Chapter 15 Chapter 15 What the Video Shows

Elliott drew back the curtains.Gray daylight came in, dimming the light beam from the projector. Major Crowe stood in front of the film, which was distorted and faded on the curtain hanging over the door. Major Crowe was getting more and more excited. "Inspector," he said, "I'm not good at analysis, but this is too simple to ignore. You know? Poor old Chesney's going to kill himself." "Really?" said Dr. Phil thoughtfully. "Joe Chesney probably knew all about clock and shadow hallucinations. Do you understand? He probably lingered around Bellegar House after dinner while Marcus and Emmett spent nearly three hours in the study with the window open Or, more likely, Marcus and Emmett had planned the performance days in advance, and Joe was fully aware of the plan. He knew that Marcus would not start the performance until the clock's hands were vertical. Usually, the clock Impossible to be tampered with; impossible for Marcus to rearrange the hands. If Joe could get an alibi at the Ellsworth house—if he could get back to Bellegar House—if Marcus chose Show after two o'clock, and Joe Chesney gets a big fortune, wait! There's one thing he has to do afterwards."

"What's the matter?" Elliott asked. "He has to kill Wilbur Emmett," the major said. "Emmett knows the clock has been tampered with. How many people do you think around here know how to use a hypodermic?" He said slowly, "Gentlemen, the matter It's very simple. Who would doubt him if he overwhelmed the enemy first?" "You will," Dr. Phil said. "what?" "As a matter of fact, you already doubted him," the Doctor pointed out. "You suspected him in the first place. I suspect you harbor a deep distrust of Joe Chesney's rants, but please go ahead."

"My God, I haven't got concrete evidence of this person's crime yet!" Major Crowe protested dissatisfied.He suppressed his anger and turned to Elliott, "Inspector, this is your case. I have had no connection with it since this morning. But I think you've got a good reason for being here. As we all know, Joe "Chesney hates work, and Marcus used to force him to work. As for the reason for the arrest—" "What reason?" Dr. Fell interjected. "I do not understand what you mean." "What do I say?" Dr. Phil repeated. "You're smart, but you seem to be forgetting an important fact. It wasn't Joe Chesney who tampered with the clock, it was his brother Marcus. You didn't Find out the evidence, you're digging to make up for it."

"Yes, but..." "So," Dr. Phil said emphatically, "you convince yourself that you should arrest a man because you've broken his alibi. You want to arrest him just because he doesn't have an alibi. I don't comment on your hypothetical weakness, I'm just going to say you can't arrest people at this moment." Major Crow flew into a rage. "I didn't say I was going to arrest him. I knew we had to have evidence. So what do you think we should do?" "Why don't you go ahead and watch the film, sir," Postrek suggested, "and find out?"

"Ok?" "We haven't seen a guy in a top hat yet." "You can understand," said Dr. Phil rudely, as order was restored and the curtains were drawn again, "this time we can't talk until the end of the film? Do you agree? Yes! Please restrain yourself and let's see See what's going on. Go, Mr. Stevenson." The click and hum of the projector filled the room again.The audience coughed and rustled.Now, as Elliott looked at the screen, things seemed so obvious that he wondered how the combination of mind and sight could exert such power.The minute hand on the clock is clearly a shadow.Marcus Chesney, holding a minute hand and pretending to write with it, has a calm expression on his face.

Marcus Chesney drops the minute hand on blotter paper.He seemed to hear something.He turned slightly to the right.His bony, shadow-patterned face turned to get a better view of who was coming. —The murderer walks into the frame. In fact, Dr. Nemo turned slowly and looked at them.He was a dirty man with a frayed top hat that looked like it had been bitten by bugs.The collar of the light gray raincoat was lifted up to the ears.Fuzzy gray spots fill the film space like insect faces or tangled shawls; dark glasses stare ambiguously at them. Their initial impression of him was a fairly complete view, even though the camera angle was on the left.He was standing in the light film, but at the moment he was standing so far ahead and the light was so high that his trouser legs and shoes were too blurry to make out.He held the black bag with his name in his gloved right hand, the glove was as smooth and seamless as if it belonged to a doll, and he moved quickly.

Elliot watched what he did.When he looked back at Marcus Chesney, his back was halfway to them, so it wasn't hard to see him in action.He approached the table and put down the bag.He put the bag behind the box of chocolates.Immediately, as if changing his mind, he picked up the bag and placed it on top of the box of chocolates.With the first motion, he moves the replica chocolate box from the spring clip pocket to the table; with the second motion, he grabs the original box and puts it in the pocket. "This is how he changes boxes!" Major Crowe's voice broke through the darkness.

"Hush!" Dr. Fell snarled.But there was no time to think, as the event was over so quickly.As Nemo circled the table out of the light, he became an exploding blob, as if he had disappeared, non-existent - and then they saw a man being murdered. Nemo reappeared on the other side of the table.Marcus Chesney spoke to him silently. Nemo's right hand - they could see his right hand because he was half facing them now - was in his pocket.With a trembling hand outstretched, he took something out of what appeared to be a small cardboard box. His movements so far have been quick and sure.Now his movements became malicious.The fingers of his left hand grip Marcus Chesney's neck; the fingers move, reaching to the chin.Despite the hollow eye sockets, you can see the frightened twinkle in Marcus Chesney's eyes. Nemo's right hand creeps into the captive's mouth; it inserts a capsule, then sticks out...

