“They did not,” said Poirot simply. “We know that they arrived the day before, on Wednesday. So, I begin to wonder: did something need to happen that involved the murderer and all three victims before the murders could be committed? If so, then perhaps the murderer did not travel from far to come here, but lives here in London.”

“Could be,” I said. “All of which is a long-winded way of saying that we have not the faintest idea of what happened or why. I seem to remember that being my original assessment of the situation. Oh, and Poirot . . . ?”

“Yes, mon ami?”

“I haven’t had the heart to tell you before now, and I know you’re not going to like it. The monogrammed cufflinks . . .”

“Oui?”

“You asked Henry Negus about PIJ. I don’t think those are the chap’s initials, whoever he is—the owner of the cufflinks. I think his initials are PJI. Look.” I reproduced the monogram on the back of one of my pieces of paper. As closely as I could from memory, I replicated the way the letters appeared on the cufflinks. “Do you see that the ‘I’ is larger and the ‘P’ and the ‘J’ on either side are considerably smaller? That’s a popular style of monogram. The larger initial signifies the surname and is in the middle.”

Poirot was frowning and shaking his head. “The initials in the monogram are in the wrong order, deliberately? I have never heard of this. Who would have such an idea? It is nonsensical!”

“Common practice, I’m afraid. Trust me on this one. Chaps at work have monogrammed cufflinks of this sort.”

“Incroyable. The English have no sense of the proper order of things.”

“Yes, well, be that as it may . . . It’s PJI we’ll need to be asking about when we go to Great Holling, not PIJ.”

It was a feeble effort, and one that Poirot saw through straight away. “You, my friend, will go to Great Holling,” he said. “Poirot will stay in London.”

9. A Visit to Great Holling

A Visit to Great Holling

THE FOLLOWING MONDAY MORNING, I set off to Great Holling as instructed. My impression upon arrival was that it was similar to many other English villages I had visited, and that there was not much more to say about it than that. There is, I think, more difference between cities than between villages, as well as more to say about cities. I could certainly talk at length about the intricacies of London. Perhaps it is simply that I am not as finely attuned to places such as Great Holling. They make me feel out of my element—if I have an element, that is. I’m not convinced that I do.