Hallowe'en Party

Mrs. Reynolds, Joyce’s mother, is distressed over the loss of her daughter and unconvinced of Poirot’s skill. She believes the murderer was male, though she lacks evidence. Mrs. Reynolds did not attend the party, instead dropping off and returning to collect her three children (Ann, 16; Joyce, 13; and Leopold, 11). Mrs. Reynolds thinks it impossible that Joyce witnessed a murder or something she might have interpreted as a murder, instead insisting her daughter “must have got something mixed up” (69).

Leopold calls his late sister “awfully stupid” and prone to making up stories for attention. Ann corroborates this and agrees with the widespread assessment that there have been no recent murders in Woodleigh Common. Ann contends that Joyce didn’t have enemies and assumes that whoever killed her was “just batty.” Poirot considers his lack of progress interesting.

Spence and Elspeth confirm that Joyce was known for lying, likening her to the boy in the parable “The Boy Who Cried Wolf.” Elspeth agrees that Joyce was most likely lying, but perhaps saw something, though not as much as she claimed. Spence produces a list of possibly strange deaths over the last several years that Joyce might have witnessed.

In one case, an au pair who worked for Mrs. Llewellyn-Smythe disappeared shortly after the elderly woman’s death. Though Mrs. Llewellyn-Smythe died of seemingly natural causes after a history of heart trouble, the suddenness of her death and her wealth suggest the possibility of foul play. Mrs. Drake’s husband was her nephew. Because Mrs. Llewellyn-Smythe ignored Dr. Ferguson’s advice to stop gardening, her death was certified as due to natural cardiac failure. A strange codicil to Mrs. Llewellyn-Smythe’s will, however, left her vast fortune entirely to her au pair instead of to the Drakes. The codicil was quickly determined a forgery; the au pair vanished in the midst of investigations.

In another case, a 16-year-old shopgirl named Charlotte Benfield was found dead due to head injuries. Two of her love interests—unemployed Peter Gordon and “neurotic” Thomas Hudd—were investigated but not convicted.

Lesley Ferrier, a lawyer’s clerk who worked for Mrs. Llewellyn-Smythe’s solicitors, was stabbed in the back, possibly due to an affair with his landlord’s wife. As the affair ended, both the landlord and his spouse were suspects. Lesley had a criminal past as a forger, though had evidently “gone straight.” After his death, his bank accounts were found to be suspiciously robust.

The last case centered on Janet White, a schoolteacher who was strangled. Suspicion was cast on a former paramour, though his identity was unknown to Janet’s roommate, Nora Ambrose, another schoolteacher. Poirot finds Janet’s death the most likely contender for the crime Joyce witnessed; Joyce, as a schoolgirl, was more likely to interact with a teacher. He also considers the two and a half years since the murder consistent with Joyce’s vague description of having seen the crime a long time ago.

Though Elspeth remains doubtful that looking into past crimes will help solve Joyce’s murder, Poirot feels confident. Spence produces a list of 18 people present for the party preparations who may have overheard Joyce’s claim about witnessing a murder, though he allows that he cannot be sure that the list is complete, as people drifted in and out of the house throughout the party. Poirot finds it interesting that nobody mentioned Joyce’s claim about a murder when interviewed.

Dr. Ferguson comments on the increasing cases of murdered children he has faced in the previous decade but offers up no suspects for Joyce’s killer, likening doing so without evidence to giving a premature medical diagnosis. He believes, like others, that nobody had a reason for killing Joyce and that the killer must have been “mentally disturbed.” He references a case in a nearby city in which a 13-year-old killed a nine-year-old and then committed no further crimes before he was caught at age 22. Ferguson agrees the murderer must have been present at the party but offers no further insight.

Poirot meets with Miss Emlyn, the headmistress of Joyce’s school. They discuss a mutual acquaintance, Miss Bulstrode (who appears in Christie’s 1959 Poirot novel, Cat Among the Pigeons). Miss Emlyn believes “a psychological crime is indicated” (95), but Poirot disagrees, believing the murder was committed with a clear motive. Miss Emlyn calls Joyce “mediocre” and “a compulsive liar” (95)—she believes Joyce’s claim was designed to impress Mrs. Oliver. She finds it logical, however, that someone who had committed murder previously was present at the party and killed Joyce on the incorrect assumption that Joyce was telling the truth.

Poirot meets with Elizabeth Whittaker, the teacher who was present at the party. She explains that the party ran smoothly, but that while the children were playing Snapdragon, the final game, she saw Mrs. Drake carrying a heavy vase full of flowers and water. As Mrs. Drake looked toward the front hall, something startled her (In Chapter 21, Mrs. Drake reveals she saw Leopold Reynolds). She dropped the vase, which broke, sending water everywhere.

Miss Whittaker contends that Mrs. Drake must have seen something from the direction of the library, but that she was looking in the opposite direction, toward Mrs. Drake. The two women hastily tidied the broken glass as the children entered the hallway. Mrs. Drake did not explain what startled her. Both Miss Whittaker and Poirot find clumsiness uncharacteristic of Mrs. Drake.

