Chapter 21 Chapter XXI. Hercule Poirot's Analysis of the Case

Poirot began his explanation in a measured tone. "It seems inconceivable to you that a man should contrive his own death, is it not, monami? So inconceivable that you prefer to dismiss the real as absurd and instead believe in a fact Quite absurd. Yes, M. Reynolds planned his own death, but there is one detail you have missed—he did not intend to die." I shook my head bewilderedly. "But in fact it is as simple as it could be," said Poirot kindly. "I told you that the crime arranged by Mr. Reynolds does not require a murderer, but a corpse. Let us reorganize the course of events. Look at the problem from another angle.

①French: my friend. ——Annotation "George Connor evaded the law - went to Canada. There, he used a false name to marry the same person, and later made a fortune in South America. But he missed his hometown. II Ten years had passed, his appearance had changed considerably, and he had become a figure whom no one would associate with a fugitive from the law who had escaped justice many years before. He thought it quite safe to return. He settled in England, but planned to spend the summer in France.But bad luck, it can also be said that it is a kind of destiny that determines the fate of people and does not allow people to escape the retribution of their own actions, and brought him to Melanville.There was only one man in this place in all of France, and she could recognize him.At the time, it did not seem right to Mrs. Dobler that a gold mine had been discovered, a gold mine which she was about to exploit.He was helpless, completely in her grasp.She blackmailed him severely for money.

"Then the inevitable happened. Jack Raynor fell in love with the beautiful girl he saw almost every day, and he was going to marry her. This made his father very angry. In any case, he couldn't let his son have sex with this bad woman." Mrs. Reynolds was married to his daughter. Jack Reynolds knew nothing of his father's past, but Mrs. Reynolds was. She was a woman of strong character, loving and loyal to her husband. Together the couple add up. Reynolds see There was only one way out—death. He had to feign death, flee in fact to another country, and start over there under a false name; and Madame Renaud, after playing the part of a widow for a while, joined him there. The important thing was that she had to keep the money, so he changed the will. What they planned to do with the body, I don't know, maybe an art student's skeleton and a fire, or something like that. But in their plan An incident happened in the late stages of maturity that they could use. A reckless tramp, with a bad temper, broke into their garden, cursing. There was a conflict. Raynor wanted to push him out. But the vagabond was epileptic, and he had a sudden fit and fell dead. Raynor called his wife, and together they dragged him into the shed—for we know that happened just outside the shed—they Feels like a godsend. The man bears no resemblance to Renault, but he's middle-aged, an ordinary Frenchman. That's enough for them to take advantage of.

"That's how I imagined the scene: the couple were sitting there on a bench contemplating, so that no one in the room could hear them. They immediately made a plan. The only basis for identifying the body must be the testimony of Madame Reynolds." ... Jack Leno and the driver of the car (he has been with the owner for two years), must be sent away. The French maids were not likely to go near the corpse.In short, Renault intended to use various methods to deceive those who might doubt the details.Master was dismissed, a telegram was sent to Jack, and the place of Buenos Venlis was selected to prove the truth of the story that Raynor had made up.He heard that I was a reclusive, aging detective, and wrote for help, knowing that when I arrived and produced this letter, it would have a profound effect on the prosecutor.

Of course, it is true. "They dressed the tramp's body in Raynaud's costume, and left his tattered coat and trousers by the shed door, for they were afraid to take them inside. Then, in order to corroborate the story Mrs. Raynaud was going to tell later , they stabbed him in the heart with a chin made of sheet metal from the plane. That night Reynolds had to bind and gag his wife; then he took a shovel and dug He knew that the place was going to be dug—what do you call it?—the golf hole. It was important that the body be found—that Mrs. Dobler should not raise the slightest suspicion. Another On the other hand, as long as a little time passes, the danger of identifying the dead person will be greatly reduced. Then, Renault put on the tramp's tattered clothes, sneaked to the station, and got on the twelve trains without anyone noticing. He got away on the ten-hour train. This was because the crime was supposed to have been committed two hours later, so that no suspicion could be drawn against him.

"As luck would have it, Bella's girl is here, and you should know how annoyed he is by then. Every minute of delay would ruin his plans.At last, he got rid of her as quickly as possible.Then, he set to work on his plan! He left the front door ajar, giving the illusion that the Assassin was leaving there.He bound Madame Renaud and gagged her.Since he was suspected of being an accomplice twenty-two years ago when his binding rope was loosened so much, he corrected his mistake this time, but provided his wife with basically old stories he had made up before, which proves that Human thinking has a subconsciousness of following the old way.It was cold at night, so he put on a coat over his underwear, intending to throw it into the grave with the dead.He went out through the window and carefully smoothed out the footprints in the flower-bed, thus providing the most convincing evidence against him.He walked to the silent golf course.He dug...at that time..."

