Chapter 18 Section 6

A policeman opened the door for them and saluted them.Behind him, Superintendent Sugden came down the hall and said, "I'm glad you're here, Long Palace. Shall we go to the room on the left? To Mr. Lee's study. I want to go through the main After that, the whole thing was very strange." He led them into a small room to the left of the hall.There was a telephone and a desk full of papers, surrounded by rows of bookcases. The Chief Constable said: "Sugden, this is Mr. Hercule Poirot. You may have heard of him. He happened to be with me. This is Superintendent Sugden."

Poirot nodded and looked at the man.Standing before him was a tall man with broad shoulders and military bearing, a hooked nose, provocative chin, and a bushy chestnut mustache.After their introductions, Sugden stared intently at Poirot, and Poirot fixed his gaze on Superintendent Sugden's moustache, whose thickness and luxuriance seemed to fascinate Poirot. The superintendent said: "Of course I've heard of you, M. Poirot. You were here some years ago, and if I remember correctly, the death of Sir Bartholomew Strange, the poisoning, with nicotine .It's not from my district, but I've no doubt heard the whole story."

Colonel Johnson said impatiently: "Now, then, Sugden, let's see what happened. It's a clear case, you say." "Yes, sir, it's certainly murder—there's no way there can be any doubt about it. Mr Lee's throat was slit—the veins in the neck were cut, I heard from the doctor. But there's one very odd thing about the whole thing." The place." "what do you mean--" "I would like you to hear something about me first, sir. The situation is this: This afternoon, at about five o'clock, I received a call from Mr Lee at Adersfield Police Station, and his voice was on the line. It sounded quaint in the text - told me to see him at eight o'clock in the evening - with particular emphasis on the time. Also, he directed me to tell his housekeeper that I was going to collect donations for a police charity."

The chief of police raised his head, his eyes were sharp: "Want to find a plausible reason for you to go to his house?" "Yes, sir. Well, of course, Mr. Lee is an important person, so I granted his request. I arrived before eight o'clock, and introduced myself to collect donations for the police orphanage. The housekeeper went Then he came back and told me that Mr. Li wanted to see me. Then he took me to Mr. Li's room, which was on the second floor, just above the restaurant." Superintendent Sugden paused, took a breath, and resumed his report in a businesslike manner.

"Mr. Lee was sitting in a chair by the fireplace. He was wearing a pajamas. After the housekeeper closed the door and left, Mr. Lee asked me to sit next to him. He then said hesitantly that he would like to provide me with some Details, relating to a theft. I asked him what was stolen, and he replied that he had reason to believe diamonds worth several thousand pounds--uncut diamonds, I think he said, It was stolen from the safe." "Diamonds, huh?" said the Chief Prussian. "Yes, sir. I asked him some routine questions, but he was very uncertain and his answers were rather vague. Finally he said, 'You must understand, Superintendent, that I might It's a mistake'. I said, 'I don't quite understand, sir. Either the diamonds are missing, or they're still there--either the former or the latter'. He replied, 'The diamonds are indeed missing, Superintendent. , but it's also possible that their disappearance was just a rather stupid prank'. Ah, I thought it was weird, but I didn't say anything. He went on: 'It's hard for me to give you details, but that's the way it is, so far As far as I can see, there are only two people who could possibly have taken the diamonds, and one of them was probably doing it as a joke. If the other took it, they must have been stolen.' I said, 'What do you want What am I going to do, sir?' he answered immediately, 'I want you, Superintendent, to come back in about half an hour--no, a little later--a quarter past nine, and then I can tell Have your diamonds been stolen.' I was a little puzzled, but I agreed and left."

Colonel Johnson delivered his opinion: "Strange—very strange. What do you say, Poirot?" Hercule Poirot said: "May I ask you a question, Inspector, what conclusions do you draw from this?" The superintendent patted his chin, and replied cautiously: "Well, I have had various ideas, but generally speaking, this is what I deduce, there is no prank at all, the diamond was indeed stolen , but the old man is not sure who stole it. My opinion is that he said there were two possible persons, which is true—and that one of them was a servant, and the other was a member of the family."

Poirot nodded appreciatively. "Tres bien (French: very good), yes, that says a lot about his attitude." "So he wants me to come back at a later date. In the meantime, he's going to have the two men come in for an interview separately, and he'll tell them he's spoken to the police about it, but if they return it as soon as possible , he can cover it up." Colonel Johnson said: "What if his suspicions are not confirmed?" "In that case, he decided to let us investigate the matter." Colonel Johnson frowned and stroked his beard.He objected: "Why didn't he get things done before he called you?"

"No, no, sir." The superintendent shook his head. "Don't you see, if he did that, it might just be a bluff, and it would never be as convincing as this. The man might say to himself, 'Whoever he is Guess what, the old man wouldn't call the police!' But if the old man said to him, 'I already told the police, the superintendent just left.' If the thief asked the butler, and the butler confirmed This thing, 'Yes, the Superintendent was here before dinner'. Then the thief will believe that the old gentleman is serious, and he'd better spit out the diamonds."

"Oh, yes, I see," said Colonel Johnson. "Any idea, Sugden, who this 'family' might be?" "No, sir." "Didn't he give you any hints?" "No." Johnson shook his head."Okay, let's move on," he said. Superintendent Sugden went on formulaically: "I got back to the house, sir, at exactly a quarter past nine. Just as I was going to ring the bell, I heard a sound coming from the house. Screaming followed by a loud yelling and confusion. I rang the bell several times and slammed the knocker. It took three or four minutes for someone to answer the door, and when the valet finally opened it, I saw right away what was going on here Big deal. Shaking and looking like he was about to pass out, he said out of breath that Mr. Lee had been murdered. I hurried upstairs and found Mr. Lee's room in a mess where there was clearly There was a violent struggle. Mr Lee himself lay in a pool of blood in front of the fireplace with his throat slit."

The chief of police said sternly: "He couldn't have committed suicide?" Sugden shook his head. "Impossible, sir. For one thing, the tables and chairs in the room were overturned, and broken pottery and other ornaments were strewn about, and there was no trace of any blade or other implement used in the crime. " The Chief of Police said thoughtfully: "Yes, that seems certain. Is anyone in the room?" "Most of the family was there, sir, just standing around." Colonel Johnson said: "What do you think, Sugden?" The Superintendent said slowly, "It's a bad thing, and I think it looks like one of them did it, and I don't see anyone else doing it and getting away in time. "

"What do the windows look like? Are they closed or open?" "There are two windows in the room, sir. One is closed and bolted, and the other is open a few inches from the bottom—but that's held in that position with a tamper-proof bolt, and, I've tried , it's very tight - I bet it hasn't been opened in years. And the outside wall is smooth and has no cracks - no ivy or other creeping plants, I don't think anyone can escape from there .” "How many doors are there in the room?" "There was only one. The room was at the end of the corridor, and the door was locked from the inside. When they heard the sounds of struggle and the old man's dying screams, they rushed upstairs, and they had to break the door open to get in." Johnson said sternly, "And who's in the room?" Superintendent Sugden looked serious: "There is no one, sir, except the old man who was killed just a few minutes ago."