AGATHA CHRISTIE - THE HORSES OF DIOMEDES | Narrated by Jason Fraser | Detective Tales

dear listeners are you ready to hear a fascinating detective Story by Agatha Christie the horses of diamides the investigation is led by the great Belgian detective Hercule PUO the horses of diamides is part of Agatha chrises the labors of Hercules collection where each story mirrors one of the mythological labors of Hercules in this story Christie parallels The Taming of the wild man-eating horses of diamides with Poo's task of dealing with the destructive behaviors caused by drug addiction in London's High Society the story published in the 1940s reflects the growing awareness and concern about drug use during that period showcasing christe's ability to incorporate contemporary issues into her Timeless detective fiction the telephone rang hello PUO is that you heru puau recognized the voice as that of young Dr stodt he liked Michael stod liked the shy friendliness of his grin was amused by his naive interest in crime and respected him as a hardworking and shrewd man in his chosen profession I don't like bothering you the voice went on and hesitated but something is bothering you suggested Hercule PUO acutely exactly Michael Stoddard's voice sounded relieved hit it in one Aban what can I do for you my friend Stoddard sounded diffident he stammered a little when he answered I suppose it would be awful cook cheek if I asked you to come around at this time of night but I'm in a bit of a j Jam certainly I will come to your house no as a matter of fact I'm at The Muse that runs along behind conning be Muse the number is 17 could you really come I'd be no end grateful I arrive immediately replied UL PUO UL PUO walked along the dark Muse looking up at the number numers it was past 1:00 in the morning and for the most part The Muse appeared to have gone to bed though there were still lights in one or two windows as he reached 17 its door opened and Dr Stoddard stood looking out good man he said come up will you a small ladder-like stairway led to the Upper Floor here on the right was a fairly big room furnished with divans rugs triangular silver cushions and large numbers of bottles and glasses everything was more or less in confusion cigarette ends were everywhere and there were many broken glasses ha said herculo M chair Watson I deduce that there has been here a party there's been a party all right said Stoddard grimly some party I should say you did not then attend it yourself no I'm here strictly in my professional capacity what happened started said this place belongs to a woman called patience Grace Mrs patience Grace it sounds said PUO a Charming old world name there's nothing Charming or Old World about Mrs Grace she's good-looking and a tough sort of way she's got through a couple of husbands and now she's got a boyfriend whom she suspects of trying to run out on her they started this party on drink and they finished it on dope cocaine to be exact cocaine is stuff that starts off making you feel just Grand and with everything in the garden lovely it peps you up and you feel you can do twice as much as you usually do take too much of it and you get violent mental excitement delusions and delirium hires Grace had a violent quarrel with her boyfriend an unpleasant person by the name of Hawker result he walked out on her then and there and she leaned out of the window and took a pot shot at him with a brand new revolver that someone had been fool enough to give her Hercule Poo's eyebrows Rose did hit him not she bullet went several yards wide I should say what she did hit was a miserable loafer who was creeping along the Muse looking in the dust bins got him through the fleshy part of the arm he raised hell of course and the crowd hustled him in here quick got the wind up with all the blood that was spilling out of him and came round and got me yes I patched him up all right it wasn't serious then one or two of the men got busy on him and in the end he consented to accept a couple of 5 notes and say no more about it suited him all right poor devil marvelous Stroke of Luck and you I had a bit more work to do Mrs Grace herself was in raving hysterics by that time I gave her a shot of something and packed her off to bed there was another girl who'd more or less passed out quite young she was and I attended to her too by that time everyone was slinking off as fast as they could leave he paused and then said PUO you had time to think over the situation exactly said stodart if it was an ordinary drunken Bing well that would be the end of it but dope's different you are quite sure of your facts oh absolutely no mistaking it it's cocaine all right I found some in a lacer box they snuff it up you know question is where does it come from I remembered that you'd been talking the other day about a big new wave of drug taking and the increase of drug addicts Hercule PUO nodded he said the police will be interested in this party tonight Michael Stoddard said unhappily that's just it poo looked at him with suddenly