"how?" "Then," said Poirot gravely, "the Skynet he had evaded for so long caught him. An anonymous hand stabbed him in the back... Now, Hastings, you understand what I mean." What is the meaning of the two crimes. The first crime, which Mr. Reynolds asked me to investigate in the time of his prominence, is solved. But there is a deeper mystery behind it. To solve this The mystery is difficult, because the murderer is cunning, and he has made the most of all the measures that Reynolds has arranged. It is a particularly strange and difficult mystery." "You are marvelous, Poirot," I said admiringly, "very marvelous. You alone in the world can solve this mystery."

I think my compliment pleased him, for he looked embarrassed for the first time in his life. "Poor Giraud," said Poirot, trying to appear modest, but not. "It's not a question of stupidity, no doubt. He's had a lamau vaise chance or two. The black hair around the dagger, for instance. At least, that's leading people astray." "To tell you the truth, Poirot," I said greedily, "I don't quite understand yet, whose hair is that?" "Madame Renaud's hair, of course. That's a good chance. Her hair, which was originally black, is now almost entirely white. Even if it were a gray hair, Giraud would have no trouble convincing himself of it." It's Jack Raynor's hair. But it's always the case, and the facts have to be twisted a bit to fit the theory:

"Needless to say, when Madam Renault recovers, she will clarify the matter. Accusing her son of being a murderer had never occurred to her.how could be? At the time she had thought he was safe across the ocean on the Anchara.what! voila unefemme, Hastings! What perseverance, what self-control: she made only one mistake.When Jack Reynor came back unexpectedly, she said: 'Now ... it doesn't matter. ’ But no one noticed, no one realized the significance of this sentence.Poor woman, she is not an easy part to play. ① French: The chance is not good. ——An annotation. ②French: This woman. ——Annotation.

Imagine the blow she received when she went to identify the body.She thought her husband had gone miles away, but to her surprise, what she saw was her husband's lifeless body.No wonder she passed out.But how painful it must have been for her to play her role so strongly from then on, in spite of her grief and despair! She could not confide to us a single word by which to track down the real murderer.For the sake of his son, no one could know that Paul Reynolds was the murderer George Connor.As a last and most painful blow, she had to admit publicly that Mrs. Dobler was her husband's mistress, since the slightest hint of blackmail would be the greatest detriment to her secrecy.When the prosecutor asked her if there were any dark secrets in her husband's past life, she handled it skillfully: 'I'm sure there is no such thing as a romance, sir. 'It's wonderful, that calm voice, that sad mocking voice with a little questioning tone.After a while, even Mr. Ayut felt that he was careless and a little too dramatic.Yes, what a marvelous woman! If she loved a criminal, her love for him was sublime!"

Poirot was lost in thought. "One more thing, Poirot, what about the lead pipe?" "Don't you understand? To disfigure the victim's face, so that he won't be recognized. It was the lead pipe that led me on the right track in the first place. But that imbecile Giro is still crawling around looking for match ends." : Didn't I tell you that a two-foot lead is as good as a two-inch lead. You see, Hastings, we have to start all over again. Who killed Mr. Reynolds? One night The man who had been near the villa before twelve o'clock, a man who had benefited from his death. The description fit Jack Raynor perfectly. As if committing a crime requires no prior thought.And that dagger!" I was taken aback because I hadn't thought of this beforehand. "Of course," I said, "Madame Renaud's butt is what we found on the tramp. It's the second dagger. So. Two daggers?" "Of course, since the two daggers are identical, there's some truth in saying it belonged to Jack Raynor. But that doesn't bother me too much. In fact, I had a small opinion about the weapon. No, yes. His worst accusation is psychological—hereditary, mon ami, hereditary! Like father, like son—Jack Raynor, after all, is George Connor's son." His tone was solemn and sincere, and I couldn't help feeling deeply. "What was that little opinion of yours you were talking about?" I asked. Poirot looked at his large watch, and instead of answering, asked: "What time does the boat from Calais arrive this afternoon?" "About five o'clock, I think." "That's good. We can catch up." "You intend to go to England?" "Yes, my friend." "What are you going to do?" "Go and find a possible—witness." "Who?" A sly smile appeared on Poirot's face, and he replied: "Miss Bella Rodwayne." "But how did you find it? Do you know anything about her?" "I don't know anything, but I can guess more than half. We can think of French: my friend. Annotation one by one. Call her Bella Duveen, of course.Since the name sounded somewhat familiar to Mr. Stoner, she might have been a stage figure, though apparently not connected with the Reynolds.Jack Reynolds was a rich young man, only twenty years old. The stage must be the first place he fell in love with.This is also consistent with Mr. Reynolds' attempt to calm her down with a check.I think I'll find her, especially with this. " He pulled out a picture I saw him take from Jack Raynor's drawer.Scrawled in the corner of the photo: "Bella the one who loves you," it wasn't the words that caught my eye.Not an absolute resemblance - but, having said that, it's unmistakable.I felt a chill, and my heart sank, as if I had suffered an indescribable disaster. It turned out to be Cinderella's face.