PART THREE

HERCULE POIROT SITS BACK AND THINKS

One

WHICH OF THEM?

M. Bouc and Dr. Constantine were talking together when Poirot entered the dining car. M. Boucwas looking depressed¹.

“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?”

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

“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.”

“No?” said Poirot thoughtfully.

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

“That, to me, is the interest of this case,” he said. “We are cut off from all the normal routes ofprocedure. Are these people whose evidence we have taken speaking the truth or lying? We haveno means of finding out—except such means as we can devise ourselves. It is an exercise, this, ofthe brain.”

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

“I told you just now. We have the evidence of the passengers and the evidence of our owneyes.”

“Pretty evidence—that of the passengers! It told us just nothing at all.”

Poirot shook his head.

“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.”

“That is because you did not listen.”

“Well, tell me—what did I miss?”

“I will just take one instance—the first evidence we heard—that of the young MacQueen. Heuttered, to my mind, one very significant phrase.”

“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 hampered² by knowing no languages. I acted more as acourier than a secretary.’”

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

“What? You still do not see? That is inexcusable—for you had a second chance again just nowwhen he said, ‘You’re apt to be done down if you speak nothing but good American.’”

“You mean—?” M. Bouc still looked puzzled.

“Ah, it is that you want it given to you in words of one syllable³. Well, here it is! M. Ratchettspoke no French. Yet, when the conductor came in answer to his bell last night, it was a voicespeaking in French that told him that it was a mistake and that he was not wanted. It was,moreover, a perfectly⁴ idiomatic⁵ phrase that was used, not one that a man knowing only a fewwords of French would have selected. ‘Ce n’est rien. Je me suis trompé.’”

“It is true,” cried Constantine excitedly. “We should have seen that! I remember your layingstress on the words when you repeated them to us. Now I understand your reluctance⁶ to rely uponthe evidence of the dented⁷ watch. Already, at twenty-three minutes to one, Ratchett was dead—”

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

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’scompartment and that that person was either French, or could speak the French language fluently.”

“You are very cautious, mon vieux.”

“One should advance only a step at a time. We have no actual evidence that Ratchett was deadat that time.”

“There is the cry that awakened⁹ you.”

“Yes, that is true.”

“In one way,” said M. Bouc thoughtfully, “this discovery does not affect things very much. Youheard 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 theincriminating letter. Then he waits till all is still, and when he thinks it is safe and the coast is clearhe locks and chains Ratchett’s door on the inside, unlocks the communicating door through intoMrs. Hubbard’s compartment⁸ and slips out that way. In fact it is exactly as we thought—with thedifference that Ratchett was killed about half an hour earlier, and the watch put on to a quarterpast one to create an alibi¹⁰.”

“Not such a famous alibi,” said Poirot. “The hands of the watch pointed¹¹ to 1:15—the exact timewhen the intruder actually left the scene of the crime.”

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

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

“Yes, Yes,” said the doctor. “That reasoning is good.”

“We must also pay a little attention to the time the intruder entered the compartment. When hadhe an opportunity of doing so? Unless we are to assume the complicity of the real conductor, therewas 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 ofthe passengers would pay little attention to a Wagon¹² Lit attendant, the one person who wouldnotice an imposter would be the real conductor. But during the halt at Vincovci the conductor isout on the platform. The coast is clear.”

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

Poirot smiled.

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

The doctor and M. Bouc pored over the list together. It was written out neatly¹³ in a methodicalmanner in the order in which the passengers had been interviewed.

Hector MacQueen—American subject. Berth¹⁴ No. 6. Second Class.

Motive¹⁵: Possibly arising out of association with dead man?

Alibi: From midnight to 2 a.m. (Midnight to 1:30 vouched¹⁶ for by Col. Arbuthnotand 1:15 to 2 vouched for by conductor.)

Evidence Against Him: None.

Suspicious Circumstances: None.

Conductor—Pierre Michel—French subject.

Motive: None.

Alibi: From midnight to 2 a.m. (Seen by H.P. in corridor at same time as voicespoke from Ratchett’s compartment at

12:37. From 1 a.m. to 1:16 vouched for by other two conductors.)Evidence Against Him: None.

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

Edward Masterman—English subject. Berth No. 4. Second ClassMotive: Possibly arising out of connection with deceased, whose valet he was.

Alibi: From midnight to 2 a.m. (Vouched for by Antonio Foscarelli.)Evidence Against Him or Suspicious Circumstances: None, except that he is theonly man the right height or size to have worn the Wagon Lit uniform. On theother hand, it is unlikely that he speaks French well.

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

Motive: None.

Alibi: From midnight to 2 a.m.—None.

Evidence Against Her or Suspicious Circumstances: Story of man in hercompartment is substantiated¹⁷ by the evidence of Hardman and that of the womanSchmidt.

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

Motive: None.

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

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

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

Alibi: From midnight to 2 a.m. (Vouched for by conductor and maid.)Evidence Against Her or Suspicious Circumstances: None.

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

Motive: None.

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

Countess Andrenyi—As above. Berth No. 12.

Motive: None.

Alibi: Midnight to 2 a.m. Took trional and slept. (Vouched for by husband.

Trional bottle in her cupboard.)

Colonel Arbuthnot—British subject. Berth No. 15. First ClassMotive: None.

Alibi: Midnight to 2 a.m. Talked with MacQueen till 1:30. Went to owncompartment and did not leave it. (Substantiated by MacQueen and conductor.)Evidence Against Him or Suspicious Circumstances: Pipe cleaner.

Cyrus Hardman—American subject. Berth No. 16. Second ClassMotive: None known.

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

Evidence Against Him or Suspicious Circumstances: None.

Antonio Foscarelli—American subject. (Italian birth.) Berth No. 5. Second ClassMotive: None known.

Alibi: Midnight to 2 a.m. (Vouched for by Edward Masterman.)Evidence Against Him or Suspicious Circumstances: None, except that weaponused might be said to suit his temperament¹⁸. (Vide M. Bouc.)Mary Debenham—British subject. Berth No. 11. Second ClassMotive: None.

Alibi: Midnight to 2 a.m. (Vouched for by Greta Ohlsson.)Evidence Against Her or Suspicious Circumstances: and her refusal to explainsame.

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

Motive: None.

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

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

“That document, you understand,” said Poirot, “is a mere¹⁹ précis of the evidence we heard,arranged that way for convenience.”

With a grimace²⁰ M. Bouc handed it back.

“It is not illuminating,” he said.

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

 

点击收听单词发音