“Well, Giraud will sing small now,” I observed hastily, to lead the conversation away from my own shortcomings.
“As I said before, will he? If he has arrived at the right person by the wrong method, he will not permit that to worry him.”
“But surely—" I paused as I saw the new trend of things.
“You see, Hastings, we must now start again. Who killed M. Renauld? Someone who was near the villa just before twelve o'clock that night, someone who would benefit by his death—the description fits Jack Renauld only too well. The crime need not have been premeditated. And then the dagger!”
I started; I had not realized that point.
“Of course,” I said. “The second dagger we found in the tramp was Mrs. Renauld’s. There were two, then.”
“Certainly, and, since they were duplicates, it stands to reason that Jack Renauld was the owner. But that would not trouble me so much. In fact, I have a little idea as to that. No, the worst indictment against him is again psychological—heredity, mon ami, heredity! Like father, like son—Jack Renauld, when all is said or done, is the son of Georges Conneau.”
His tone was grave and earnest, and I was impressed in spite of myself.
“What is your little idea that you mentioned just now?” I asked.
For answer, Poirot consulted his turnip-faced watch, and then asked, “What time is the afternoon boat from Calais?”
"About five, I believe.”
“That will do very well. We shall just have time.”
“You are going to England?”
“Yes, my friend.”
“Why?”
“To find a possible—witness.”
“Who?"
With a rather peculiar smile upon his face, Poirot replied, “Miss Bella Duveen.”
“But how will you find her—what do you know about her?”
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