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

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“See.” And John lifted the lid as he spoke.

“Milles tonnerres!” cried Poirot, dumbfounded. “And I — who have both the keys in my pocket!” He flung himself upon the case. Suddenly he stiffened. “Eh voilà une affaire! This lock has been forced.”

“What?”

Poirot laid down the case again.

“But who forced it? Why should they? When? But the door was locked?” These exclamations burst from us disjointedly.

Poirot answered them categorically — almost mechanically.

“Who? That is the question. Why? Ah, if I only knew. When? Since I was here an hour ago. As to the door being locked, it is a very ordinary lock. Probably any other of the doorkeys in this passage would fit it.”

We stared at one another blankly. Poirot had walked over to the mantelpiece. He was outwardly calm, but I noticed his hands, which from long force of habit were mechanically straightening the spill vases on the mantelpiece, were shaking violently.

“See here, it was like this,” he said at last. “There was something in that case — some piece of evidence, slight in itself perhaps, but still enough of a clue to connect the murderer with the crime. It was vital to him that it should be destroyed before it was discovered and its significance appreciated. Therefore, he took the risk, the great risk, of coming in here. Finding the case locked, he was obliged to force it, thus betraying his presence. For him to take that risk, it must have been something of great importance.”