Chapter 26 Chapter Twenty Six

The four sat together again looking at Poirot. Timothy, Raglan, Superintendent Spence and Chief Constable were all beaming, knowing that victory was in sight.The fourth person is still skeptical. "Ah, Monsieur Poirot," said the Chief Constable, presiding over today's meeting, and asking Mr. Prosecutor to take his notes, "we are all here—" Poirot made a gesture.Inspector Raglan went out, bringing with him a woman in her early thirties, a little girl, and two boys. He introduced to the chief of police: "This is Mrs. Butler, Miranda, Miss Butler, Nicholas, Mr. Ransengo and Desmond, Mr. Holland."

Poirot stood up and took Miranda's hand: "Sit next to your mother, Miranda, this is Mr. Richmond, he is the Chief of Police. He wants to ask you a few questions, and he hopes you can answer them. What you've seen—it happened more than a year ago, almost two years ago, you told it to one person, I heard you only told it to one person. Right?" "I told Joyce." "What exactly did you tell her?" "Say I witnessed a murder." "Have you told anyone else?" "No, but Leopold may have guessed it. He eavesdropped and hid at the door. It seems that he is. He especially likes to inquire about other people's secrets."

"You've heard of it, Joyce Reynolds, the afternoon of the Halloween party, when she claimed she had witnessed a murder. Was it true?" "No, she's just repeating what I said to her—only pretending she saw it herself." "Can you tell us what exactly you saw?" "At first I didn't know it was a murder, I thought it was an accident, I thought she had fallen from a height." "where?" "In Stone Field Gardens—in that pit where there used to be a fountain. I was sitting on a tree. I was watching a squirrel, and you have to be very quiet to watch a squirrel, or they'd run away, The squirrels are fast."

"Please tell us what you saw." "A man and a woman were carrying her up the path, and I thought they were taking her to the hospital or back to the quarry house, when the woman stopped and said suddenly, 'Someone's watching us,' still staring at me. Looking at a tree, I was a little scared for some reason. But I didn't move. The man said, nonsense. They kept going, and I saw blood on the silk scarf, and there was a bloody knife on it—I Thought someone was trying to commit suicide - but I never moved." "Because you're afraid?" "Yes, but I don't know why I'm afraid."

"You didn't tell mom?" "No, I thought maybe I shouldn't have been sitting there peeking. Nobody said anything about the accident the next day, so I forgot. I never thought about it until one day—" Her voice came to an abrupt end, and the Chief Constable's mouth moved—closed again, and he glanced at Poirot with an imperceptible gesture. "Well, Miranda," asked Poirot, "until when?" "The events of that day seemed to come to me again. This time observing a green woodpecker, I crouched motionless behind a bush, and the two sat there talking - talking about an island - a Greek island , she seemed to be saying: "It's signed, it's ours, and we can go whenever we want. But it's best to take your time—don't rush it." It happened that the woodpecker flew, so I moved, and she said 'Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh)') exactly the same as last time)) The first thing I saw was a murder, and they were carrying a dead body somewhere. You know, I'm not a kid anymore, and I know--what it's supposed to be--bloodstains, knives, and dead body--"

"When did it happen?" asked the police chief. "How long ago?" Miranda thought for a moment. "Last March—just after Easter." "Can you see both of them clearly, Miranda?" "Of course I can see clearly." Miranda was a little puzzled. "Did you see their faces?" "of course." "Who are they?" "Mrs. Drake and Mitchell..." She spoke softly, her tone was calm, there was a hint of curiosity in it, but she was very sure. "You never told anyone, why?" the police chief asked. "I thought—I thought it might be a sacrifice."

"Who told you that?" "Mitchell told me - he said the sacrifice was necessary." Poirot asked softly: "Do you love Mitchell?" "Hey, yes," Miranda replied, "I love him very much."