Hercule Poirot's Christmas

George and Magdalene are questioned about their conflicting alibis. George becomes furious and uncooperative when the police ask him what he did during the 10 minutes between the end of his phone call and Simeon’s dying scream. When confronted with proof that she didn’t make a phone call, Magdalene bursts into tears and runs from the room. George follows, loudly protesting what he calls police bullying. Poirot, who has been quietly observing the couple and Sugden’s discussion, remarks that he may have just seen a ghost.

When Magdalene returns, she claims that she hid behind the stairs while George made his phone call, waiting to make a secret call to a male friend. While concealed, she saw that George never left the room until Simeon screamed. The officers aren’t sure whether to believe her story.

Poirot meets privately with Lydia to ask whether she truly wants him to take the case and uncover the truth as her husband requested, however painful it may be. Lydia hesitates because bringing the killer “to justice will mean bringing shame and disgrace on [them] all” (199). He warns that if the murderer is not found, suspicion will remain over everyone in the household, and the innocent members of the family won’t have closure. Poirot tells Lydia that the murderer “might be a member of the family—and, at the same time, a stranger” (200), but she doesn’t understand his meaning.  She reluctantly tells the detective to proceed with the case.

Pilar and Stephen discuss their mutual desire to leave the house, but they know the police won’t allow them. As they search for a place to dance and distract themselves, they encounter Poirot in an upstairs gallery. Studying the family portraits, he notes that Harry strongly resembles Simeon while David and Alfred favor Adelaide, their mother. Poirot also notices a portrait of Jennifer, which matches a miniature in Pilar’s locket. 

The detective asks to see Pilar’s passport. She goes to her room and then returns to say she accidentally knocked it out the window. While she retrieves it from the garden, Poirot brings Stephen to Simeon’s room. They pass a pair of white statues, and Stephen mentions that he thought he saw three statues in the night. Sugden is at the crime scene, but he leaves the room after Poirot whispers to him. Poirot gives “a piercing yell” and asks Stephen if he heard a sound like that on the night of the murder (208). Stephen says that he didn’t hear anything like that and scolds Poirot for frightening the household. The family members rush to investigate the sound, and Poirot assures them that he was simply conducting an experiment. Sugden confirms that a scream from Simeon’s room cannot be heard in Pilar’s room.

Poirot formally accepts Alfred’s request to investigate and tells an incredulous Alfred that he already knows who the murderer is, though he will not yet reveal the name. Before proceeding, he makes two requests. First, he wants the portrait of young Simeon placed in his room. Second, he asks for the full truth about Pilar’s father. Lydia and Alfred explain that Juan stabbed a man to death in “a quarrel about a woman” and died in prison (211). The detective also asks about Harry’s past, and Alfred angrily says that he “stole a large sum of money by forging [their] father's name to a cheque” (212). 

When Lydia suggests that the solution to the murder lies with the stolen diamonds, Poirot informs her that the diamonds have already been found in her garden, a revelation that leaves her shocked and unsettled.