Sixteen

THE SUSPECTS

Dr.?Leidner sprang to his feet.

“Impossible! Absolutely impossible! The idea is absurd!”

Mr.?Poirot looked at him quite calmly but said nothing.

“You mean to suggest that my wife’s former husband is one of the expedition and that shedidn’t recognize him?”

“Exactly. Reflect a little on the facts. Some fifteen years ago your wife lived with this man fora few months. Would she know him if she came across him after that lapse¹ of time? I think not.

His face will have changed, his build will have changed—his voice may not have changed somuch, but that is a detail he can attend to himself. And remember, she is not looking for himamongst her own household. She visualizes² him as somewhere outside—a stranger. No, I do notthink she would recognize him. And there is a second possibility. The young brother—the child ofthose days who was so passionately³ devoted⁴ to his elder brother. He is now a man. Will sherecognize a child of ten or twelve years old in a man nearing thirty? Yes, there is young WilliamBosner to be reckoned with. Remember, his brother in his eyes may not loom⁵ as a traitor⁶ but as apatriot, a martyr⁷ for his own country—Germany. In his eyes Mrs.?Leidner is the traitor—themonster who sent his beloved brother to death! A susceptible⁸ child is capable of great heroworship, and a young mind can easily be obsessed⁹ by an idea which persists into adult life.”

“Quite true,” said Dr.?Reilly. “The popular view that a child forgets easily is not an accurateone. Many people go right through life in the grip of an idea which has been impressed on them invery tender years.”

“Bien. You have these two possibilities. Frederick Bosner, a man by now of fifty odd, andWilliam Bosner, whose age would be something short of thirty. Let us examine the members ofyour staff from these two points of view.”

“This is fantastic,” murmured Dr.?Leidner. “My staff! The members of my own expedition.”

“And consequently considered above suspicion,” said Poirot dryly. “A very useful point ofview. Commen?ons! Who could emphatically not be Frederick or William?”

“The women.”

“Naturally. Miss?Johnson and Mrs.?Mercado are crossed off. Who else?”

“Carey. He and I have worked together for years before I even met Louise—”

“And also he is the wrong age. He is, I should judge, thirty-eight or nine, too young forFrederick, too old for William. Now for the rest. There is Father Lavigny and Mr.?Mercado. Eitherof them might be Frederick Bosner.”

“But, my dear sir,” cried Dr.?Leidner in a voice of mingled¹⁰ irritation¹¹ and amusement, “FatherLavigny is known all over the world as an epigraphist and Mercado has worked for years in awell-known museum in New York. It is impossible that either of them should be the man youthink!”

Poirot waved an airy hand.

“Impossible—impossible—I take no account of the word! The impossible, always I examineit very closely! But we will pass on for the moment. Who else have you? Carl Reiter, a young manwith a German name, David Emmott—”

“He has been with me two seasons, remember.”

“He is a young man with the gift of patience. If he committed a crime, it would not be in ahurry. All would be very well prepared.”

Dr.?Leidner made a gesture of despair.

“And lastly, William Coleman,” continued Poirot.

“He is an Englishman.”

“Pourquoi pas? Did not Mrs.?Leidner say that the boy left America and could not be traced?

He might easily have been brought up in England.”

“You have an answer to everything,” said Dr.?Leidner.

I was thinking hard. Right from the beginning I had thought Mr.?Coleman’s manner rathermore like a P.?G.?Wodehouse book than like a real live young man. Had he really been playing apart all the time?

Poirot was writing in a little book.

“Let us proceed with order and method,” he said. “On the first count we have two names.

Father Lavigny and Mr.?Mercado. On the second we have Coleman, Emmott and Reiter.

“Now let us pass to the opposite aspect of the matter—means and opportunity. Who amongstthe expedition had the means and the opportunity of committing the crime? Carey was on the dig,Coleman was in Hassanieh, you yourself were on the roof. That leaves us Father Lavigny,Mr.?Mercado, Mrs.?Mercado, David Emmott, Carl Reiter, Miss?Johnson and Nurse Leatheran.”

“Oh!” I exclaimed, and I bounded in my chair.

Mr.?Poirot looked at me with twinkling eyes.

“Yes, I’m afraid, ma soeur, that you have got to be included. It would have been quite easyfor you to have gone along and killed Mrs.?Leidner while the courtyard was empty. You haveplenty of muscle and strength, and she would have been quite unsuspicious until the moment theblow was struck.”

I was so upset that I couldn’t get a word out. Dr.?Reilly, I noticed, was looking highlyamused.

“Interesting case of a nurse who murdered her patients one by one,” he murmured.