At Poirot’s request, Miss Whittaker relays the order of events at the party. She did not notice when Joyce disappeared, as she didn’t know the girl well, though she did notice her during the flour-cutting activity, which happened during the middle of the party. Miss Whittaker grows uncomfortable when Poirot asks about Janet White. She describes Janet and Nora Ambrose as “oversexed.” Nora moved to another school in the North after her friend’s murder.

Poirot visits Quarry House, Mrs. Llewellyn-Smythe’s former house. He wanders through the late woman’s garden, thinking of her forged will and the vanished au pair. He recalls a visit to Ireland (and the events of 1947’s The Apples of the Hesperides) and how he was impressed by the beauty of a sunken garden there; he wonders if the same garden inspired Mrs. Llewellyn-Smythe. He’s impressed by the late woman’s gardening skill and that of her gardener, Michael Garfield. Poirot considers that he prefers wild growth to manicured gardens.

Poirot encounters Garfield, whom he finds “beautiful.” The gardener calls the garden “unlucky” and therefore rarely traveled. He sold Mrs. Llewellyn-Smythe’s house and the gardens to Colonel and Mrs. Weston, the present owners, after he was left the estate in her will. Garfield explains that Mrs. Llewellyn-Smythe was “satisfied” by the gardens because he convinced her that his own designs were really the result of her instructions.

Garfield recognizes Poirot. Garfield was not at the party, but he knew Joyce as someone “not important.” This surprises Poirot, who contends that uninteresting people are rarely murdered.

Poirot meets Miranda Butler, Judith’s daughter. They discuss Miranda from Shakespeare’s The Tempest as Miranda leads them back to her house. She walks in the quarry frequently despite its “unlucky” reputation as a long-ago murder site. She calls Joyce a “great friend” who shared their “secrets.” Miranda “think[s she] could know” who killed Joyce but doesn’t convey her suspicions (122).

Miranda and Poirot join Mrs. Butler and Mrs. Oliver. The two friends recall meeting on a trip in Greece when Judith helped Ariadne out of the water after she fell off a boat. They discuss Ariadne’s name’s origins in Greek mythology and Judith’s from the deuterocanonical Book of Judith in the Christian tradition. Miranda quotes from the Bible, which the adults think unusual knowledge for a girl with a modern education.

Poirot and Ariadne discuss Judith’s past—her husband died suddenly in an accident, leaving Judith with little money, and she now works part-time. Mrs. Oliver wonders if Mrs. Llewellyn-Smythe’s au pair was murdered, though there is no evidence to support this notion. Poirot connects the forged will to Lesley Ferrier’s past in forgery. His next note says “elephants,” though he refuses to explain what it means (it is later implied that Poirot connects Joyce’s fantastical storytelling with Miranda’s desire to have a worthwhile story of her own). He plans to visit Mrs. Llewellyn-Smythe’s lawyers the next day and speak to others present at the party.

Poirot visits Fullerton, Harrison, and Leadbetter, Mrs. Llewellyn-Smythe’s solicitors. Jeremy Fullerton speaks to Poirot on Spence’s recommendation and because he wishes to get information from Poirot that might confirm his suspicions regarding Joyce’s murder.

Fullerton is surprised when Poirot asks about Mrs. Llewellyn-Smythe and Lesley Ferrier, both incidents he considers long since concluded. He attributes Mrs. Llewellyn-Smythe’s death to her heart condition and Ferrier’s to an affair with a married woman, though he notes a lack of evidence to support this theory. He also notes Ferrier’s connections to “doubtful crowd[s],” which he allows may have contributed to his violent death. Poirot wonders if Joyce might have seen Ferrier’s murder, though Ferrier finds this unlikely and is incredulous that Poirot thinks there may be a connection between the deaths.

Poirot asks about the disappeared au pair, Olga Seminoff. Fullerton found it “astonishing” when Mrs. Llewellyn-Smythe supposedly left her fortune to Olga instead of to the Drakes (as the couple were cousins, she was an aunt to both) and charities. Fullerton reports that Olga disappeared while the presumed-forged will was being investigated; no court case ultimately transpired.

After Poirot leaves, Fullerton recalls a conversation with Olga Seminoff. He wonders how, and with whose aid, she forged the will and later fled. He recalls how his strict belief in rule of law left him unwilling to help Olga despite being sympathetic to her plight.

Olga met with him after Mrs. Llewellyn-Smythe’s death to defend the legality of her claim to the money, arguing that Mrs. Llewellyn-Smythe found Mrs. Drake “tiresome” and “felt sorry” for Olga and therefore wanted to leave her fortune to the girl. Olga denied forging the will or any other form of wrongdoing. She admitted to learning Mrs. Llewellyn-Smythe’s handwriting at her employer’s instruction. Fullerton encouraged Olga to confess to secure a lighter sentence, but she believed this to be a trick. She planned to find help to “get away where nobody will ever find [her]” (151).