فصل اول

Part two

Chapter one

Hercule Poirot had arrived at the town of Amman and was staying with Colonel Carbury, who was the man in charge of the area. Colonel Carbury had gentle blue eyes and a bald head - and was very untidy.

The Colonel smiled across the table at his guest. ‘I’ll be very happy to show you around,’ he said to Hercule Poirot. ‘There are some very interesting things to see.’ The two men had a drink, and then after a pause Colonel Carbury asked, ‘Does your profession follow you around, Poirot? I mean, do you often find dead bodies when you are on holiday?’

‘It has happened a few times, yes,’ admitted Poirot.

‘There’s a dead body here that I’m not happy about,’ said the Colonel. ‘It’s an old American woman, who died at Petra. It’s very likely that she died a natural death - but I think her family killed her. No one liked her, but if she was murdered it will be very difficult to prove. Still, I want to know what happened.’ Hercule Poirot nodded. ‘Was there a doctor there?’

he asked. ‘Yes, there were two doctors,’ replied Colonel Carbury. ‘One was ill with malaria, and the other - a young woman - is just qualified. But the old woman’s death wasn’t unexpected. Her health was bad, and she was taking medicine for her heart.’

‘So why, my friend, are you worried?’ asked Poirot gently. ‘Have you heard of Dr Theodore Gerard?’ the Colonel asked him.

‘Yes,’ replied Poirot. ‘He is very famous.’

‘Well, he’s the doctor who was ill with malaria. I’ll phone him and ask him to come and tell you his story.’ When Colonel Carbury had used the phone, Poirot said, ‘Tell me about this American family.’

‘The family name is Boynton,’ answered the Colonel. ‘There are two sons - one married - and two daughters.’

‘Boynton?’ interrupted Poirot. ‘That is strange - very strange.’

‘The mother was an unpleasant old woman,’ continued the Colonel. ‘She had all the money and made her family do everything she wanted.’

‘Aha!’ said Poirot. ‘That is interesting. Do you know who inherits her money?’

‘It’s divided equally between all the family,’ said Colonel Carbury. ‘So maybe just one of them killed her - or maybe they all helped. Or maybe I’m completely wrong!’