THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD
"Point No. 2.—At some time during the evening Ralph Paton must have come in through the window, as evidenced by the prints of his shoes.
"Point No. 3.—Mr. Ackroyd was nervous that evening, and would only have admitted some one he knew.
"Point No. 4—The person with Mr. Ackroyd at nine-thirty was asking for money. We know Ralph Paton was in a scrape.
"These four points go to show that the person with Mr. Ackroyd at nine-thirty was Ralph Paton. But we know that Mr. Ackroyd was alive at a quarter to ten, therefore it was not Ralph who killed him. Ralph left the window open. Afterwards the murderer came in that way."
"And who was the murderer?" inquired Poirot.
"The American stranger. He may have been in league with Parker, and possibly in Parker we have the man who blackmailed Mrs. Ferrars. If so, Parker may have heard enough to realize the game was up, have told his accomplice so, and the latter did the crime with the dagger which Parker gave him."
"It is a theory that," admitted Poirot. "Decidedly you have cells of a kind. But it leaves a good deal unaccounted for."
"Such as———?"
"The telephone call, the pushed-out chair———"
"Do you really think the latter important?" I interrupted.
"Perhaps not," admitted my friend. "It may have been pulled out by accident, and Raymond or Blunt may have shoved it into place unconsciously under the stress
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