chapter 21 – the person-k.

lazarus came quickly to her side. 'my dear,' he said. 'my dear.'

poirot went to the sideboard, poured out a glass of wine and brought it to her, standing over her while she drank it.

she handed the glass back to him and smiled.

'i'm all right now,' she said. 'what-what had we better do next?'

she looked at japp, but the inspector shook his head. 'i'm on a holiday, mrs rice. just obliging an old friend-that's all i'm doing. the st loo police are in charge of the case.'

she looked at poirot.

'and m. poirot is in charge of the st loo police?'

'oh! quelle idee, madame! i am a mere humble adviser.'

'm. poirot,' said nick. 'can't we hush it up?'

'you wish that, mademoiselle?'

'yes. after all-i'm the person most concerned. and there will be no more attacks on me-now.'

'no, that is true. there will be no more attacks on you now.'

'you're thinking of maggie. but, m. poirot, nothing will bring maggie back to life again! if you make all this public, you'll only bring a terrible lot of suffering and publicity on frederica-and she hasn't deserved it.'

'you say she has not deserved it?'

'of course she hasn't! i told you right at the beginning that she had a brute of a husband. you've seen to-night-what he was. well, he's dead. let that be the end of things. let the police go on looking for the man who shot maggie. they just won't find him, that's all.'

'so that is what you say, mademoiselle? hush it all up.'

'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. it was 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.

'voila!' 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.'

'you're all mad!' cried nick, contemptuously. she moved swiftly to frederica's side. 'freddie, give me your wrist-watch as-as a souvenir, will you?'

slowly frederica unclasped the jewelled watch from her wrist and handed it to nick.

'thanks. and now-i suppose we must go through with this perfectly ridiculous comedy.'

'the comedy you planned and produced in end house. yes-but you should not have given the star part to hercule poirot. that, mademoiselle, was your mistake-your very grave mistake.'

第二十一章　“第十一”

拉扎勒斯快步走到她身旁。

“我亲爱的，”他说，“我亲爱的。”

波洛打开食品橱倒了杯酒递给她，她喝了以后，把酒杯递还给波洛。

“现在好些了。下一步我们怎么办呢？”

她看看贾普，但警督摇摇头。

“我在休假，赖斯太太。我只是来帮助老朋友一臂之力的。对这个案子负责的是圣卢的警察呀。”

她又看看波洛，问：

“那么波洛先生代表圣卢警察当局吗？”

“哦，多奇怪的想法，太太。我只是个微不足道的咨询侦探。”

这时尼克小姐很快地把在场的人打量了一遍，走上前来对波洛说：

“我们别声张，就让这个案子悄悄了结了难道不好吗，波洛先生？”

“你希望这样，小姐？”

“是的。反正我是当事人，现在我不会再遭到暗算了。”

“说得对，你不会再被暗算了。”

“你在想马吉吧？但是，波洛先生，不管怎样，马吉是不能复活了。如果你把这一切都公开的话，只能给弗雷德里卡造成损失，她会受到社会的歧视和诽谤的。你总明白，她是无辜的，不应当受到这样的惩罚。”

“你说不应当？”

“当然不应当。我一开始就告诉你，她嫁了一个野蛮残忍的丈夫。今天晚上你自己就可以证实这一点。现在他死了，我们就让这场噩梦结束了吧。让警察们继续徒劳无益地追查杀死马吉的凶手好了，他们什么也不会找到，一切就不了了之了。”

“那么，你的意思，小姐，就是大家保持缄默？”

“是的。好吗？哦，就这么办吧，亲爱的波洛先生。”

尼克撒娇地摇摇波洛的膀子，像一个受宠的孩子要求父亲给她买一个昂贵的玩具。

波洛缓缓地环顾了一圈。

“你们说呢？”

一个个都表了态。

“我同意。”当波洛看我的时候，我这么说。

“我也是。”这是拉扎勒斯的意见。

“再好没有了。”查林杰这时更爱尼克了。

“让我们把今天晚上这里发生的一切都完全忘掉吧。”克罗夫特先生毫不犹豫地表示赞同。

“你当然希望这样啰。”贾普瞟了克罗夫特先生一眼。

“高抬贵手吧，亲爱的。”克罗夫特太太谄媚地对尼克说。尼克轻蔑地看了她一眼，没有答话。

“埃伦，你呢？”

“我和威廉不会走漏一点风声。就这样结束了吧。”

“维斯先生？”

“纸里包不住火，”查尔斯·维斯说，“事实总应当有它本来的面目。”

“查尔斯！”尼克叫道。

“哦，对不起，亲爱的。我是站在法律的立场上看问题的。”

波洛忽然笑了。

“你们是七比一。我们的好贾普持中立。”

“我在休假，”贾普一笑，“不算。”

“七比一。只有维斯先生持异议，他站在法律和道义的立场上。我知道，维斯先生，你是一个品格高尚的人。”

维斯耸耸肩膀，说：

“情况很清楚。我们应当做的只有一件事。”

“好。你是个诚实的人。啊，我站在少数这一边。我赞成追查到底。”

“波洛先生！”尼克叫道。

“小姐，是你让我参与了这个案子，我是按照你的愿望承担本案的，因此，现在你不能使我半途而废。”