awakened interest he said but you you are not very anxious that the police should be interested Michael Stoddard mumbled innocent people get mixed up in things hard lines on them is it Mrs patience Grace for whom you are solicitous good Lord no she's as hardboiled as they make them hercu puau said gently it is then the other one the girl Dr Stoddard said of course she's hard-boiled too in a way I mean she'd describe herself as hardboiled but she's really just very young a bit wild and all that but it's just kid foolishness she gets mixed up in a racket like this because she thinks it's smart or modern or something like that a faint smile came to Poo's lips he said softly this girl you have met her before tonight Michael sted nodded he looked very young and embarrassed ran across her in myshire at the hunt ball her father's a retired General blood and Thunder shoot him down Huka sahib all that sort of thing there are four daughters and they are all a bit wild driven to it with a father like that I should say and it's a bad part of the county where they live AR Works nearby and a lot of money none of the old-fashioned country feeling a rich crowd and most of them pretty vicious the girls have got in with a bad set Hercule puau looked at him thoughtfully for some minutes then he said I perceive now why you desired my presence you want me to take the affair in hand would you I feel I ought to do something about it but I confess I'd like to keep Sheila Grant out of the Limelight if I could that can be managed I fancy I should like to see the young lady come along he led the way out of the room a voice called fretfully from the door opposite doctor for God's sake doctor I'm going crazy Stoddard went into the room PUO followed it was a bedroom in a complete state of chaos powder spilled on the floor pots and jars everywhere clothes flung about on the bed was a woman with unnaturally blonde hair and a vacant vicious face she called out I've got insects crawling all over me I have I swear I have I'm going mad for God's sake give me a shot of something Dr Stoddard stood by the bed his tone was soothing professional heru puau went quietly out of the room there was another door opposite him he opened that it was a tiny room a mere slip of a room plainly furnished on the bed a slim girlish figure lay motionless hercu PUO tiptoed to the side of the bed and looked down upon the girl dark hair a long pale face and yes young very young a gleam of white showed between the girl's Lids her eyes opened startled frightened eyes she stared sat up tossing her head in an effort to throw back the thick man of blue black hair she looked like a frightened Philly she shrank away a little as a wild animal shrinks when it is suspicious of a stranger who offers it food she said and her voice was young and thin and abrupt who the hell are you do not be afraid Mademoiselle where's Dr Stoddard that young man came into the room at that minute the girl said with a note of relief in her voice oh there you are who's this this is a friend of mine Sheila how are you feeling now the girl said awful lousy why did I take that foul stuff Stoddard said Dry I shouldn't do it again if I were you I I shun UL PUO said who gave it to you her eyes widened her upper lip twitched a little she said it was here at the party we all tried it it it was wonderful at first Hercule PUO said gently but who brought it here she shook her head I don't know it might have been Tony Tony Hawker but I don't really know anything about it PUO said gently is it the first time you have taken cocaine Mademoiselle she nodded youd better make it the last said stet Brusly yes I suppose so but it was rather marvelous now look here Sheila Grant said Stoddard I'm a doctor and I know what I'm talking about once start this drug taking Racket and you'll land yourself in unbelievable misery I've seen some and I know drugs ruin people body and soul drinks a gentle little picnic compared to drugs cut it right out from this minute believe me it isn't funny what do you think your father would say to tonight's business father Sheila Grant's voice Rose father she began to laugh I can just see father's face he mustn't know about it he'd have seven fits and quite right too said Stoddard doctor doctor the long whale of Mrs Grace's voice came from the other room and Stoddard muttered something uncomplimentary under his breath and went out of the room Sheila Grant stared at Pirro again she was puzzled she said who are you really you weren't at the party no no I was not at the party I'm a friend of Dr stoddards you're a doctor too you don't look like a doctor my name said PUO contriving as usual to make the simple statement sound like the curtain of the First Act of a play my name is heru PUO the statement did not fail of its effect occasionally PUO was distressed to find that a callous younger generation had never heard of him but it was evident that Sheila Grant had heard of him she was flabbergasted dumbfounded she stared and stared it has been said with or without justification for