Murder Killing
16. Poirot Speaks I
Franklin Clarke arrived at three o'clock the next day and went straight to the subject without any confusion.
”Mr. Poirot,” said, ”I am not satisfied.”
”Why not, Mr. Clarke?”
”I have no doubts about Crome's ability as an efficient officer, but frankly he let me down. His attitude was as if he knew best! I have hinted my thoughts to this friend of yours at the time of being in Churston, but there are many of my brother's affairs that I have to settle and I have not even been able to be free of these affairs. In my opinion, Mr. Poirot, we have to act fast”
”Persis like what Hastings always says!”
”but act immediately. We must be ready for the next crime.”
”So you think there will be next crime?”
”According to you not?” ”Of course.”
”Alright, then. I'll get ready.” ”Tell me what exactly your idea is.”
”I suggest, Mr. Poirot, in order to be formed a kind of special forces working under your supervision consists of the friends and families of the murdered victims.”
”Une bonne good ideas!”
”I'm glad you agree. By working together I think we will get results. Also, if the next warning comes and we're in place, one of us might catch someone near the scene of a new crime.”
”I understand your idea and I agree, but you must remember, Mr. Clarke, that the victim's family and friends, the others come from very different spheres of your life. They are the workers and although they can take a short leave”
Franklin Clarke cuts off the conversation.
”Indeed it was right. I'm the only one who can bear the cost. Not because I am rich, but my brother left me no small fortune and of course this wealth will be mine. My advice, as I said, is to form a special force whose members are paid the same as the amount they usually receive when working. Of course with the addition of just allowances.”
”Your suggestions, who should form this army?”
”I've thought about it. In fact, I actually wrote to Miss Megan Barnard in part as her idea. I recommend myself, Miss Barnard, and Mr. Donald Fraser, the victim's former fiancee. Then there's another Andover's niece Miss Barnard knows her address. I don't think her husband will be able to help us, I hear she gets drunk a lot. I also think the Barnard family, his father and mother are old for this active movement.”
”Nothing else?” ”Hm Miss Grey.”
His face paled at the time of saying that name.
”Oh! Miss Grey?”
No one in the world except Poirot can speak such a gentle irony in two words. Franklin Clarke was about thirty-five years younger. Suddenly he looked like a shy schoolboy.
”Yes. Miss Grey has been working on my brother for over two years. He knew the area and the people who lived there. I've been away from it for a year and a half.”
Poirot deplores that and deflects the conversation
”You went East? To China?”
”Betul. I led a kind of explorer squad to buy the items my brother wanted.”
”It must be very interesting. Uh bien, Mr. Clarke, I totally agree with your idea. Just yesterday I told Hastings that it takes rapproche ⁇ cooperation from people who are ’engaged’! We need to gather all the memories, compare the notes and finally talk about the problem to talk, talk, and talk again. From one simple sentence you will probably get a bright spot.”
A few days later ”The Special Forces” was met in Poirot's room.
They sat around, looking obediently at Poirot who was sitting at the end of the table, like the chairman in the board meeting. I passed them, paying attention, while affirming or changing my first impression of them.
beauty hora Grey with her extraordinarily white skin;
megan Barnard's gloomy demeanor, with her stiff face expressionless like an Indian;
Mary Drower, with her neat black suit and skirt and her sweet, smart face.
Of the two men,
Franklin Clarke, big height, sunburned chocolate, and talkative, while
Donald Fraser, steady and calm, contrasts sharply with each other.
Poirot certainly could not avoid the situation and was forced to make a short speech.
”Mesdames and Messieurs, you all know the purpose we are gathered here. The police are trying their hardest to catch the killer. And me, in my own way. However, I think the combination of people who have a personal relationship with this matter and also who know the victims personally can bring results that cannot even be achieved through outside investigations. ”Here were three murders of an old woman, a young girl, and a middle-aged man. Only one thing connected these three people to the fact that the same person had killed them. That means the same person was present in three different places and had been seen by the crowd. That he's a lunatic with an advanced stage of madness, we all know. That his appearance and attitude did not reveal the reality, it is certain. This man although I consider him a man, please remember that he may be a woman who has a crazy devilish slipper. Until now he had managed to eliminate his tracks altogether. The police have some clues that are still vague,
but they cannot act on that. ”However, there must be clues
sure and not run away. For example, this killer arrived in Bexhill before midnight and on the beach
she easily gets a young girl with a name that starts with the letter B”
”Do we have to talk about it?”
It was Donald Fraser who spoke apparently the words were thrown from a very deep inner pressure.
”We need to explore every reality, Monsieur,” Poirot said, turning to him. ”You are not here to suppress your feelings by refusing to think in detail, but if necessary the aufond actually digs it to the bottom. So, as I said, it wasn't the chance that ABC managed to kill Betty Barnard. Surely he had done the selection on purpose and thus the murder was premeditated. So, he must have explored the area before. There are facts that you want to know. The best time to commit murder in Andover, the mise en scene of the Bexhill murders, the habits of Sir Carmichael Clarke in Churston. Therefore I do not believe that there is no clue that there is not the slightest sign that can help determine his identity.
”I think one of you, or maybe all of you, knows something but you don't realize that you know.
”Speedly or later, as your relationship becomes closer to each other, something will become clearer, more visible meaning, even though we do not know what it is. Like a jigsaw puzzle, each of you has a piece of a picture that looks insignificant, but when combined can add a certain part of the picture.”
”Kays!” megan Barnard.
”What?” Poirot looked at him full of question marks. ”What you just said are just words. Doesn't mean anything.”
Megan spoke in a gloomy manner. His tone sounded bitter, so I concluded that this was the hallmark of his personality.
”The words, Mademoiselle, are just the outer shell of an idea.”
”Well, I think it makes sense,” Mary Drower said. ”Really, Miss. Many times when You talk about the problem, then You can see clearly what You really want to know. Your brain sometimes makes its own conclusions without you knowing it. Discussion makes us understand many things in various ways.”
”If we remember the saying, ’the less talked about the faster the wound heals in the liver’ then all we have to do is the opposite,” said Franklin Clarke.
”How do you think, Mr. Fraser?”
”I somewhat doubt the practical application of your word-an, Mr. Poirot.”
”How about you, hora?” ask Clarke. ”I think the principle that every problem should be discussed is very good.”
”How about you all reveal your memories of each of the events before the murder?” poirot's proposal. ”Maybe you can start, Mr. Clarke.”
