Chapter 12 Chapter 12: Poirot Clarifies Certain Points

"Why did you measure that coat?" I asked curiously as we leisurely walked down the hot, white-stained road. "Parbleu①: See how long it is," said my friend calmly. I feel upset.Poirot's irremediable habit of making the most of the trivial matter often irritated me.I kept silent, thinking about the problem according to my own thoughts.Although I didn't pay special attention to it at the time, in retrospect some of Madame Renaud's words to her son took on a new meaning. "So you didn't start?" she had said.Later, he added a sentence, "After all, it doesn't matter now..."

What did she mean? The words were a mystery, with special meaning.Is it possible that she knows more than we suppose? For her husband ①French: Honestly.Annotation one by one. She claimed that she had no knowledge of the mysterious mission entrusted to her son.Does she really know more than she pretends to? Could she make us know more if she wanted to? Was her silence part of an elaborate scheme? The more I thought about it, the more I felt I was right.Madame Reynolds knows more than she is willing to tell us.She was surprised when she saw her son, and she showed her feet for a while.I am convinced.Even if she doesn't know who the murderer is, at least she knows the motive for the assassination.Some very important consideration must have kept her silent.

"You think deeply. My friend." Poirot interrupted my musings. "What fascinates you so much?" I said it to him, and felt that my idea stood, though I expected him to laugh at my doubts.But to my surprise, he nodded thoughtfully, "You are quite right, Hastings. From the first I was sure she had something to hide. I suspected her at first, and if the crime had not been her At least she was an accomplice." "You ever suspected her?" I cried. "Of course. She's got a lot of benefits--in fact, she's the only beneficiary under the new will. So, at first, I singled her out for special attention. You may notice, I Seized the opportunity early on to examine her wrists. I wanted to see if it was possible that she had gagged and bound herself. Eh bien, I saw right away—that's right, the rope was very tight. Tight, strangulated into the flesh. This ruled out the possibility of her committing the crime alone. But she can still ①French: Haha.—Annotation.

Could be an accomplice, or a mastermind with an accomplice.Besides, I was very familiar with the episode she was talking about - two masked guys she didn't recognize, mentioning 'secrets' and so on.I've heard or read all of this before. Another little detail confirmed what I thought, she wasn't telling the truth.The watch, Hastings, the watch:" The watch again: Poirot looked at me curiously. "You see, monami, do you understand?" "No," I replied gruffly, "I neither saw nor understood. It was a mystery of yours, but it is useless to ask you to explain it. You always like to keep it a secret until the last minute."

"Don't be offended, my friend," said Poirot, smiling. "I will explain it to you if you like. But not a word to Girod, c'estenten-du? He takes me for a Insignificant old guy! We'll see: I did it fairly and gave him a hint.If he insisted on not following the cue, that was his business. " I assured Poirot that he could rely on me to proceed with caution. "C'estbien! Then let us use our tiny gray cells. My friend, when do you think this tragedy happened?" "Well, at or about two o'clock." I couldn't help being surprised. "You don't forget that Madame Reynolds told us she heard the clock strike twice while those two fellows were in the room."

①French: my friend. ——Annotation. ②French: Do you agree?——Annotation. ③French: That's great. ——Annotation. "Exactly, and it is on this basis that you, the prosecutor, Bex, and all the others accepted this time without further questioning. And yet, I, Hercule Poirot, say that Madame Reynolds is lying. .Crime posted at least two hours earlier." "But the doctors..." "They declared after the autopsy that the death occurred between ten and seven hours earlier. Mon ami, for some reason the crime must have been made to appear later than it actually was. A broken watch or Did you read that the clock records the exact time of the crime? Therefore, the time cannot be judged by the testimony of Mrs. Raynaud alone. Someone moved the hour hand of the watch to two o'clock and threw it on the ground. However, they often defeat their purpose. The glass is shattered, but the mechanism of the watch is intact. This is a great miscalculation on their part, because it immediately draws my attention to two problems: the first , Madame Reynolds is lying. Second, there must be some serious reason for the delay."

"But what is the reason?" "Ah, that's the problem! There's our whole enigma. I can't explain it at the moment. There's only one idea that seems to me to be relevant." "what idea?" "The last train leaves Melanville at 12:17." I followed his train of thought slowly. "The crime appears to have taken place about two hours later, and whoever got on that train has an unassailable time card!" ①French: my friend. — Annotation. "Brilliant, Poirot! You've got an idea!" I jump up. "But we'll have to go to the station and ask! If two foreigners take that train, they'll never fail to notice. We'll go right away!"

"Do you think so, Hastings?" "Of course. Let's go." Poirot touched my arm lightly to suppress my eagerness. "Go if you like, monami . . . but if you do, you shouldn't ask details about the two foreigners." I stared at him, and he said impatiently: "La la②, you don't believe this nonsense, do you? The two masked fellows and the rest of the cettehistoire a la②!" His words caught me off guard and I didn't know how to respond.He calmly continued: "Did you hear? I told Girod that I was familiar with the details of the crime. Eh bien, that first of all decides one of the two questions. That is to say, the man who contrived the first crime was also Either the man who contrived this crime, or the murderer had read the account of a causecelebre⑤. The impression of it subconsciously remained in his memory, and prompted him to plan similar details of his operation. On this I can make a definite opinion , in me..." He ①French: My friend. ——Annotation.

