The Monogram Murders by Sophie Hannah Page B

and then all go their separate
    ways?”
    “I do not think a woman leaving a room in anger
    would take a half-finished cup of tea with her,” said
    Poirot. “Would it not in any case be cold by the time it
    reached Room 121?”
    “I often drink tea cold,” I said. “I quite like it.”
    Poirot raised his eyebrows. “If I did not know you
    to be an honest man, I should not believe it possible.
    Cold tea! Dégueulasse! ”
    “Well, I should say I’ve grown to like it,” I added
    in my defense. “There’s no hurry, with cold tea. You
    can drink it at a time to suit you, and nothing bad’s
    going to happen to it if you take a while. There’s no
    time constraint and no pressure. That counts for a lot,
    in my book.”
    There was a knock at the door. “That will be
    Lazzari, coming to check that no one has disturbed us
    during our important conversation,” I said.
    “Enter, please,” Poirot called out.
    It was not Luca Lazzari but Thomas Brignell, the
    junior clerk who had spoken up about having seen
    Richard Negus by the lift at half past seven. “Ah,
    Monsieur Brignell,” said Poirot. “Do join us. Your
    account of yesterday evening was most helpful. Mr.
    Catchpool and I are grateful.”
    “Yes, very much so,” I said heartily. I’d have said
    almost anything to make it easier for Brignell to cough
    up whatever was bothering him. It was obvious that
    something was. The poor chap looked no more
    confident now than he had in the dining room. He
    rubbed the palms of his hands together, sliding them
    up and down. I could see sweat on his forehead, and
    he looked paler than he had before.
    “I’ve let you down,” he said. “I’ve let Mr. Lazzari
    down, and he’s been so good to me, he has. I didn’t
    . . . in the dining room before, I didn’t . . .” He broke
    off and rubbed his palms together some more.
    “You did not tell us the truth?” Poirot suggested.
    “Every word I spoke was the truth, sir!” said
    Thomas Brignell indignantly. “I’d be no better than
    the murderer myself if I lied to the police on a matter
    as important as this.”
    “I do not think that you would be quite as guilty as
    him, monsieur.”
    “There were two things I neglected to mention. I
    can’t tell you how sorry I am, sir. You see, speaking
    in front of a room full of people isn’t something as
    comes easy to me. I’ve always been that way. And
    what made it harder in there, before”—he nodded in
    the direction of the dining room—“was that I’d have
    been reluctant to say the other thing Mr. Negus said to
    me because he paid me a compliment.
    “What compliment?”
    “It wasn’t one I’d done anything to deserve, sir,
    I’m sure. I’m just an ordinary man. There’s nothing
    notable about me at all. I do my job, as I’m paid to,
    and I try to do my best, but there’s no reason for
    anyone to single me out for special praise.”
    “And Mr. Negus did this?” asked Poirot. “He
    singled you out for praise?”
    Brignell winced. “Yes, sir. Like I said: I didn’t ask
    for it and I’m sure I’d done nothing to earn it. But
    when I saw him and he saw me, he said, ‘Ah, Mr.
    Brignell, you seem a most efficient fellow. I know I
    can trust you with this.’ Then he proceeded to discuss
    the matter I mentioned before, sir—about the bill, and
    him wanting to pay it.”
    “And you did not want to repeat the compliment
    you had received in front of everybody else, is that
    right?” I said. “You feared it might sound boastful?”
    “Yes, I did, sir. I did indeed. There’s something
    else, too. Once we’d agreed the matter of the bill, Mr.
    Negus asked me to fetch him a sherry. I was the
    person that did that. I offered to take it up to his room,
    but he said he was happy to wait. I brought it to him,
    and then up he went with it, in the lift.”
    Poirot sat forward in his chair. “Yet you said
    nothing when I asked if anyone in the room had given
    Richard Negus a glass of sherry?”
    Brignell