‘Point No. 1.
- Mr Ackroyd was heard talking to someone at half-past nine.
‘Point No. 2.
- At some time during the evening Ralph Paton must have come in through the window, as evidenced by the prints of his shoes.
‘Point No. 3.
- Mr Ackroyd was nervous that evening, and would only have admitted someone he knew.
‘Point No. 4.
- The person with Mr Ackroyd at nine-thirty was asking for money.
We know Ralph Paton was in a scrape.
‘ These four points go to show that the person with Mr Ackroyd at nine-thirty was Ralph Paton.
But we know that Mr Ackroyd was alive at a quarter to ten, therefore it was not Ralph who killed him.
Ralph left the window open.
Afterwards the murderer came in that way.’
‘And who was the murderer?’ inquired Poirot.
‘The American stranger.
He may have been in league with Parker, and possibly in Parker we have the man who blackmailed Mrs Ferrars. If so, Parker may have heard enough to realize the game was up, have told his accomplice s0, and the latter did the crime with the dagger which Parker gave him.’
‘It is a theory that,’ admitted Poirot. ‘Decidedly you have tells of a kind.
But it leaves a good deal unaccounted for.’ ‘Such as ‘ ‘The telephone call, the pushed-out chair ‘
‘Do you really think that latter important?’ I interrupted.
‘Perhaps not,’ admitted my friend. ‘It may have been pulled out by accident, and Raymond or Blunt may have shoved it into place unconsciously under the stress of emotion.
Then there is the missing forty pounds.’
‘Given by Ackroyd to Ralph,’ I suggested.
‘He may have reconsidered his first refusal.’
‘That still leaves one thing unexplained.’ ‘What?’
‘Why was Blunt so certain in his own mind that it was Raymond with Mr Ackroyd at nine-thirty?’
‘He explained that,’ I said.
‘You think so?
I will not press the point.
Tell me, instead, what were Ralph Paton’s reasons for disappearing?’
‘That’s rather more difficult,’ I said slowly.
‘I shall have to speak as a medical man.
Ralph’s nerves must have gone phut!
If he suddenly found out that his uncle had been murdered within a few minutes of his leaving him - after, perhaps, a rather stormy interview - well, he might get the wind up and clear right out.
Men have been known to do that - act guiltily when they’re perfectly innocent.’
‘Yes, that is true,’ said Poirot. ‘But we must not lose sight of one thing.’
‘I know what you’re going to say,’ I remarked: ‘motive.
Ralph Paton inherits a great fortune by his uncle’s death.’
‘That is one motive,’ agreed Poirot.
‘One?’ ^Mais oui.
Do you realize that there are three separate motives staring us in the face.
Somebody certainly stole the blue envelope and its contents.
That is one motive.
Blackmail!
Ralph Paton may have been the man who blackmailed Mrs Ferrars.
Remember, as far as Hammond knew, Ralph Paton had not applied to his uncle for help of late.
That looks as though he were being supplied with money elsewhere. Then there is the fact that he was in some - how do you say - scrape? - which he feared might get to his uncle’s ears.
And finally there is the one you have just mentioned.’
‘Dear me,’ I said, rather taken aback.
‘The case does seem black against him.’
‘Does it?’ said Poirot.