Chapter 10 Chapter 9 Murders at Bexhill on the Seashore

I still remember waking up on the morning of July 25th, which should have been around 7:30. Poirot was standing by my bed, shaking me gently by the shoulders.I glanced at him, which brought me back from half-consciousness to instinctive waking. "What's the matter?" I asked, sitting up quickly. His answer was extremely simple, but there were rich emotions behind the three words he uttered. "It happened." "What's the matter?" I cried. "You mean—but it's only the twenty-fifth." "The case happened last night. Or rather, in the early hours of this morning."

I jumped out of bed and made a quick trip to the bathroom.He briefly recounted what he had just learned over the phone. "The body of a young girl was found on the beach in Bexhill. Elizabeth Barnard, identified as a waitress in a restaurant, was living with her parents in a newly built bungalow. Medicine Identification indicates that the time of death was between eleven-thirty and one o'clock." "Can they be so sure that this is the crime?" I asked, soaping my face hastily. "There was an ABC under the body, and the open page happened to be the timetable for the train to Bexhill."

I shuddered. "this is too scary." "Faites attention, Hastings. I don't want a second tragedy." ①French, meaning: be careful. ——Annotation. I wash the blood off my chin in frustration. "What kind of battle plan should we have?" I asked. "The car won't be picking us up in a while. I'll bring you a cup of coffee so you don't delay your departure." Twenty minutes later we got into a police car and sped across the Thames out of London. We were accompanied by Inspector Crome, who was present at the meeting and is now officially in charge of the case.

Crome is very different from Japp.He was much younger, the quiet, superior kind.He is well educated and understanding.For my taste, he was in the shadows of over-complacency.Recently, he has received many awards for solving a series of child murders, and he has patiently tracked down the criminal, who is now in the Broadmoor prison. Obviously he's the right guy to take on the case, but I think he thinks a little too highly of himself.His attitude towards Poirot is somewhat arrogant, treating Poirot as a young man rather than an elder - in a rather pompous, "public school" way.

"I've had a very good long talk with Dr. Thompson," he said. "He's very interested in 'chain' or 'serial' murders. It is impossible to appreciate its classic content. This has to be understood from a medical point of view." He coughed. "Actually, I don't know if you've heard of my last case, the case of Mabel Homer, the schoolgirl at Mount Mussel. You know, that Capper was an anomalous character, and it would be extremely difficult to convict him." Difficulty—again, only his third case. But there are many kinds of tests that can be used—such as confession induction, you know, this is a very advanced method, and of course there is no such thing in your time. Once You can make a man tell himself, and you can catch him. As soon as he realizes you've got it all, his nerves will falter and he'll be open."

"Even in my time, this method was adopted many times," said Poirot. Inspector Crome looked at him and said in a low voice: "Really?" We were all silent for a while.As we passed New Cross Station, Crome said: "If you want to know something about this case, just ask." "You haven't described the murdered girl yet?" "She was twenty-three years old, and she worked as a waitress at the Yellow Cat Restaurant—" "Pas ca②, what I am wondering is—is she beautiful?"②French, meaning: not so. ——Annotation. "Then I don't know much about it," said Inspector Crome, a little timidly.His expression showed: "Really—these gringos all look alike!"

A faint pleasure flashed in Poirot's eyes. "Isn't that important to you? However, pour une femme③, appearance is the most important thing, which often determines her fate." ③French, meaning: For a woman. ——Annotation. There was another silence. It was not until we approached Sevennock that Poirot broke the deadlock again. "Did you happen to know how that girl was strangled to death with something?" Inspector Crome answered briefly. "Strangled with her own girdle—a thick knit girdle, I think." Poirot's eyes opened wide. "Aha," he said, "it's kind of interesting that we finally have some definite information, isn't it?"

