“Pretty evidence—that of the passengers! It told us just nothing at all.”
Poirot shook his head.
“I do not agree, my friend. The evidence of the passengers gave us several points of interest.”
“Indeed,” said M. Bouc sceptically. “I did not observe it.”
“That is because you did not listen.”
“Well, tell me, what did I miss?”
“I will just take one instance—the first evidence we heard, that of the young MacQueen. He uttered, to my mind, one very significant phrase.”
“About the letters?”
“No, not about the letters. As far as I can remember, his words were: ‘We travelled about. Mr. Ratchett wanted to see the world. He was hampered by knowing no languages. I acted more as a courier than a secretary.’ ”
He looked from the doctor’s face to that of M. Bouc.
“What? You still do not see? That is inexcusable—for you had a second chance again just now when he said, ‘You’re likely to be out of luck if you don’t speak anything but good American.’ ”
“You mean—?” M. Bouc still looked puzzled.
“Ah, it is that you want it given to you in words of one syllable. Well, here it is! M. Ratchett spoke no French. Yet, when the conductor came in answer to his bell last night, it was a voice speaking in French that told him that it was a mistake and that he was not wanted. It was, moreover, a perfectly idiomatic phrase that was used, not one that a man knowing only a few words of French would have selected. ‘Ce n’est rien Je me suis trompé.’ ”
“It is true,” cried Constantine excitedly. “We should have seen that! I remember your laying stress on the words when you repeated them to us. Now I understand your reluctance to rely upon the evidence of the dented watch. Already, at twenty-three minutes to one, Ratchett was dead—”
“And it was his murderer speaking!” finished M. Bouc impressively.
Poirot raised a deprecating hand.
“Let us not go too fast. And do not let us assume more than we actually know. It is safe, I think, to say that at that time—twenty-three minutes to one—some other person was in Ratchett’s compartment, and that that person either was French or could speak the French language fluently.”
“You are very cautious, mon vieux—”
“One should advance only a step at a time. We have no actual evidence that Ratchett was dead at that time.”
“There is the cry that awakened you.”
“Yes, that is true.”
“In one way,” said M. Bouc thoughtfully, “this discovery does not affect things very much. You heard someone moving about next door. That someone was not Ratchett, but the other man. Doubtless he is washing blood from his hands, clearing up after the crime, burning the incriminating letter. Then he waits till all is still, and, when he thinks it is safe and the coast is clear, he locks and chains Ratchett’s door on the inside, unlocks the communicating door through into Mrs. Hubbard’s compartment and slips out that way. In fact, it is exactly as we thought, with the difference that Ratchett was killed about half an hour earlier and the watch put on to a quarter past one to create an alibi.”
“Not such a famous alibi,” said Poirot. “The hands of the watch pointed to 1.15—the exact time when the intruder actually left the scene of the crime.”
“True,” said M. Bouc, a little confused. “What then does the watch convey to you?”
“If the hands were altered—I say if—then the time at which they were set must have a significance. The natural reaction would be to suspect anyone who had a reliable alibi for the time indicated—in this case, 1.15.”
“Yes, yes,” said the doctor. “That reasoning is good.”
“We must also pay a little attention to the time the intruder entered the compartment. When had he an opportunity of doing so? Unless we are to assume the complicity of the real conductor, there was only one time when he could have done so—during the time the train stopped at Vincovci. After the train left Vincovci the conductor was sitting facing the corridor, and whereas any one of the passengers would pay little attention to a Wagon Lit attendant, the one person who would notice an impostor is the real conductor. But during the halt at Vincovci the conductor is out on the platform. The coast is clear.”