Chapter 19 Chapter Three Revisiting Old Dreams

The afternoon sun shone into the laboratory in Hanks Manor.A few easy chairs and chairs with backs had just been brought into the room, but instead of being decorative, they accentuated the solitude of the room. Meredith Black stroked his beard and chatted awkwardly with Kara in fits and starts.At one point he said, "Honey, you're a lot like your mother—and a lot like her." Carla said, "What's like her? What's not like?" "Your skin color is like hers, and your movements are also like hers, but you... how should I put it...you are much more active than her." Philip Black looked out of the window with a frown, and knocked impatiently on the window sill , said: "What the hell do you mean by this? A good Friday afternoon—" Hercule Poirot hurried to smooth things over and said: "I'm so sorry—I know it's a crime to mess up your golf program." Unforgivable. Mr. Black, this is your best friend's daughter. You'd be willing to put off the date for her, wouldn't you?"

The butler announced, "Miss Warren is here." Meridy Black went up to greet her and said, "It's good of you to take time out of your busy schedule, Angela, I know you're very busy." He led her to the by the window. Carla said, "Hi Aunt Angela, I saw your article in The Times this morning. It's nice to have a wonderful relative." She gestured to her side with her broad jaw and steady gray eyes. A tall young man in the eye, said: "This is John, Ratley. He and I - hope - are married." Angela Warren said: "Oh! I don't know..." Meredith stepped forward to greet the next guest. "Miss William, I haven't seen you for many years."

As the elderly, thin but strong governess entered the room, she rested her eyes thoughtfully on Poirot, and then on the tall, broad-shouldered figure in the well-cut tweed suit. Angela, Warren walked towards her, smiled and said, "I seem to be back to my school days." "I'm so proud of you, dear," said Miss Williams. "I suppose it's Carla? She can't remember me, she was so young..." Philip Black said irritably: "What the hell is this for? Nobody told me—" Hercule.Poirot said: "I call it revisiting the old places. Everyone, please sit down, please? We can start as soon as the last guest arrives. After she arrives, we can start to exorcise the ghosts." Philip Black said aloud: "What nonsense are you trying to do? It's not going to be a seance, is it?"

"No, no, we just want to discuss some things that happened a long time ago──After the discussion, maybe we can see the meaning of those things more clearly. As for ghosts, although they won't show up, who can say that they don't exist in this place? What about the room? Who's to say that Anya and Caroline Collier aren't around to listen?" Philip Blake said, "It's absurdly boring—" and at that moment the door opened again, and the butler announced the arrival of Mrs. Dittisham. Aisha, Di Tishan walked in with her usual slightly arrogant and impatient expression.She smiled at Meridy, looked coldly at Angela and Philip, and went to sit by the window, away from the others.She unfastened the expensive shawl from her collar, letting it fall behind her.She looked around the room for a moment, then at Carla, and the girl looked back at her, secretly admiring the woman who had broken the bond between her parents.There was no hatred on her young and eager face, only curiosity.

Aisha said: "Sorry for being late, Mr. Poirot." "It's very kind of you to come, ma'am." Xi Xili.William snorts, and Elsa meets the hostility in her eyes without interest.She said: "I really don't recognize you, Angela. How long have we not seen each other? Sixteen years?" Hercule Poirot seized the opportunity to say: "Yes, we have already talked about sixteen years." It was years ago, but let me first tell you why we are here today." He then succinctly described what Carla was asking for, and how he had accepted the job. He went on quickly, ignoring the growing anger on Philip's face and the shocked and disgusted look on Meredy's face.

"I accepted her entrustment—to proceed with the work, hoping to find out—the truth." Carla Limaqian was sitting on the big rocking chair, and because of the distance, she couldn't hear Poirot's words very clearly. She quietly looked at these five faces, among the five of them, would one of them be the murderer?Is it the exotic Elsa, the flushed Philip, the kind and loving Mr. Meredith Black, the stern governess, or the cool and competent Angela Warren? If she tried to imagine, could she imagine a scenario in which one of them would kill someone? Yes, maybe—but it wasn't real murder.She could imagine Philip Blake strangling a woman in a fit of rage... or Meredith Black threatening a thief with a pistol -- accidentally firing a shot...?And Angela Warren also fired a shot, but it was not an accident.No personal feelings of any kind—it has to be so fast and safe.Then there's Elsa, sitting in an imaginary castle, in a carriage made of oriental silk, saying, "Throw the scumbag over the wall!" I really can't imagine the appearance of the thin Miss William killing someone!Imagine if she had said, "Have you ever killed, Miss William," Miss William would have said, "Do your math, Carla, and don't ask stupid questions. Killing is a very evil thing."