the statement that everyone has an aunt in toi it has also been said that everyone has at least a second cousin in myshire merens Shire is a reasonable distance from London it has hunting shooting and fishing it has several very picturesque but slightly self-conscious Villages it has a good system of Railways and a new arterial Road facilitates motor to and from the Metropolis servants object to it less than they do to other more rural portions of the British Isles as a result it is practically impossible to live in myshire unless you have an income that runs into four figures and what with income tax and one thing and another five figures is better Hercule PUO being a foreigner had no second cousins in the county but he had acquired by now a large circle of friends and he had no difficulty in getting himself invited for a visit in that part of the world he had moreover selected as Hostess a dear lady whose Chief Delight was exercising her tongue on the subject of her neighbors the only drawback being that Pirro had to submit to hearing a great deal about people in whom he had no interest whatever before coming to the subject of the people he was interested in the grants oh yes there are four of them four girls I don't wonder the poor General can't control them what can a man do with four girls lady Carmichael's hands flew up eloquently PUO said what indeed and the lady continued used to be a great disciplinarian in his regiment so he told me but those girls defeat him not like when I was young old colonel sandies was such a martinet I remember that his poor daughters long Excursion into the trials of the sandies girls and other friends of Lady Carmichael's youth mind you said lady carmichel reverting to her first theme I don't say there's anything really wrong about those girls just High Spirits and getting in with an undesirable set it's not what it used to be down here the oddest people come here there's not what you might call County left it's all money money money nowadays and you do hear the oddest stories who did you say Anthony Hawker oh yes I know him what I call a very unpleasant young man but apparently rolling in money he comes down here to hunt and he gives parties very lavish parties and rather peculiar parties too if one is to believe all one is told not that I ever do because I do think people are so ill-natured they always believe the worst you know it's become quite a fashion to say a person drinks or takes drugs somebody said to me the other day that young girls were natural inebriates and I really don't think that was a nice thing to say at all and if anyone's at all peculiar or vague in their manner everyone says drugs and that's unfair too they say it about Mrs Lin and though I don't care for the woman I do really think it's nothing more than absent-mindedness she's a great friend of your Anthony Hawker and that's why if you ask me she's so down on the grant girls says they're maneaters I dare say they do run after men a bit but why not it's natural after all and they're goodlooking pieces every one of them Pirro interjected a question Mrs Lin my dear man it's no good asking me who she is who's anybody nowadays they say she rides well and she's obviously well off husband was something in the city he's dead not divorced she's not been here very long came here just after the grants did I've always thought she old lady carmichel stopped her mouth opened her eyes bulged leaning forward she struck PUO a sharp blow across the knuckles with a paper cutter she was holding disregarding his WIS of pain she exclaimed excitedly why of course so that's why you're down here you nasty deceit creature I insist on your telling me all about it but what is it I am to tell you all about lady carmichel aimed another playful blow which PUO avoided deafly don't be an oyster eru PUO I can see your mustaches quivering of course it's crime brings you down here and you're just pumping me shamelessly now let me see can it be murder who's died lately only old Louisa Gilmore and she was 85 and had dropsy too can't be her poor Leo stavon broke his neck in the hunting field and he's all done up in plaster that can't be it perhaps it isn't murder what a Pity I can't remember any special Jewel robberies lately perhaps it's just a criminal you're tracking down is it barl Lin did she poison her husband perhaps it's remorse that makes her so vague Madame Madame cried hercu PUO you go too fast nonsense you're up to something heru PUO are you acquainted with the classics madam what have the classics to do with it they have this to do with it I emulate my great predecessor Hercules one of the labors of Hercules was The Taming of the Wild Horses of diamides don't tell me you came down here to train horses at your age and always wearing patent leather shoes you don't look to me as though you'd ever been on a horse in your life the horses Madame are symbolic they were the wild horses who ate human flesh how very unpleasant of them I always do think these ancient Greeks and Romans are very unpleasant I can't