That
night, the detective didn't sleep that well because of the tiny space of the
sleeping car which was shared by him and a Hector MacQueen, Mr. Ratchett’s –
another passenger – secretary. The next morning, Poirot and M. Bouc had
breakfast where they were able to catch a glimpse of who their fellow
passengers are. Later that day, Mr. Ratchett approached Poirot for protection
from someone. But the mustached man undeniably declined the twenty thousand
dollars for the reason, “I don’t like your face!”
Rising Action - Heavy
snow was falling outside and the train arrived at Belgrade at quarter to nine
that evening. Poirot descended to the platform but didn’t stay long because of
the cold. Upon returning, the conductor told him that his things were moved to
M. Bouc’s compartment and that M. Bouc had moved to the coach of Athens that
has been put on with a Greek doctor.
As
scheduled, the train departed at 9:15. Poirot decided to sleep and some hours
later, awoke by a loud groan, almost a cry, somewhere close at hand. He noticed
that the train was at standstill-presumably at a station. Remembering that Ratchett
occupies the next door berth, he opened his door seeing the conductor hurriedly
knocking on Ratchett’s door but got the reply, “Ce n’est rien. Je me suis trompé.”
Just
a quarter past one, a bell rang coming from another compartment. It was Mrs.
Hubbard complaining that there was an unknown man in her compartment but the
conductor told Poirot that there was no one. He also explained that the train
was stranded in a snowdrift between Vincovci and Brod. Poirot just asked for a
glass of water in which the conductor assuredly complied. But just as he was
half-asleep, something woke him up again. A thud against the door. He got up
and peeked through the door. There, far away down the corridor, was a girl
wearing a scarlet kimono retreating to her room and on the other end was the
conductor encoding something on large piles of paper. This time, he slept ‘till
morning.
Poirot
woke up almost past nine but got up at quarter to ten to eat at the restaurant
car just to notice that M. Bouc, Princess Dragomiroff and her lady’s maid, the
Hungarian couple, Ratchett, and his valet. He also noticed that Mary Debenham
was the only calm one saying that she jus saves herself from useless emotions.
Just as he finished their conversation, the conductor came running in rather
anxious telling him that M. Bouc is expecting him.
What
he expected as a normal ‘hi’ and ‘hello’, turned into a mystery solving case.
Mr. Ratchett died! To M. Bouc surprise, Poirot wasn’t sorry for his death. Dr.
Constantine, the Greek doctor on the same coach as M. Bouc, acted as the
examiner estimating the time of death as between midnight and two. The body was
discovered when the victim’s valet tapped at his door but got no answer and
after an hour and still no answer. That’s when the conductor enters the scene
and opened the door with his key and breaking the chain discovering the corpse
at 11. They didn’t consider the death a suicide since the body was pierced with
12-15 stab wounds. Many conclusions crossed their minds but only one is for
sure and one is that the culprit is a woman. The murderer is there-with them on
the train. (Conflict)
The
first one to be interviewed was the secretary, MacQueen. He confessed that he
doesn’t know who Ratchett really is, just basic information and some threatening
letters, and that he really didn’t like his employer.
The
body was left cold on the floor with an open window and a bunch of white snow
outside. There were clues left to solve like a pipe cleaner, two different
sizes of burnt matches, a woman’s handkerchief with an initial of H, a dented gold watch indicating a
quarter past one, and some charred fragments of paper. Through some wire,
spirit stove and tongs, they were able to get a glimpse of what was written on
the charred paper. The words were like this: -member little Daisy Armstrong.
This lead to the conclusion that that case of murder is connected to the
kidnapping and murder of the granddaughter of the Armstrong family in New York
in which the kidnapper got away. Poirot proposed that Ratchett was really
Casseti, the culprit of the kidnapping case. Poirot surely thinks that the
culprit had some vengeance against the victim with this previous case.
