Chapter 14 Chapter Thirteen A Meeting

It's a meeting! Many of my memories of the ABC case are meetings. There were always so many meetings at Scotland Yard, in Poirot's rooms.There are formal meetings, informal meetings. The meeting was to decide whether the facts related to those anonymous letters could be made public through the news media. The Bexhill murders attracted much more attention than Andover. Of course, there are many rumored elements to this murder.First of all, its victim was a young and pretty girl, and it took place in a generally popular seaside resort. All the details of the murder were reported in full, and were rumored secretly and embellished all day long.The ABC Railroad Guide has also received considerable attention.The most admirable exposition said that the murderer bought the book locally, and the book became an important clue to identify him.The murderer appeared to have arrived here by train, intending to return to London.

The railroad guidebook was not mentioned in the Andover murder reports, and the two cases are now rarely linked in the public eye. "We should have policy," said the assistant minister. "The question is, which method will get us the best result? Do we reveal the truth to the public to get their cooperation. In short, it will take several The cooperation of millions of people, together to find the murderer—" "He doesn't look like a madman," interjected Dr. Thompson. "Inquiring about ABC sales and other things, I think it would be advantageous to operate quietly, without letting the man know what we're up to. , and then the facts would show that he knew exactly what we knew. He used letters to draw attention to him. Oh, Crome, what do you think?"

"Here's how I see it, sir. If you make the case public, you're playing the ABC game. That's what he wants, to make the case public and notorious. That's what he wants to achieve." effect. I'm quite right, aren't I, doctor? He expects a commotion." Dr. Thompson nodded. The assistant to the director said thoughtfully: "So you approve of frustrating him, denying him the publicity he craves. What do you think, M. Poirot?" Poirot remained silent for a moment, and when he did speak he always assumed a gesture which showed that he was choosing his words carefully.

"It puts me in a difficult position, Sir Lionel," he said. "You may say that I'm a very interesting party. This kind of challenge has been thrown at me. If I said 'Should lock things up—don't make them public' ', don't people think it's my vanity speaking? People think I'm trying to protect my reputation? That's a real embarrassment for me! It's good to get it out there—and to make it known to all It's at least a warning... On the other hand, I share Crome's conviction that this is what the murderer wants us to do." "Oh," said the assistant minister, wiping his chin, and looking at Dr. Thompson from afar, "just imagine what this lunatic would do if we refused to satisfy his desire for publicity?"

"Perform another murder," said the doctor quickly, "to force you to do it." "How would he react if we made headlines about it?" "The answer is the same. In one way, you'll encourage his delusions; in the other, you'll frustrate him, and the end will be the same, another murder. " "What are you going to say, M. Poirot?" "I agree with Dr. Thompson." "It's a real dilemma—huh? How many more murders do you think this madman has in mind?" Dr. Thompson looked through it, and stared at Poirot. "Looks like the letters A to Z," he said cheerfully.

"Of course," he went on, "he's not going to get there, that's far from it. Before that, you'll have him. I'm just interested to know what he wants to do with the letter X. ’ He recovered from the purely amused speculation. "But long before that, you'll catch him. At G or H. You'll." The assistant minister slammed his fist on the table. "My God, are you telling me we've got five more murders to go?" "Probably not so much, sir," said Inspector Crome. "Trust me." There was confidence in his tone. "At what letter do you think the case will be solved, Inspector?" asked Poirot.

There was a slight sarcasm in his voice.I could see that Crome was looking at him with displeasure mixed with his usual calm arrogance. "We might catch him next time, M. Poirot. At any rate, as soon as he gets to the F, I promise he will be caught." He turned to the assistant minister. "I think I have grasped the psychology of the case extremely clearly. Dr. Thompson will correct me if I make a mistake. I think his confidence level goes up by a percentage every time ABC commits a murder One hundred. Every time he'd feel 'I'm smart - they can't catch me!', he would become so overconfident that he would be careless. He boasted of his savvy and thought everyone else was stupid. He's not going to take the pains to raise his guard anytime soon. Am I right, doctor?"

Thompson nodded. "It is so often the case. It cannot be explained better in non-medical terms. You ought to know something of this sort, M. Poirot. Do you not agree with that?" I don't think Crome liked Thompson's approval of Poirot.He considered himself, and himself alone, the expert on the case. "Inspector Crome is quite right," agreed Poirot. "Paranoid," the doctor whispered. Poirot turned to Crome. "Is there anything of substantive importance in the Bexhill case?" "Nothing is certain. A waiter recognized the picture of the dead girl at the Splendid restaurant in Eastbourne, where she had dined on the evening of the 24th, accompanied by a man wearing spectacles. She. She was also recognized by the people at the little inn called the Crimson Runner halfway between Bexhill and London, and they said she had been with a man for twenty-four days. There at nine o'clock in the evening, the man looked like a naval officer. They can't all be right, but what people say in every place is possible. Of course, there are many other identifications, they Most of them are useless. We haven't been able to track ABC."