think why clergymen are so fond of quoting from the Classics for one thing one never understands what they mean and it always seems to me that the whole subject matter of the classics is very unsuitable for clergymen so much incest and all those statues with nothing on not that I mind that myself but you know what clergymen are quite upset if girls come to church with no stockings on let me see where was I I'm not quite sure I suppose you wretch you just won't tell me if Mrs Lin murdered her husband or perhaps Anthony Hawker is the brighten trunk murderer she looked at him hopefully but hercu pau's face remained impassive it might be forgery speculated lady carmichel I did see Mrs Lin in the bank the other morning and she just cashed a 50 check to self it seemed to me at the time a lot of money to want in cash oh no that's the wrong way round if she was a forger she would be paying it in wouldn't she hercu PUO if you sit there looking like an owl and saying nothing I shall throw something at you you must have a little patience said hercu PUO Ashley Lodge the residence of General Grant was not a large house it was situated on the side of a hill had good stables and a straggling rather neglected Garden inside it was what a house agent would have described as fully furnished cross-legged Buddhas leared down from convenient niches brass banar trays and tables encumbered the floor space processional elephants garnished the mantle pieces and more tortured brasswork adorned the walls in the midst of this Anglo Indian home from home General Grant was ensconced in a large shabby armchair with his leg swayed in bandages reposing on another chair gout he explained ever had the gout Mr ER PUO makes a fellow damned bad tempered all my father's fault drank Port all his life so did my grandfather it's played the deice with me have a drink ring that Bell will you for that fell of mine a turbaned servant appeared General Grant addressed him as Abdul and ordered him to bring whiskey and soda when it came he poured out such a generous portion that PUO was moved to protest can't join you I'm afraid Mr PUO the general eyed the Tantus sadly my do Waller says it's poison to me to touch the stuff don't suppose he knows for a minute ignorant chaps doctors spoil Sports enjoy knocking a man off his food and drink and putting him on some Pap like steamed fish steamed fish p in his indignation the general incautiously moved his bad foot and uttered a Yelp of Agony at the twinge that ensued he apologized for his language like a bear with a sore head that's what I am my girls give me a wide birth when I've got an attack of gout don't know that I blame them you've met one of them I hear I have had that pleasure yes you have several daughters have you not four said the general gloomily not a boy amongst them four blinking girls bit of a thought these days they are all four very Charming I hear not too bad not too bad bad mind you I never know what they're up to you can't control girls nowadays LAX times too much laxity everywhere what can a man do can't lock him up can I they are popular in the neighborhood I gather some of the old cats don't like them said General Grant a good deal of mutton dressed as lamb around here A man's got to be careful one of these blue-eyed widows nearly caught me used to come around here purring like a kitten poor General Grant you must have had such an interesting life the general winked and placed one finger against his nose a little bit too obvious Mr Pau oh well take it all round I suppose it's not a bad part of the world a bit go ahead and noisy for my taste I like the country when it was the country not all this motoring and Jazz and that blasted Eternal radio I won't have one here and the girls know it a man's got a right to a little piece in his own home gently PUO led the conversation round to Anthony Hawker Hawker Hawker don't know him yes I do though nasty looking fellow with his eyes too close together never trust a man who can't look you in the face he is a friend is he not of your daughter Sheila's Sheila wasn't aware of it girls never tell me anything the bushy eyebrows came down over the nose the piercing blue eyes looked out of the red face straight into Hercule Poo's look here Mr PUO what's all this about mind telling me what you've come to see me about PUO said slowly that would be difficult perhaps I hardly know myself I would say only this your daughter Sheila perhaps all your daughters have made some undesirable friends got into a bad set have they I was a bit afraid of that one hears a word dropped here and there he looked pathetically at PUO but what am I to do Mr PUO what am I to do PUO shook his head perplexedly General Grant went on what's wrong with the bunch they're running with he asked Faro replied by another question have you noticed General Grant that any of your daughters have been Moody excited then depressed nervy uncertain in their tempers damn sir you're talking like a patent medicine no I haven't noticed anything of the kind that is fortunate said PUO Gravely