“What?”
Japp said sharply:
“That surprises you?”
“Frankly, it does.”
Japp said:
“I’m not too happy about it myself … I’d like to have a talk with you. I suppose you wouldn’t like to come round?”
“Where are you?”
“Queen Charlotte Street.”
Poirot said:
“I will join you immediately.”
II
It was a police constable who opened the door of 58. He said respectfully:
“M. Poirot?”
“It’s I, myself.”
“The Chief Inspector is upstairs. Second floor—you know it?”
Hercule Poirot said:
“I was there this morning.”
There were three men in the room. Japp looked up as Poirot entered.
He said:
“Glad to see you, Poirot. We’re just going to move him. Like to see him first?”
A man with a camera who had been kneeling near the body got up.
Poirot came forward. The body was lying near the fireplace.
In death Mr. Morley looked very much as he had looked in life. There was a little blackened hole just below his right temple. A small pistol lay on the floor near his outflung right hand.
Poirot shook his head gently.
Japp said:
“All right, you can move him now.”
They took Mr. Morley away. Japp and Poirot were left alone.
Japp said:
“We’re through all the routine. Fingerprints, etc.”
Poirot sat down. He said: