Chapter 17 Chapter Seventeen: Poirot Announces His Departure

Miss Livingstone led the visitor in. "Mr. Hercules Poirot." After Miss Livingstone had gone out, Poirot closed the door behind her and sat down beside Mrs Oliver. He lowered his voice and said, "I'm leaving." "What are you going to do?" said Mrs. Oliver, who was always amazed at the way Poirot delivered her messages. "I'm going, I'm going out, I'm going to Geneva by plane." "Sounds like you're going to the United Nations Organization or Unesco or something." "No, I'm just here for a private visit." "You also have an elephant in Geneva?"

"Haha, I guess you might see it that way, maybe it's two elephants." "I have nothing new to discover," said Mrs. Oliver sullenly. "I honestly don't know who else to turn to for more information." "I'm sure you, or someone else, mentioned that your goddaughter, Celia Ravenscroft, has a brother." "Yes, I think his name is Edward. I seldom see him. I think I picked him up from school once, but that was a long time ago." "Where is he now?" "He's at college, I think in Canada, maybe studying engineering there. Would you like to ask him anything?"

"No, not at this moment, I just want to know where he is now. But, as far as I know, he wasn't home at the time, was he?" "Aren't you thinking—you haven't had the idea—that he did it, that is, shot his parents?" Mrs. Oliver couldn't figure it out. "I know some kids do that. Fuck, I can't believe it when I say it, they're just brats." "He was not at home," denied Poirot. "I know that from the police report." "Have you found anything else interesting? You seem quite excited." "In a way, it's exciting, I just got some facts that make something -- bright."

"Huh? What illuminated what?" "Now it seems that I may understand why Mrs. Burton-Cox wants to approach you, and I hope you will find out the cause of the Ravenscrots' death for her." "You're saying she's more than just a rapper?" "That's what it means. I think there is some kind of motivation behind it. Maybe it's... money!" "Money? What does that have to do with money? Isn't she doing well?" "Yes, she has enough money to live on. But the problem is that the adopted son - she treats him like his own son - he knows that he is adopted, but he has no idea about his biological family. So It seems that as soon as he comes of legal age, he will be urged by his stepmother, or suggested by some friends of his, such as lawyers, that he should make a will. In short, at that time, he may find that he will make a will. Let everything (which he actually had - his biological mother left him a large fortune) go to his stepmother, and it can be presumed that by then he will also find that he has nothing left to leave "I still don't understand how this has anything to do with the suicide we're trying to understand."

"Don't get it? She wants to prevent her son's marriage. Think about it, if Desmond had a girlfriend and was going to get married soon - that's what young people do today, they don't repeat On second thought—Mrs. Burton-Cox would have no chance of inheriting from him, since marriage would invalidate any previous wills. And we can also presume that once he marries this girl, he will Make a new will—to leave everything to his wife, not to his mother." "You mean Mrs. Burton-Cox objected to that?" "She hoped to find a strong reason to stop the marriage, and she hoped, perhaps, that she really believed that it was as it was said: Celia's mother killed her husband and then committed suicide. Such a thing would be enough to dissuade a lad. The idea of ​​marriage, even if the father kills the mother, is still valid."

"You mean Desmond would have thought that if Celia's father or mother was a murderer, then she must also be a murderer?" "It won't be exactly the same, but roughly the same." "But he's not rich, is he? An adopted child." "He didn't know who his biological mother was or what her name was. But it appears his biological mother - an actress and pop singer - had amassed a fortune before she died and at one point she wanted to get her biological mother back Son, but Mrs. Burton-Cox disagrees. I guess the actress misses her son so much that she has decided to leave him all her fortune, which he will formally inherit at twenty-five. So Mrs. Burton-Cox doesn't want her son to marry, or only to a woman she approves of and can control." "Well, that's reasonable. But even so, she's still not a good woman , isn't it?"

"Yes," said Poirot, "I don't think she is a very good woman, either." "This also explains why she avoids you. She is afraid that you will interfere with her affairs and that you will find out her purpose." "Possibly," said Poirot. "What else did you learn?" "Yes, I also learned--that was, actually only a few hours ago--that Chief Galway just happened to call me and tell me some other little thing. I didn't ask him, he said it himself, He said the old butler had very bad eyesight." "So what's the matter?"

"Perhaps," said Poirot, looking at his watch, "I think," said he, "that I must go." "Are you catching a plane?" "No, I don't fly until tomorrow morning, but I have to visit somewhere today—it's a place I want to see with my own eyes, and a car is waiting for me outside." "What are you going to see?" Mrs. Oliver was a little curious. "Not just to see, um, to -- feel, yes, that's the right word -- to feel and identify what it was that I was feeling before."