Chapter 26 Chapter Twenty Six

"I really don't understand, M. Poirot, how you can suspect Robin Upward." Poirot looked complacently at the faces that were all turned to him. He is always happy to answer questions. "I should have suspected him a long time ago. That clue, such an easy clue, was a line Mrs. Summerhays said at the cocktail party that day. She said to Robin Upward: 'I don't like being What about you?' That's the word. You? It means—it can only mean—that Mrs. Upward is not Robin's real mother. "Mrs. Upward herself was in a state of morbid anxiety, not wanting anyone to know that Robin was not her own son. She'd probably heard too many dirty tales of bright young men living off old women. And indeed Few people knew - only a handful of people in the theatrical circle when she first met Robin. She had only a handful of close friends in this country, because she lived abroad for a long time. So she chose to settle in this village very far from her native Yorkshire. Even when she met her old friends, if they thought this Robin was the same person they had known since childhood, she would not tell them Challenging this guesswork.

"However, from the very beginning, there was something about the domestic details in the Rabenhams yard that struck me as unnatural. Robin's attitude towards Mrs. Upward was neither like a spoiled child nor Like a whole-hearted son. That's how a protégé goes to a protégé. The way he called his old mother was rather theatrical, like a mammon. Mrs. Upward, though she obviously liked Robin, however, still unconsciously treated him like a prize she had paid for. "This is Robin Upward, living comfortably with the purse of 'Old Mother Fortuna' as his backing for risky speculation. Then, in his secure world, Mrs. McGinty appeared, and she recognized the photograph he kept in the drawer—the one with 'My Mother' written on the back. He once told Mrs. Upward that his mother was a talented young ballerina who Died of consumption! Of course Mrs. McGinty thought the photograph was Mrs. Upward's when she was young, because she logically guessed that Upward was Robin's real mother. I don't think Mrs. McGinty had the There was a real thought of blackmail, but perhaps she did hope for a 'nice little present' as a reward for her tight-lipped silence, otherwise the past would not have felt so good to a 'proud' woman like Mrs Upward. joy.

"But Robin didn't relax for a moment. He secretly stole the sugar hammer. Mrs. Summerhays once joked that it was an excellent murder weapon. The next night, after he went to the radio to broadcast On the way, he pulled over to Mrs. McGinty's house. She led him into the living room unsuspectingly, and he killed her. He knew where she kept her money—everyone at Broadshinney seemed to know— He faked the scene of the burglary and hid the money outside the house. Bentley came under suspicion and was arrested and jailed. So far, the smart Robin Upward has been safe. "But then, I suddenly showed four photos, and Mrs. Upward recognized that Eva Kane was exactly the same as Robin's ballerina mother! She needs a little time to think things through. Here Suspected of murder. Could it be possible for Robin—no, she refused to believe it.

"What she will eventually do, I have no way of knowing, but Robin is not taking risks. He has carefully arranged the whole scene. When Janet is out on vacation to go to the theater with Mrs. Oliver, call someone, put the card Lipstick stolen from Mrs. Burnt's handbag was put on coffee mugs, and he even bought a bottle of the expensive perfume she used. The whole process was carefully planned, and when Mrs. Oliver was waiting for him in the car Twice, he returned to the house. The murder was only a brief moment. Afterwards, it was only necessary to quickly arrange the scene as we saw it according to the original intention. Due to the death of Mrs. Upward, according to her By the terms of his will, he inherited a large fortune, and no one would suspect him, since it seemed fairly certain that a woman had committed the murder. Since three women had been to the house that night, one of them was almost certainly would be suspect. And indeed it is.

"But Robin, like all criminals, was careless and overconfident. Not only did he keep a book in his room bearing his original name, but, for his own purposes, he also kept the fatal photograph. If the photograph He would be much safer if it was destroyed, but he believed that at the right time, he could use photos to blame others. "He probably thought of Mrs. Summerhays at the time. That's probably why he moved out to the Long Meadow. Anyway, the sugar ax was hers, and he knew Mrs. Somerhays was a As an adopted child, it may be difficult to prove that she is not Eva Kane's daughter.

"However, when Deirdre Henderson admitted to being at the scene of the crime, it occurred to him to put the picture among her things. He tried to do so by climbing the ladder the gardener had left under the window. But Weatherby Mrs Bee was nervous and must have insisted on keeping all the windows sealed and locked. That way Robin didn't get his way. He went right back here and put the picture in a drawer, unfortunately I'll be there in a while just found it. "So I know that photo was put in on purpose, and I know who put it in - the only person in the house who could have done it - who was busy typing above my head.

"Since Evelyn Hope is named on the title page of the book recovered from that house, Evelyn Hope must be either Mrs. Upward—or Robin Upward... "The name Evelyn has led me into a misunderstanding - I used to associate it with Mrs. Carpenter because her name was Eva. But Evelyn can be a woman's name or a woman's name. as a man's name. "I am reminded of the conversation Mrs. Oliver told me about a conversation in a theater as small as the Calunque. The young actor who spoke to her was the one I wanted to find to confirm my theory--my theory was that Bing was not Mrs. Upward's own son. From the way he said those things, it seemed clear that he knew the truth. He spoke of Mrs. Upward's decisive rejection of a deceitful parent The story of the youth who lived through her is also instructive.

"Actually, I should have been aware of the whole plot much earlier. I was led astray by a serious mistake. I believe someone pushed me hard on purpose, trying to knock me over the railway tracks - and that the person who pushed me was none other than Mrs. McGinty's murderer. And it is now proven that the only Broadshinney resident who could not have been at Kilmchester Station was Robin Upward." Suddenly Johnny Summerhays chuckled: "Probably an old woman with a basket. They do hit people." Poirot said: "As a matter of fact, Robin Upward was so vain that he couldn't possibly have been afraid of me. That's a trait of a murderer. Maybe luck. For there's very little evidence of that."

Mrs. Oliver could not sit still. "You mean," she questioned incredulously, "I was sitting in the car outside when Robin killed his mother, and I didn't know anything about it? There wouldn't be time for the crime!" "Ah, yes, there will be. People's sense of time is usually ridiculously wrong. Notice how quickly a drama can repeat itself. It's all the result of deliberate premeditation." "It was a good show," murmured Mrs. Oliver dryly. "Yes, it's a brilliant murder of the highest order, full of drama. It's flawless from planning to execution."

"And I was sitting in that car - I didn't feel anything!" "I'm afraid," whispered Poirot, "that womanly instinct of yours had a day off..." The Death of a Qing Festival Girl—