Negus nodded his gratitude. “Anything I can do to help—anything at all—I will gladly do. Mr. Catchpool says that you have questions for me?”

“Yes, monsieur. The names Harriet Sippel and Ida Gransbury—they are familiar to you?”

“Were they the other two who were. . . ?” Henry Negus stopped talking as Fee Spring approached with the cup of tea he had asked for on arrival.

Once she had retreated, Poirot said, “Yes. Harriet Sippel and Ida Gransbury were also murdered at the Bloxham Hotel yesterday evening.”

“The name Harriet Sippel means nothing to me. Ida Gransbury and my brother were engaged to be married years ago.”

“So you knew Mademoiselle Gransbury?” I heard the flare of excitement in Poirot’s voice.

“No, I never met her,” said Henry Negus. “I knew her name, of course, from Richard’s letters. He and I rarely saw one another while he lived in Great Holling. We wrote instead.”

I felt another piece of the puzzle slide into position with a satisfying click. “Richard lived in Great Holling?” I asked, struggling to keep my voice even. If Poirot shared my surprise at this discovery, he did not show it.

One village, linking all three murder victims. I repeated its name several times in my mind: Great Holling, Great Holling, Great Holling. Everything seemed to point in its direction.

“Yes, Richard lived there until 1913,” said Negus. “He had a law practice in the Culver Valley. It’s where he and I grew up—in Silsford. Then in 1913 he came to live in Devon with me, where he’s lived ever since. I mean . . . where he lived,” he corrected himself. His face looked suddenly haggard, as if the knowledge of his brother’s death had landed violently upon him once again, crushing him.

“Did Richard ever mention to you anyone from the Culver Valley by the name of Jennie?” asked Poirot. “Or anyone at all with that name, perhaps from Great Holling or perhaps not?”

There was a pause that stretched forward. Then Henry Negus said, “No.”

“What about a person with the initials PIJ?”

“No. The only one from the village that he ever mentioned was Ida, his fiancée.”

“If I may ask a delicate question, monsieur: why did your brother’s engagement not result in a marriage?”

“I’m afraid I don’t know. Richard and I were close but we tended to discuss ideas more than anything else. Philosophy, politics, theology . . . We did not generally inquire into one another’s private business. All he told me about Ida was that he was engaged to be married to her, and then, in 1913, that they were no longer engaged.”

“Attendez. In 1913, his engagement to Ida Gransbury ends, and also he leaves Great Holling to move to Devon and live with you?”

“And my wife and children, yes.”

“Did he leave Great Holling in order to put more distance between himself and Miss Gransbury?”