"Well, you seem to have done a great deal, Crome," said the assistant minister. "Have you anything to say, M. Poirot? Have you considered those questions?" Poirot said slowly: "It seems to me that there is a very important lead - the discovery of the motive of the crime." "Isn't that obvious? It's an alphabetical crime complex. Isn't that what you call it, Doctor?" "Ca oui (French, meaning: this, right.—annotation)," said Poirot, "is indeed a criminal complex in alphabetical order. But why an alphabetical complex? A particular madman always has a strong reason for the crime he intends to commit."

"Come, come, M. Poirot," said Crome. "Look at the Mason case in 1929. He was finally trying to get rid of those who offended him in the least degree." Poirot turned towards him. "Indeed. If you are a person of considerable greatness and importance, you are likely to be distracted by petty annoyances. If a fly lands on your forehead over and over again, it annoys you with tickles—you What will you do? You try to kill the fly, and you have no doubts about it. You matter—the fly doesn't matter. You kill the fly, and your troubles go away. Your actions matter to yourself It is perfectly normal and beyond reproach. Another reason to kill flies is that you have a strong sense of hygiene. Flies are a potential danger to the public and must be exterminated. The same is true for deranged criminal minds. But now Consider this case—if the victims were picked in alphabetical order, they were being eliminated because they were a source of annoyance to the murderer himself. Linking the two is always a great coincidence."

"Exactly," said Dr. Thompson. "I remember a case where a woman's husband was sentenced to death, and she started killing jurors one by one. Linked, until then, they seem entirely accidental. As M. Poirot said, no criminal commits crimes at will. He always gets rid of those who stand in his way (no matter how insignificant they may be) , or he'll kill out of conviction. He'll kill a clergyman, or a policeman, or a whore, because he's convinced they have to get rid of them. That doesn't apply, as I understand it. Mrs. Ascher Can't relate to Betty Barnard as someone of the same class. Of course, there's a bit of a gender factor, both victims were women. We'll know better after the next murder.. ...." "For God's sake, Thompson, don't speak so eloquently of the next crime," Sir Lionel said angrily. "We're going to do what we can to prevent another murder." Dr. Thompson fell silent then, snorting vigorously. "Then take it as yourselves," the voice seemed to say, "if you don't want to face the fact—" The assistant minister turned to Poirot. "I understand what you mean, but I'm not quite sure." "I asked myself," said Poirot, "what was going through the murderer's head? From his letters it seemed that he murdered for the purpose of pourle sport (French, meaning: for excitement.— —Annotation)—to please himself. But could that be true? And even if it were, on what basis would he choose his murders other than alphabetically? If he murdered only to please himself , he doesn't need to tell the truth, since he can still murder without shame. But that's not the case, as we all agree, he seeks to create a stir in the public eye - to maintain his personality. In our How is his personality restrained in linking the two victims he has picked? Is his motive, the last supposition, hatred of me, Hercule Poirot? Is he openly challenging me because I have (unbeknownst to me) crushed him in my career? Or is it because he has an impersonal hatred for a foreigner? If so, What caused this emotion? What kind of injury has he suffered at the hands of a foreigner?" "It's all about the mind-boggling questions," Dr. Thompson said. Inspector Crome cleared his throat. "Oh, yes, maybe it's a little hard to answer right now." "In any case, my friend," said Poirot, looking directly at him, "there is a solution to those problems. If we know the exact reasons why this madman commits these crimes, perhaps these reasons will be of great importance to us." It's a bit of a fantasy, but it makes sense to him, so we should know who the next victim is going to be." Crom shook his head. "He just picked them by chance - that's my opinion." "The generous murderer," said Poirot. "What did you say?" "I said - is this a magnanimous murderer? If it weren't for those ABC warning letters, Franz Ascher would have been arrested for the murder of his wife, and Donald Fraser would have been arrested for the murder of Betty Barna Del was arrested. Does he have a good heart when he can't stand people suffering for not doing these things?" "I know weird things happen," Dr. Thompson said. "I've also known people who have had a nervous breakdown after murdering several people, only to suffer because one of the victims didn't die right away. Likewise, I think it's Not the murderer's reason. He was desperate to gain the prestige of these crimes for his own name and glory. That is the closest explanation." "We haven't reached a conclusion on the disclosure," the assistant minister said. "If I propose, sir," said Crome, "why not wait until the next letter is received? Make it public in a special issue. This will cause alarm in the town named, and will cause C. Everyone at the beginning of the name is on the alert, this move will inspire this ABC. He will be determined to commit to success, and then we will be able to catch him." We know so little about the future.