Chapter 16 Chapter Sixteen The Next Morning

It was the morning after the banquet. Ever Smith and Tommy stopped in the middle of their conversation and looked at each other and then at Twopenny, who was looking at the fire with his mind seemingly wandering far away. "Where did we go?" Twopenny sighed.The mind turned back to look at the two men. "I feel like it's all connected," she said. "What was the purpose of that party last night? What's the point?" She looked at Ever-Smith. "I think you two must have something. You know Where are we getting?" "You can't say that," Ever said. "At least our goals aren't exactly the same, are we?" Twopence said, "Not necessarily."

Both men looked at her suspiciously. "Well," said Twopence, "I'm a prejudiced woman, and I want to find Mrs. Lancaster and make sure she's all right." "Mrs. Jansen, too," said Tommy. "If you don't find her, you'll never find Mrs. Lancaster." "Mrs. Johnson—" said Twopence, "yes, no idea—I don't think you're interested in any of that," and she looked at Ever Smith. "No, I'm interested, Mrs. Tommy, very much indeed." "Where's Mr. Alex?" Ever smiled and said, "I think Mr. Ikes may get his comeuppance soon, but I don't rely entirely on that. His ability to cover up is unbelievable. It's unbearable." I thought maybe there was no hole at all." Then murmured thoughtfully, "He's a great manager and a great planner,"

"Last night—" Twopence resumed, after a moment's hesitation. "Can I ask questions?" "Just ask," said Tommy, "but you may not get a satisfactory answer from old Ever." "Sir Philip Stark—" said Twopence, "how could he be involved in this? Doesn't look like a criminal—unless he's one of those—" She stopped, hastily Wanted to mention Mrs. Copley's idea that Sir Antarker was a child murderer. "Sir Philip Stark can give us very valuable information," said Ever Smith. "He is the largest landowner in this part of the country—and has a lot of land in other parts of England."

"And Cumberland?" Ever Smith looked sharply at the twopence. "Cumberland? Why do you mention Cumberland? What do you know about Cumberland? Mrs. Tommy." "Nothing," said Twopence, "just a chance thought." She frowned and looked puzzled. "There's a red and white-striped rose by the side of the house—an old-fashioned kind of rose." She shook her head. "Did 'River House' ever belong to Sir Philip Stark?" "That land is his, and most of the land here is his." "Yes, he said it last night." "We learned a lot from him about renting out of loopholes in the law"

"Is there something wrong with the few real estate companies I have been to in the market square? Or is it just my imagination?" "Not imagining, we're going to visit them this morning and we're going to ask some really awkward questions." "Very well," said Twopence. "We're making good progress. We've cracked the Great Post Office Robbery in 1965. The Elbury Cross Robbery and the Irish Mail van Robbery have found some of the loot too. Clever places they stash things , some are a new bathroom, some are a servant’s room—some tenants are a little smaller than they should be, so that there is room for their stolen goods. Yes, we did find quite a few.”

"But what about the 'people'?" said Twopence. "There must be some other people besides Mr. Eckes who know." "Oh, yes, there were two of them - a man who ran a nightclub, known as Happy Hammish, as cunning as an eel, and a woman named 'Kat the Killer', but that was a long time ago It's over. She's an interesting criminal, pretty, but I'm afraid there's something wrong with her head. They let her go—she might be a danger to them. Their main concern is loot—not murder." "Is the 'river house' one of their hiding places"? "For a while it was—they called it back then. 'Lady's Lawn.' The house had many names."

"I suppose that would only complicate matters," said Twopence. "Lady's Lawn? I wonder if there is any particular significance?" "What's the point?" "Oh, it's nothing really," said Twopence. "I just happened to think of something else. The trouble is, I don't quite understand what I'm talking about. And the picture, by Bosco Mr. Wen drew it himself, but later someone drew a boat on it, and wrote the name of the boat—” "Tiger Lily." "No, 'Water Lotus'. His wife also said that he didn't draw the boat."

"Is it possible that she knew?" "I suppose it's possible. If you were an artist yourself, and married a painter, you'd know if the style was different. I think she's a little scary," said Twopence. "Who? Mrs. Boscowin?" "Yes, I mean she's strong, even too strong." "Hmm," it's possible. "She knows some things," said Twopenny, "but I don't know if she knows them because she knows them, do you understand me?" "I don't know," said Tommy decisively. "I mean, sometimes you do know things. Sometimes it's just a feeling."

"That's what happens to you most often, twopence." "Whatever you say." Twopenny was evidently continuing to follow the train of thought in her head, "The whole thing revolves around Sutton Village, around the 'river house', and all the people who lived there, past and present. I think some things go back a long time." "You have thought of Mrs. Copley." "Basically," said Twopenny, "I think she's just throwing up a lot of stuff and making it harder for us to study. And I think she's got all the times and dates mixed up." Tommy said: "That's the way country people are."

"I know," said Twopence, "I too grew up in a country vicar's house, and country folks keep track of what happened, and they don't say 'that happened in 1930' or 'That happened in 1925' or something like 'That happened after the old mill burned down', 'That happened in the year Farmer James was struck by lightning', So they remember things in no particular order, one thing here, one thing there. The problem, of course," said Twopence, with the look of a just-discovered event, " I'm getting old myself." "You're always that young," Ever said.

