Chapter 14 chapter 2

The Frenchman walked quickly into the room at a leisurely pace.As he shook hands with Cabri, he cast a very amused look at Poirot. Capri said: "This is Mr. Hercule Poirot. He lives with me. I have just been speaking of the Petra case." "Oh, really?" Gerard quickly looked Poirot up and down. "Interested?" Hercule Poirot held up his hands: "It's sad that no one can help being interested in their job." "Exactly," Gerald said. "Have a drink?" said Capri. He poured the whiskey and soda and placed it next to Gerald.Then he handed the glass bottle to Poirot inquiringly, and Poirot shook his head.Colonel Carberry put down the bottle, moved the chair a little closer, and sat down.

"Where to start?" he said. Poirot said to Gerald, "Colonel Carberry seems very dissatisfied." Gerald moved meaningfully. "It's my fault. Maybe I'm wrong. Colonel Capri, maybe I'm wrong." Capri snorted dissatisfied. "Tell Poirot the truth." Dr. Gerald first briefly talked about the things before traveling to Petra.He described the characteristics of each member of the Baiyington family, and explained the circumstances under which they were driven into a state of insanity. Poirot listened with interest. Then Gerald started talking about his first day in Petra, and then about his journey back to camp alone.

"The malignant—cerebral—malaria came back. So, I went back and injected myself with quinine. It's the usual cure." Poirot nodded. "It burned quite badly. I staggered into the tent. I don't know who moved my medicine box from where I put it to another place. I couldn't find it for a while. Later, I finally found it, but the syringe It's gone. After searching for a while, I couldn't find it, so I gave up, drank a lot of quinine, and went to bed." Gerald paused, then said: "Mrs. Baiyington's death was not discovered until after sunset. She sat on a chair. The chair supported the body, so it was not discovered until the young servant called her to supper at half-past six."

He explained in detail the location of the cave and the distance to the big tent. "Miss King, who is qualified as a doctor, examined the body. She knew I was sleeping with a fever, and she didn't wake me up. In fact, there was no way to return to life. Mrs. Baiyington was dead—been dead for some time." Poirot said in a low voice: "Exactly, how long has it been?" Gerald replied slowly: "Miss Jin doesn't seem to pay much attention to this point, and probably doesn't think it's important." "But at least someone can suggest a moment when she was last seen alive?" said Poirot.

Colonel Carberry cleared his throat and said, referring to the survey, "Mrs. Byington spoke to Mrs. Witheron and Miss Bias after four o'clock in the afternoon. At four-thirty, Lenox Byington and her Talk. Five minutes later, Mrs. Lenox Byington talked to her at length. Carol Byington talked to her for a while, I can't remember when, but judging from other testimonies, it may be about ten past five. .” "The American friend of the family, Jefferson Cope, returned to camp with Lady Wesselen and Miss Bias, and found her asleep. He did not speak to her, about forty past five. Second son Raymond Baiington was probably the last person to see her, she was still alive. He came back from a walk and spoke to her at about five-fifty. At six-thirty, she was found dead. It was a servant to inform By the time her supper is ready."

"Has no one approached her from the moment Mr. Raymond Briington spoke to her until six-thirty?" asked Poirot. "Probably not." "Someone may have been there," insisted Poirot. "I don't think so. From six to six-thirty the servants came and went about the camp, and guests came and went from their tents. But no one saw anyone approaching the old lady." "So it can be concluded that Raymond Baiington was the last person to see his mother alive?" said Poirot. Dr. Gerald and Colonel Carberry exchanged glances. Colonel Carberry tapped on the table.

"From here on, we're at a loss," he said. "Dr. Gerald, you said, this is your job." Gerald says: "As I said earlier, when Sarah King examined Mrs. Briington's body, she found no factors that could correctly infer the time of death. She only vaguely stated that Mrs. Brinington had been dead "for a while". However, the next day, I investigated myself. , Sort out the situation at that time, and told Miss Jin that the last time Raymond saw Mrs. Baiyington who was still alive should be a little before six o'clock. What surprised me most was that she firmly denied it, saying that it was impossible. Mrs Byrington is dead."

