'So the alternative was?'
'That he might have been stabbed by one of his less reputable associates. When you're in with a nasty crowd you've got it coming to you with a knife if you let them down.'
'Anything else?'
'Well, he had a good lot of money in his bank account. Paid in in cash, it had been. Nothing to show where it came from. That was suspicious in itself.'
'Possibly pinched from Fullerton, Harrison and Leadbetter?' suggested Poirot.
'They say not. They had a chartered accountant to work on it and look into things.'
'And the police had no idea where else it might have come from?'
'No.'
'Again,' said Poirot, 'not Joyce's murder, I should think.'
He read the last name, 'Janet White.'
'Found strangled on a footpath which was a short cut from the schoolhouse to her home. She shared a flat there with another teacher, Nora Ambrose.
According to Nora Ambrose, Janet White had occasionally spoken of being nervous about some man with whom she'd broken off relations a year ago, but who had frequently sent her threatening letters.
Nothing was ever found out about this man. Nora Ambrose didn't know his name, didn't know exactly where he lived.'
'Aha,' said Poirot, 'I like this better.'
He made a good, thick black tick against Janet White's name.
'For what reason?' asked Spence.
'It is a more likely murder for a girl of Joyce's age to have witnessed. She could have recognised the victim, a schoolteacher whom she knew and who perhaps taught her. Possibly she did not know the attacker. She might have seen a struggle, heard a quarrel between a girl whom she knew and a strange man. But thought no more of it than that at that time. When was Janet White killed?'
'Two and a half years ago.'
'That again,' said Poirot, 'is about the right time. Both for not realising that the man she may have seen with his hands round Janet White's neck was not merely necking her, but might have been killing her. But then as she grew more mature, the proper explanation came to her.'
He looked at Elspeth.
'You agree with my reasoning?'
'I see what you mean,' said Elspeth. 'But aren't you going at all this the wrong way round? Looking for a victim of a past murder instead of looking for a man who killed a child here in Woodleigh Common not more than three days ago?'
'We go from the past to the future,' said Poirot. 'We arrive, shall we say, from two and a half years ago to three days ago. And, therefore, we have to consider what you, no doubt, have already considered who was there in Woodleigh Common amongst the people who were at the party who might have been connected with an older crime?'
'One can narrow it down a bit more than that now,' said Spence. 'That is if we are right in accepting your assumption that Joyce was killed because of what she claimed earlier in the day about seeing murder committed. She said those words during the time the preparations for the party were going on. Mind you, we may be wrong in believing that that was the motive for killing, but I don't think we are wrong. So let us say she claimed to have seen murder, and someone who was present during the preparations for the party that afternoon could have heard her and acted as soon as possible.'
'Who was present?' said Poirot.
'You know, I presume.'
'Yes, I have the list for you here.'
'You have checked it carefully?'
'Yes, I've checked and re-checked, but it's been quite a job. Here are the eighteen names.'
List of people present during preparation for Hallowe'en Party
Mrs. Drake (owner of house)
Mrs. Butler
Mrs. Oliver
Miss Whittaker (schoolteacher)
Rev. Charles Cotterell (Vicar)
Simon Lampton (Curate)
Miss Lee (Dr. Ferguson's dispenser)
Ann Reynolds
Joyce Reynolds
Leopold Reynolds
Nicholas Ransom
Desmond Holland
Beatrice Ardley
Cathie Grant
Diana Brent
Mrs. Garlton (household help)
Mrs. Minden (cleaning woman)
Mrs. Goodbody (helper)
'You are sure these are all?'
'No,' said Spence. 'I'm not sure. I can't really be sure. Nobody can. You see, odd people brought things. Somebody brought some coloured light bulbs.
Somebody else supplied some mirrors. There were some extra plates.
Someone lent a plastic pail. People brought things, exchanged a word or two and went away again. They didn't remain to help. Therefore such a person could have been overlooked and not remembered as being present. But that somebody, even if they had only just deposited a bucket in the hall, could have overheard what Joyce was saying in the sitting-room. She was shouting, you know. We can't really limit it to this list, but it's the best we can do.
Here you are. Take a look at it. I've made a brief descriptive note against the names.'
'I thank you. Just one question. You must have interrogated some of these people, those for instance who were also at the party. Did anyone, anyone at all, mention what Joyce had said about seeing a murder?'
'I think not. There is no record of it officially. The first I heard of it is what you told me.'
'Interesting,' said Poirot. 'One might also say remarkable.'
'Obviously no-one took it seriously,' said Spence.
Poirot nodded thoughtfully.
'I must go now to keep my appointment with Dr. Ferguson, after his surgery,' he said.
He folded up Spence's list and put it in his pocket.
DR. FERGUSON was a man of sixty, of Scottish extraction with a brusque manner. He looked Poirot up and down, with shrewd eyes under bristling eyebrows, and said:
'Well, what's all this about? Sit down.
Mind that chair leg. The castor's loose.'
'I should perhaps explain ' said Poirot.
'You needn't explain,' said Dr. Ferguson.
