The A B C Murders / Убийство по алфавиту. Книга для чтения на английском языке

I’ve warned her,” I said, “many times and now my words have come true. He’ll do for you,” I said. And he has done for her! You can’t rightly estimate what a man will do when he’s in drink and this murder’s a proof of it.’

She wound up with a deep gasp.

�Nobody saw this man Ascher go into the shop, I believe?’ said Poirot.

Mrs Fowler sniffed scornfully.

�Naturally he wasn’t going to show himself,’ she said.

How Mr Ascher had got there without showing himself she did not deign to explain.

She agreed that there was no back way into the house and that Ascher was quite well known by sight in the district.

�But he didn’t want to swing for it and he kept himself well hid.’

Poirot kept the conversational ball rolling some little time longer, but when it seemed certain that Mrs Fowler had told all that she knew not once but many times over, he terminated the interview, first paying out the promised sum.

�Rather a dear five pounds’ worth, Poirot,’ I ventured to remark when we were once more in the street.

�So far, yes.’

�You think she knows more than she has told?’

�My friend, we are in the peculiar position of not knowing what questions to ask. We are like little children playing cache-cache[101 - cache-cache (фр.) – прятки] in the dark. We stretch out our hands and grope about. Mrs Fowler has told us all that she thinks she knows—and has thrown in several conjectures for good measure! In the future, however, her evidence may be useful.

I did not quite understand the point, but at this moment we ran into[102 - to run into – натолкнуться] Inspector Glen.

Chapter 7

Mr Partridge and Mr Riddell

Inspector Glen was looking rather gloomy. He had, I gathered, spent the afternoon trying to get a complete list of persons who had been noticed entering the tobacco shop.

�And nobody has seen anyone?’ Poirot inquired.

�Oh, yes, they have. Three tall men with furtive expressions—four short men with black moustaches—two beards—three fat men—all strangers—and all, if I’m to believe witnesses, with sinister expressions! I wonder somebody didn’t see a gang of masked men with revolvers while they were about it!’

Poirot smiled sympathetically.

�Does anybody claim to have seen the man Ascher?’

�No, they don’t.