Poirot raised his eyebrows. "Strange, very strange. What does Mr. Raymond Byrington say on that?" Colonel Carberry said suddenly: "He categorically stated that his mother was alive at the time. He went to her and said: 'I'm back, how is this afternoon?' She replied unkindly: 'Well, fine.' So he immediately went back to the own tent." Poirot frowned in perplexity. "It's wonderful, it's really wonderful. At that time, it was already dusk, and the sky was slightly dark, right?" "The sun just went down." "How strange," said Poirot again. "Dr. Gerald, when are you going to see the lady's body?"

"I saw it the next day. It was exactly nine o'clock in the morning." "What about your inference of the moment of death?" The Frenchman shrugged. "It's hard to draw a correct conclusion after such a long period of time. There must be an error of a few hours. If I were to testify, I can only say that it was between about twelve and eighteen hours after death. I don't think it will help?" Capri said, "Dr. Gerald, explain the rest to him." "Shortly after I woke up the next day, I found the syringe," Dr. Gerald said. "It was in the back of the medicine cabinet on the dressing table."

He leaned forward and went on: "You might say that I overlooked that place the day before. I had a fever, and I was shaking from head to toe, and it was very miserable. But even without a fever, when people are looking for something, it is there, and it is there. Turned a blind eye. So all I can say is, I'm sure the syringe wasn't there. It wasn't there!" "What else?" said Capri. "Yes. There are two very valuable and meaningful facts. The old lady's dead body has scars on her wrists - scars from the injection of the syringe. Her daughter explained that it was a scar from a pin stick. .”

Poirot said in surprise: "Which daughter is it?" "Carol." "Really? Please go on." "Another important fact is that I occasionally check the medicine cabinet and find that there is a lot less Digitoxin." "Digital toxin is a potent agent that affects the heart?" "Yes. It is collected from a plant commonly known as 'fox mitt', and contains four main ingredients with strong effects. Among these four ingredients, digitalis is the most toxic. According to Kopp's experiment, this ingredient is more toxic than other ingredients. The ingredients are six to ten times stronger. So in France it’s only available in pharmacies, and in the UK it’s still banned.” "You said a considerable amount of digitalis was used?" Dr. Gerald nodded gravely. "Suddenly injecting a lot of digitoxin by intravenous injection will cause the heart to paralyze and die immediately. As long as four grams are enough for an adult to be fatal." "Besides, Mrs. Brinington had a heart attack long ago?" "Yes. She was already on a drug containing digitalis." "That's very interesting," said Poirot. Capri asked, "You mean she died from an overdose of her own medicine?" "Yes—but not only that." "In a sense," Gerald said, "digitalis is an incremental drug, which means that it is effective when taken in small doses and several times. However, according to the autopsy, digitalis Even if the active ingredient is enough to destroy life, there is no trace to judge." Poirot nodded slowly, and made a judgment: "Yes, clever--very clever. That makes it almost impossible to convict the jury. If it's a murder, it's a clever murder! Put the syringe back where it was, the strong drug the victim took and overdosed on before, In other words, it may have been an accidental death. Yes, he is indeed an intelligent criminal. He has thoughtful calculations and is careful, what a genius!" He was silent and thoughtful for a while, then raised his head. "There is one more unknown." "What is it?" "Stealing syringes." "It was indeed stolen." Gerald said quickly. "Stolen—and put back?" "yes." "Strange, really weird. Everything is so logical." Colonel Carberry looked at him again and again. "Eh? What's your expert opinion? Murder?" Poirot raised a hand. "Wait a minute. It's not there yet. There's some evidence to consider." "What evidence? It's all explained." "No, no, I mean the evidence that Hercule Poirot is going to give you." He nodded and smiled back at the two men who stared in amazement. "Strange! I, who know nothing about the whole case, should give you, who told me what happened, evidence that you don't know. It happened that one night, at the Solomon's, in order to establish Is the window closed, I went to the window..." "Close it! Why don't you open it?" Caballi asked. "To close the window," said Poirot clearly. "Of course the window was open. I put my hand on the ring, and as I was about to close it, I heard voices—a low, clear voice with a restless, excited tremor in it. I thought it would be all right if I just listened to it again." Thinking of that voice. What was that voice saying? It was saying 'Well, we must kill her?'" He paused. "At the time, I didn't think it was talking about a real murder. I thought it was a novelist or a playwright. But now, I always find it strange. That is, the voice is not so peaceful." After another pause, he continued. "Actually—to the best of my knowledge and belief—these words were uttered by a young man whom I later met in the hotel lounge. I made inquiries and learned that the young man's name was Ray Mon Brownington."