And now for the (long) grand finale

IX

"Thank you for being here." Poirot said to the group assembled in the sitting room. "I hope that together we have the evidence to bring the murderer to justice,"

"Then why do I have to be here? I was in the bar the whole time, and know nothing about what happened." Charles Everworth interrupted "I had nothing to do with it."

"Your evidence might be able to provide an alibi for someone else." said Poirot "And please, do not interrupt me again" While this exchange was happening, Lady Alice had begun to look faint.

"At twenty minutes until ten, Lady Alice discovered the body Lord Edgar, who had been murderer with a lacrosse stick, an unusual and rather obvious weapon. The autopsy conducted by the doctor revealed that he had only been dead for forty-five minutes at the very most. The next day, Mademoiselle O'Dreir identified the stick as belonging to her, but it had been at her sister's house for the past week, and she could not have been to her sister's house to get it. So I come to the next question, who used the lacrosse stick to kill Lord Edgar? Who knew where it was? I knew that I needed answers, yet they were eluding my grasp. I at first thought that Miss O'Dreir was guilty, but once I had found that she was really the sister of Lord Edgar, and was hiding from the police, that she would not be as stupid to risk the police coming here, and she did not need his money, of have anything else to gain from his death."

"Yes, we know all that, but who killed him?" Said Robert Smith impatiently, looking slightly nervous as to what he would hear.

"I am coming to that." Poirot said, seeming utterly sick of the interruptions. "I then thought 'Who else would stand to gain anything from the death of Lord Edgar?' and the most likely person seemed to be Charles Everworth."

"But I already told you," he said, exasperated by the continual accusations, "I did not kill him. I'm sick of this, I'm leaving"

"You will do no such thing!" Poirot insisted, "Do you deny this is your button?" He showed him the button that he had found."

"Yes, but I dropped that in the driveway I was never in the drawing room."

"No, you wanted me to believe that you dropped it in the driveway, but the place where I found it was actually the drawing room, the scene of the murder."

"But I didn't do it!" he protested, "How do you know it was from what I wore on the night of the murder? And for the last time, I was in the bar the whole time!"

"I was given the evidence for that by all the servants, who say it was an unmistakable suit you wore."

"I admit, I was in there earlier, but I only looked in quickly to find Miss O'Dreir. Anyway, I was in the bar, as I'm sure Luke told you.

"We can not guarantee that is the truth, all we know is that you never left the front door of the bar. However, there is a secret door, concealed in the corner of the bar where you were sitting. I am sure not many people know about it, as it is very well hidden."

"Well," Charles Everworth said, in a voice that was clearly suppressing rage, "there is no point in denying it, I killed Lord Edgar, but I regret nothing, for he had it coming to him, the stuck up prat." He edged towards the door, evidently trying to escape, but was caught by Inspector Jefferson.

"However," Said Poirot, continuing with his narrative "you were not alone, for you had an accomplice in the crime, who would ensure that the body was not found until you were far away from the scene of the murder, and back in the bar being seen by people that could give you an alibi." He looked at lady Alice "You, Mademoiselle, were that accomplice."

"What?" The word escaped from several astonished mouths.

"Your evidence, which clearly was all lies, always stopped any blame from landing on him, and what you said also tied in with the lies he told. But the reason you helped him, is that you wanted your husband out of the way, to allow you to marry again and for you" Poirot said turning to look at Charles Everworth "to take his place as Lord of this castle"

There was silence for a moment.

"Charles?" Lady Alice screeched at him "that's not what you said to me." Her voice had taken the tone of a child about to have a tantrum. "You told me that he was guilty of killing his father and was on the run from the police, and took the place of the real Lord Edgar, who he also murdered."

"Well, you said yourself, you would be happier without him, you loved the idea that he was a murderer, it took away the guilt you were feeling about our plan."

"I wish I had never gone through with it. And I can't believe," she turned to state accusingly a Charles "that I ever loved you, had let myself have feelings for you when I knew it was wrong, and helped you end the life of my husband!" But at that point her broke and she collapsed into tears.

Fin