Читать книгу Agatha Christie: The Collection. The Mysterious Affair at Styles, Poirot Investigates, The Murder on the Links, The Secret Adversary, The Man in the Brown Suit онлайн

56 страница из 281

He then made a very careful examination of the drawers of the wash-stand. Crossing the room to the left-hand window, a round stain, hardly visible on the dark brown carpet, seemed to interest him particularly. He went down on his knees, examining it minutely — even going so far as to smell it.

Finally, he poured a few drops of the cocoa into a test tube, sealing it up carefully. His next proceeding was to take out a little notebook.

“We have found in this room,” he said, writing busily, “six points of interest. Shall I enumerate them, or will you?”

“Oh, you,” I replied hastily.

“Very well, then. One, a coffee-cup that has been ground into powder; two, a despatch-case with a key in the lock; three, a stain on the floor.”

“That may have been done some time ago,” I interrupted.

“No, for it is still perceptibly damp and smells of coffee. Four, a fragment of some dark green fabric — only a thread or two, but recognizable.”

“Ah!” I cried. “That was what you sealed up in the envelope.”