Such a look as I gave him!

Dr.?Leidner’s mind had been running on a different tack¹².

“Not Emmott, M.?Poirot,” he objected. “You can’t include him. He was on the roof with me,remember, during that ten minutes.”

“Nevertheless we cannot exclude him. He could have come down, gone straight toMrs.?Leidner’s room, killed her, and then called the boy back. Or he might have killed her on oneof the occasions when he had sent the boy up to you.”

Dr.?Leidner shook his head, murmuring: “What a nightmare! It’s all so—fantastic.”

To my surprise Poirot agreed.

“Yes, that’s true. This is a fantastic crime. One does not often come across them. Usuallymurder is very sordid—very simple. But this is unusual murder .?.?. I suspect, Dr.?Leidner, thatyour wife was an unusual woman.”

He had hit the nail on the head with such accuracy that I jumped.

“Is that true, nurse?” he asked.

Dr.?Leidner said quietly: “Tell him what Louise was like, nurse. You are unprejudiced.”

I spoke¹³ quite frankly¹⁴.

“She was very lovely,” I said. “You couldn’t help admiring her and wanting to do things forher. I’ve never met anyone like her before.”

“Thank you,” said Dr.?Leidner and smiled at me.

“That is valuable testimony¹⁵ coming from an outsider,” said Poirot politely. “Well, let usproceed. Under the heading of means and opportunity we have seven names. Nurse Leatheran,Miss?Johnson, Mrs.?Mercado, Mr.?Mercado, Mr.?Reiter, Mr.?Emmott and Father Lavigny.”

Once more he cleared his throat. I’ve always noticed that foreigners can make the oddestnoises.

“Let us for the moment assume that our third theory is correct. That is that the murderer isFrederick or William Bosner, and that Frederick or William Bosner is a member of the expeditionstaff. By comparing both lists we can narrow down our suspects on this count to four. FatherLavigny, Mr.?Mercado, Carl Reiter and David Emmott.”

“Father Lavigny is out of the question,” said Dr.?Leidner with decision. “He is one of thePères Blancs in Carthage.”

“And his beard’s quite real,” I put in.

“Ma soeur,” said Poirot, “a murderer of the first class never wears a false beard!”

“How do you know the murderer is of the first class?” I asked rebelliously¹⁶.

“Because if he were not, the whole truth would be plain to me at this instant—and it is not.”

That’s pure conceit¹⁷, I thought to myself.

“Anyway,” I said, reverting¹⁸ to the beard, “it must have taken quite a time to grow.”

“That is a practical observation,” said Poirot.

Dr.?Leidner said irritably¹⁹: “But it’s ridiculous—quite ridiculous. Both he and Mercado arewell-known men. They’ve been known for years.”

Poirot turned to him.

“You have not the true version. You do not appreciate an important point. If FrederickBosner is not dead—what has he been doing all these years? He must have taken a different name.

He must have built himself up a career.”

“As a Père Blanc?” asked Dr.?Reilly sceptically.

“It is a little fantastic that, yes,” confessed Poirot. “But we cannot put it right out of court.

Besides, these other possibilities.”

“The young ’uns?” said Reilly. “If you want my opinion, on the face of it there’s only one ofyour suspects that’s even plausible²⁰.”

“And that is?”

“Young Carl Reiter. There’s nothing actually against him, but come down to it and you’vegot to admit a few things—he’s the right age, he’s got a German name, he’s new this year and hehad the opportunity all right. He’d only got to pop out of his photographic place, cross thecourtyard to do his dirty work and hare back again while the coast was clear. If anyone were tohave dropped into the photographic room while he was out of it, he can always say later that hewas in the dark-room. I don’t say he’s your man but if you are going to suspect someone I say he’sby far and away the most likely.”

M.?Poirot didn’t seem very receptive. He nodded gravely but doubtfully.

“Yes,” he said. “He is the most plausible, but it may not be so simple as all that.”

Then he said: “Let us say no more at present. I would like now, if I may, to examine the roomwhere the crime took place.”

“Certainly.” Dr.?Leidner fumbled²¹ in his pockets, then looked at Dr.?Reilly.

“Captain Maitland took it,” he said.

“Maitland gave it to me,” said Reilly. “He had to go off on that Kurdish business.”

He produced the key.

Dr.?Leidner said hesitatingly: “Do you mind—if I don’t—Perhaps, nurse—”

“Of course. Of course,” said Poirot. “I quite understand. Never do I wish to cause youunnecessary pain. If you will be good enough to accompany me, ma soeur.”

“Certainly,” I said.

 

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