Chapter 23 Section 11

Magdalen Lee stood in the doorway for a moment, trying to impress, her long hand resting on her smooth platinum-gold hair, her leaf-green top pressed against her graceful body. curve.She looked very young and seemed a little scared. All three men stopped and looked at her for a moment.There was spontaneous admiration in Johnson's eyes.Superintendent Sugden showed no sign of admiration, just a look of impatience, anxious to continue his work. Hercule Poirot's gaze was one of deep admiration - not, in her opinion, of her beauty but of her use of it.She didn't know he was thinking to himself: "Jolie mannequin, la petite Mais elle a les yeux durs. (French: beautiful model, this little thing. But she has a pair of hard eyes.)"

Colonel Johnson thought, "Such a pretty girl, George Lee will be in trouble if she's not careful. She should be careful about other men." Superintendent Sugden was thinking, "Hot-headed, vain girl, I hope we can get this done soon." "Please sit down, Mrs. Lee. Let me see, are you—" "Mrs. George Lee." She smiled kindly and gratefully, and sat down.That glance seemed to say, "Even though you're a man and a cop, you're not so scary after all." That laugh also infected Poirot. Foreigners are very sensitive in relation to women.As for Superintendent Sugden, she didn't bother.

She wrung her hands anxiously, still looking beautiful.She whispered, "This is horrible, it freaks me out." "Come, come, Mrs. Lee," said Colonel Johnson, with a touch of sarcasm in his genial tone, "I know. It's a shock to you, but it's all over now, and we just want you to spend tonight Tell me what happened." She exclaimed: "But I don't know anything—really." For a moment the Chief Constable narrowed his eyes, and said gently, "Yes, of course." "We just got here yesterday and George made sure I came here for Christmas, I wish we hadn't. I'm sure I'll never be the same me again!"

"It's really hard -- yes." "I know next to nothing about George's family, you see. I've only met Mr. Lee once or twice - once at our wedding and then again. Of course I saw Alfred and Lydia a little more, but they're still pretty new to me." She opened her eyes wide again, with the expression of a frightened child. Hercule Poirot once again expressed his appreciation for her with his eyes-he thought to himself again: "Elle joue tres bien la comedie, cette petite. (French: She puts on a pose, this little thing.)" "Yes, yes," said Colonel Johnson, "now tell me about the last time you saw your father-in-law—Mr. Lee—while he was alive."

"Oh, this thing! It was this afternoon, and it was terrible!" Immediately, Johnson said, "Damn it, why?" "They're all so angry!" "Who's angry?" "Oh, all of them—I don't mean George. His father didn't say anything to him, but to everyone else." "What the hell happened?" "Well, when we got there--he sent us all--he was on the phone--talked to his lawyer about the will, and he said Alfred looked dingy, and I Guess it was because Harry was coming home and Alfred was very upset about it. You know, Harry did some horrible things. And then he said something about his wife - she's been dead for a long time —he said she had no brains at all, and Davy jumped up, looking like he wanted to kill his father—oh!” She stopped suddenly, her eyes flustered, “I didn't mean that—I totally That's not what it means!" Colonel Johnson reassured her: "It is—it is, a metaphor, that's all."

"Hilda, she's David's wife, calmed him down, and—oh, I think that's all. Mr. Lee said he didn't want to see anybody for the evening, so we all went away." "Is this the last time you saw him?" "Yes, until—until—" She shivered. Colonel Johnson said: "All right, that's it. Where were you when it happened?" "Oh, let me see, I think I'm in the living room." "Are you sure?" Magdalen's eyes flickered, and he lowered his eyes. She said, "Of course, what a fool I am - I went on the phone and I got it all mixed up."

"Tell me, where did you make the call? Are you in this room?" "Yes, that's the only telephone besides the one upstairs in my father-in-law's room." Superintendent Sugden said, "Is anyone in this room with you?" Her eyes widened. "Sniff, no, I'm alone." "Have you been here long?" "Well—for a while. It takes a while to get on the phone at night." "So, a long distance call?" "Yes—to Westlingham." "I see. Then what happened?" "Then there was a horrible scream - everyone was running around - and the door was locked again, trying to break it open. Oh, what a nightmare! I'm sure I'll never forget it!"

