Poisoning and attempted shooting at the Orient Cafe

The poisoning and attempted shooting at the Orient Cafe is the scene in which Frankie Derwent turns suspicion of Moira Nicholson into an immediate confrontation. After Frankie notices that Moira may have put something in the coffee, she takes a sample for analysis; when accused, Moira reaches for a pistol, and Bobby Jones knocks it upward before it can hit Frankie. The failed shot exposes the danger behind the apparent hospitality and changes the gathering from conversation to a public call for help.

The Suspicion Takes Shape

Moira joins Bobby and Frankie and asks whether the man they fear has gone. Her voice trembles as she warns them that he is dangerous. Bobby replies that he cannot do anything while they are all together, and Frankie urges Moira to brace herself. The reassurance is brief: Bobby leads them back to the table and asks Moira to continue her account.

Bobby picks up his coffee. Frankie loses her balance and falls against him, spilling it across the table. She apologizes, then reaches over to an adjoining table set for possible diners. The spill creates the practical opportunity for her next move, but it is the oddity of her actions that draws Bobby's attention. What looks at first like an accident becomes a deliberate attempt to preserve evidence.

The Coffee Sample

On the adjoining table is a cruet with two glass-stoppered bottles, one for oil and one for vinegar. Frankie empties the vinegar into the slop bowl, then pours coffee from her cup into the bottle. When Bobby asks what she is doing, she explains that she intends to have Dr George Arbuthnot analyze the sample.

The sample matters because Frankie has not yet established what was put in the cups. She identifies a specific opportunity: while Bobby and Frankie were sent to the door to look for Roger Bassington-ffrench, Moira had access to their coffee. Frankie says that she recognized the significance of the moment when Bobby spilled his drink and she saw Moira's face. Her conclusion is an accusation, not a reported laboratory result; sending the coffee for analysis keeps a material test distinct from her sudden realization.

Accusation and Gunfire

Frankie confronts Moira with the suspicion that she put something in the cups during the diversion. She also challenges the name under which Moira has been known, addressing her as Mrs Nicholson or Templeton. Bobby does not initially understand the reference to Templeton, but Frankie's appeal to Moira's expression and to a possible identification by Mrs Roberts makes clear that the accusation concerns identity as well as the coffee.

Moira's response is no longer the fearful manner with which she entered the scene. She curses and fumbles in her handbag. Bobby is still dazed by what has happened, but acts in time: he strikes the pistol upward. The bullet passes over Frankie and lodges in the cafe wall. The shot therefore does not injure her, but it confirms that the confrontation has become an immediate physical threat and prevents Moira's reach for the weapon from ending as she intended.

Consequences and Significance

The waitress, who had not hurried before, runs into the street calling for help and police. The cafe's ordinary service setting is abruptly transformed into a public emergency. The sample and the waitress's alarm provide contrasting forms of response: Frankie has preserved evidence for later examination, while the failed shot makes the need for immediate outside intervention unmistakable.

The scene's decisive reversal comes through an apparently clumsy gesture. Bobby's spilled coffee first seems an interruption; Frankie uses the moment to collect a sample, explain her deduction, and expose Moira. The accusation then produces an armed response rather than a denial, while Bobby's quick intervention prevents the shot from striking Frankie. The sequence establishes the suspected poisoning and attempted shooting as connected dangers, but the coffee's contents remain to be analyzed.