"Don't be a fool," said Twopence, "I know I'm old because I remember things the same way." She got up and walked around the room. "This hotel is so annoying," she said. She walked through the door into her bedroom and came back shaking her head. "No Bibles." "Bible?" "Yeah, you know. Old fashioned hotels keep a Bible by the bedside in the bedroom. I figured that would save people day or night, but they don't have one here anyway." "You want a Bible?" "Well, I'm well educated, and I'm as familiar with the contents of the Bible as all the pastor's daughters. But now the church doesn't read the Bible properly, showing people some new versions. Although the words in it are correct, the translation is also correct. But it’s different from before. Well, when you two go to find a real estate company, I’m going to drive to Sutton Village.” "What? I won't let you go," said Tommy. "Nonsense—I'm not on an expedition, I'm just going to church and looking up the Bible. If it's a new translation, I'll ask the priest. He's supposed to have the right one—the King James—won't he?" "What do you want the King James Version for?" "I just want to confirm the words on the child's tombstone. I am very interested in those words." "That's a good idea, but I don't trust you, Twopence—I don't trust you to get out of my sight without getting into trouble." "I promise I'll never go hunting in the cemetery again, but how could it hurt to go to the church and the vicar's study on this sunny morning?" Tommy looked at his wife suspiciously, and finally Still surrendered. Twopence parked the car at the gate of the cemetery in Sutton Village, looked around cautiously, and then walked into the church.She had a natural wariness like anyone who's been badly wounded somewhere.But it doesn't look like anyone is going to attack her from behind the tombstone.She went into the church, and there was an old woman on her knees polishing some brass.Twopenny crept up to the lectern and examined the Bibles lying there, and the sweeping woman looked up at her reproachfully. "I'm not going to steal the Bible," Twopenny assured her, and then closed the Bible again and quietly walked out of the church.She had wanted to visit the cemetery again, but finally she gave up on the idea. "Whoever offends," she said to herself; "maybe that's what it means, and if so, that person is—" She drove the car a little further to the vicar's house, got out and crossed the path to the At the gate, she answered the doorbell, but she couldn't hear the bell from inside. She knew there was something wrong with the bell at the pastor's house, and thought: "The doorbell must be broken." She stretched out her hand and pushed the door, and the door swung open.Twopence came into the hall, and on the table there was a large envelope with a large foreign postmark on it, which was from a missionary group in Africa. "It's a good thing I'm not a missionary," Twopence thought, but at this moment, she seemed to think of something, something on the table in the lobby somewhere, she should remember,... flowers?Is it a leaf?Or a letter or a package?At this time, the pastor came out from a door on the left. "You want me?—oh, it's Mrs. Berryford, isn't it?" he said. "That's right," said Twopenny, "I'm going to ask you, do you have a Bible?" "Bible?" The pastor looked surprised and suspicious, "Bible?" "I just thought you might have," said Twopence. "Of course, of course," said the pastor, "to be honest, I have several, and a Greek Bible." He said expectantly, "You don't want that?" "No," said Twopenny firmly, "I want the King James Bible." "Oh, my God," said the pastor, "of course, there must be several copies at home. Yes, there are several copies. Unfortunately, the church does not use that edition now. You know, we have to follow the bishop's opinion, and now the The bishop attaches great importance to modernization. I think it's a pity. There are too many books in my study, so I have to put some of them in the back. But I 'think' I should be able to find the books you want. If you can't find them, you can ask Bu Miss Lay, she is also looking for vases here, so that the children can put some wild flowers themselves, and put them in their place in the church." With that, he left Twopenny alone in the hall, and went into the room from which he had just come out.The twopence remained in the hall and did not follow.She was frowning in thought, and when she looked up suddenly, the door at the end of the hall opened, and Miss Bligh came, holding a large heavy metal vase in her hand.Several things suddenly occurred to Twopenny's mind. "That's right," said Twopence, "that's right." "Oh, can I help you with anything? I'm—oh, Mrs. Berryford." "That's right," Twopenny said, "and you are Mrs. Johnson, aren't you?" The big vase fell on the floor, and Twopenny bent over to pick it up, and weighed it in his hand. "It's a very convenient weapon." , " she said, and put it on the ground again, "just enough to knock someone out from behind. You were the one who knocked me out, right? 'Mrs. Johnson'." "I—I—what did you say? I—I—I never—" Twopence lingered no longer, she had seen the effect of what she had said.When she mentioned Mrs. Johnson for the second time, the Bly team had undoubtedly exposed their identity, and they were shaking with fear. "There was a letter on your drawing-room table the other day," said Twopenny, "to a Mrs. York in Cumberland. That's where you took her from Sunshine Ridge, didn't you? Ginger Mrs. Sen. There she is now, Mrs. York, or Mrs. Lancaster—you use both, like the striped red and white roses in Perry's garden." And with that, She turned and walked quickly out of the room, leaving Miss Bligh with her mouth open, leaning on the banister and watching her back.Twopence ran across the path to the door, jumped into the car and drove off.She looked back at the parsonage door, but no one came out.She drove past the church on her way back to Basin Market when she suddenly changed her mind.She turned the car around and drove towards the original road, and then turned to the road leading to the small bridge of "Riverside House" on the left. When she reached the gate of "Riverside House", she got out of the car and looked inside the gate, but she looked in the garden. There was no sign of the Perry couple.Twopence went in the door, and walked up the path to the back door, but the back door was closed, and even the windows were shut.Twopenny felt distressed.Perhaps Alice Perry had gone shopping at the Becca Market, and she wanted to see Alice very much at this moment.The twopence knocked at the door, softly at first, then louder and louder, but still no answer.She turned the handle, the door was locked, and the twopence just stood there, unable to decide what to do.There were a few questions she couldn't wait to ask Alice Perry, maybe Mrs Perry was in Sutton, maybe she'd be back. The trouble with "The House by the River" was that there was no one in sight, and there was hardly any traffic on the bridge, and there was no one for her to ask where the Perrys might have been this morning.