"I haven't realized it yet," said Inspector Crome coldly. I am disgusted by the man's doubts and lack of imagination. "That gives us the character of the murderer," I said. "The girl's own sash, which shows the murderer to be particularly vicious." Poirot glanced at me, the meaning of which I could not fathom.On the surface, this conveyed to me a kind of humorous impatience. I fell into silence again. We were met at Bexhill by Superintendent Carter, and with him a young Inspector Kelsey, a friendly-faced and alert-looking man, who had been assigned to work with Crome on the case.

"You can conduct your own investigation, Crome," said the superintendent, "so I'll just give you the main facts of the case, and then you'll get to it." "Thank you, sir," said Crome. "We've passed the news to her parents," said the Superintendent. "It was an absolutely terrible shock to them. I gave them time to recover before questioning them, so you can start all over again." Start asking questions." "Is there anyone else in her family?" asked Poirot. "There's a sister—who works as a typist in London, and she's been notified. And there's a boy—in fact, I suppose the girl went out with him last night."

"Is that ABC Railroad Disaster useful and helpful?" Crome asked. "It's right there," said the superintendent, nodding at the table. "There are no fingerprints on it. The book is open to the Bexhill page. It's a new book, I should say—the book doesn't seem to be I have read it a few times. I didn’t buy the book near here, I have checked all the local stationery stores.” "Who found the body, sir?" "It's a Colonel with an early morning exercise, Colonel Jerome. He's out with his dog about six o'clock in the morning, in the direction of Cowden, walking on the sand. His dog runs away, sniffing something. The colonel called for the dog, but the dog didn't come back. When he stepped forward, he felt that something strange had happened. He was very measured and didn't touch her body, so he called us immediately."

