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discomfiture of Father Lavigny. She will let him see that she suspects - but not that she knows. It is,
perhaps, a dangerous game, but she enjoys a dangerous game.
"And perhaps she plays that game too long. Father Lavigny sees the truth, and strikes before she realizes
what he means to do.
"Father Lavigny is Raoul Menier - a thief. Is he also a murderer?"
Poirot paced the room. He took out a handkerchief, wiped his forehead and went on:
"That was my position this morning. There were eight distinct possibilities and I did not know which of
these possibilities was the right one. I still did not know who was the murderer.
"But murder is a habit. The man or woman who kills once will kill again.
"And by the second murder, the murderer was delivered into my hands.
"All along it was ever present in the back of my mind that some one of these people might have
knowledge that they had kept back-knowledge incriminating the murderer.
"If so, that person would be in danger.
"My solicitude was mainly on account of Nurse Leatheran. She had an energetic personality and a brisk
inquisitive mind. I was terrified of her finding out more than it was safe for her to know.
"As you all know, a second murder did take place. But the victim was not Nurse Leatheran - it was Miss
Johnson.
"I like to think that I should have reached the correct solution anyway by pure reasoning, but it is certain
that Miss Johnson's murder helped me to it much quicker.
"To begin with, one suspect was eliminated - Miss Johnson herself - for I did not for a moment entertain
the theory of suicide.
"Let us examine now the facts of this second murder.
"Fact one: On Sunday evening Nurse Leatheran finds Miss Johnson in tears, and that same evening
Miss Johnson burns a fragment of a letter which Nurse believes to be in the same handwriting as that of
the anonymous letters.
"Fact two: The evening before her death Miss Johnson is found by Nurse Leatheran standing on the roof
in a state that Nurse describes as one of incredulous horror. When Nurse questions her she says, 'I've
seen how some one could come in from outside - and no one would ever guess.' She won't say any
more. Father Lavigny is crossing the courtyard and Mr. Reiter is at the door of the photographic room.
"Fact three: Miss Johnson is found dying. The only words she can manage to articulate are 'the window-
the window -'
"Those are the facts, and these are the problems with which we are faced:
"What is the truth of the letters?
"What did Miss Johnson see from the roof?
"What did she mean by 'the window - the window'?
"Eh bien, let us take the second problem first as the easiest of solution. I went up with Nurse Leatheran
and I stood where Miss Johnson had stood. From there she could see the courtyard and the archway and
the north side of the building and two members of the staff. Had her words anything to do with either
Mr. Reiter or Father Lavigny?
"Almost at once a possible explanation leaped to my brain. If a stranger came in from outside he could
only do so in disguise. And there was only one person whose general appearance lent itself to such an
impersonation. Father Lavigny! With a sun helmet, sun glasses, black beard and a monk's long woollen
robe, a stranger could pass in without the servants realizing that a stranger had entered.
"Was that Miss Johnson's meaning? Or had she gone further? Did she realize that Father Lavigny's
whole personality was a disguise. That he was some one other than he pretended to be?
"Knowing what I did know about Father Lavigny I was inclined to call the mystery solved. Raoul
Menier was the murderer. He had killed Mrs. Leidner to silence her before she could give him away.
Now another person lets him see that she has penetrated his secret. She, too, must be removed.
"And so everything is explained! The second murder. Father Lavigny's flight - minus robe and beard.
(He and his friend are doubtless careering through Syria with excellent passports as two commercial
travellers.) His action in placing the blood-stained quern under Miss Johnson's bed.
"As I say, I was almost satisfied - but not quite. For the perfect solution must explain everything - and
this does not do so.
"It does not explain, for instance, why Miss Johnson should say 'the window - the window,' as she was
dying. It does not explain her fit of weeping over the letter. It does not explain her mental attitude on the
roof - her incredulous horror and her refusal to tell Nurse Leatheran what it was that she now suspected
or knew.
"It was a solution that fitted the outer facts, but it did not satisfy the psychological requirements.
"And then, as I stood on the roof, going over in my mind those three points: the letters, the roof, the
window, I saw - just as Miss Johnson had seen!
"And this time what I saw explained everything!"
Chapter 28
JOURNEY'S END
Poirot looked round. Every eye was now fixed upon him. There had been a certain relaxation - a
slackening of tension. Now the tension suddenly returned.
There was something coming... something...
Poirot's voice, quiet and unimpassioned, went on:
"The letters, the roof, 'the window'... Yes, everything was explained - everything fell into place. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]