:41:03
Pierre, your passkey.
:41:06
Voilà, monsieur.
:41:08
And will you discreetly procure
me a lady's hatbox,
:41:13
one of the big, old-fashioned kind,
:41:15
perhaps from the
Princess Dragomiroff's maid?
:41:20
Give me five minutes, doctor.
:41:22
Mr. McQueen, I regret
to have kept you waiting,
:41:24
but there has been much to establish.
:41:27
Please be seated. Now,
Mr. McQueen, I should be grateful
:41:30
for anything you can usefully tell me.
What, for example, is...?
:41:33
Let's get just a couple
of things straight first, Mr. Poirot.
:41:36
Who, for example, are you,
and what is your status here?
:41:39
Excuse me.
:41:41
Monsieur Poirot is a detective,
:41:44
officially delegated to investigate
this case by me.
:41:47
Let us proceed with the matter in
hand. Your relationship with Ratchett?
:41:50
I'm his... I was his secretary.
:41:52
- For how long?
- A year, give or take.
:41:53
- Where did you meet?
- In Persia.
:41:56
He was collecting Gorgan pottery
with considerable success.
:42:00
And I was trying to collect oil
concessions, you know,
:42:02
with so little success
that I went bankrupt,
:42:04
and he offered me the job. I took it.
:42:06
- And since then?
- Well, we've traveled around.
:42:10
He was hampered
by not knowing any languages.
:42:12
I acted more as his courier
than as his secretary.
:42:14
It was a pleasant enough job.
:42:16
What part of America
did Ratchett come from?
:42:19
I don't know.
:42:20
The fact is, he never talked
about his background.
:42:24
- Why, do you think?
- Well, I used to...
:42:27
Well, I began to believe
that he had left America
:42:30
to escape something, you know.
:42:32
Or someone. And until a couple
of weeks ago, I think he succeeded.
:42:36
And then?
:42:37
Well, he began to get these
anonymous letters,
:42:40
threatening letters, like these.
:42:45
"I kill killers."
:42:50
"Prepare to die."
:42:52
- How brief.
- But in a sense, how complicated.
:42:56
Last night, I noticed you dispatching
a telegram from Belgrade Station.