Carla thought, "There must be something wrong with me—stop thinking about it. Listen, you fool, to the man who claims to know the truth." Hercule Poirot was still talking: "That's my job—to go into the time machine and find out the truth about what happened so many years ago." Philip Blake said: "We all know what happened, and to try to make up anything else would be a lie - yes, nothing wrong, a total lie. You want to use lies Come and scam this girl out of money." Poirot was not offended by his words. He said: "You just said 'we all know what happened', which is not thoughtful. The accepted explanation is not necessarily the truth. For example, on the surface, you-- Mr. Black - doesn't like Caroline Currell, everyone knows that. But anyone who knows a little bit about psychology knows that the opposite is true. You have always been infatuated with Caroline Currell. , but you hate the fact that you keep finding fault with her and try to restrain your feelings for her. Similarly, Mr. Meredith Black has loved Caroline Currell for many years, and his understanding of tragedy In the narration, it is said that he hated Anya Correll because of her, but one only needs to look carefully at the meaning between the lines, and one can know that because he has loved her deeply all his life, his feelings have calmed down. In my mind, I have replaced it with the beautiful Aisha Gray." Meridy Black muttered something, and Mrs. Di Tishan smiled slightly.Poirot continued: "I mention these things only to give a few examples, but these things have something to do with the tragedy. Well, I will start to investigate this tragedy, and find out as much as I can. I will first find a replacement." The lawyer defending Kai Ruolin Currell found the royal legal counsel, the old lawyer who was familiar with the Currell family, the staff of the law firm who appeared in court during the trial, and the police officer who hosted the case. Finally, I finally found five witnesses who were there. And I got the impression--a mixed impression, that I knew one thing: Caroline Currier never pleaded her innocence. (Only to her daughter exception in her letter.)" "Caroline Correll did not appear frightened at all in court, in fact, she did not seem to care, so she adopted a completely defeatist attitude. She was also very quiet in prison. Peaceful. Shortly after the sentencing, she wrote a letter to her sister saying she had resigned. Everyone I spoke to agreed that Caroline Currell was the killer—with one notable exception."

Philip Black nodded, "Of course she is the murderer!" said Hercule Poirot. "But my duty is not to accept other people's judgments. I have to check the evidence myself. I have to be sure that the psychological factors of this case are consistent with the evidence. So I checked the police files carefully first, and I also got the five witnesses involved at the time With the consent of the police, I promised to write a report on the tragedy for each of me. These reports are very valuable, because there are some things in them that cannot be found in the police files, that is, they contain some conversations and incidents that the police consider to be insignificant; , and these people’s opinions on Kai Ruolin’s thoughts and feelings; third, there are some facts that the police deliberately withheld.” Now, I can judge the case for myself.In any case, Caroline Currell seems to have a good criminal motive. She loves her husband.He had openly admitted that he was leaving her for another woman, and she had admitted it herself that she was a very jealous woman.

"With the motive, now it's time to talk about the means. Someone found an empty perfume bottle that had been filled with methamphetamine from a drawer in her room, and only her fingerprints were on it. When asked by the police, she admitted that it was from this Taken from the room. Her fingerprints were on the methamphetamine bottle too. I asked Mr. Meredith Black the order in which the five people left the room that day--because I don't think any of the five people in the room Possibly to take the methamphetamine. The order in which the five men left the room was as follows: Aisha Gray, Meredith Black, Angela Warren, Philip Black, Anya Currell, and finally It was Caroline Clerer. Besides, Mr. Meredith Black had his back to the room when Mrs. Clerll came out, and of course it was impossible to see what she was doing. That is to say, she There was indeed a chance of stealing the poison. And as a circumstantial evidence, I remember Mr. Meredith Black telling me last time: 'I remember standing here and smelling jasmine through the open window.' But it was September , The flowering period of jasmine has ended.

Jasmine usually blooms in June and July.But the perfume bottle found in her room turned out to be jasmine perfume.So I'm pretty sure Currel was too determined to steal the methazine because she emptied the perfume bottle in her purse so she could use it for the methazine. "Later I did another experiment. One day I asked Mr. Black to close his eyes and try to recall the order in which the guests left the room. Generally, the scent of jasmine immediately brought back his memory, and everyone was unconsciously affected by the smell. impact.” Now comes the all-important morning, and so far the facts are indisputable.Suddenly Miss Gray reveals that she and Mr. Currell intend to marry.Anya Currel confirmed it, Caroline.Correll is very sad, and there is more than one witness to these things.

