Murder on the Orient Express Page #5

The water.

The water is not working.

- I wasn't threatening anybody.

What is happening?

Frulein Schmidt,

does this belong to your lady?

No.

- She's Natalia.

- Ah.

It's her style

but not her initial.

Merci.

And tell to me if you please...

Were you also

the frequent visitor

to the Armstrong house

in Long Island?

Yes. No.

I knew the Long Island home,

but I've worked at an adjacent

property, another family.

That was how I met my lady.

And you are a good cook, eh?

Yes.

All my ladies have said that.

Bon.

N- No.

I'm a maid.

Ah, forgive me, but you appear

to be more expert in the food.

...which is made with parsley

and no more cooked

than 30 seconds.

No.

I'm a lady's maid.

The reason... The reason

I'm so nervous, monsieur,

and get things wrong

is that I saw the murderer.

I saw him with my eyes when

I finished my lady's massage.

And can you describe him?

He was small, round, and dark.

And when I heard his voice

as he said "pardon,"

it was a woman's voice...

weak like a woman.

Merci.

There is no power,

no power at all.

And it will be

minus-10 degrees tonight.

And they cannot get here

with the plow until the morning.

What are you doing?

How will they cook food?

Hey.

How will we stay warm?

- All his buttons are here.

And sewn with old thread,

so this button must have come

from a second uniform, Poirot.

Last night, Count Andrenyi,

I saw you and your wife

trying to disembark at Belgrade.

My wife can be claustrophobic.

It is difficult for her

on the train.

No. Last night

she took a draft of Trional.

My word of honor.

I did not question your honor.

I am afraid, Poirot,

neither of us

can be of use to you

in this sad investigation.

Non, monsieur.

COUNT ANDRENYl:

I spent two years in Washington

at a posting to the embassy.

You were there five years ago,

I see.

Yes.

I remember the Armstrong murder

in the papers,

if that's what you're...

alluding to.

So this spot of grease

is the result

of an official

who was careless, eh?

Why does she have to write

her name?

S'il vous plait,

as it appears in the passport.

Merci.

Doctor, what is the latest?

The German maid

said she saw the murderer.

Gave Poirot a description.

Why have you not yet

questioned me, monsieur?

Mlle. Debenham, why do you

and Colonel Arbuthnot

pretend not to know each other

when it was quite clear in

Istanbul that you were intimate?

No, don't.

When it's all over... then.

When what was all over, huh?

Hmm? What?

- I'm not at liberty to say.

- Oh, liberty.

Mademoiselle, you will give me

a good answer.

Or when the Yugoslav police

arrive,

you will not be at liberty.

- Now, give me an answer.

- Steady on, Poirot.

I am not at liberty to tell you.

Mademoiselle, do not cross me.

A murder has been committed,

and I have seen you

behaving suspiciously

both before and after

the crime took place.

- You leave her alone!

- John.

- Sir.

- Teddy, sit down.

Colonel Arbuthnot.

Maybe you can explain

what was meant by her words.

I met Miss Debenham in Baghdad.

She was a governess in a house

of an AOC, a friend of mine.

And you fell in love?

Yes.

What is it

with these men who go around

falling in love with the staff?

Will you shut up?

Why the secrecy?

I am currently suing

my unfaithful wife of 20 years

for divorce.

In English law, if she sees me

with another woman,

then she can sue me.

Can't believe

I'm telling you people this.

If that happens,

I will lose my house,

my reputation, my commission.

"When it's all over,"

Miss Debenham said.

When the divorce is all over.

When that is behind us.

Colonel,

in all your years of service,

did you know Colonel Armstrong,

father to

the young Daisy Armstrong?

By reputation, yes.

He was a fine man.

Military Cross.

Passchendaele.

Now, you listen, Poirot.

By all accounts, this man

deserved to die last night.

But I would have been happier if

he'd been convicted by a jury.

I see.

12 good men and true?

The civilized way.

Poirot, I have moved

the little gas stove

from the galley to the lounge,

and, well,

I propose we should stay there

for the night.

Bon.

Gather them all there.

M. Bouc, I have been thinking of

the theory of Dr. Constantine,

of the assassin who got on

disguised as a conductor.

Yes.

At Vincovci, yes.

And the uniform

of this conductor

must have been

discarded somewhere.

And Poirot,

he thinks he knows where.

It must be amongst

the possessions

of the one person

it could not possibly be.

The witness who says

she saw the assassin.

Frulein Schmidt.

Do you have the button he lost?

Oh, yes. Please.

Bon.

Please to keep watch.

Monsieur, I found this

in my sponge bag.

It's certainly the kind of knife

that would have made the wounds.

Oui.

He must have hidden it

in my sponge bag

when he passed through

my compartment.

That must be the case.

I think it proper

to save my conclusions

for the police at Brod.

But when I sleep,

I... I see his face.

I can't keep his face

out of my mind.

- Mary, please.

- It's all right.

She sees the face of the man

she saw last night.

The murderer.

Full of anger, like...

like he wants to kill you?

I see his face.

This murder,

it would have been perfect, eh?

If it had not been

for the snowdrift.

Is that not so,

Frulein Schmidt?

I think that there are

two solutions to this murder.

In the first,

the Mafia assassin

gets on the train at Vincovci,

off at Brod with the money,

Cassetti killed.

But one or two of you notice

a different conductor in

the corridor, notify the police.

But the assassin

would have gone.

Vanished.

But because of the delay,

there had to be

an improvisation.

And so a second solution

proposes itself...

...to me.

Elena Wasserstein.

With a careless smudge

on "Elena. "

COUNTESS ANDRENYl: Oui.

Enough, eh?

Because maybe...

...maybe Poirot should not be

looking at your first name...

...but your second...

...Countess Wasserstein.

Waterstone.

The family name

to Sonia Armstrong

and her younger sister, Helena.

My wife

does not understand English.

Let's stop this right now.

Yes.

Let us stop this.

You had the handkerchief

with an "H."

That would have pointed to me.

And you would have found

my connection to Daisy.

- Your niece.

- My sweet niece.

This girl

hasn't done anything wrong.

You know nothing, monsieur.

You don't touch her.

Shall I tell you what I know?

Huh, Mlle. Debenham, shall I?

I know, because Frulein Schmidt

told me,

that the Christian name

of Princess Dragomiroff is...

She's Natalia.

And is it not so, Princess,

that in the Russian alphabet

the capital letter "N"

is written like

the Western letter "H"?

So I know that there is more

than just one connection

with Daisy Armstrong

on this train.

The godmother,

the... the aunt...

...and the son

to the prosecutor,

who Poirot remembers from the

papers ended his career in shame

because he rigged the trial.

Cassetti's connections

Rate this script:2.0 / 1 vote