what the devil is the meaning of all this sir drugs what the word came in a roar PUO said an attempt is being made to induce your daughter Sheila to become a drug addict the cocaine habit is very quickly formed a week or two will suffice once the Habit is formed an addict will pay anything do anything to get a further supply of the drug you can realize what a rich Hall the person who pedals that drug can make he listened in silence to the spluttering wrathful blasphemies that poured from the old man's lips then as the fires died down with a final Choice description of exactly what he the general would do to the Blinky Blinky son of a blank when he got hold of him hercu puau said we have first as your so admirable Mrs Beaton says to catch the hair once we have caught our drug Peddler I will turn him over to you with the greatest pleasure General he got up tripped over a heavily carved small table regained his balance with a clutch at the general murmured a thousand Pardons and may I beg of you General you understand beg of you to say nothing whatever about all this to your daughters what I'll have the truth out of them that's what I'll have that is exactly what you will not have all you will get is a lie but damn sir I assure you General Grant you must hold your tongue that is vital you understand vital oh well have it your own way growled the old Soldier he was mastered but not convinced hercul poo picked his way carefully through the banar brass and went out Mrs Lin's room was full of people Mrs Lin herself was mixing cocktails at a side table she was a tall woman with pale Orban hair rolled into the back of her neck her eyes were greenish gray with big black pupils she moved easily with a kind of sinister Grace she looked as though she were in the early 30s only a close scrutiny revealed the lines at the corners of the eyes and hinted that she was 10 years older than her looks Hercule poo had been brought here by a Brisk middle-aged woman a friend of Lady Carmichaels he found himself given a cocktail and further directed to take one to a girl sitting in the window the girl was small and fair her face was pink and white and suspiciously Angelic her eyes heru PUO noticed at once were alert and suspicious he said to your continued good health madmoizelle she nodded and drank then she said abruptly you know my sister your sister ah you are then one of the Miss grants I'm Pam Grant and where is your sister today she's out hunting ought to be back soon I met your sister in London I know she told you Pam Grant nodded she said abruptly was Sheila in a jam so she did not tell you everything the girl shook her head she asked was Tony Hawker there before PUO could answer the door opened and Hawker and Sheila Grant came in they were in hunting kit and Sheila had a streak of mud on her cheek hello people we've come in for a drink Tony's flask is dry PUO murmured Talk of the Angels Pam Grant snapped Devils you mean PUO said sharply is it like that barl Lin had come forward she said here you are Tony tell me about the Run did you draw gall's cops she Drew him away skillfully to a sofa near the fireplace buo saw him turn his head and glance at Sheila before he went Sheila had seen PUO she hesitated a minute then came over to the two in the window she said abruptly so it was you who came to the house yesterday did your father tell you she shook her head Abdul described you I guessed Pam exclaimed you went to see father PUO said ah yes we have some mutual friends Pam said sharply I I don't believe it what do you not believe that your father and I could have a mutual friend the girl flushed don't be stupid I meant that wasn't really your reason she turned on her sister why don't you say something Sheila Sheila started she said it wasn't it wasn't anything to do with Tony Hawker why should it be asked PUO Sheila flushed and went back across the room to the others Pam said with sudden vment but in a lowered voice I don't like Tony Hawker there there's something sinister about him and about her Mrs Lin I mean look at them now waro followed hex's glance hawker's head was close to that of his Hostess he appeared to be soothing her her voice Rose for a minute but I can't wait I want it now PUO said with a little smile SM Le whatever it is they always want it now do they not but Pam Grant did not respond her face was cast down she was nervously pleating and repleting her Tweed skirt poo murmured conversationally you are quite a different type from your sister madmoizelle she flung her head up impatient of banalities she said M PUO what's the stuff Tony's been giving Sheila what is it that's been making her different he looked straight at her he asked have you ever taken cocaine Miss Grant she shook her head oh no so that's it cocaine but isn't that very dangerous Sheila Grant had come over to them a fresh drink in her hand she said what's dangerous poo said we are talking of the effects of drug taking of the slow death of the Mind and Spirit the destroying of all that is true and good in a human being Sheila