②French: 得啦 (interjection). ——Annotation. ③ French: fictional stories.A translation note. ④French: Wow. ——Annotation. ⑤French: A sensational case.Annotation one by one. Absolutely stopped. There are many things running around in my mind. "But what of M. Reynolds' letter? It refers explicitly to a secret and to Santiago!" "Undoubtedly, there is a secret in M. Reynolds' experience—there is no doubt about it. On the other hand, the place name of Santiago, which seems to me irrelevant, has been repeatedly brought in. Leading us astray. It is possible that the name was applied to Jack Raynor in the same way, to keep him from suspecting the vicinity. Well, Hastings, you may believe the danger that threatens Raynor Not in Santiago by any means, but just around the corner, in France."

He said it so solemnly and with such certainty that I had no choice but to believe it.But I also tried to raise one last objection: "And what about the matches and cigarette butts near the body? How does that explain it?" Poirot's face shone with sheer enjoyment. "It's arranged! Put it there on purpose so that the Girauds can find out! Oh, Jiro is a clever fellow, and he can do tricks! A good hound can do tricks, too.He came in smug.He had been lying on the ground for hours. 'Look what I've found,' he said, and then to me: 'Can you see anything?' I honestly replied, 'No. ’ And then Giraud, the great Giraud, laughed, thinking: ‘Ooo, old fellow, fool! ' But we'll see..."

But my mind returns to a few main facts. "Then about the two guys in the masks..." "It's all fake." "Then what happened?" Poirot shrugged. "There is one person who can tell us—Madame Reynolds. But she won't. Threats, entreaties could not move her.That's an unusual woman, Hastings.As soon as I saw her, I realized that the woman I was dealing with was an extraordinary character.As I told you, I suspected at first that she was involved in the crime, but then I changed my mind. " "What made you change your mind?" "The natural and real grief she felt when she saw her husband's body. I could have sworn the pain in her voice came from the heart." "Yes," I said thoughtfully, "some things just can't go wrong." "I beg your forgiveness, my friend - people make mistakes. Take a good actor. Doesn't her acting in Sorrow fascinate you? Doesn't the authenticity of her acting Did it impress you? No, however strong my own impressions and beliefs may be, I need other evidence to satisfy myself.A big criminal can be a great actor.Some of the positive opinions I formed about the case were not based on my own impressions, but on the unquestionable fact that Madame Reynolds had indeed passed out.I rolled her eyelids and felt her pulse.No falsehood—was really passed out.So I was relieved that her pain was real and not fake.To add a small point which is irrelevant: Madame Renaud need not express her overwhelming sorrow.She had already had one when she heard of her husband's death, and she did not have to feign such a violent one when she saw his body.No, Madame Renaud was not the murderer of her husband.But why would she lie? She lied about the watch, she lied about the guy in the mask, she lied about the third thing.Say, Hastings, what do you say about the open door?" "Well," I said with embarrassment, "I think it was an oversight. They forgot to close the door." Poirot shook his head and sighed: "That's Giro's word, and I'm not satisfied. There's something wrong behind that open door, but I can't figure it out yet. One thing I'm pretty sure of—they didn't go out the front door. They went out the window." of." "what?" "Exactly." "But there are no footprints in the flower bed below." "No, but there ought to be, listen, Hastings. August the gardener planted both beds the previous afternoon, as you have heard. In one of the flower-beds his great spiked boots left many footprints; in another flower-bed there was not a single one. Someone walked there, and the soil of the flower-bed was leveled with a rake to remove the footprints." "Where did they get the rake?" "From where they got their shovels and garden gloves," said Poirot impatiently, "it's easy to do." "Having said that, how do you think they left through the window? They came in through the window and out the front door, that's certainly more likely." "Of course, that's possible. But I have a strong feeling that they got out through the window." "I think you're wrong." "Maybe, monami ①" I pondered, considering the new field of speculation that Poirot's induction pointed out to me.I recall wondering when he cryptically mentioned flower beds and watches.His words seemed meaningless at the time, and now, for the first time, I realized that in a few little things he had unraveled the many mysteries surrounding the case.How marvelous: I cannot help being in awe of my friend. "Now," I said thoughtfully, "although we know much more than before, we have not made much progress in the mystery of who killed Raynor." "Not very much," said Poirot cheerfully; "to tell the truth, it's still a long way off." This seemed to give him a strange satisfaction, and I could not help looking at him in bewilderment.He met my gaze and smiled. Suddenly my mind suddenly lit up. "Poirot! Madame Reynolds! I understand now. She must be protecting someone." From the serene manner with which Poirot accepted my words, I saw that he had thought of this long ago. "Yes," he said thoughtfully, "to shelter someone, or rather to cover someone. It must be one of the two." When we entered the hotel, he gestured to me to be silent. ①French: my friend. ——Annotation.