In the novel The Pale Horse, Father Gorman visits a dying woman to take her last confession. After leaving her, he sits down at a café and writes down a list of names. Since the pocket of his coat has a hole in it, he places the note in one of his shoes. Father Gorman is subsequently killed. The police recover the list from his clothing.
Names on the list[]
- Ormerod
- Sandford
- Parkinson
- Hesketh-Dubois
- Shaw
- Harmondsworth
- Tuckerton
- Corrigan?
- Delafontaine
Investigating the list[]
Inspector Lejeune is convinced the names on the list are significant but some of the names are too common to try zeroing in on. Much of the plot involved him matching the names to individuals, with the help of police surgeon Jim Corrigan and Mark Easterbrook. In the end, not every name on the list was matched.
- Hesketh-Dubois - Lejeune selects Hesketh-Dubois as a suitably unusual name to start with. Jim Corrigan makes a cold call to the residence of Lady Hesketh-Dubois and finds that she died five months previously.
- Delafontaine - this is the second name for which there is a firm match, in this case to Ariadne Oliver's friend Mary Delafontaine.
- Harmondsworth - the police linked this name to Sidney Harmondsworth.
- Sandford - Mark knew a rector by this name. Corrigan noted that three people with this name had died recently but he zeroed in on a Roman Catholic man whose death was convenient for his wife.
- Ormerod - Jim Corrigan shows the list to his friend Mark Easterbrook. Mark comments that he knew one Major Ormerod of the Blues. Eileen Brandon later told Lejeune that Mrs Davis had told her she had a survey subject named Ormerod who may or may not be the same person.
- Parkinson - Mark Easterbrook says he knows two Parkinsons: Arthur Parkinson and Henry Parkinson. It is never confirmed who the one on the list really is.
- Shaw - Mark knew two Shaws: a dentist and Jerome Shaw. Again it is never confirmed who the Shaw on the list really is.