racesaidldly:&ot;doyleneverleftthelounonthenightofthetradytillhewasshotatandwoundedthelegtheipossibilityofhiswalkgastepafterthatisattestedtobyadoctorandanurse-bothdependentandreliablewitnessessiondoyleuldnothavekilledhiswifeheuldnothavekilledlouisebourtheostdefitelydidnotkillrsotterbourne!youknowthataswellaswedo&ot;

&ot;iknowhedidn&39;tkillher&ot;penngtonundedalittlecalr&ot;allisayis，whypickonwhenidon&39;tbenefitbyherdeath?&ot;

&ot;but，ydearsir，&ot;poirot&39;svoicecaftasapurrgcat，&ot;thatisratheraatterofopionadadoylewasakeenwoanofbess，fullynversantofherownaffairsandveryicktospotanyirregularityasonas射tookupthentrolofherproperty，which射wouldhavedoneonherreturntoengland，herspicionswereboundtobearoedbutnowthat射isdeadandthatherhband，asyouhavejtpotedout，herits，thewholethgisdifferentsiondoyleknowsnothgwhateverofhiswife&39;saffairsexceptthat射wasarichwoanheisofasiple，trtgdispositionyouwillfditeasytoplaceplicatedstatentsbeforehi，tovolvetherealissueaoffigures，andtodelaysettlentwithpleasoflegalforalitiesandtherecentdepressionithkthatitakesaverynsiderabledifferencetoyouwhetheryoudealwiththehbandorthewife&ot;

penngtonshrugdhisshoulders

&ot;yourideasare-fantastic&ot;

&ot;tiwillshow&ot;

&ot;whatdidyousay?&ot;

&ot;isaid，&39;tiwillshow!&39;thisisaatterofthreedeaths-threeurdersthelawwilldeandtheostsearchgvestigationtothenditionofadadoyle&39;sestate&ot;

hesawthesuddensagtheother&39;sshouldersandknewthathehadwon

jifanthorp&39;sspicionswerewellfounded

poirotwenton:&ot;you&39;veplayed-andlostelesstogoonbffg&ot;

&ot;youdon&39;tunderstand，&ot;penngtonuttered&ot;it&39;sallsareenoughreallyit&39;sbeenthisdanedsp-wallstreet&39;sbeencrazybuti&39;dstadaebackwithckeverythgwillbeokbytheiddleofjune&ot;

withshakghandshetookacigarette，triedtolightit，failed&ot;isuppose，&ot;edpoirot，&ot;thattheboulderwasasuddenteptationyouthoughtnobodysawyou&ot;

&ot;thatwasanaidentiswearitwasanaident!&ot;theanleantforward，hisfaceworkg，hiseyesterrified&ot;istubledandfellagastitiswearitwasanaident&ot;

theonsaidnothg

penngtonsuddenlypulledhiselftotherhewasstillawreckofaan，buthisfightgspirithadreturnedacertaasureheovedtowardthedoor&ot;youcan&39;tpthaton，ntlenitwasanaidentanditwasn&39;tiwhoshotherd&39;youhear?youcan&39;tpthatoneither-andyouneverwill&ot;hewentout

插pter26

asthedoorclosedbehdhi，racegaveadeepsigh

&ot;wegotorethanithoughtweshouldadissionoffraudadissionofatteptedurderfurtherthanthatit&39;sipossibletogoaanwillnfess，oreorless，toatteptedurder，butyouwon&39;tthitonfesstotherealthg&ot;

&ot;tisitcanbedone，&ot;saidpoirothiseyesweredreay-cat-likeracelookedathicurioly

&ot;gotaplan?&ot;

poirotnoddedthenhesaidtickgofftheitesonhisfrs:&ot;thegardenatassuanrallerton&39;sstatenttheobottlesofnailpolishybottleofethevelvetstolethestaedhandkerchiefthepistolthatwasleftonthesceneofthecrithedeathoflouisethedeathofadaotterbourneyes，it&39;salltherepenngtondidn&39;tdoit，race!&ot;

&ot;what?&ot;racewasstartled

&ot;penngtondidn&39;tdoithehadtheotive，yeshehadthewilltodoit，yeshegotasfarasatteptgtodoitaisc&39;esttoutforthiscri，thgwaswantedthatpenngtonhasn&39;tgot!thisisacrithatneededaudacity，swiftandfaultlessexecution，ura，differencetodanr，andareurceful，calculatgbrapenngtonhasn&39;tgotthoseattributesheuldn&39;tdoacriunlessheknewittobesafethiscriwasn&39;tsafe!ithungonarazoreditneededboldnesspenngtonisn&39;tboldhe&39;sonlyastute&ot;

racelookedathiwiththerespectoneableangivestoanother

&ot;you&39;vegotitallwelltaped，&ot;hesaid

&ot;ithk，yesthereareoneorothgs-thattelegra，forstance，thatldoylereadishouldliketotthatclearedup&ot;

&ot;byjove，wefottoaskdoylehewastellgwhenpooroldaotterbournecaalongwe&39;llaskhiaga&ot;

&ot;presentlyfirst，ihaveoneelsetowhoiwishtospeak&ot;

&ot;who&39;sthat?&ot;

&ot;tiallerton&ot;

raceraisedhiseyebrows

&ot;allerton?well，we&39;llthihere&ot;

hepressedabellandsentthestewardwithassa

tiallertonenteredwithaestionglook

&ot;stewardsaidyouwantedtosee?&ot;

&ot;thatisright，onsieurallertonsitdown&ot;

tisathisfacewasattentivebutveryslightlybored

&ot;anythgicando?&ot;histonewaspolitebutnotenthiastic