"No, no," Colonel Johnson's kind tone seemed a little stiff.He continued: "Did you know your father-in-law keeps some valuable diamonds in his safe?" "No, does he have one?" Her excitement was palpable. "A real diamond?" Hercule Poirot said: "Diamonds worth ten thousand pounds." "Oh!" It was a soft, almost breathless exclamation—trying to restrain the greedy nature of a woman. "Ah," said Colonel Johnson, "I think that's it now, and we don't need to trouble you any more, Mrs. Lee." "Call, thank you."

She got up—smiled at Johnson and Poirot—the smile of a grateful little girl, and went out, her head held high, her shoulders shrugged, and she walked with palms Slightly turned outwards, the appearance is very contrived. Colonel Johnson called, "Would you invite your husband's brother, Mr. David Lee, to come here?" He closed the door behind her and came back to the table. "Ah," he said, "what do you think? We found something wrong! See that? George Lee was on the phone when he heard the screaming, and he was on the phone when his wife heard it , it doesn't fit—it doesn't fit at all."

He added: "What do you think, Sugden?" The superintendent replied slowly: "I don't want to be rude to the lady, but I want to say that although she is a first-class woman who can get money from a gentleman, I don't think she is the kind to cut off A gentleman's throat person. That's not at all what she does." "Ah, but who knows, Mon vieil ami (French: my old friend)," whispered Poirot. The chief of police turned to face him. "And you, Poirot, what do you think?" Hercule Poirot leaned forward.He smoothed the notepad in front of him, and dusted off a little dust from the candlestick.He replied: "I would like to say that the character traits of the late Mr. Simeon Lee have come to us. I think this is where the important clue of the whole case lies... in the character traits of the deceased. "

Superintendent Sugden looked at him in bewilderment. "I don't quite understand what you mean, M. Poirot," said he. "What is the relation of the deceased's character to his murder?" Poirot said absently: "The character of the victim always has something to do with his murder. Desdemona's frank, unsuspecting nature was the immediate cause of her death. A suspicious woman would Seeing Iago's machinations and trying to stop it early; Marat's lack of cleanliness led to his death in the bathtub; and Mercutio's violent temper got him killed at the sword." Colonel Johnson twirled his beard. "What do you mean, Poirot?" "I want to tell you that Seameth Lee was a special character who created a pressure that ultimately led to his death." "So you don't think the diamond business has anything to do with his death?" Poirot smiled at Johnson, whose face was full of bewilderment and sincerity. "Mon cher (French: my dear)," he said, "it is because of Simeon Lee's distinctive character that he keeps £10,000 worth of uncut diamonds in his safe, no Everyone does it." "That's quite right, M. Poirot," said Superintendent Sugden, nodding his head in the manner of finally understanding the meaning of the man with whom he was speaking. "He's a weirdo, Mr Lee is. He puts those stones there so he can take them out and play with them whenever he wants, to get back the feeling that he couldn't live without them, which is why he never cut them open. s reason." Poirot nodded emphatically. "Exactly--exactly, I can see you have extraordinary intelligence, Superintendent." The Superintendent looked a little skeptical of the compliment, when Colonel Johnson cut in: "There's something else, Poirot, I don't know if you feel anything..." "Mais oui (French: ah, yes)" said Poirot, "I know what you mean. Mrs. George Lee, she inadvertently gave away the secret by being too talkative! Regarding the last family meeting, she left us Made a strong impression. She pointed out - wow! quite naively - that Alfred was mad at his father - and that David looked 'as if he wanted to kill him'. I think she was very impressed with this The accounts of both events are true, but we can draw our own conclusions from them. Simeon. Lee called all his family for what? Why did they arrive just as he was giving his Lawyers calling? Parbleu (French: of course.), that can't be wrong, he wants them to hear! That poor old man, he sits in a chair, lost the pastimes and pleasures of his youth, he stirs up The insatiable insatiability of human nature takes pleasure in—yes, also in their emotional impulsiveness and agitation. And from this we can draw another inference that in this game aimed at arousing their greed and impulsiveness, He didn't miss anyone in that, he must have been logical and necessary, and took a swipe at George Lee as well as the others! His wife was very careful not to say anything about it. To her, He may have had a vicious stab or two, too. I think we'll find out, and find out from others what Simeon Lee said to George Lee and his wife..." He stopped talking when the door opened and David Lee walked in.