Grant caught her breath the drink in her hand swayed and spilled on the floor Faro went on Dr Stoddard has I think made clear to you just what that death in life entails it is so easily done so hard to undo the person who deliberately profits from the degradation and misery of other people is a vampire praying on Flesh and Blood he turned away behind him he heard Pam Grant's voice say Sheila and caught a whisper a faint whisper from Sheila Grant it was so low he hardly heard it the flask Hercule puau said goodbye to Mrs Lin and went out into the Hall on the hall table was a hunting flask lying with a crop and a hat PUO picked it up there were initials on it ah PUO murmured to himself Tony's flask is empty he shook it gently there was no sound of liquor he unscrewed the top Tony hawker's flask was not empty it was full of white powder heru puau stood on the Terrace of Lady Carmichael's house and pleaded with a girl he said you are very young M moiselle it is my belief that you have not known not really known what it is you and your sisters have been doing you you have been feeding like the mayors of diamides on human flesh Sheila shuddered and gave a sob she said it sounds horrible put like that and yet it's true I never realized it until that evening in London when Dr Stoddard talked to me he was so grave so sincere I saw then what an awful thing it was I'd been doing before that I thought it was oh rather like drink after hours something people would pay to get but not something that really mattered very much PUO said and now Sheila Grant said I'll do anything you say I I'll talk to the others she added I don't suppose Dr Stoddard will ever speak to me again on the contrary said PUO both Dr Stoddard and I are prepared to help you in every way in our power to start aesh you can trust us but one thing must be done there is one person who must be destroyed destroyed utterly and only you and your sisters can destroy him it is your evidence and your evidence alone that will convict him you mean my father not your father Mademoiselle did I not tell you that Hercule puau knows everything your photograph was easily recognized in official quarters you are Sheila Kelly a persistent young shoplifter who was sent to a Reformatory some years ago when you came out of that Reformatory you were approached by the man who calls him himself General Grant and offered this post the post of a daughter there would be plenty of money plenty of fun a good time all you had to do was to introduce the snuff to your friends always pretending that someone else had given it to you your sisters were in the same case as yourself he paused and said come now mm moiselle this man must be exposed and sentenced after that yes afterwards PUO coughed he said with with a smile you shall be dedicated to the service of the Gods Michael stodt stared at PUO in amazement he said General Grant General Grant precisely mure the whole Mison scene you know was what you would call very Bogus the Buddhas the banar as brass the Indian servant and the gout too it is out of date the gout it is old old gentlemen who have the gout not the fathers of young ladies of 19 moreover I made quite certain as I go out I Stumble I clutch at the gouty foot so perturbed is the Gentleman by what I have been saying that he did not even notice oh yes he is very very bogus that General to deem it is a smart idea the retired Anglo Indian General the well-known comic figure with a liver and a cheric temper he settles down not amongst other retired Anglo Indian army officers oh no he goes to ailio far too expensive for the usual retired army man there are rich people there people from London an excellent field to market the goods and who would suspect four Lively attractive young girls if anything comes out they will be considered as victims that for a certainty what was your idea exactly when you went to see the Old Devil did you want to put the wind up him yes I wanted to see what would happen I had not long to wait the girls had their orders Anthony Hawker actually one of their victims was to be the scapegoat Sheila was to tell me about the flask in the hall she nearly could not bring herself to do so but the other girl wrapped out an angry Sheila at her and she just faled it out Michael Stoddard got up and paced up and down he said you know I'm not going to lose sight of that girl I've got a pretty sound theory about those adolescent criminal Tendencies if you look into the home life you nearly always find PUO interrupted him he said m I have the deepest respect for your science I have no doubt that your theories will work admirably where Miss Sheila Kelly is concerned the others too the others perhaps it may be the only one I'm sure about is the little Sheila you will tame her not a doubt of it in Truth she eats out of your hand already flushing Michael Stoddard said what nonsense you talk poo thank you very much for listening to this story narrated by Jason Fraser don't forget forget to subscribe to the detective Tales Channel and be sure to leave a comment