"The time of death was around midnight yesterday?" "Between midnight and one o'clock in the morning, that's pretty sure. Our murderer is a man of his word, and if he said he would act on the twenty-fifth, it would be the twenty-fifth, Even if it's just been a few minutes." Crom nodded. "Yes, that's really where his mind is. Isn't there another situation? Nobody's seen anything that helps?" "Not yet. It's too early, though. Anyone who saw a lady in white walking with a man last night would have come to tell us right away. And I guess there were about four Five hundred girls in white have walked with the young men, and we would have been overwhelmed." "Well, sir, I'd better get down to it and start investigating," said Crome. "The diner and the girl's house. I'd better go to both. Kelsey will go with me." "Will M. Poirot come too?" asked the superintendent. "I'll go with you." Poirot bowed slightly and said to Crome. Crome was a little annoyed, I think.Kelsey, who had never met Poirot before, grinned. Sadly, whenever people meet my friend for the first time, there is always a will to think of him as a big joke. "What about the belt that strangled her?" asked Crome. "Mr. Poirot thought it a very valuable lead. I think he'd be more than happy to examine it." "Du tout ④," said Poirot quickly, "you have misunderstood." ④French, meaning: not at all. ——Annotation. "You're going to get nothing," Carter said. "It's not a leather belt—if it were a belt, it would have fingerprints on it. It's just a thick knitted silk belt, ideal for killing." I felt a shudder. "Okay," said Crome, "we'd better go." We set off immediately. We first went to the Yellow Cat restaurant.This is a common small tea house, located by the sea.The tables in the restaurant are covered with orange plaid tablecloths, and the woven chairs are also covered with orange cushions, making them extremely uncomfortable.Specializing in morning coffee, this restaurant serves five different teas (Devonshire, Farmhouse, Fruity, Carlton and Plain) as well as a few small lunch items for the ladies, such as stir-fried Eggs, shrimp and breadcrumbs, macaroni. The restaurant is serving morning coffee at the moment.The restaurant manager greeted us hastily into a small, filthy room at the back. "You are Miss Merrion?" Crome asked. Miss Merrion blurted out in a high-pitched, very unpleasant ladylike voice: "I am. This is so sad, the most tragic thing. I can't imagine how much it will affect our business!" Miss Merrion was a thin woman of forty or so, with orange hair in many little strands (in fact, she herself looked startlingly like a yellow cat).She fiddled with the thin scarf and frills of her dress with extreme nervousness. "You'll have a good business," said Inspector Kelsey encouragingly. "You'll see you can't even supply food." "It's abominable," she said. "It's abominable. It's a despairing of humanity." But no matter what, her eyes were still shining brightly. "What can you tell me about the dead girl, Miss Merrion?" "No comment," said Miss Merrion expressly, "absolutely no comment." "How long has she been here?" "This year is the second summer." "Are you satisfied with her?" "She's a great waitress, quick and follows the rules." "Is she handsome?" asked Poirot. Miss Merrion glanced back at him with a look of "Look, these foreigners" in her eyes. "She's a very nice girl, and pretty," she said dryly. "What time did she get off work last night?" Crome asked. "Eight o'clock. We close at eight o'clock. They don't serve dinner in the shop, so they don't need to do anything. People come to eat scrambled eggs and drink tea after seven o'clock. Our peak time is 6:30. It's over." "Did she mention to you what she would do at night?" "Of course not," said Miss Merrion emphatically, "we're not that close." "Has anyone ever come to see her? Or something?" "No." "Does she look as usual herself? Neither excited nor depressed?" "I'm really speechless," said Miss Merrion dryly. "How many waitresses are there in your store?" "Usually two, after July 20th until the end of August, we will recruit two more temporary ones." "Isn't Elizabeth Barnard one of the recruits?" "Miss Barnard is a permanent one." "Who is the other one?" "Miss Higley. She's a lovely lady." "Were she friends with Miss Barnard?" "I'm really speechless." "Perhaps we'd better have a word with her." "Is it now?" "If you promise." "I'll call her," said Miss Merrion, rising. "Keep it brief, please. It's the rush hour for morning coffee." The sly, ginger Miss Merrion left the room. "It's very refined," remarked Inspector Kelsey, imitating the woman's affected voice, "I'm really speechless." A buxom girl burst into the room.She was slightly out of breath, with dark hair, pink cheeks, and black eyes wide with excitement. "Miss Merrion let me in," she said breathlessly. "You're Miss Higley?" "Yes, it's me." "You knew Elizabeth Barnard?" "Oh yes, I know Betty. Isn't it scary? It's so scary. I can't believe it's real. I've been talking to the girls all morning about it, I can't Believe it!' You know, girls,' I said, 'that doesn't look real. Betty! I mean Betty Barnard who was here all day, murdered. I can't believe it ’ I said. I pinched myself five or six times to see if I wouldn’t wake up. Betty got murdered… oh, you know what I mean, it just doesn’t feel real.” "Do you know the dead girl well?" "She's been here longer than I've been hosting. I've only been here since March and she was here last year. She's a quiet person, if you know what I mean. She's not the joking and A person who loves to laugh, I mean she is actually not a really quiet person, she has a lot of fun of her own, but she never shares it with others. So, she is a quiet person and a restless person, if If you can understand." I want to say that Inspector Crome was too patient.As a witness, the buxom Miss Higley was always annoying.Every sentence she said had to be repeatedly argued several times, but in the end it made people lose the point. She was not intimate with the dead girl.We may guess that Elizabeth Barnard considered herself superior to Miss Higley.She was very nice during working hours, but the girls didn't get along with her very well.Elizabeth Barnard once had a "friend" who worked in a real estate firm near the station.The firm was called Court and Brunskill, but he was neither Mr. Court nor Mr. Brunskill, he was just a clerk.She didn't know his name, but she was familiar with him as long as she saw him.He was very handsome, oh, very handsome, and always well-dressed.Clearly, Miss Higley harbored a tinge of jealousy. The conversation finally came to an end.Elizabeth Barnard did not reveal to anyone in the restaurant her plans for the night, while Miss Higley believed that she was going to meet her "friends".She is wearing a white coat. "Because of her new clothes, she looked very sweet and charming." We chatted for a while with the other two girls, but got no further information.Betty Barnard had never said what she was going to do, and no one had seen her at Bexhill that night.