Peril at End House - Agatha Christie [81]
‘Yes. Please. Oh! Please. Please, dear M. Poirot.’
Poirot looked slowly round.
‘What do you all say?’
Each spoke in turn.
‘I agree,’ I said, as Poirot looked at me.
‘I, too,’ said Lazarus.
‘Best thing to do,’ from Challenger.
‘Let’s forget everything that’s passed in this room tonight.’ This very determinedly from Croft.
‘You would say that!’ interpolated Japp.
‘Don’t be hard on me, dearie,’ his wife sniffed to Nick, who looked at her scornfully but made no reply.
‘Ellen?’
‘Me and William won’t say a word, sir. Least said, soonest mended.’
‘And you, M. Vyse?’
‘A thing like this can’t be hushed up,’ said Charles Vyse. ‘The facts must be made known in the proper quarter.’
‘Charles!’ cried Nick.
‘I’m sorry, dear. I look at it from the legal aspect.’
Poirot gave a sudden laugh.
‘So you are seven to one. The good Japp is neutral.’
‘I’m on holiday,’ said Japp, with a grin. ‘I don’t count.’
‘Seven to one. Only M. Vyse holds out—on the side of law and order! You know, M. Vyse, you are a man of character!’
Vyse shrugged his shoulders.
‘The position is quite clear. There is only one thing to do.’
‘Yes—you are an honest man. Eh bien—I, too, range myself on the side of the minority. I, too, am for the truth.’
‘M. Poirot!’ cried Nick.
‘Mademoiselle—you dragged me into the case. I came into it at your wish. You cannot silence me now.’
He raised a threatening forefinger in a gesture that I knew well.
‘Sit down—all of you, and I will tell you—the truth.’
Silenced by his imperious attitude, we sat down meekly and turned attentive faces towards him.
‘Ecoutez! I have a list here—a list of persons connected with the crime. I numbered them with the letters of the alphabet including the letter J. J. stood for a person unknown—linked to the crime by one of the others. I did not know who J. was until tonight, but I knew that there was such a person. The events of tonight have proved that I was right.
‘But yesterday, I suddenly realized that I had made a grave error. I had made an omission. I added another letter to my list. The letter K.’
‘Another person unknown?’ asked Vyse, with a slight sneer.
‘Not exactly. I adopted J. as the symbol for a person unknown. Another person unknown would be merely another J. K. has a different significance. It stands for a person who should have been included in the original list, but who was overlooked.’
He bent over Frederica.
‘Reassure yourself, Madame. Your husband was not guilty of murder. Itwas the person K. who shot Mademoiselle Maggie.’
She stared.
‘But who is K.?’
Poirot nodded to Japp. He stepped forward and spoke in tones reminiscent of the days when he had given evidence in police courts.
‘Acting on information received, I took up a position here early in the evening, having been introduced secretly into the house by M. Poirot. I was concealed behind the curtains in the drawing-room. When everyone was assembled in this room, a young lady entered the drawing-room and switched on the light. She made her way to the fireplace and opened a small recess in the panelling that appeared to be operated with a spring. She took from the recess a pistol. With this in her hand she left the room. I followed her and opening the door a crack I was able to observe her further movements. Coats and wraps had been left in the hall by the visitors on arrival. The young lady carefully wiped the pistol with a handkerchief and then placed it in the pocket of a grey wrap, the property of Mrs Rice—’
A cry burst from Nick.
‘This is untrue—every word of it!’
Poirot pointed a hand at her.
‘Voilà!’he said. ‘The person K.! It was Mademoiselle Nick who shot her cousin, Maggie Buckley.’
‘Are you mad?’ cried Nick. ‘Why should I kill Maggie?’
‘In order to inherit the money left to her by Michael Seton! Her name too was Magdala Buckley—and it was to her he was engaged—not you.’
‘You—you—’
She stood there trembling—unable to speak. Poirot turned to Japp.
‘You telephoned to the police?’
‘Yes, they are waiting in the hall now. They’ve got the warrant.’