英语小说网

M. Bouc and Dr. Constantine were talking together when Poirot entered the dining car. M. Bouc was looking depressed.

"Naturally it worries me. I cannot make head or tail of it."

"Le voilà," said the latter when he saw Poirot. Then he added as his friend sat down: "If you solve this case, mon cher, I shall indeed believe in miracles!"

"It worries you, this case?"

"No?" said Poirot thoughtfully.

"I told you just now. We have the evidence of the passengers and the evidence of our own eyes."

"That, to me, is the interest of this case," he said. "We are cut off from all the normal routes of procedure. Are these people whose evidence we have taken speaking the truth or lying? We have no means of finding out -- except such means as we can devise ourselves. It is an exercise, this, of the brain."

"I agree," said the doctor. He looked at Poirot with interest. "To be frank," he said, "I cannot see what you are going to do next."

He took out his cigarette case and lit one of his tiny cigarettes. His eyes were dreamy.

"That is all very fine," said M. Bouc. "But what have you to go upon?"

"I do not agree, my friend. The evidence of the passengers gave us several points of interest."

"Indeed," said M. Bouc sceptically. "I did not observe it."

"Pretty evidence -- that of the passengers! It told us just nothing at all."

"Well, tell me -- what did I miss?"

"Ah, it is that you want it given to you in words of one syllable. Well, here it is! M. Ratchett spoke no French. Yet, when the conductor came in answer to his bell last night, it was a voice speaking in French that told him that it was a mistake and that he was not wanted. It was, moreover, a perfectly idiomatic phrase that was used, not one that a man knowing only a few words of French would have selected. 'Ce n'est rien. Je me suis trompé.'"

"That is because you did not listen."

"About the letters?"

"No, not about the letters. As far as I can remember, his words were: 'We travelled about. Mr. Ratchett wanted to see the world. He was hampered by knowing no languages. I acted more as a courier than a secretary.'"

"You mean --?" M. Bouc still looked puzzled.

He looked from the doctor's face to that of M. Bouc.

Poirot shook his head.

"What? You still do not see? That is inexcusable -- for you had a second chance again just now when he said, 'You're apt to be done down if you speak nothing but good American.'"

"I will just take one instance -- the first evidence we heard -- that of the young MacQueen. He uttered, to my mind, one very significant phrase."

"And it was his murderer speaking!" finished M. Bouc impressively.

"It is true," cried Constantine excitedly. "We should have seen that! I remember your laying stress on the words when you repeated them to us. Now I understand your reluctance to rely upon the evidence of the dented watch. Already, at twenty-three minutes to one, Ratchett was dead --"

"There is the cry that awakened you."

Poirot raised a deprecating hand.

"Let us not go too fast. And do not let us assume more than we actually know. It is safe, I think, to say that at that time, twenty-three minutes to one, some other person was in Ratchett's compartment and that that person was either French, or could speak the French language fluently."

"You are very cautious, mon vieux."

"Yes, that is true."

"One should advance only a step at a time. We have no actual evidence that Ratchett was dead at that time."

"In one way," said M. Bouc thoughtfully, "this discovery does not affect things very much. You heard someone moving about next door. That someone was not Ratchett, but the other man. Doubtless he is washing blood from his hands, clearing up after the crime, burning the incriminating letter. Then he waits till all is still, and when he thinks it is safe and the coast is clear he locks and chains Ratchett's door on the inside, unlocks the communicating door through into Mrs. Hubbard's compartment and slips out that way. In fact it is exactly as we thought -- with the difference that Ratchett was killed about half an hour earlier, and the watch put on to a quarter past one to create an alibi."

"True," said M. Bouc, a little confused. "What, then, does the watch convey to you?"

"Not such a famous alibi," said Poirot. "The hands of the watch pointed to 1:15-- the exact time when the intruder actually left the scene of the crime."

"If the hands were altered -- I say if -- then the time at which they were set must have a significance. The natural reaction would be to suspect anyone who had a reliable alibi for the time indicated -- in this case 1:15."

"We must also pay a little attention to the time the intruder entered the compartment. When had he an opportunity of doing so? Unless we are to assume the complicity of the real conductor, there was only one time when he could have done so -- during the time the train stopped at Vincovci. After the train left Vincovci the conductor was sitting facing the corridor and whereas any one of the passengers would pay little attention to a Wagon Lit attendant, the one person who would notice an imposter would be the real conductor. But during the halt at Vincovci the conductor is out on the platform. The coast is clear."

"Yes, Yes," said the doctor. "That reasoning is good."

Suspicious Circumstances: The Wagon Lit uniform found is a point in his favour since it seems to have been intended to throw suspicion on him.

