Chapter 6 Chapter Five: The Inspector's Words

Former Inspector Hale said, smoking his pipe thoughtfully, "Mr. Poirot, that's an interesting idea of ​​yours." "Perhaps a little unusual." Polo agreed cautiously. "You know," Hale said, "it's been a very long time." Poirot could see that this sentence had bored him a little, so he said gently: "Of course, it will be difficult in retrospect." That person said: "If there is any special 'purpose' in bringing up the old story..." "Of course." "Really?" "The pursuit of facts is an interesting thing in itself, and I have this interest. And, you must not forget that lady."

Haier nodded. "Yes, I know what she's thinking. But... excuse me, Mr. Poirot, you're a smart man, you can tell her a story." Poirot replied: "You don't know that lady." "Oh, forget it, is there any difficulty for an experienced person like you?" Polo sat up straight and said, "Perhaps, my lie can be told beautifully and she can believe it---you seem to think so. But I think this is an immoral behavior for me." "Sorry, Polo, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. But I have my reasons." "Really? What's the reason?" Haier said slowly: "It's very unfortunate for a happy and innocent girl who is about to get married to suddenly find out that her mother is a murderer. If I were you, I would tell her that her father is indeed a murderer." Suicide, Diplech got it wrong. Tell her, 'You' think Anya must have committed suicide."

"But even I don't believe he committed suicide, do you?" Haier slowly shook his head. "Do you know? I must find out the facts, not use a lie to cover my responsibility." Haier looked up at Polo, his square and round face seemed to be more square and redder now."You keep saying you're going to find out the facts, and I hope you understand that we feel like we've got the facts," he said. Poirot said quickly: "I respect your point of view, and I know you as a person---honest and capable. Please tell me, have you never doubted that Mrs. Currel is not the murderer?"

The Inspector replied quickly: "No, never doubted it, Poirot. All the facts we have found support that view." "Can you tell me roughly what evidence is against her?" "Yes. After your letter, I went through the files again," he produced a little notebook, "and entered here all the obvious facts." "Thank you, I can't wait to hear about it." Hale cleared his throat and said in an authoritative voice, "September 18th at 2:45 p.m., Andrea. Dr. Fossey called Inspector Conway. Dr. Fossey said, Anya of Leigh died suddenly, and there was a Mr. Black who was there, and he thought it advisable to call in the police." Inspector Conway, accompanied by a police officer and a doctor, went directly to Oldbury.Dr. Fossey led him to where Mr. Currell's body lay.The body has not been touched by anyone.

"Mr. Currell was painting in a little garden called Batley Park, facing the sea, and a small cannon on the battlements, about four minutes from the house. Mr. Currell did not Went to lunch, because he wanted to observe the light on the stone, and if it was late, the light would not be right. He stayed alone in the garden to paint. This is also a common thing. Mr. Currel does not pay much attention to meal time. Sometimes the family Will bring him sandwiches, but usually he prefers to be left undisturbed. The last people to see him were Elsa Miss Gray (who also lives at the Currels) and Mr. Meredith Black (neighborhood) The two of them went into the house together and had lunch with the others. After lunch, everyone drank coffee on the balcony. Mrs. Currell finished her coffee and wanted to go down to see how Anya was painting. The governess Cecily. William also followed She left together to find a jumper that her student might have left on the seashore. Her student Angela. Warren is Mrs. Currell's sister." Together they walked the path, through the bushes, to the The gate of Batley Park.The door led to Batley Park on one side and to the sea on the other.

"Miss William continued to walk towards the sea, and Mrs. Currell walked in the direction of Batley Park. But shortly after the two of them parted, Mrs. Currell screamed, and Miss William turned around quickly. Mr. Currell fell on the ground. chair, dead." At Mrs. Currell's urgent plea, Miss William left Batley Park and hurried to the house, intending to telephone for the doctor.But she ran into Meredith on the way.Blake, give him this task, and go back to Mrs. Currell to see if she needs help.Fifteen minutes later, Dr. Fossy arrived on the scene.He saw at once that Mr. Currel had been dead for some time—sometime between one and two o'clock in the afternoon.It is not obvious how he died, and there was no external injury. Judging from Mr. Currell's attitude, he died very naturally.But Dr. Fossey knew Anya very well and knew his health well. He was sure that Anya had no disease or discomfort, so he thought the situation was serious.At this moment Philip Blake spoke to Dr. Forsyth. "Inspector Hale paused, took a deep breath, and turned to Chapter Two." Later, Black repeated the words to Inspector Conway.Here's what happened: That morning, he got a call from his brother, Meredith.Meredith was an amateur apothecary—or herb gatherer.When he walked into the laboratory that morning, he found a bottle of hematidine juice, which had been a full bottle the day before, almost completely empty.He was very worried and scared, so he called his brother to ask what to do.Philip asked his brother to come to Oldbury immediately to discuss the countermeasures, and at the same time to pick up his brother on the way, and the two went back to the house together.But they couldn't think of any solution for a while, so they decided to talk about it after lunch.

