Three is a lucky number by Margery Allingham Audio book subtitle

at five o’clock on a September afternoon

Ronald Torbay was making preparations

for his third murder he was being very

careful he realized that murdering

people becomes more dangerous if you do

it often he was in the bathroom of the

house that he had recently rented for a

moment he paused to look in the mirror

the face that looked back at him was

thin middle-aged and pale dark hair a

high forehead and well shaped blue eyes

only the mouth was unusual narrow and

quite straight even Ronald Torbay did

not like his own mouth a sound in the

kitchen below worried him was Edith

coming up to have her bath before he had

prepared it for her no it was alright

she was going out of the back door from

the window he saw her disappearing

around the side of the house into the

small square garden it was exactly like

all the other gardens in the long street

he didn’t like her to be alone there she

was a shy person but now new people had

moved into the house next door and there

was a danger of some silly woman making

friends with her he didn’t want that

just now each of his three marriages had

followed the same pattern using a false

name he had gone on holiday to a place

where no one knew him there he had found

a middle-aged unattractive woman with

some money of her own and no family he

had talked her into marrying him and she

had then agreed to make a will which

left him all her money

both his other wives had been shy too he

was very careful to choose the right

type of woman someone who would not make

friends quickly in a new place Mary the

first of them had had her deadly

accident almost unnoticed in the

bathroom of the house he had rented a

house very like this

but in the north of England instead of

the south there police had not found

anything wrong the only person who was

interested was a young reporter on the

local newspaper he had written something

about death in the middle of happiness

and had printed photographs of Mary’s

wedding and her funeral which took place

only three weeks after the wedding

Dorothy had given him a little more

trouble it was not true that she was

completely alone in the world as she had

told him her brother had appeared at the

funeral and asked difficult questions

about her money there had been a court

case but Ronald had won it and the

insurance company had paid him the money

all that was four years ago now with a

new name a newly invented background and

a different area to work in he felt

quite safe from the moment he saw Edith

sitting alone at a little table in the

restaurant of a seaside hotel he knew

she was his next subject he could see

from her face that she was not happy and

he could also see that she was wearing a

valuable ring after dinner he spoke to

her she did not want to talk at first

but in the end he managed to start a

conversation after that everything went

as he expected his methods were

old-fashioned and romantic and by the

end of a week she was in love with him

her background was very suitable for

Ronald’s purpose after teaching at a

girl school for ten years she had gone

home to look after her sick father and

had stayed with him until he died now

aged 43 she was alone with a lot of

money and she didn’t know what to do

with herself five weeks after they met

Ronald married her in the town where

they were both strangers the same

afternoon they both made a will leaving

all their property to each other

then they moved into the house which he

had rented cheaply because the holiday

season was at an end

it was the most pleasant of his

marriages he found Edith a cheerful

person and even quite sensible except

that it was stupid of her to believe

that a man would fall in love with her

at first sight

Ronald knew he must not make the mistake

of feeling sorry for her he began to

make plans for her future as he called

it two things made him do this earlier

than he intended one was the way she

refused to talk about her money she kept

all her business papers locked in a desk

drawer and refused to discuss them his

mother worried was her unnecessary

interest in his job

Ronald had told Edith that he was a

partner in an engineering company which

was giving him a long period of absence

Edith accepted the story but she asked a

lot of questions and wanted to visit his

office and the factory so Ronald had

decided that it was time to act he

turned from the window and began to run

water into the bath his heart was

beating loudly he noticed he didn’t like

that he needed to keep very calm the

bathroom was the only room they had

painted he had done it himself soon

after they arrived he had also put up

the little shelf over the bath which

held their bottles and creams and a

small electric heater it was a cheap one

with two bars and it was white like the

walls and not too noticeable there is no

electric point in the bathroom but he

was able to connect the heater to a

point just outside the door he turned on

the heater now and watched the bars

become red and hot then he went out of

the room the controls for all the

electricity in the house were inside a

cupboard at the top of the stairs

Ronald opened the door carefully and

pulled up the handle which turned

off the electricity he had a cloth over

his hand so that he would not leave

fingerprints back in the bathroom the

bass of the heater were turning black

again still using the cough he lifted

the heater from the shelf and put it

into the bathwater at the bottom end of

the bath of course you could still see

it it looked as if it had fallen off the