Inspector Postrick's voice pierced the gloom: "Ah," he said, "while Miss Wells cried out, 'No, no!'" Nemo disappears again— He walked back to the table in the shadows and picked up the black bag.He walked to the back of the room when he was going out.Dim but clear, the light illuminated his whole body, the black trousers of the dress and the evening shoes, and the distance between the bottom of the raincoat and the floor.They could see his height. "Stop!" said Major Crowe. "Just stop there! You can see—" - No need to stop, the movie is over.There was a series of beating sounds from the projector, and the screen flickered, dimmed, and went blank.

"That's it," Stevenson said hoarsely. Stevenson turned off the machine and slowly stepped out from behind it to draw the curtains.Major Crowe showed a satisfied expression.Inspector Postrick smiled mysteriously at the pipe.The astonished expression on Dr. Phil's face made the major couldn't help laughing. "Someone freaked out, I noticed," he said. "Inspector, I want to test you. How tall is Dr. Nemo?" "At least six feet, I think," Elliott pointed out. "Of course we'd have to take a magnifying glass and measure it on the film. He's always in line with that mantelpiece, so it's not hard to measure, camera-to-camera. But it looks Come like six feet."

"Ah," Bostrick agreed, "six feet. Did you notice the guy's walk?" "Have you noticed, Phil?" "No." Dr. Phil snarled. "Don't you believe your own eyes?" "No," said Dr. Phil. "Of course not, absolutely not. Look what we've gotten into by trusting our eyes. We're walking in a house of illusions, a box of tricks. When I think I was in awe when the clock was moved. If Chesney could have thought of such a beautiful stunt, he could have thought of an even better one. I couldn't believe my eyes. God, I couldn't believe it." "Is there any reason to suppose that this too was a ruse?" "Yes," Dr. Phil affirmed, "I call it an 'unnecessary problem.' But now we have a new problem..." "For example?" "Well, look at how our expert witnesses are being played," Dr. Phil said, waving a bandanna. "All three witnesses answered the question about Dr. Nemo's height. Marjorie Wells is not a very good Harding is a bad witness. Professor Ingram is a very good witness. However, on the question of height, both Marjorie Wells and Harding got it right, and Professor Ingram Got it wrong." "Then why do you insist he's not six feet?" "I didn't insist. I just said that something was wrong. There's a question that's been bugging me since I heard about the case. It still bugs me. It's this: Why wasn't the film destroyed? "I'll say it again," Dr. Phil said, waving a handkerchief. "Why wasn't the film ruined by the murderer? After Chesney died, when they carried Emmett upstairs, the first floor of the house was empty. There was ample opportunity Destroyed the film. When you arrived, you found the music room empty. The camera was inadvertently placed under the cover of the gramophone, and the killer had only to turn it on, expose the negative, and the film was over. You wouldn't tell me that the killer wanted a film in which he starred Let the police examine the film under a microscope? Impossible! Impossible! Impossible!" "But Joe Chesney..." Major Crowe said. "Well, let's say the murderer was Joe Chesney. Let's say he killed Marcus with the clock trick, as you said. But the man can't be a complete madman. If he played the role of Dr. Nemo, He knew that Harding was filming the whole thing, he must have known that examining the film would immediately reveal a missing minute hand, a tampered clock, and the whole plan would fail. Now what I want to ask is when did he call the police you?" "Twelve past twelve." "Yes. When did you arrive at Bellegar House?" "About twelve twenty-five." "Yeah. That's right. So, if he calls you, and he's downstairs outside the music room, and the others are upstairs, why doesn't he take two seconds, walk into the music room, and destroy the evidence?"— Major Crowe blushed. "It's hard for you, sir," said Postrek dryly. "What do you mean by that, you stump me?" Major Crowe said blankly. "I don't know. Maybe he can't find the camera." "Tsk tsk!" Dr. Phil made a sound. "Inspector General," Major Crowe continued, "since you're confident you'll be able to solve the case, maybe you can. Can you explain why the killer didn't destroy the film?" "Yes, sir, I think I can. Here's the thing. One murderer doesn't want it spoiled, and the other murderer doesn't want it spoiled." "What? Two murderers?" "Yes, sir. Mr. Emmett and Miss Wells." Postrek examined his pipe.With a heavy, brooding, thoughtful expression on his face, he managed to speak, "So far I haven't said much about the case, but I've thought about it a lot. If you want to know what I think, I don't mind Tell you; and I can give you plenty of evidence. That guy in the film," he pointed to the screen, "is Mr. Emmett, no doubt about it. Look at his height. Look at the way he walks. You ask the people around, You show them the film, you ask them who the guy walking like that is, and they tell you it's Mr. Emmett. "I've never really believed that someone knocked out Mr. Emmett to play his part. I don't. It's Miss Wells who fed us that idea. It's a bizarre idea. My God," he sat up, "anyone If a man wanted to kill Marcus Chesney, all he needed to do was put a drop of cyanide in the old gentleman's tea, and why bother? If his disguise came