"After further investigation, Inspector Conway discovered the following facts: the previous afternoon, five people had walked from Audbury to Hanks Manor for afternoon tea. Miss La. Warren, Miss Elsa Gurley and Mr. Philip Black. At that time, Meridy used to explain his hobbies to the guests in detail, and showed them around his laboratory. Among them, hematine. He Explaining the properties of this poison to the guests, regretting that the official pharmacopoeia no longer includes this medicine. And said that just a little of this traditional Chinese medicine can cure whooping cough and asthma. Then he mentioned the strong Toxicity, and read a passage from a Greek author describing its toxicity."

Inspector Hale paused, refilled his pipe with tobacco, and went on to the third chapter. "Colonel Forrell, Chief of Police, referred the case to me. The autopsy has confirmed that the cause of death was poisoning. I know that the death by methamphetamine is not obvious from the outside, but the doctors have their own methods. The result It was found that the deceased had taken a number of doses. The doctor believed that the poison was taken two or three hours before death. There was an empty wine glass and an empty beer bottle on the table in front of Mr. Currel. The analysis found that there was no poison in the bottle. It is only in the cup. I have inquired, although Mr. Currell has prepared some beer and cups in a summer cottage in Batley Manor, so that he can drink when he is thirsty while painting. But that morning Mrs. Currell came from Another bottle of beer, which had just been chilled, was brought from the house. When she took it to the garden, Mr. Currel was busy painting, and Miss Gray was sitting on the battlements posing for Mr. Currel. Mrs. Rayle opened the bottle, poured a glass of beer and handed it to her husband standing at the easel, who drank it in one gulp--as far as I know he always did. Then made a face and put the glass back on the table , said: "Everything smells stinky today!" Miss Gray said with a smile: "Like liver!" Mr. Currell said: "Anyway, it's cold enough." "Hale stopped When he came down, Poirot asked him, "What time is it?"

"Around a quarter past eleven. Mr. Currier continued to paint, and, according to Miss Gray, he complained afterwards of stiffness and said he must have some rheumatism. But he was the sort of man who would not admit that he was sick, so Try not to mention any discomfort. He asked other people to eat and left him to paint alone, which is also his usual style." Polo nodded. Hale said again: "So Currel stayed in Batley Park alone. Obviously, when the others left, he sat on a chair to rest. At this time, his muscles began to stiffen, and there was no one around to rescue him. Death took his life."

Polo nodded again. Hale said: "I continued to investigate as I was accustomed to. It didn't take much effort to find out the truth of the matter: Mrs. Currier and Miss Gray had had an argument the day before, because the latter had expressed rather rudely that she would wait for her to stay. Arrange the furniture when you get here. Mrs. Currell said: 'What do you mean? When you lived here?' Miss Gray replied: 'Don't pretend you don't understand me, Caroline, You're like an ostrich with its head in the sand. You know that Anya and I love each other and are going to get married." Mrs. Currell said: "I didn't know there was such a thing." Then Miss Gray said : "Okay, you know now." At this time, Mr. Currell just entered the door, and Mrs. Currell asked him, "Anya, do you really want to marry Aisha?" Polo was interested He asked eagerly, "What did Mr. Currell say?"

