chapter 21 the three clues

when japp got back to scotland yard, he was told that m. hercule poirot was waiting to see him.

japp greeted his friend heartily.

"well, m. poirot, and what brings you along? any news?"

"i came to ask you for news, my good japp."

"if that isn't just like you. well, there isn't much and that's the truth. the dealer fellow in paris has identified the blowpipe all right. fournier's been worrying the life out of me from paris about his moment psychologique. i've questioned those stewards till i'm blue in the face and they stick to it that there wasn't a moment psychologique. nothing startling or out of the way happened on the voyage."

"it might have occurred when they were both in the front car."

"i've questioned the passengers too. everyone can't be lying."

"in one case i investigated everyone was!"

"you and your cases! to tell the truth. m. poirot, i'm not very happy. the more i look into things the less i get. the chief's inclined to look on me rather coldly. but what can i do? luckily, it's one of those semi- foreign cases. we can put it on the frenchmen over here, and in paris they say it was done by an englishman and that it's our business."

"do you really believe the frenchman did it?"

"well, frankly, i don't. as i look at it, an archaeologist is a poor kind of fish. always burrowing in the ground and talking through his hat about what happened thousands of years ago, and how do they know, i should like to know? who's to contradict them? they say some rotten string of beads is five thousand three hundred and twenty-two years old, and who's to say it isn't? well, there they are, liars perhaps - though they seem to believe it themselves - but harmless. i had an old chap in here the other day who'd had a scarab pinched. terrible state he was in - nice old boy, but helpless as a baby in arms. no, between you and me, i don't think for a minute that pair of french archaeologists did it."

"who do you think did it?"

"well, there's clancy, of course. he's in a queer way. goes about muttering to himself. he's got something on his mind."

"the plot of a new book, perhaps."

"it may be that - and it may be something else. but try as i may, i can't get a line on motive. i still think cl 52 in the black book is lady horbury, but i can't get anything out of her. she's pretty hardboiled, i can tell you."

poirot smiled to himself. japp went on:

"the stewards - well, i can't find a thing to connect them with giselle."

"doctor bryant?"

"i think i'm on to something there. rumors about him and a patient. pretty woman - nasty husband - takes drugs or something. if he's not careful he'll be struck off by the medical council. that fits in with rt

362 well enough, and i don't mind telling you that i've got a pretty shrewd idea where he could have got the snake venom from. i went to see him and he gave himself away rather badly over that. still, so far it is all surmise, no facts. facts aren't any too easy to get at in this case. ryder seems all square and aboveboard; says he went to raise a loan in paris and couldn't get it, gave names and addresses, all checked up. i've found out that the firm was nearly in queer street about a week or two ago, but they seem to be just pulling through. there you are again, unsatisfactory. the whole thing is a muddle."

"there is no such thing as muddle - obscurity, yes, but muddle can exist only in a disorderly brain."

"use any word you choose. the result's the same. fournier's stumped too. i suppose you've got it all taped out, but you'd rather not tell!"

"you mock yourself at me. i have not got it all taped out. i proceed, a step at a time, with order and method, but there is still far to go."

"i can't help feeling glad to hear that. let's hear about these orderly steps."

poirot smiled.

"i make a little table, so." he took a paper from his pocket. "my idea is this: a murder is an action performed to bring about a certain result."

"say that again slowly."

"it is not difficult."

"probably not, but you make it sound so."

"no, no. it is very simple. say you want money; you get it when an aunt dies. bien. you perform an action - this is to kill the aunt - and get the result - inherit the money."

"i wish i had some aunts like that," sighed japp. "go ahead. i see your idea. you mean there's got to be a motive."

"i prefer my own way of putting it. an action is performed - the action being murder. what now are the results of that action? by studying the different results, we should get the answer to our conundrum. the results of a single action may be very varied; that particular action affects a lot of different people. eh bien, i study today - three weeks after the crime - the result in eleven different cases."

he spread out the paper.

japp leaned forward with some interest and read over poirot's shoulder.

miss grey. result - temporary improvement. increased salary.

mr gale. result - bad. loss of practice.

lady horbury. result - good, if she's cl 52.

miss kerr. result - bad, since giselle's death makes it more unlikely lord horbury will get the evidence to divorce his wife.

"h'm." japp interrupted his scrutiny. "so you think she's keen on his lordship? you are a one for nosing out love affairs."

poirot smiled. japp bent over the chart once more.

mr clancy. result - good. expects to make money by book dealing with the murder.

doctor bryant. result - good if rt 362.

mr ryder. result - good, owing to small amount of cash obtained through articles on murder which tided firm over delicate time. also good if ryder is xvb 724.

m. dupont. result - unaffected.

m. jean dupont. result - the same.

mitchell. result - unaffected.

davis. result - unaffected.

"and you think that's going to help you?" asked japp skeptically. "i can't see that writing down 'i don't know. i don't know. i can't tell,'

makes it any better."

"it gives one a clear classification," explained poirot. "in four cases - mr clancy, miss grey, mr ryder and, i think i may say, lady horbury - there is a result on the credit side. in the cases of mr gale and miss kerr there is a result on the debit side; in four cases there is no result at all, so far as we know, and in one - doctor bryant - there is either no result or a distinct gain."

"and so?" asked japp.

"and so," said poirot, "we must go on seeking."

"with precious little to go upon," said japp gloomily. "the truth of it is that we're hung up until we can get what we want from paris. it's the giselle side that wants going into. i bet i could have got more out of that maid than fournier did."

"i doubt it, my friend. the most interesting thing about this case is the personality of the dead woman. a woman without friends, without relations - without, as one might say, any personal life. a woman who was once young, who once loved and suffered, and then with a firm hand pulled down the shutter - all that was over! not a photograph, not a souvenir, not a knickknack. marie morisot became madame giselle, money lender."

"do you think there is a clue in her past?"

"perhaps."

"well, we could do with it! there aren't any clues in this case."

"oh, yes, my friend, there are."

"the blowpipe, of course."

"no, no, not the blowpipe."

"well, let's hear your ideas of the clues in the case."

poirot smiled.

"i will give them titles, like the names of mr clancy's stories! the clue of the wasp. the clue in the passenger's baggage. the clue of the extra coffee spoon."

"you're potty," said japp kindly. and added:

"what's this about a coffee spoon?"

"madame giselle had two spoons in her saucer."

"that's supposed to mean a wedding."

"in this case," said poirot, "it meant a funeral."