to investigate. Poirot telephones Mr Wood who tells him that he had a visit half-an-hour ago from someone calling on behalf of Elizabeth Penn, Mary Durrant's aunt, and he paid five hundred pounds for the miniatures. Poirot and Hastings go to visit Mr Wood, Poirot voicing his puzzlement over why the thief took the time to force the lock of despatch case while leaving it in the suitcase instead of taking the inner case away with them and opening it at their leisure. The two meet Mr Wood and take an instant dislike to the brash, vulgar man. He gives them a description of the seller: "a tall woman, middle-aged, grey hair, blotchy complexion and a budding moustache". Poirot finds out that the young man on the bus, Norton Kane, has an alibi for the period in question. The next day, having sorted out Joseph Aaron's problem, Poirot and Hastings return to Ebermouth but, at Poirot's insistence, this time by train. They call at Elizabeth Penn's shop and Poirot almost immediately accuses the elderly lady of being Mr Wood's visitor of the previous day in disguise and meaningfully tells the two women their scam must cease. Miss Penn, white-faced, agrees. Poirot then points out to Hastings again the absurdity of the despatch case being forced but left in the suitcase; they never were in Miss Durant's case. When they were booking their tickets on the excursion, he saw Miss Durrant watching Mr Kane and wondered why she was so interested. He expected something to happen on the trip and it did. Mr Wood would have had to return the miniatures as they were officially stolen goods and the two women would have had his five hundred pounds and still possessed the miniatures to sell on again. Their plan was to pass suspicion on to Mr Kane and have Poirot and Hastings as two duped witnesses. "The Market Basing Mystery" At Japp’s suggestion Poirot and Hastings joined him for the weekend in the small countryside town of Market Basing. Enjoying Sunday breakfast, the three are interrupted when the local constable requested Japp's help. Walter Protheroe, the reclusive owner of a local large mansion, was found dead in his dilapidated house, supposedly by suicide. The three go to Leigh House as requested and meet Dr Giles who was called in by Miss Clegg, the housekeeper. She was unable to raise her master,