Motive: None.

Motive: Possibly arising out of association with dead man?

Hector MacQueen -- American subject. Berth No. 6. Second Class.

Alibi: From midnight to 2 a. m. (Seen by H. P. in corridor at same time as voice spoke from Ratchett's compartment at 12:37. From 1 a. m. to 1:16 vouched for by other two conductors.)

Poirot smiled.

Conductor -- Pierre Michel -- French subject.

Evidence Against Him: None.

The doctor and M. Bouc pored over the list together. It was written out neatly in a methodical manner in the order in which the passengers had been interviewed.

Suspicious Circumstances: None.

"I have made a list," he said, "If you like to see it, it will, perhaps, refresh your memory."

Evidence Against Him: None.

"And, by our former reasoning, it must be one of the passengers," said M. Bouc. "We come back to where we were. Which of them?"

Alibi: From midnight to 2 a. m. (Midnight to 1:30 vouched for by Col. Arbuthnot and 1:15 to 2 vouched for by conductor.)

Alibi: From midnight to 2 a. m. (Vouched for by Antonio Foscarelli.)

Princess Dragomiroff -- Naturalized French subject. Berth No. 14. First Class.

Alibi: From midnight to 2 a. m.-- None.

Greta Ohlsson -- Swedish subject. Berth No. 10. Second Class.

Motive: Possibly arising out of connection with deceased, whose valet he was.

Motive: None.

Edward Masterman -- English subject. Berth No. 4. Second Class

Motive: Was intimately acquainted with Armstrong family, and godmother to Sonia Armstrong.

Evidence Against Her or Suspicious Circumstances: Story of man in her compartment is substantiated by the evidence of Hardman and that of the woman Schmidt.

Motive: None.

Mrs. Hubbard -- American subject. Berth No. 3. First Class.

Evidence Against Him or Suspicious Circumstances: None, except that he is the only man the right height or size to have worn the Wagon Lit uniform. On the other hand, it is unlikely that he speaks French well.

Alibi: From midnight to 2 a. m. (Vouched for by Mary Debenham.) Note.-- Was last to see Ratchett alive.

Colonel Arbuthnot -- British subject. Berth No. 15. First Class

Countess Andrenyi -- As above. Berth No. 12.

Count Andrenyi -- Hungarian subject. Diplomatic passport. Berth No. 13. First Class.

Evidence Against Him or Suspicious Circumstances: Pipe cleaner.

Motive: None known.

Motive: None.

Motive: None.

Alibi: From midnight to 2 a. m. (Vouched for by conductor and maid.)

Alibi: Midnight to 2 a. m. Talked with MacQueen till 1:30. Went to own compartment and did not leave it. (Substantiated by MacQueen and conductor.)

Cyrus Hardman -- American subject. Berth No. 16. Second Class

Evidence Against Her or Suspicious Circumstances: None.

Motive: None.

Evidence Against Him or Suspicious Circumstances: None.

Alibi: Midnight to 2 a. m. (Vouched for by conductor -- this does not cover period from 1 to 1:15.)

Alibi: Midnight to 2 a. m. Did not leave compartment. (Substantiated by MacQueen and conductor.)

Alibi: Midnight to 2 a. m. Took trional and slept. (Vouched for by husband. Trional bottle in her cupboard.)

Alibi: Midnight to 2 a. m. (Vouched for by Greta Ohlsson.)

Alibi: Midnight to 2 a. m. (Vouched for by Edward Masterman.)

Motive: None.

Motive: None.

Mary Debenham -- British subject. Berth No. 11. Second Class

Evidence Against Him or Suspicious Circumstances: None, except that weapon used might be said to suit his temperament. (Vide M. Bouc.)

Antonio Foscarelli -- American subject. (Italian birth.) Berth No. 5. Second Class

Motive: None known.

With a grimace M. Bouc handed it back. "It is not illuminating," he said.

Note: The evidence of the passengers is supported by the statement of the conductor that no one entered or left Mr. Ratchett's compartment between the hours of midnight to 1 o'clock (when he himself went into the next coach) and from 1:15 to 2 o'clock.

Evidence Against Her or Suspicious Circumstances: and her refusal to explain same.

Alibi: Midnight to 2 a. m. (Vouched for by conductor and her mistress.) Went to bed. Was aroused by conductor at 12:38 approx. and went to mistress.

Hildegarde Schmidt -- German subject. Berth No. 8. Second Class.

"Perhaps you may find this more to your taste," said Poirot with a slight smile as he handed him a second sheet of paper.

"That document, you understand," said Poirot, "is a mere précis of the evidence we heard, arranged that way for convenience."