"He turned suddenly to look at Miss Gray and said out loud to her: 'What do you mean by shaking things out? Can't you keep your mouth shut?' Miss Gray said: 'I think Caroline should know the facts Mrs. Currell said to her husband: 'Is it true? Anya.' He seemed unwilling to look at her, and turned his head and muttered something. She added: 'Say, I must know.' ’ So he said, ‘Oh, it’s true—but I don’t want to talk about it right now.’ After that, he turned and walked out of the room at once, and Miss Gray said, ‘Did you hear that?’ And Mrs. Currier said again. It's useless to hang on and wait, everyone should show a rational attitude, she personally hopes that Kai Ruolin and Anya will remain good friends in the future." "How will Mrs. Corell answer?" Polo asked curiously. "According to witnesses, she laughed and said: 'Unless I die, Aisha.' Then walking towards the door, Miss Gray called from behind: 'What do you mean?' Mrs Currell replied: 'I will Kill Anya first, and then hand him over to you.'" Hayden paused, and then said, "It's really cruel, isn't it?" "Yes," said Polo thoughtfully, "who else was there?" "Miss William and Philip Blake. They were both embarrassed." "Did they both say the same thing?" "On the whole. You and I both know that no two witnesses remember exactly the same." Polo nodded, thought for a while, and then said: "Yes, if I could know---" He didn't finish speaking. Hale added: "I searched the house, and found an empty bottle of jasmine perfume under a pile of socks in a bottom drawer of Mrs. Currier's bedroom, with only Mrs. Currier's fingerprints on it. But after testing, I Not only jasmine perfume was found in the bottle, but also a strong solution of hematine hydrobromide. I warned Mrs. Currier and showed her the bottle. After Reddy described his herb, she slipped back into his lab, emptied a jasmine bottle, and filled it with a solution of methamphetamine. I asked him why he did that, and she said, 'I hope Try not to talk as much as possible, but I was so stimulated that my husband was going to leave me for another woman. If that happened, I didn't want to live anymore, so I took the bottle of poison.'” Haier stopped.Poirot said: "After all... this is also very possible." "Perhaps, Poirot, but it wasn't the same as other people hearing what she had to say, and there was a further development the next morning. Philip Blake heard part, Miss Gray heard another part. It happened. In the study, the Currels were the only ones in the room. Blake sat in the hall and heard bits and pieces, and Miss Gray sat outside the study and heard quite a bit because the window was open." "What did they hear?" "Blake heard Mrs. Currell say, 'You and your women! I really want to kill you. One day I will.'" "No mention of suicide?" "Yes, no mention of it at all. , did not say 'If you do this, I will kill myself'. Ms. Ge Li's testimony is roughly the same, she said that Mr. Currell said: "Please be reasonable, Caroline, I like you, and I hope you will always be safe." Okay---you and the child. But I want to marry Aisha. Didn't we say that we should let each other have freedom?' Mrs. Corell replied: 'Very well, don't say I didn't warn you. ' He said: 'What do you mean by that?' She said: 'It means I love you and can't lose you. I'd rather kill you than let you be with that girl.'" Poirot moved slightly for a moment. "I don't think," he murmured, "Miss Gurley is not smart enough to bring up the question. Mrs. Currier could easily refuse to divorce her husband." "We have some proof of that, too," said Hale. "Currell Mrs. Rayle seems to have given a little information to Meredy Blake. He is an old and reliable friend of the family. He is very disappointed at the news and wants to talk to Mr. Currell. This, I think, is from the previous afternoon. Blake tactfully advised his friend that he would be very disappointed if the Colliers' marriage broke up tragically, emphasizing that Miss Gurley was very young and that dragging a young girl to divorce court was a serious matter Mr. Currell giggled and said: "Aisha didn't intend to do that at all. She won't appear in court. We will solve it in the usual way." Seems flippant." Inspector Hale said: "Oh, you know women too, and they're always trying to get hold of their throats. Anyway, that must be a difficult situation. I don't see why Mr. Currier would allow that to happen. .In Meridy's opinion, because he wanted to finish the painting, why not take some pictures and paint from them? I know a painter who does watercolors that does that." Polo shook his head and said, "No, I can understand Currel's feelings as an artist. My friend, you must understand that at that time, that painting was probably the most important thing for Currel. No matter how much he wanted to To marry that girl, you must finish the painting first, so he hopes to make the relationship between them public after the painting is finished. But of course that girl doesn’t understand this, because women have always been love supremacists.” "Don't I know?" said Inspector Hale sentimentally. "Men," continued Poirot, "especially artists—it's different." "Art!" said the Inspector contemptuously. "It's all under the guise of art! I never knew art, and never will! You should see Currel's pictures. They're all so unbalanced. His The girl seemed to have a toothache, and the battlements were crooked. Anyway, it looked very uncomfortable. After seeing it, I couldn’t forget it for a long time, and