Agatha’s long hair swung wildly around as she shook her head. Her hands holding the edge of the table trembled.
‘Ellery,’ Van said weakly. ‘If Agatha’s the murderer, would she really commit it in this manner, where she would end up as the most obvious suspect? Agatha’s not that stupid. What do you think, Poe?’
‘I agree with you,’ said Poe and turned to Ellery.
‘The only light in this hall is the lamp on the table. Also, I doubt anyone was watching the others as we all got up to get our cups of coffee from the tray.’
‘What do you mean, Poe?’
‘Ellery, you were the first to pick up a cup. You could have quickly put some poison you had hidden in your hands beforehand in another cup. What about it, magician?’
‘Haha. So you noticed.’
A bitter smile appeared on Ellery’s calm face.
‘I can only say I didn’t do that.’
‘We can’t just take that on your word. But there are other possibilities, too. The poison could have been given to Carr before the coffee, for example.’
‘A slowly dissolving capsule?’
‘Precisely.’
‘But then you’re the one who becomes the most suspicious, Doctor. If you think about it, no amateur could easily get his hands on poisons like arsenic and strychnine. Poe of the medical faculty, Van of the science faculty or Agatha of the pharmacy faculty. Leroux and I are from humanities. We don’t have anything to do with labs full of dangerous drugs and strong poisons.’
‘Anyone could steal some poison if they really wanted to. The security of the labs and experiment rooms at our university is laughable. It’s the same with the agriculture and engineering faculties. If you just pretend you belong there, you can just walk in. Also, it was none other than you, Ellery, who once said he had relatives in O—City who ran a pharmacy.’
Ellery made a little whistle.
‘Good memory you have.’
‘Basically, it’s pointless for us to sit here discussing where the poison came from.’
Poe leant forward slowly.
‘And there’s still another possibility as to how the poison was administered. I can’t believe it hasn’t occurred to you. It could have been smeared on one of the cups beforehand. Then any one of us could have done it.’
‘Precisely.’
Ellery brushed back his unruly lock of hair and smiled. Agatha stared at him, perplexed.
‘You thought of that, Ellery?’
‘Of course. Don’t think I’m stupid.’
‘Yet you still accused me of being the murderer.’
‘I was also planning to go after the others and tease them a bit.’
‘I think you’re horrible.’
‘We’re not in a normal situation here, so you can’t expect me to act normal.’
‘You.…’
‘By the way, Agatha, there’s something I want to ask you.’
‘What now?’
‘Just want to check, did you wash the cups before you made the coffee?’
‘No, I didn’t.’
‘When were they last washed?’
‘We drank tea after we came back from exploring the island, remember? They were washed then. I placed the washed cups on the counter.’
‘Together with the seventh cup, Orczy’s cup?’
‘No, I put Orczy’s cup back in the cupboard. I just couldn’t look at it anymore.’
‘Hm. That’s alright. That means the possibility the cup was poisoned beforehand becomes more plausible. One could just go into the kitchen in the evening and smear some poison on one of the cups. Anyone could have done that.’
‘But Ellery,’ Leroux said, ‘how would the murderer then know which of the cups was poisoned? There was nobody here who didn’t put their lips to their cup.’
‘There must have been some sort of mark.’
‘A mark?’
‘Yes. The cup might have been chipped or the colour may have worn off,’ said Ellery and he reached out for Carr’s moss green cup.
‘Anything?’
‘Wait a sec—oh, that’s strange.’
Ellery cocked his head in surprise and passed the cup to Leroux.
‘You take a look. I don’t think it looks any different from the others, though.’
‘Really?’
‘Not even a small crack?’ Agatha asked.
‘Nothing at all. Maybe you’ll find a little crack under a microscope.’
‘Stop joking. Give me that.’
The cup was passed to Agatha.
‘You’re right. There’s nothing here that could serve as a mark.’
‘So does that mean that the cup wasn’t poisoned beforehand?’
Ellery stroked his hair with a dissatisfied look on his face.
‘So, here are the three current theories: Agatha’s the murderer, or I’m the murderer, or someone who made Carr swallow a poisoned capsule is the murderer.’
‘Whoever it is, we won’t be able to determine the method and the identity of the murderer here,’ Poe said. Ellery reached out for Carr’s cup, which Agatha had placed on the table and contemplated it.
‘If it’s someone from outside, then it wouldn’t matter whether there was a mark or not.’
‘What did you say, Ellery?’
‘Nothing…’
Ellery looked away.
‘What bothers me is the motive. I think we can assume that the person who killed Orczy and Carr and the person who arranged those plates are one and the same. That means that he, or she, is serious about taking the lives of at least five of us here on the island. Five, assuming that “The Detective” won’t end up as “The Sixth Victim” too.’
‘But a motive for that...’ muttered Leroux, shaking his head weakly.
‘There has to be one,’ Ellery said decisively, ‘however weird it might be.’
‘The murderer must be mad, insane!’ Agatha shrieked. ‘We can’t understand the thoughts of a madman!’
‘Insane…’ repeated Ellery and he lifted his left hand to look at his watch.
‘It’s almost morning. What should we do?’
‘We need to sleep. We won’t get any answers if we just keep discussing while we’re all as tired as this.’
‘I think so too, Poe. I can’t go on much longer anymore either.’
Ellery rubbed his eyes and got up unsteadily. He put his hands on his hips and went to his room.
‘Wait, Ellery.’ Poe stopped him. ‘Wouldn’t it better if we all slept together here?’
‘I don’t want to!’ Agatha looked at everybody with frightened eyes.
‘What if the person next to you is the murderer? He could just reach out with his arms and strangle you. That thought alone is enough to frighten me.’
‘I doubt the murderer would do something as stupid as killing the person next to him. He’d get caught immediately.’
‘Can you be absolutely sure, Poe? What if we’re all killed before we catch the murderer?’
Agatha almost burst into tears as she stood up, knocking her chair over.
‘Agatha, wait.’
‘No! I can’t trust any of you.’
Agatha fled to her room. Having witnessed the scene, Poe let out a long sigh.
‘She’s in bad shape.’
‘Only natural.’
Ellery raised both hands and shrugged.
‘To be honest though, I feel the same as Agatha. I’ll sleep alone, too.’
‘Me too,’ added Leroux. The eyes behind his glasses were red. Van followed as well, leaving Poe, who was running his hands through his hair, alone.
‘Make sure you lock up, everyone.’
‘We know,’ said Ellery, looking briefly at the front entrance doors.
‘Even I’m afraid to die.’