Dr Reilly, I noticed, was looking highly amused.
Interesting case of a nurse who murdered her patients one by one, he murmured.
Such a look as I gave him!
Dr Leidners mind had been running on a different tack.
Not Emmott, M. Poirot, he objected.
You cant include him.
He was on the roof with me, remember, during that ten minutes.
Nevertheless we cannot exclude him.
He could have come down, gone straight to Mrs Leidners room, killed her, and then called the boy back.
Or he might have killed her on one of the occasions when he had sent the boy up to you.
Dr Leidner shook his head, murmuring: What a nightmare!
Its all so fantastic.
To my surprise Poirot agreed. Yes, thats true.This is a fantastic crime.
One does not often come across them.
Usually murder is very sordid very simple.
But this is unusual murderI suspect, Dr Leidner, that your wife was an unusual woman.
He had hit the nail on the head with such accuracy that I jumped.
Is that true, nurse? he asked.
Dr Leidner said quietly: Tell him what Louise was like, nurse.
You are unprejudiced.
I spoke quite frankly. She was very lovely, I said.
You couldnt help admiring her and wanting to do things for her.
Ive never met anyone like her before.
Thank you, said Dr Leidner and smiled at me.
That is valuable testimony coming from an outsider, said Poirot politely.
Well, let us proceed.
Under the heading of means and opportunity we have seven names.
Nurse Leatheran, Miss Johnson, Mrs Mercado, Mr Mercado, Mr Reiter, Mr Emmott and Father Lavigny.
Once more he cleared his throat.
Ive always noticed that foreigners can make the oddest noises.
Let us for the moment assume that our third theory is correct.
That is that the murderer is Frederick or William Bosner, and that Frederick or William Bosner is a member of the expedition staff.
By comparing both lists we can narrow down our suspects on this count to four.
Father Lavigny, Mr Mercado, Carl Reiter and David Emmott.
Father Lavigny is out of the question, said Dr Leidner with decision.
He is one of the Peres Blancs in Carthage.
And his beards quite real, I put in.
Ma soeur, said Poirot, a murderer of the first class never wears a false beard!
How do you know the murderer is of the first class? I asked rebelliously.
Because if he were not, the whole truth would be plain to me at this instant and it is not.
Thats pure conceit, I thought to myself.
Anyway, I said, reverting to the beard, it must have taken quite a time to grow.
That is a practical observation, said Poirot.
Dr Leidner said irritably: But its ridiculous quite ridiculous.
Both he and Mercado are well-known men.
Theyve been known for years.
Poirot turned to him.
You have not the true version.
You do not appreciate an important point.
If Frederick Bosner is not dead what has he been doing all these years?