even dreamed it! What’s more annoying is that even my Your eyesight has been affected---I often see battlements, walls, and so on in the paintings, and by the way, there are women!" Polo smiled and said, "Although you don't know it yourself, you subconsciously ask Anya. A tribute to Currell's art!" "Nonsense, to be a painter, why don't you draw some good pictures that are comfortable to look at? Why do you find ugly things to draw?" "Some people just find beauty in strange places." "That girl is good-looking," Hale said, "with a lot of make-up and minimal clothes. Those girls are not looking for elegant style. Don't forget, that was sixteen years ago, It wouldn't be a big deal now, but back then... huh, it really put me off. She was wearing trousers, and a canvas shirt with an open neck—nothing else, dare I say !" "You seem to remember these things very well," said Polo playfully. Inspector Haile blushed and said sternly: "I'm just telling you my impression." "Of course, of course," Polo comforted him. "So, the most unfavorable witnesses against Mrs. Currell seem to be Philip Black and Aisha Gerry?" "Yes, both of them were very violent. But the prosecutor also called the governess as a witness, and her testimony carried more weight than the previous two. You know, she is completely on Mrs. Currier's side, very Willing to help her. But she's an honest woman who speaks the truth without thinking." "Marrady. Where's Black?" "Poor gentleman, he is terribly disappointed by this, but rightly so. He blames himself for making that drug--and the coroner blames him. Metamine is listed in Title I of the Drugs Act. Next. He was quite severely reprimanded, and he was a friend of both parties, so it was a great blow." "Did Mrs. Clerll's little sister not testify?" "No, it was not necessary. Mrs. Clerll threatened She wasn't there when her husband was there, and what she can tell us, anyone else can tell us. She saw Mrs. Currell get a beer out of the refrigerator, and the defendant's attorney could make her tell if she had just passed her in. , she saw Mrs. Currell take the wine directly to Mr. Currell without any tricks. But it doesn't matter, because we never said that the methamphetamine was in the beer bottle." "But they both People are watching, how can she put the poison into the cup?" "It's very simple, first, the two of them didn't pay attention to Mrs. Currel, Mr. Currel was concentrating on painting, and his eyes only saw the canvas and the glass. She is a model, and Miss Gray is posing almost with her back to where Mrs. Currell is standing, and her eyes are only above Mr. Currell's shoulders." Poirot nodded. "As I said, they didn't pay attention to Mrs. Correll. She hid something in an ink filler—the kind that fills fountain pens. We found it broken on the road near the house." He murmured, "You have all the answers ready." "Well, Poirot! Let's look at the facts calmly. She threatened to kill him. She took the poison from Mr. Black's laboratory. The empty bottle was found in her room, and there was no one else but her. Touched that bottle. She specially brought him cold beer---this incident is also very strange, they have obviously quarreled---" "It's very strange, I also noticed it." "Yes, she can be said to have made concessions to him, but why did she suddenly become so friendly? He complained that the beer tasted bad, and the toxin did have a nasty taste. The discovery of the corpse was arranged by her Yes, she had the governess call again to wipe off the fingerprints on the bottles and cups, and put his fingerprints on it. Then she could say he killed himself out of remorse, which is a very likely story. .” "It's just not well edited," said Poirot. "Yes, if you ask me why she didn't think about it before doing it, it's because she was full of hatred and jealousy, and she just wanted to get rid of him. But when she saw his body, she realized that she had already Murdered a man—and killing people would be hanged, so she tried to make up a reason—suicide.” Poirot said: "You're quite right—yes, she might have thought so." "In one way, it's premeditated murder, but in another way it's not." Hale said, "You know, I don't believe she really planned it, but she just went forward step by step blindly. " Polo murmured, "It's hard to say..." Hale looked at him strangely and said, "Have I convinced you that this is a beyond doubt murder?" "It's almost there, just one or two points..." "Can you come up with another answer?" Poirot said, "What were the others doing that morning?" "I can assure you that we've all investigated, everyone's actions have been investigated. Nobody has what you could call an alibi --- poisoning doesn't have that. Because nobody could have stopped it the day before. A would-be assailant hides poison in a pill, gives it to the victim, tells him it's for indigestion, and must take it before lunch—and flies away to the other corner of England." "But you don't think it's possible in this case?" "Mr. Currell doesn't suffer from indigestion, and I don't see the possibility of it. Yes, Meredy. Blake likes to make his own herbs, but I don't see Mr. Currell taking them, if there is." , he would probably bring it up jokingly. And then again, why did Meredith kill Currel? In any case, the two of them got along very well. Philip was his best friend. , Miss Gray is in love with him. I think Miss William may not quite agree with his attitude towards people, but just because he doesn't