"The next morning there was an argument between the Curriers in the study, and the witnesses first heard Catherine Currier say in a caustic voice: 'You and your women!' Finally she Said: 'One day I'll kill you.' This was heard by Philip Blake in the hall outside and by Miss Gray on the balcony outside. "Miss Gray later heard Mr. Currell tell his wife to be sensible, and Mrs. Currell said: 'I will kill you before you get to that girl.' Soon, Anya Currell went from came out of the room and abruptly asked Aisha Gray to go down and pose for him. She took a coat and went with him. Psychologically, nothing was wrong so far. The performance is no different from the usual words and deeds, but then there is an incongruous thing. "Meready Black found something missing and called his brother, and they met at the wharf where the boat was parked and walked through Batley Park when Caroline Currell was discussing Angela's schooling with her husband I find this very strange. The husband and wife had just had a big quarrel, and Catherine had warned her husband plainly, but after about twenty minutes, she came down to talk about a small family matter." Poirot looked at Meridy Black and said: "You said in the report that you heard Currel say: 'Everything is settled, and I will pay attention to her packing.' Is that true?" Blake said, "Almost—yes." Poirot looked at Philip Blake again, and said, "Do you remember that?" The latter frowned, and said, "I didn't remember it, but I remembered it after you said it. It was indeed about packing my luggage." thing!" "Mr. Currell? Not Mrs. Currell?" "Anya said it. I only heard Kai Ruolin say that she was cruel to that girl. But what does it matter? We all know that Angela will go to school in a day or two." Poirot said: "You haven't figured out what I mean. Why does Anya Clerll pack Angela's luggage? It's ridiculous, isn't it? There's Mrs. Clerll, Miss William, and a A maid. Packing is a woman's business—not a man's." Philip Blake said impatiently: "What difference does that make? It has nothing to do with the case." "You think it's all right? I think that's the first clue; and there's another one right after that. Mrs. Currell had threatened her husband in despair and heartbreak not long ago, and was obviously considering suicide or murder, but Immediately graciously promised to bring her husband some cold beer." Meredith Black said slowly, "It wouldn't be surprising if she was going to kill someone. She's just trying to cover it up!" "You think so? She's decided to poison her husband, and the poison is already in hand. There's beer in Batley Park, and if she had any sense she'd put the poison in there when no one was around." A bottle of beer." Meredith Black objected. "It can't be like that, maybe someone else will drink it." "Yes, Aisha Gray may drink by mistake. But since she is determined to kill her husband, does she still care about killing that girl? But let's not talk about this now, let's look at the facts first. Caroline Currel wanted to bring cold beer down for her husband, so she went up to the beer conservatory next to the house and brought him a bottle of beer. She poured him a glass and brought it to him. Anya Currel finished drinking Then said: 'Everything stinks today.' Mrs. Currell then went back into the house and finished her lunch and fruit as usual. She is said to have looked a little worried and absent-minded, which One point did not help us, for there was no standard in the conduct of murderers, some murderers were calm and some were agitated. After lunch she went to Batley Park again and found her husband dead, and— --did what was obviously expected. She acted very sadly, and told the governess to call for a doctor. Now we are going to mention a fact which was previously unknown." He looked at Miss William, and said: " You don't object, do you?" Miss Wei Qian's face was a little pale and he said, "I didn't ask you to keep it secret." Then Poirot, in a quiet but dramatic tone, recounted what Miss William had witnessed. Aisha Ditishan moved her body, she looked at the thin and boring woman sitting on the big chair, and asked in disbelief: "Did you really see her do that?" Philip Blake jumped up, and said, "That's it! Then there's no doubt about it." Hercules.Poirot looked at him mildly and said, "Not necessarily." Angela.Warren said sternly, "I don't believe it," and cast a quick, hostile look at the governess. Meredith Black stroked his beard with a look of disappointment on his face.Only Miss William remained unmoved, sitting upright with a slight blush on her cheeks. "I did see it with my own eyes," she said. Poirot said slowly: "Of course, this is just your one-sided statement." "Yes," said the unyielding gray eyes bravely meeting his. "Mr. Poirot, but I have never been used to having my words doubted." Hercule Poirot nodded and said: "I don't doubt your words, Miss William. The facts are indeed as you have seen, but it is precisely because of this that I know that Caroline Correll is not the murderer." .” The tall, worried young man said for the first time: "I should like to know why you say that, M. Poirot." Poirot looked at him and said: "Well, of course I will tell you. Miss William saw Caroline Currier hastily and carefully wipe the fingerprints off the beer bottle, and put the fingerprints of her dead husband on them. Please." Note that it is printed on the beer bottle. But the toxin is in the cup—not in the bottle. The police did not find the residual liquid of the toxin in the beer bottle, which means that the bottle has never contained the toxin. But Caroline Currell didn't know. Everyone thought she was the husband's murderer, but she didn't know how he was poisoned. She thought the poison was in a beer bottle." Meredith Black objected Said: "But why—?" Poirot stopped him with a gesture: "That's right—why, why is Caroline