I certainly don't believe her story about being abducted by two Hispanic women, however from the logical/psychological point of view, there are many possible reasons why she made that story up.
Agatha Christie's plots are all about showing that just because a suspect is lying about something, doesn't mean they are the culprit. Only bad detectives make that mistake in solving mysteries. I think this is also the logical failure in conspiracy thinking: assuming that, if one thing is false, it must mean the whole complicated situation is a conspiracy.
One reason for making up an absurd lie is, if an abductor did release a captive, they would make the captive swear not to reveal anything about the true circumstances of the abduction, so they wouldn't get caught. They might make threats of retaliation if the released captive doesn't comply.
Or, perhaps it was a complete mental breakdown/psychotic episode, that the person themselves don't understand, can't admit to or explain. Agatha Christie herself disappeared for 11 days, sparking the greatest manhunt in UK history to that date, and she could never explain why. Modern psychologists diagnose a fugue state, a form of psychosis.
Christie's most famous mystery solved at last
Agatha Christie's plots are all about showing that just because a suspect is lying about something, doesn't mean they are the culprit. Only bad detectives make that mistake in solving mysteries. I think this is also the logical failure in conspiracy thinking: assuming that, if one thing is false, it must mean the whole complicated situation is a conspiracy.
One reason for making up an absurd lie is, if an abductor did release a captive, they would make the captive swear not to reveal anything about the true circumstances of the abduction, so they wouldn't get caught. They might make threats of retaliation if the released captive doesn't comply.
Or, perhaps it was a complete mental breakdown/psychotic episode, that the person themselves don't understand, can't admit to or explain. Agatha Christie herself disappeared for 11 days, sparking the greatest manhunt in UK history to that date, and she could never explain why. Modern psychologists diagnose a fugue state, a form of psychosis.
Christie's most famous mystery solved at last