The Wilmington morning star., 1947-08-01
spector in the utmost surprise.
He repeated incredulously:

-O~S~-~-o
subsequently dropped into thu
pool was not the revolver tina
fired the fatal shot? But that is
extraordinary"
Exactly, M. Poirot. Put blunt
ly, it just doesn't make sense.
Poirot murmured softly:
mo. it does not make sense.
But all the same, Inspector, it ha!
got to make sense, eh?'
The inspector said heavily
That's just it, M. Poirot. We've
got to find some way that it doe!
make sense-but at the moment
can't see it. The truth is that We
shan't get much further unit
we've found the gun that wa
used. 1t came from Sir Henry
collection all right at leas
there's one missing - and tina
means that the whole thing is still
tied up with The Hollow"
Yes" murmured Poirot. 1T i
tied up with The Hollow"
1T seemed a simple, straight
forward business" went on the in
spector. We'll, it isn't so simple
or so straightforward"
NO." said Poirot, 'it is no
simple -
We've got to admit the posi-
bility that the thing was frame
up-that's to say that it was al
set to implicate Gerda Christow
But if that was so, why net leave
the right revolver lying by the
body for her to pick up?"
"She might not have picked i
up"
That's true. but even i she
didn't. so long as nobody else's
fingerprints were on the gun
that's to say if it was wiped after
use - she would probably have
been suspected all right. Anc
that's what the murderer wanted
wasn't it?"
"Was it?"
Grange stared.
We'll, if you'd done a murder.
you'd want to plant it good and
quick On someone else, Wouldn't
you? That would be a murderer s
normal reaction"
"Ye-es," said Poirot. But then
perhaps we have here rather
unusual type of murderer. 1t is
possible that that is the solution
of our problem"
'What is the solution?"
Poirot said thoughtfully:
"An unusual type o. murderer. "
Inspector Grange stared at him
curiously. He said:
But then-What was the muir
derer's idea? What was ne or she
getting at?'
Poirot spread out his hands with
a sigh.
Il have no ideal have no idea
at all But it seems to me-dim-
ly-''
"Yes?"
THAT the murderer is someone
who wanted to kill John Christow
but who did not want to implicate
Gerda Christow.
Him! Actually we suspected her
right away"
"Ah, yes, but it was only a mat
ter of time before the facts about
the gun came to light, and that
was bound to give new angle. In
the interval the murderer has had
time"
Po;rot came to a full stop.
Time to do What?"
"Ah, mon ami, there you have
me. Again / have to say I do not
know"
Inspector Grange took turn or
two up and down the room. Then
he stopped and came to a stand
in front of Poirot.
'I've come to you this after
noon, M. Poirot, for two reasons
One is because I know-it's pretty
we'll known in the force - that
you're a man of wide experience
who's done some very tricky work
On this type of problem. That's
reason Number One. But there's
another reason. You were there.
You were an eyewitness. You saw
what happened"
Foirot nodded.
"Yes, l saw what happened
but the eyes. Inspector Grange,
are very unreliable witnesses"
What do you mean, M. Poi
rot?"
The eyes see, sometimes, what
they are meant to see.'
"You think that it was planned
out beforehand?"
Il suspect it, 1t was exactly,
you understand, like stage
scene. What l saw was clear
enough. A man who had just been
shot and the woman who had shot
him holding in her hand the gun
she had just Used. That is what
3aw and already we know that in
one particular the picture is
wrong. That gun had not been
used to shoot John Christow.'
Him." the inspector pulled his
dropping mustache firmly down
ward. What you are getting at is
that some of the othev particu-
lars of the picture may be wrong,
too"
Poirot nodded He said:
There were three other people
present-three people who had so-
parently just arrived on-the scene.
But that may not be true either.
The pool is surrounded by thick
grove of young chestnuts. From
the pool, five paths led away: one