Currel so eager to explain that he committed suicide? The answer must be very simple, because she knows who the murderer is and is willing to do anything." —to endure anything—to clear the man of suspicion." "There is no doubt about the rest. Who could that person be? She will protect Philip Blake? one person." He paused, and then said: "Miss Warren, if you bring the last letter from sister Ling to you, I would like to read it aloud." Anamla Warren said, "No." "But, Miss Warren—" Angela Warren stood up and said in a cold voice, "I understand what you mean very well. You mean, I killed Anya Currell, and my sister Knowing that, right? I completely deny this baseless allegation." Poirot said: "The letter..." "That letter was written for me alone." Poirot looked at the two young men in the room. Kara Maqian said: "Please, Aunt Angela, can you just do what Mr. Poirot said?" Angela Warren said: "Enough, Kara! Don't you understand Courtesy? She's your mother—" Carla said in a clear, stern voice. the contents of the letter." Angela Warren slowly took the letter from her pocket, handed it to Poirot, and said sharply: "I wish I had never shown you this letter." She looked away from them and looked out the window. When Hercule Poirot read the letter from Caroline Clerer, the shadows in the corner of the room deepened, and Kara felt as if someone else had come to listen quietly, and she thought: Here she is— My mother is here.Caroline—Caroline Correll is in this room too!When Hercule Poirot had finished reading, he said: "I am sure you will all agree that this is a very special letter, beautifully written, but certainly noticeable, for one thing is missing from it-- —she didn’t say she was innocent.” Angela Warren said without looking back, "That's not necessary." "Yes, Miss Warren, there is no need for that. Caroline Currell does not need to tell her sister that she is innocent--because she thinks her sister already knows the truth--Caroline Currell wholeheartedly Just to comfort Angela and keep her from confessing, assuring her over and over again - it's all right, darling, nothing at all." Angela Warren said, "Don't you understand? She just wants me to be happy, nothing else." "Yes, she wants you to be happy, that is very clear indeed, and her greatest wish. She has a child, but that is not the first thing she thinks of. Yes, her sister is her main concern. She wants her The younger sister was able to live a happy and successful life through and through. Caroline Correll said a meaningful sentence: 'One has to pay one's own debt.' "This sentence alone is enough to explain everything. It clearly points out a burden that Kai Ruolin has carried for so many years-when she was young and vigorous, she threw a bookweight at her young sister, making her Crippled for the rest of her life. At last, she had a chance to pay her debts. I am sure that Caroline Currel has found peace and tranquility in this act of repaying her debts like never before. Because she believed she was paying her debts, neither the trial nor the verdict hit her. Strange to say of a condemned criminal—but she did feel happy. Yes, happier than you can imagine, I'll prove it to you in a moment." Using this kind of reason to explain, you will find that every reaction of Kai Ruolin is a matter of course.Let's look at this chain of events from her point of view. First of all, what happened the night before reminded her of an incident in her girlhood—Angela threw a bookweight at Anya Currel!Don't forget, she did the same thing herself many years ago.Angela yelled at Anya, she wanted him dead. Then the next morning, when Caroline walked into the small conservatory, she found Angela playing with beer.Please remember what Miss William said: "Angela is there, it looks like she made a mistake..." Miss William meant that she skipped class so she had that expression, but in Kai Ruolin's view, the meaning was completely different. different.Don't forget, Angela has put something in Anya's drink more than once, so it's easy for her to figure out what she does. "Kai Ruolin took the bottle of beer that Angela gave her, and walked to Batley Park. She poured a glass of wine and handed it to Anya. After he drank it in one gulp, he said a very important sentence: 'everything today Everything tastes stinky.' "Caroline didn't suspect anything at the time, but when she arrived at Batley Park after lunch, she found her husband dead. She immediately thought that he had been poisoned. She didn't poison him herself, So, who could it be? She quickly recalled the matter—Angela threatened Anya, and stood by the refrigerator making a beer as if she had made a mistake. Why did this kid do this? To get revenge on Anya Ke Rael. Maybe she didn't intend to kill him, but just to make him sick or uncomfortable? Maybe, she did it for Kai Ruolin? Did she already know and hate that Anya abandoned her sister? Kay Ruolin remembers clearly that at Angela's age, she used to be disobedient and willful, so she only thought of one thing, how to protect Angela. Angela touched the wine bottle──The higher authorities must There were her fingerprints, so Kai Ruolin quickly wiped the bottle clean, if anyone could believe that he committed suicide, if there were only Anya's fingerprints on it... So she tried to take the dead man's hand and print it on the bottle-she did it very well Efforts -- and listening to what's going on around you at the same time... If this assumption is true, everything else makes sense. "She was worried about Angela all the time and insisted on sending her away without letting her know what happened. She was also worried that Angela would be questioned by the police. In the end, she couldn't wait to send Angela to the court before the trial. Leave the UK. All of this is because she is always worried that Angela will not be able to hold on and confess the truth."