The
conductor states that during the time of the crime, he was at the Athens coach
talking to other conductors. He had an airtight alibi. Also, it fits the time
Poirot saw the conductor attending to Mrs. Hubbard. On the other hand, the
secretary, MacQueen, asked how Poirot related the case to the Armstrong one.
Poirot told that it was from the charred paper fragments and the response: “But surely – I mean – that was rather
careless of the old man?”
Next one to interrogate was the victim’s
valet who stated that anything that happened that night was the usual stuff his
master does and the Italian fellow could testify that he was in bed after
attending to his master and vice versa. Mrs. Hubbard won’t stop talking about
the mysteriously disappearing man in her compartment. She also states that there
was an unknown button from a certain conductor but it didn’t match any buttons
from the conductors on board. The bolt on her door was also locked as the
Swedish lady assured. This Swedish lady, Greta Ohlsson, mistook Ratchett’s door
for Mrs. Hubbard’s and was the last one to see the victim alive. She also
accounts for her companion in the compartment, Mary Debenham. Princess Natalia
Dragomiroff was accounted by her lady’s maid, Hildegarde Schimdt who, on the
other hand, saw the non-existing conductor with a small build and a voice like
a woman’s, as she says. The Hungarian couple, however, denied their involvement
in whatever case is going on.
Colonel
Arbuthnot was accounted by MacQueen but seem to protect Mary Debenham
indirectly. He was the only passenger that smokes a pipe. Cyrus Hardman, the
commercial traveller, confessed that he really was a private detective hired by
the victim for protection and swore that no one from the open restaurant car’s
backdoor boarded the train while at Vincovci. Mary Debenham had also stated
that she had nothing to do with the crime.
All
female passengers denied having a scarlet kimono on their luggage. The
evidences were summarized and analyzed critically. Just as they were discussing
– Poirot, M. Bouc and Dr. Constantine – Mrs. Hubbard came out exclaiming that a
bloody knife was in her sponge bag!
Due
to the appearance of the murder weapon, Mrs. Hubbard requested to be moved to
the Athens coach which was fulfilled. Not long after, Poirot guessed that the
scarlet kimono would be found in a man’s luggage and the conductor’s uniform
would be in a woman’s. Right on the eye, he was right. Hildegarde Schimdt had the
conductor’s uniform and he himself had the kimono. Now, Poirot sits back and thinks.
Climax - Poirot
is now ready to cast this murder case.
Countess
Andreyi, the true owner of the handkerchief, was really the aunt of the
deceased Daisy Armstrong. Princess Dragomiroff as a very close friend of the
Armstrong family, so is Colonel Arbuthnot. Mary Debenham was the child’s
governess and Antonio Foscarelli as the family’s chauffeur. Greta Ohlsson, the
child’s attending nurse, became a little agitated as she confessed to the
detective. After that, Edward Masterman sprang up and identified himself as the
previous valet of Mr. Armstrong. Hildegarde Schimdt was the house’s cook.
Poirot
propounds two solutions.
Falling Action - He
purposely gathered all the passengers in the restaurant car. The first one is
that M. Ratchett just forgot to reset his watch to the current time zone. And
that he was killed an hour ago before the estimated time of death. The murderer
dressed himself as a conductor and just blended in the passengers. This theory
almost had many loop holes so the others didn’t agree.
The
second solution was that all of them except Countess Andreyi committed the
crime including the conductor. Pierre Michel was said to be the father of the
maid who committed suicide due to the wrong accusation of the kidnapping. Mrs.
Hubbard played the greatest role of all. She was the grandmother of Daisy, the
famous singer, Linda Arden. They all had planned this a long time ago. Just
happened that Poirot got on board and see through their scheme.
Resolution - All
agreed to just tell the police the first solution to prevent the uncovering of
the undeniable truth of the Armstrong kidnapping case. With this, Poirot had the
honor to retire from the case.
Theme - It is really true that there's karma. But always remember that justice isn't not in your hands. It's in God's hands.
