The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

Caroline takes Ursula to rest before the meeting while Poirot thinks about the case. Poirot wishes that his friend Hastings was there to write the details of the case down because Hastings usually stumbles upon the truth without knowing it. Sheppard admits to keeping records of their discoveries, which excites Poirot. Poirot spends the day reading through them and notes that Sheppard keeps his record very objective; his personality does not come through often, and he is barely in the narrative. The meeting draws close, and Poirot, Ursula, and Sheppard go to Poirot’s house to prepare.

Everyone arrives, and Poirot sets out the facts of the case. He tells everyone he knows everything, then details the night’s events. Poirot adds that the conversation from Ackroyd’s study Blunt heard is significant. Ackroyd was not speaking to anyone—it was the Dictaphone. Nobody was in the study with Ackroyd at 9:30pm. Everyone is impressed, but all want to know where Paton is. Poirot reveals Paton is standing in the doorway.

Poirot says that Sheppard was hiding Paton in a nursing home; Poirot found him by inventing a mentally unstable family member and asking Caroline for housing recommendations. Once Poirot found Paton, he brought Paton to his house and kept him there—it was Paton that Caroline saw coming to Poirot’s home.