'You think yourselves very clever, do you not?' snarled Carelli. 'But I could tell you -'
Poirot interrupted him, speaking quietly and significantly. 'You could, perhaps, but it would be very unwise.'
Startled, Carelli exclaimed, 'What do you mean?'
'Monsieur Poirot's quite right,' Japp declared. 'You'd better keep your mouth shut.' Moving to the hall door, he opened it and called, 'Johnson!' The young constable put his head around the door. 'Get the whole family together for me, will you?' Japp asked him. 'I want them all here.'
'Yes, sir,' said Johnson as he left the room.
'I protest! I -' Carelli gasped. Suddenly, he grabbed his suitcase and made a dash towards the French windows.
Japp rushed after him, grabbed him, and threw him onto the settee, taking the suitcase from him as he did so. 'No one's hurt you yet, so don't squeal,' Japp barked at the now thoroughly cowed Italian.
Poirot strolled towards the French windows. 'Please don't go away now, Poirot,' Japp called after him, putting Carelli's suitcase down by the coffee-table. 'This should be very interesting.'
'No, no, my dear Japp, I am not leaving,' Poirot assured him. 'I shall be right here. This family gathering, as you say, will be most interesting indeed.'
Chapter 17
A few minutes later, when the Amory family began to assemble in the library, Carelli was still seated on the settee, looking rather sullen, while Poirot continued to hover by the French windows. Barbara Amory, with Hastings in tow, returned from the garden through the French windows, and Barbara moved to share the settee with Carelli, while Hastings went to stand by Poirot's side. Poirot whispered to his colleague, 'It would be helpful, Hastings, if you would make a note – a mental note, you understand – of where they all choose to sit.'
'Helpful? How?' asked Hastings.
'Psychologically, my friend,' was Poirot's only reply.
When Lucia entered the room, Hastings watched her as she sat on a chair near the center table. Richard arrived with his aunt, Miss Amory, who sat on the stool as Richard moved close to the table to keep a protective eye on his wife. Edward Raynor was the last to arrive, taking up a position behind the arm-chair. He was followed into the room by the constable, Johnson, who shut the door and stood close to it.
Richard Amory introduced Inspector Japp to those two members of the family whom Japp had not already met.
'My aunt, Miss Amory,' he announced, 'and my cousin, Miss Barbara Amory.'
Acknowledging the introduction, Barbara asked, 'What's all the excitement, Inspector?'
Japp avoided her question. 'Now, I think we're all here, are we not?' he remarked, moving to the fireplace.
Miss Amory looked bewildered and a little apprehensive.
'I don't quite understand,' she said to Richard. 'What is this – this gentleman doing here?'
'I think perhaps I ought to tell you something,' Richard answered her. 'You see, Aunt Caroline – and all of you,' he added, glancing around the room, 'Dr Graham has discovered that my father was – poisoned.'
'What?' exclaimed Raynor sharply. Miss Amory gave a cry of horror.
'He was poisoned with hyoscine,' Richard continued.
Raynor gave a start. 'With hyoscine? Why, I saw -'
He stopped dead, looking at Lucia.
Taking a step towards him, Inspector Japp asked, 'What did you see, Mr Raynor?'
The secretary looked embarrassed. 'Nothing – at least -' he began uncertainly. His voice trailed off into silence.
'I'm sorry, Mr Raynor,' Japp insisted, 'but I've got to have the truth. Come now, everyone realizes you're keeping something back.'
'It's nothing, really,' said the secretary. 'I mean, there's obviously some quite reasonable explanation.'
'Explanation for what, Mr Raynor?' asked Japp.
Raynor still hesitated.
'Well?' Japp prompted him.
'It was only that -' Raynor paused again, and then made up his mind to continue. 'It was only that I saw Mrs Amory emptying out some of those little tablets into her hand.'
'When was this?' Japp asked him.
'Last night. I was coming out of Sir Claud's study. The others were busy with the gramophone. They were all clustered around it. I noticed her pick up a tube of tablets – I thought it was the hyoscine – and pour most of them out into the palm of her hand. Then Sir Claud called me back into the study for something.'
'Why didn't you mention this before?' asked Japp.
Lucia began to speak, but the Inspector silenced her.
'One minute, please, Mrs Amory,' he insisted. 'I'd like to hear from Mr Raynor first.'
'I never thought of it again,' Raynor told him. 'It was only when Mr Amory said just now that Sir Claud had been poisoned with hyoscine that it came back to me. Of course, I realize it's perfectly all right. It was just the coincidence that startled me. The tablets might not have been hyoscine at all. It could have been one of the other tubes that she was handling.'
Japp now turned to Lucia. 'Well, ma'am,' he asked, 'what have you got to say about it?'
Lucia seemed quite composed as she answered, 'I wanted something to make me sleep.'
Addressing Raynor again, Japp asked, 'You say she pretty well emptied the tube?'
'It seemed so to me,' said Raynor.
Japp turned again to Lucia. 'You wouldn't have needed so many tablets to make you sleep. One or two would have been sufficient. What did you do with the rest?'
Lucia thought for a moment before replying, 'I can't remember.'
She was about to continue, when Carelli rose to his feet and burst out venomously, 'You see, Inspector? There's your murderess.'
Barbara rose quickly from the settee and moved away from Carelli, while Hastings hurried to her side. The Italian continued, 'You shall have the truth, Inspector. I came down here especially to see that woman. She had sent for me. She said she would get Sir Claud's formula, and she offered to sell it to me. I'll admit that I've dealt with such things in the past.'
'That's not much of an admission,' Japp advised him, moving between Carelli and Lucia. 'We know as much already.' He turned to Lucia. 'What have you to say to all this, ma'am?'
Lucia rose, her face drained of colour, and Richard went to her. 'I'm not going to allow -' he began, when Japp stopped him.
'If you please, sir.'
Carelli spoke again. 'Just look at that woman! None of you know who she is. But I do! She's the daughter of Selma Goetz. The daughter of one of the most infamous women the world has ever known.'
'It's not true, Richard,' Lucia cried. 'It's not true! Don't listen to him -'
'I'll break every bone in your body!' Richard Amory growled at Carelli.
Japp took a pace towards Richard. 'Keep calm, sir, do keep calm, please,' he admonished. 'We've got to get to the bottom of this.' Japp turned to Lucia. 'Now then, Mrs Amory.'
There was a pause. Lucia tried to speak. 'I – I -' she began. She looked at her husband and then at Poirot, holding out her hand helplessly to the detective.
'Have courage, madame,' Poirot advised her. 'Trust in me. Tell them. Tell them the truth. We have come to the point where lies will serve no longer. The truth will have to come out.'
Lucia looked pleadingly at Poirot, but he merely repeated, 'Have courage, madame. Si, si. Be brave and speak.'
He returned to his position by the French windows.
