Agatha Christie's Poirot Muder on the Orient Express 2010 Chapter 4

The time we were stopped by the snowdrift was what?
- 2:00. - Ah.
Because the murderer, he did not leave by this window
as they hoped to suggest.
How do you know?
Because there are no marks in the snow.
So the murderer must still be with us gentlemen.
On the train.
Now.
Princess Dragomiroff?
All the passengers have been summoned
to the lounge car, if you please.
20 to 1:00. As I thought.
You say there are 15 stab wounds Dr. Constantine?
- Yes. - But Poirot can count only 12.
Unless there are some others on his back?
No, no.
So, uh, the murderer must have crept in, yes,
and stabbed and stabbed with all his might.
You are not a police surgeon, are you?
No. What are you? You are...
- An obstetrician. - Bon.
You see some of these are just scratches
delivered with little force, eh?
But here and here, delivered with strength.
These are the ones that killed him, Doctor.
Princess Dragomiroff, please!
My lady is not dressed, monsieur.
I apologize, but you must come to the lounge car now, Princess.
What is the problem, monsieur?
I'm waiting for you. Outside.
Oh.
If I stand here as the murderer,
I find the wounds, some of them,
they have an angle that is suited to my right hand.
So...
But others, you see?
Impossible.
They need my left.
We have a left.
We have a right.
We have a weak, and we have a strong.
So is Ratchett trying to tell us
that he was murdered by two people?
Please. Please, sit down.
Ah...
Well, ladies and gentlemen,
I have to tell you that last night
one of your fellow passengers, Mr. Ratchett, was, um...
was murdered.
- Murdered? - Yes.
The detective Hercule Poirot believes that the murderer
is still on the train with us.
So please... So we have sealed the Calais coach,
and we request you do not try to leave.
Of course M. Poirot will be wanting to interview you all.
How was he murdered?
With a knife.
And what is that?
Eh?
The letter "H."
Well, but maybe Poirot believes this.
In the ash, you see?
The flat matches.
And here there is the flat match of Ratchett,
but here is a match made of wood
and a piece of paper that is burned.
So?
So perhaps Poirot, he is correct when he suggests
that the match made of wood, it was struck by someone else...
...and the piece of paper was burned
because it was in some way incriminating.
Why do we have to stay in this car? I don't under...
Uh, ladies and gentlemen,
M. Poirot would like one of you ladies to lend him a hatbox.
Merci.
My old grandfather had one of these for the wax mustache also.
Now, if this piece of paper that is burned...
...is indeed incriminating...
...then I am going to try to resurrect
what was written on it.
"Aisy Arms. "
What does it mean?
Aisy? Aisy?
Aisy Arms.
Merci.
I think it's nonsense, isn't it, Poirot?
It doesn't mean anything.
I do not know yet.
Poirot.
Here are the passengers' passports
you requested, monsieur.
Merci, Michel.
Oh, Michel, if you please to remain
and talk to me about last night.
Hey, don't worry. Sit down.
Poirot, Michel is not involved.
Since his wife died, he is married to the company.
He's our hardest worker.
Ah, Michel, your wife... How did she die?
Out of grief.
My daughter died, and my wife followed.
When was this, Michel?
Well, it wasn't last night, was it?
Leave the poor man alone.
It was a few years ago.
Tell us of last night, Michel.
Well, we stopped at Vincovci a little late.
A quarter to 12:00.
Did you get off the train?
Yes, for a chat, but it was so cold I didn't stay.
And then Mr. Ratchett cried out
at about half past 12:00.
Ce n'est rien. Je me suis trompé.
I really thought he was just having a nightmare.
And then, um, 2:15, Mrs. Hubbard...
He was hovering over me like...
like the angel of death.
You remember, monsieur?
Merci.
Merci, Michel. - Je vous en prie.
And next time you request a transfer to the Calais coach,
I'm sure it won't be so dramatic.
For this trip you request a transfer?
A former colleague of mine lives in Calais.
I was to visit him.
Yes, Michel normally does the Paris coach.
- Bien. - Monsieur.
Did you like your employer?
Oh, I do not find it necessary to like an employer.
Oh, but I do.
Did you know that he offered to me a job?
And I did not like him.
Was he, in your opinion, a gentleman?
Nothing of the kind. But he had money.
Put a sewer rat in a suit, and he's still a sewer rat...
He's just in a suit.
Et alors last night you shared your compartment
with Signor Foscarelli?
And did you stay there all night?
I read until 4:00 in the morning.
Because it was a good book, eh?
Because of toothache.
So you know for a fact that Signor Foscarelli,
he did not leave the compartment either last night?
No. He snored.
Does this mean anything to you?
Is it an arms firm? Was he an arms dealer?
I don't know the name of that firm.
I met Mr. Ratchett when I was on my uppers in...
Iraq, we call it now, don't we?
He needed a personal assistant who was good with languages,
which I am, and he paid well.
And he could not speak the languages?
Not a word. A little pidgin Italian.
Which even Italian pigeons would have found hard to understand.
And where in America was his home?
He never spoke of it.
He was thinking of buying in Napoli, but,
well, I don't know whether he'd have been allowed to go there.
Allowed?
I don't delude myself
by thinking Mr. Ratchett was not on the run,
from something dark in America,
that he wasn't trying to buy his way back into society.
He didn't know that I kept these.
Or that I knew we were going to Calais to pay that money back.
To whom?
Underworld? Mafia?
But they've set him up, haven't they?
Smoked him out onto the train with the money
and settled his debts in the night.
How much was in the suitcase?
Over $200,000.
I stayed in his employment
because I needed money to get home.
The name Ratchett... It is an alias.
If you please to follow me.
$200,000?
A penance. He told to me.
Something dark in America
from where he is ostracized,
and $200,000 blood money
for which he had to atone.
Don't worry.