Agatha Christie's Poirot Episode Guide - inaf iasf bologna

Agatha Christie’s Poirot Episode Guide
leads there. Looking in the study where the death actually occurred, Poirot spotted an open but
full and untouched box of chocolates and found out that M. Déroulard ate some chocolates every
night after dinner and finished the previous box on the night of his death. However, he noticed
that the two boxes, one blue and one pink, had had their lids switched. Poirot then spoke to
the dead man’s doctor and discovered that M. de Saint Alard was an ardent Catholic whose
friendship with M. Déroulard was being sorely strained by the political turbulence at the time.
The doctor was also able to furnish examples of the types of poison that could be introduced
into the chocolates which would have induced the type of death suffered. This caused Poirot
to question local chemists where he found out that apart from eye drops for the aged Madame
Déroulard, a prescription was made up for John Wilson of trinitrin within tiny tablets of chocolate
(the medication being given to lower blood pressure). A large enough dose would prove fatal and
could have been hidden in one of the chocolates.
This latest development caused a problem for Poirot as Wilson had the opportunity but not
the motive whereas the position was reversed for M. de Saint Alard. Poirot then wondered why
John Wilson had not come from England with enough of his medication to last him throughout
his visit and he discovered from a maid in the house that a bottle of the tablets had been ”lost”.
He decided to investigate the house of M. de Saint Alard in the Ardennes and, using the disguise
of a plumber, he discovered in the bathroom cupboard there the empty bottle of medication. He
returned to Brussels and it was then he obtained a summons from Madame Déroulard. Having
discovered that Poirot was a police officer, she confessed to the murder of her son. Some years
before she had seen him push his wife down the stairs and had realised the sort of man she had
brought into the world. Afraid of the persecution that his new role would bring upon the church,
she resolved to kill him. She took John Wilson’s tablets and opened a new box of chocolates
before seeing that one remained in the previous box. Into this she put the tablets and she put
the empty bottle into M. de Saint Alard’s pocket thinking that his valet would throw it away, not
put it in the cupboard.
Madame Déroulard died a week later of her infirmities leaving Poirot to consider his mistakes:
He knew Madame Déroulard had bad eyesight so no one else would have switched the lids on
the two boxes of chocolates. Also, if M. de Saint Alard had been the criminal, he would never
have kept the empty bottle. To this day, Poirot laments the failure of the little grey cells on that
occasion - although, as Hastings notices, not enough to prevent him boasting of the other times
when they have served him well!
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