波洛圣诞探案记37

VAlfred Lee said: “Then you accept, M. Poirot?”

His hand, as it went to his mouth, shook slightly. His mild brown eyes were alight with a newand feverish¹ expression. He stammered² slightly in his speech. Lydia, standing³ silently by, lookedat him with some anxiety.

Alfred said:

“You don’t know—you c-c-can’t imagine—what it m-m-means to me .?.?. My father’smurderer must be f-f-found.”

Poirot said:

“Since you have assured me that you have reflected long and carefully—yes, I accept. Butyou comprehend, Mr. Lee, there can be no drawing back. I am not the dog one sets on to hunt andthen recalls because you do not like the game he puts up!”

“Of course .?.?. of course .?.?. Everything is ready. Your bedroom is prepared. Stay as long asyou like—”

Poirot said gravely: “It will not be long.”

“Eh? What’s that?”

“I said it will not be long. There is in this crime such a restricted circle that it cannot possiblytake long to arrive at the truth. Already, I think, the end draws near.”

Alfred stared at him, “Impossible!” he said.

“Not at all. The facts all point more or less clearly in one direction. There is just someirrelevant matter to be cleared out of the way. When this is done the truth will appear.”

Alfred said incredulously:

“You mean you know?”

Poirot smiled. “Oh, yes,” he said. “I know.”

Alfred said:

“My father—my father—” He turned away.

Poirot said briskly:

“There are, M. Lee, two requests that I have to make.”

Alfred said in a muffled⁴ voice:

“Anything—anything.”

“Then, in the first place, I would like the portrait of M. Lee as a young man placed in thebedroom you are good enough to allot⁵ to me.”

Alfred and Lydia stared at him.

The former said: “My father’s portrait—but why?”

Poirot said with a wave of the hand:

“It will—how shall I say—inspire me.”

Lydia said sharply:

“Do you propose, M. Poirot, to solve a crime by clairvoyance⁶?”

“Let us say, madame, that I intend to use not only the eyes of the body, but the eyes of themind.”

She shrugged⁷ her shoulders.

Poirot continued:

“Next, M. Lee, I should like to know of the true circumstances attending the death of yoursister’s husband, Juan Estravados.”

Lydia said: “Is that necessary?”

“I want all the facts, madame.”

Alfred said:

“Juan Estravados, as the result of a quarrel about a woman, killed another man in a café.”

“How did he kill him?”

Alfred looked appealingly at Lydia. She said evenly:

“He stabbed him. Juan Estravados was not condemned⁸ to death, as there had beenprovocation. He was sentenced to a term of imprisonment⁹ and died in prison.”

“Does his daughter know about her father?”

“I think not.”

Alfred said:

“No, Jennifer never told her.”

“Thank you.”

Lydia said:

“You don’t think that Pilar—Oh, it’s absurd!”

Poirot said:

“Now, M. Lee, will you give me some facts about your brother, M. Harry¹⁰ Lee?”

“What do you want to know?”

“I understand that he was considered somewhat of a disgrace to the family. Why?”

Lydia said:

“It is so long ago. .?.?.”

Alfred said, the colour coming up in his face:

“If you want to know, M. Poirot, he stole a large sum of money by forging my father’s nameto a cheque. Naturally my father didn’t prosecute¹¹. Harry’s always been crooked¹². He’s been introuble all over the world. Always cabling for money to get out of a scrape. He’s been in and outof gaol¹³ here, there and everywhere.”

Lydia said:

“You don’t really know all this, Alfred.”

Alfred said angrily, his hands shaking:

“Harry’s no good—no good whatever! He never has been!”

Poirot said:

“There is, I see, no love lost between you?”

Alfred said:

“He victimized my father—victimized him shamefully¹⁴!”

Lydia sighed—a quick, impatient sigh. Poirot heard it and gave her a sharp glance.

She said:

“If only those diamonds could be found. I’m sure the solution lies there.”

Poirot said:

“They have been found, madame.”

“What?”

Poirot said gently:

“They were found in your little garden of the Dead Sea. .?.?.”

Lydia cried:

“In my garden? How—how extraordinary!”

Poirot said softly:

“Is it not, madame?”

 

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