like morals, there is no need to kill him. Little Miss Warren often has friction with him, she He hates everything at that age, but he likes her very much, and she likes him too, and everyone in the family treats her very kindly and lovingly. You probably know why, she was hurt badly by Mrs. Currel under the rage when she was a child. Mrs. Currell is quite a lack of self-control, isn't she, from this point? Taken out on a child, and disabled her for life." "Maybe it's proof," Polo pondered, "Angela Warren may have a deep grudge against Kai Ruolin because of this." "Maybe—but it's not about Anya. Currel. And anyway, Mrs. Currell likes this little sister very much—after her parents died, she gave her a home and loved her very much—others Said she spoiled her. The boy was evidently very fond of Mrs. Currell. During the trial she was kept separate and kept him as far as possible from the trial. Mrs. Currell was very insistent on that. But The child was very disturbed and wanted to see her sister in prison, but Kai Ruolin refused, saying that it would hurt a girl's psychology for the rest of her life, so she tried to send her to go to school abroad." He added: "Later, Miss Warren became a very good woman, traveled all over the world, and gave speeches and so on." "But no one remembers the case?" "Oh, they have different surnames. They are half-sisters. Mrs. Currell's real name is Spalding." "Is that Miss William the tutor of the Currells' children? Or is it Angela Warren's?" "It's Angela's teacher. The child is under the care of another nurse, but I think she also learns something from Miss William every day." "Where was that kid?" "Going to see her grandmother, Mrs. Tracy Leung, with the nurse -- she is a widow, and her two little girls are dead, so I like this child very much." Polo nodded and said, "I understand." Haier added: "As for the whereabouts of the other people on the day of the murder, I can tell you one by one." "After breakfast, Miss Gray sat on the balcony near the window of the study, where, as I said, she heard the argument between Mr. and Mrs. Currel. Then she accompanied Mr. Currel to Beit Li Yuan, pose for him to paint until lunch, with a short break in between, to let her relax her muscles. Philip Blake stayed in the house after breakfast, and heard part of the argument, Mr. Currel After leaving with Miss Gray, he read the newspaper until his brother called him, and then he went to the sea to meet his brother. They passed Batley Park together, Miss Gray felt a little cold, and went back to the house Get the jumper, while Mrs. Currell discusses Angela's schooling with her husband." "Oh, it was a friendly conversation." "No, it wasn't friendly. As far as I know, Currell almost yelled. Talking to her, blaming her for bothering him with trivial matters. I think she feels that since they want to break up with each other, they should settle things one by one." Polo nodded.Hale said again: "The two brothers and Anya. Currel had a brief exchange of words. Miss Gray came back and sat back in her original place. Currel picked up the paintbrush, obviously trying to get rid of the two of them. They I understood what he meant, and went inside. By the way, when they were in Batley Park, Anya complained that the beer there was not cold enough, so his wife promised to bring some cold beer." "Ah-ha!" "Yes, it was strange that she was as sweet as honey. They went over to the house and sat outside on the veranda, and Mrs. Currier and Angela brought them the beer over there. Later, Angela to sunbathe, and so did Philip. Meridy went to a clearing above Battery Park, where he sat in a position where he could see Miss Gray posing, and hear her talking to Mr. Currell. He's sitting there brooding about the methamphetamine, he's still worried but doesn't know what to do. Elsa sees him and waves to him. When the lunch bell rings, he walks to Batley Park , Aisha went back to the house with him. At that time, he found that Currel looked strange, but he didn't take it seriously. Currel's kind of people never get sick, so no one thought that he might be sick. Also, if he didn't do well, he was often ill-tempered and depressed. It was best to leave him alone then, so Miss Gray and Meredy went away first. As for the others, the servant Busy with household chores and cooking lunch, Miss William spends part of the morning correcting homework in the classroom, and later brings some girls to the balcony. Angela spends most of the morning playing in the garden, climbing trees, eating... …You know fifteen-year-old girls too! Plums, sour apples, hard pears, etc. Then she went back to the house, went to the beach with Philip to sunbathe, and didn't come back until lunch." Inspector Hale paused , and said in a challenging tone: "Okay, do you think there is something suspicious and deceptive in it?" "Not at all," said Poirot. "Okay, that's it!" These two sentences contain infinite meaning. "However," said Poirot, "I still want to satisfy myself, I—" "What are you going to do?" "I want to visit these five people and listen to what they say one by one." Inspector Haier sighed deeply and said, "Brother, you are so enthusiastic! Each of them must tell a different story! Don't you even understand this? Any two people who remember the same thing Not in the same order. And so far apart! You're bound to hear about five different murders!" "That's what I hope," Polo said, "but it will allow me to get a lot of information."