off? If the hat fell off, or the scarf came loose? If the old gentleman caught Killing him? That's not a good way, sir. Whoever killed the old gentleman wouldn't want us to see the film, so why didn't he destroy it? I thought about it all night last night. Suddenly I said to myself, 'My God,'" he Pat knee, "'Gosh,' I said, 'where's the other capsule?'" Elliott looked at him. "Another capsule?" he asked, as Postrik stared back at him. "Yes, another capsule. We think—Miss Wells makes us think—that someone stunned Mr. Emmett and replaced the usual capsule with a poisoned one. Well, let it be. If so, Where is the other capsule? We searched all over the place, raincoats, bags, etc. Did we find the other capsule? No, we didn't. That means there's only one capsule, the one that Mr. Emmett had, The one he forced the old gentleman to swallow." Major Crowe whistled. "Go on," he said. "One more item we didn't find," Postrek said, looking at Elliott, "the locket, the cardboard locket he took the capsule from. Did we find it in the raincoat? No, we didn't. But I thought , 'Here!' I said, 'Where is that?' So I checked this morning where I thought it might be, and I found it." "where?" "In the right pocket of Mr. Emmet's jacket. Hanging over a chair in his bedroom where they left him when they undressed him." Major Crowe said, "That's terrible." "Let me draw the conclusion, sir." Postrick's tone was fast and heavy. "Someone killed Mr. Emmett last night, and that man conspired with Mr. Emmett to kill the old gentleman. As we all know, Mr. Emmett Willing to give her all. It is possible that she gave him a poisoned capsule without letting him know that it was poisonous, and then asked him to force the old gentleman to swallow it. But I am not sure about this, because Mr. Emmett Knocked herself out for an alibi, so it seemed like it was all arranged between them. Anyway, why did she yell 'no, no' when the old gentleman was murdered, and deny afterwards? "That's not quite right, unless she knows what's going on, and she does. She's overwhelmed at the last minute. It's happened before. You may not know it, Mr. Elliott, but I've read many Murder in London. I'll tell you what happened there. Women often can't help themselves, even when they're frightened. Didn't the woman named Edith Thompson shout when Bywaters stabbed her husband to death? Don't, don't'?" He paused to catch his breath. Major Crow moved uneasily. "If you can find someone to identify Emmett as the man in the film," Elliott admitted, "then the evidence against Wilbur Emmett would be strong." On the facts, "So is Emmett's part. But where is the evidence against Miss Wells? We can't just arrest her because she said, 'No, don't.'" "There is indeed evidence!" Bostrick retorted.His face flushed again.He hesitated, and then he called back, 'Hobart Stevenson, if you tell what you heard in this room, I'll come back and break your neck.You know I walk the talk. ' "Inspector, I won't say a word." Stevenson opened his eyes wide. "I swear." "Be careful, if you tell me, I'll know." Postrek warned Stevenson, glaring at him.He turned back, "I wanted to make that point as soon as I saw the video. I haven't mentioned it yet, not even to Crowe, because I want to be sure. But now there's proof. You said a minute ago, except for the doctor Not many people know how to use a hypodermic syringe, but she does, and she learned to use one during the flu six or seven years ago; she helped Dr. Chesney vaccinate people. "You say," he looked at Elliott, "that he was stoned and we stood by. You wronged us, and I don't like it when you say it. Not at all. If someone disturbs the peace, I will do my duty ;the sheriff will arrest the suspect. I tell you there is evidence. What do you think this is?" He took an envelope from the inside pocket of his coat.He opened the envelope and walked up to everyone so they could see inside.Inside is a small hypodermic syringe.Its piston is nickel, and there are colorless spots in the small glass tube, and the bitter almond smell is quite distinct. "Yes, yes." Elliot's throat was dry and his eyes were hot, "Where did you find it?" "I have a habit of snooping," said Postrick, "and that's why I begged the major to have Miss Wells come here to fetch you. I found it at the bottom of the jewel box on the dresser in Miss Wells' bedroom." He said. Handed the envelope to Elliott, and stood with folded arms. "So," said Major Crowe, "so it is. What do you think, Inspector? Do you want a warrant?" "When I get a chance to talk to her," Elliott said mildly, taking a deep breath, "but, as you say, I'm afraid you're telling the truth. What do you think, Doctor?" Dr. Fell ran his hands through his matted gray hair.He groaned, the look on his face one of hesitation. "I wish I could be sure!" he said. "I wish I could climb out of the mist! I don't know what to say, it's confusing me. It's possible they're right—" Elliott's hope fell in his ears with a clatter. "But talk to this girl—" "Talk to her!" roared Inspector Postrek. "Talk to her! Ah! We've had enough of her. The girl is a suspect, everyone knows. God knows she committed a crime. If she No crime, we're not going to trouble her. What does that tell us? She's an Edith Thompson double, or worse. As for that Thompson woman, I've heard she—" He looked Say Elliott, "even tried to seduce the detective who was interrogating him. I would say that history keeps repeating itself."