shelf by accident

Edith was coming back from the garden he

could hear her moving something outside

the kitchen door he pulled a small

plastic bottle out of his pocket and

began to read again the directions on

the back a small sound behind him made

him turn suddenly there was a death

only two meters away appearing above the

flat roof of the kitchen which was below

the bathroom window she was clearing the

dead leaves from the edge of the roof

she must be standing on the ladder which

was kept outside the kitchen door he

stays calm what are you doing there dear

Edith was so surprised that she nearly

fell off the ladder oh you frightened me

I thought I’d just do this little job

before I came to get ready but I’m

preparing your beauty bath for you it’s

kind of you to take all this trouble

Ronald not at all I’m taking you out

tonight and I want you to look as nice

as possible

hurry up dear the bubbles don’t last

very long and like all these beauty

treatments this one’s expensive go in

undress now and come straight here very

well dear she began to climb down the

ladder

Ronald opened the little bottle and

poured the liquid into the bath he

turned on the water again and in a

moment the bath was full of bubbles

smelling strongly of roses they covered

the little heater completely they even

covered the sides of the bath Edith was

at the door

Ronald it’s all over everything even on

the floor that doesn’t matter you get in

quickly before it loses its strength

I’ll go and change now get straight in

and lie down it will give your skin a

bit of colour he went out and paused

listening she locked the door as he

expected he walked slowly to the

electricity box and forced himself to

wait another minute how is it he shouted

I don’t know yet I’ve only just got into

the bath it smells nice his hand covered

with the cloth was on the controls one

two three he said and pulled the handle

down a small explosion from the electric

point behind him told him that the

electricity had gone off then everything

was silent after a time he went and

knocked on her bathroom door Edith

there was no answer no sound nothing now

he had to prepare this second stage as

he knew well this was the difficult bit

the discovery of the body must be made

but not too soon he had made that

mistake with Dorothy’s accident and the

police had asked him why he had got

worried so soon this time he decided to

wait half an hour before he began to

knock loudly on the bathroom door then

to shout for a neighbour and finally to

force the lock there was something he

wanted to do now Edith’s letter-writing

case which contained all her private

papers was in the drawer where she kept

her blouses he had discovered it some

time ago but he had not forced the lock

open because that would frighten her now

there was nothing to stop him he went

softly into the bedroom and opened the

drawer the

case was there the lock was more

difficult than he expected but he

finally managed to open the case inside

there were some financial documents one

or two thick envelopes and on top of

these her post office savings book he

opened it with shaking fingers and began

reading the figures 17,000 pounds

eighteen thousand six hundred pounds

twenty-one thousand nine hundred and

forty pounds he turned over a page and

his heart jumped wildly on the fourth of

September she had taken almost all the

money out of her savings account perhaps

it was here in these thick envelopes he

opened one of them papers letters

documents fell on the floor

suddenly he saw an envelope with his own

name on it in Edith’s writing he pulled

it open and saw in surprise that the

date on the letter was only two days ago

dear Ronald if you ever read this I am

afraid it will be a terrible shock to

you I hoped it would not be necessary to

write it but now your behavior has

forced me to face some very unpleasant

possibilities did you not realize Ronald

that any middle-aged woman who has been

rushed into marriage to a stranger will

ask herself about her husband’s reason

for marrying her at first I thought I

was in love with you but when you asked

me to make my will on our wedding day

I began to worry and then when you

started making changes to the bathroom

in this house I decided to act quickly

so I went to the police have you noticed

that the people who have moved into the

house next door have never spoken to you

well they are not a husband and wife

but a police inspector and a policewoman

the policewoman showed me two pieces

from old newspapers both about women who

had died from accidents in their baths

soon after their marriages both pieces

included a photograph of the husband at

the funeral they were not very clear but

I was able to recognize you so I

realized that it was my duty to agree to

do what the inspector asked me to do the

police have been looking for the man

since the photographs were given to them

by your second wife’s brother the

inspector said the police needed to be

sure that you are guilty you must be

given the opportunity to try the crime

again that’s why I am forcing myself to

be brave and to play my part I want to

tell you something Ronald if one day you

lose me out of the bathroom I mean

you’ll find that I have gone out over

the kitchen roof and I’m sitting in the

kitchen next door I was stupid to marry

you but not quite as stupid as you

thought yours Edith Ronald’s mouth was

uglier than ever when he finished

reading the letter the house was still

quiet but in the silence he heard the

back door opened suddenly and heavy

footsteps rushed up the stairs towards

him