[“He was by far the only one who admitted to smoking a pipe, and he knew Colonel Armstrong—maybe he really knew him, but just didn’t.”

"So you think it's possible-"

Poirot shook his head violently.

"This is - this is impossible, absolutely impossible. Such a respectable, a little silly, upright British man can't stab a twelve knife in a person! My friend, how could this be possible?"]

Mr. Booker suspected the British colonel, but Poirot's answer was impossible.

Xueshanxin also felt that the murderer should not be this colonel, and at this moment he was even more curious about the Russian princess with strong financial resources, because after Poirot asked, she said, "Meeting is the arrangement of fate." Xueshanxin always felt that this sentence was meaningful.

Poirot did not stop asking, and he found the American Hardman, the sneaky passenger No. 16 that the colonel said.

Before Poirot asked, Hardman said a strange thing, "I have heard of you, and I think it's better to give it honestly."

Then Hardman took out his real passport. The identity Poirot knew through Mr. Booker [Cyrus Bateman Hardman, American, forty-one years old, mobile salesman with typewriter] was fake. His real identity was Cyrus B. Hardman, a detective from McNeill Detective Firm.

McNeill Detective Office is very famous, and Poirot knows it is the largest detective agency in New York.

"Detective firm? An interesting business. I think it won't take long to have such a company in reality." Xue Shanxin thought.

Hardman said he came to Stanbul because of a case, and then received a commission from the deceased and handed the letter directly to Poirot.

[Dear Sir:

I learned that you are a detective at the McNeill Detective Agency, please come to my suite at 4 pm this afternoon to talk.

——S·E·Ratchett]

Then the detective from New York went to the suite to see the deceased, and the deceased also showed the threat letter he received to Hardman.

The deceased Rachet's commission was very simple, and he entrusted the private detective to live next door to him, so that if there was any noise, he could react immediately.

But imagination is like ice cream. You think ice cream is cold and you don’t gain weight without calories after eating it. In fact, it is indeed fat.

Hardman didn't buy the ticket next to Rachett, and even bought the last sixteenth carriage.

However, the detective took a step back and thought that the car at the end was actually not bad. There was only a dining car in front of the Stanbul sleeper car, and the door leading to the platform at the front was locked again at night. No matter what the situation was, the gangster had to pass through his room.

Most importantly, Hardman also revealed a major news, he heard Rachet say what kind of person the perpetrator was—"a small man with dark skin, and a woman-inspired voice in his words."

"It is very likely that what Hardman said is true, because after Rachet knew Poirot's identity, he also wanted to pay for Poirot." Xueshanxin muttered, but he was curious, how did Rachet know what the attacker looked like?

Did you have any experiences before?

If it was a man and a woman who committed the crime, then this little man was one of them? The colonel also gave a clue that he had met a woman with a fruity smell on her body. Xueshanxin thought about it, and so a man and a woman seemed to be alive.

"It shouldn't be that simple, or is this small man and girl angry, maybe it's a transgender person?" Xue Shanxin began to think about it, but then he thought, even if he thought correctly, as Poirot said, this description could not correspond to anyone in the sleeper car.

However, if it is a character that has never appeared before, there is no doubt that Xueshanxin believes that the excitement of "Oriental Express Murder" will be greatly reduced.

Finally, Hardman, who occupied a strategic position, did not see any suspect passing by. To put it simply, the deceased hired him but did not play any role.

After asking Hardman of the detective office, Poirot also asked the Italian, German maid and the British lady Mary.

Mr. Booker has always suspected that it was Italians who took action, such as the Italian mafia, but after interrogation, it was beyond proving the authenticity of the testimony of many previous passengers, and there was no clue.

The case seemed to be in a deadlock. Booker and the doctor who had been accompanying Poirot to interrogate the passengers, had a confused attitude at this time, similar to Xueshanxin.

Xueshanxin felt that he had mastered a lot of clues, but these clues were messy and some even contradictory.

"Wait, I don't believe it, I can't reason." Xueshanxin lit another honeydew melon, then told the waiter, and went out to buy a notebook and a pen.

After returning to the store, I recorded all the known news at present, and Xueshan had a bold idea in his confidence.

"The murderer may not be two people, but three people, Mrs. Habat, Mary and the conductor, etc., should not be the conductor, and the last accomplice is to be decided."

Habat made a cover, Mary... Xueshanxin suddenly felt that his inference was not logical at all.

Not to mention the problem of technique, just talking about relationships. Obviously, from what the three of them described, there is no connection between each other at all. How can a common crime be committed in this way?

Xue Shanxin thought about it for a long time, but even though he had a brainstorm, he didn't think of a reasonable explanation.

I can only look at Poirot's reasoning process in the book. To be honest, I read Poirot's summary of clues and reasoning in one chapter. I only saw one thing that Poirot always remained suspicious of the so-called small man.

Poirot believes that the best way to make a person disappear is to start with the fictional one. Both the British Colonel and McQueen are tall and big, so a small man who speaks and is angry with girls, perhaps it is dressed as a woman.

And whether it is true or false, there is one thing that can be used as a clue to the investigation, first, scarlet pajamas, second, the murder weapon.

The train stopped and was not found outside, so it was still on the murderer.

"This really looks at the essence through the phenomenon. No matter how complicated the clues are, in the final analysis, the murder case requires a weapon. Why didn't I expect it?" Xue Shanxin slapped his head and thought it made sense, so the next step was to search the luggage in the sleeper carriage.

As the Belgian detective described the possibility, there was a sudden noise and Mrs. Habat hurried over.

[The noise is getting closer and closer, mixed with harsh shouts and women's protests. The door at the end of the dining car suddenly opened, and Mrs. Habat broke in.

"It's so scary!" she shouted, "This is so scary! In my wash bag, my wash bag! A big knife - all of blood!"]
Chapter completed!