“Every word I spoke was the truth, sir!” said Thomas Brignell indignantly. “I’d be no better than the murderer myself if I lied to the police on a matter as important as this.”

“I do not think that you would be quite as guilty as him, monsieur.”

“There were two things I neglected to mention. I can’t tell you how sorry I am, sir. You see, speaking in front of a room full of people isn’t something as comes easy to me. I’ve always been that way. And what made it harder in there, before”—he nodded in the direction of the dining room—“was that I’d have been reluctant to say the other thing Mr. Negus said to me because he paid me a compliment.

“What compliment?”

“It wasn’t one I’d done anything to deserve, sir, I’m sure. I’m just an ordinary man. There’s nothing notable about me at all. I do my job, as I’m paid to, and I try to do my best, but there’s no reason for anyone to single me out for special praise.”

“And Mr. Negus did this?” asked Poirot. “He singled you out for praise?”

Brignell winced. “Yes, sir. Like I said: I didn’t ask for it and I’m sure I’d done nothing to earn it. But when I saw him and he saw me, he said, ‘Ah, Mr. Brignell, you seem a most efficient fellow. I know I can trust you with this.’ Then he proceeded to discuss the matter I mentioned before, sir—about the bill, and him wanting to pay it.”

“And you did not want to repeat the compliment you had received in front of everybody else, is that right?” I said. “You feared it might sound boastful?”

“Yes, I did, sir. I did indeed. There’s something else, too. Once we’d agreed the matter of the bill, Mr. Negus asked me to fetch him a sherry. I was the person that did that. I offered to take it up to his room, but he said he was happy to wait. I brought it to him, and then up he went with it, in the lift.”

Poirot sat forward in his chair. “Yet you said nothing when I asked if anyone in the room had given Richard Negus a glass of sherry?”

Brignell looked confused and frustrated—as if the right answer was on the tip of his tongue, but still, somehow, eluded him. “I ought to have done, sir. I ought to have offered a full account of the incident as soon as you asked. I deeply regret that I failed in my duty to you and to the three deceased guests, God rest their souls. I can only hope that by coming to you now I’ve made a small amends.”