The Case of the Glenrothes By Election

Eh bien! I will reconstruct it for you as far as it is possible. I am inclined to think that Mr Brown was the master mind in the affair. You remember him mentioning that he couldn't loose this by-election? Yes indeed mon ami, he is of course familiar with the fact that access to the marked register would allow ghost voters to be hidden. Probably the idea came to him quite suddenly. Mrs Brown had a box of bromide powders, which she occasionally took at night. What could be easier then quietly to dissolve one or more of those powders in the returning officer's tea, once out the way, he can assume his identity. The risk is practically nil. The by-election will not take place until nearly a fortnight later! If anyone had seen him touching the medicine, they will have forgotten it by that time. Mr Brown would have finished his campaigning, and seemingly departed from Glenrothes. The lapse of time, and his absence, will defeat all suspicion. Yes, it was a clever idea! If he'd left it alone, if he hadn't gone back for the marked register it is possible the crime might never have been brought home to him. But he was not satisfied. He tried to be too clever and that was his undoing. Alas for him mon ami, Poirot's little grey cells know all!