he possessed..."

"See what I mean old chap?"

"Yes... curious... do you think..."

"That's not all, Harper. The victim in the book was a parlour maid with a well-to-do, childless couple living in a town house in a fashionable district of London. And where did Christie say he was on the night of the murder?"

"At that gentlemen's club in the Soho back street. What's it called?"

"Never mind what it's called, I think I might pop along for a little chat with our author of murder mysteries that ladies like to read..."

"I'll come with you, old chap. This could be interesting."

"No wait... I wonder if he is at the club tonight... I think I might ask him if he likes to dally with the servant girls... Let's see what he say about that."

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Want to know what happens next? Well, strange as it may seem, the answer lies in reading parts one, two and three. The clues are all there. You just need to read between the lines and deduce what has been going on from the story as narrated by three unreliable narrators. Or is it four? The fourth, of course being this one, the book: The Unfaithful Servant by A. G. Christie.

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• Read: Murder She Wrought part one
• Read: Murder she wrought part two
• Read: Murder she wrought part three

You might also like to read a summary of the accounts of all the witnessses here: Murderous mystery

Happy reading and happy detective work!

That's all folks!