Chapter 11 Chapter Eleven

As they were running between Thirty and Twenty-ninth Streets on First Avenue, they heard Celeste screaming. A man came running toward them from the corner of Twenty-ninth Street, waving his hands wildly, telling them to turn back. "Goldberg..." Well, not on Twenty-ninth Street, but here, on First Avenue. The screaming came and went, and broke again, as if singing. "The alley!" Ellery yelled. It was in a narrow alley between the house on the corner of Twenty-ninth Street and a row of shops, and Goldberg was closer, but Jimmy, with his locust legs, got there before him.

He disappeared into a dark alley. A police patrol car arrived quickly, and the headlights of the car were particularly dazzling in the thick fog.Officer Quinn yelled and yelled, and then the car backed away, all the lights focused on the entrance to the alley. As the group rushed in, Johnson and Piggott jumped out of the other corner, guns in hand. Sirens began to sound, from Twenty-ninth Street and Thirty Street to Second Avenue. In the turbulent thick fog, a girl and two men wrestled together.Celeste, Kazalis, and Jimmy are all wobbly, as if dismantling in slow motion.Celeste was facing the direction the detective was coming from, bent like a bow stretched in the hands of a shooter.She put her hands on her neck, her fingers desperately defending between her neck and the orange rope that had strangled her neck, blood stains could be seen on her knuckles.Behind Celeste was Kazalis swaying, holding the end of the noose, his hooded head thrown back with Jimmy's arms caught around his neck.The burly man sticks out his tongue between his two rows of teeth, and his eyes are wide open looking at the sky, calm and lifeless.With the other hand, Jimmy was struggling to free Kazalis' grip on the rope, and his lips were parted from the force, looking like he was smiling.

Ellery arrived half a step ahead of the others, and he swung his fist directly at Kazalis's left ear, then put a hand between Jimmy and Kazalis, and put the heel of his palm against Jimmy's. jaw. "Let it go, Jimmy, let it go." Kazalis slipped and fell on the wet concrete floor, his eyes wide open, still wearing that strange expression.Goldberg, Young, Johnson, Piggott, and a patrolman rushed forward.Young kicked him with his knee, and he bent over in pain, whining like a woman. "There's no need for that," said Ellery, who had been stroking his right hand.

"My knee has this problem," Yang said slightly apologetically, "every time it encounters such a situation, it will automatically attack like this 'bang'." Officer Quinn said, "Open his fist. Lighten him up like your own mother. I want that rope hot when I get it." An intern in a coat kneels beside Celeste, her hair glinting in a small puddle.Jimmy yelped and tried to jump, but Ellery caught him by the collar with his other hand just in time to hold him back. "She's dead!" "Just passed out, Jimmy." Police Officer Quinn couldn't put it down and carefully looked at the orange rope in his hand. It was made of a kind of thick silk, tussah silk.

"How's the girl doing, doctor, eh?" he said, looking at the rope hanging from his upraised hand. "The skin on the neck is broken a little, mostly on the sides and back." The doctor who followed the ambulance replied. "Hands are under the most pressure. What a smart girl." "But she looks as if she's dead, you see!" "Just overly frightened, with a normal pulse and breathing. She'll live long enough to tell all this to her grandchildren until they're bored to death." - Celeste groaned - " She's about to wake up."

Jimmy sat on the wet ground. The officer carefully rolled up the silk rope and put it in a paper bag. Ellery heard him humming "My Irish Wild Rose." They handcuffed Kazalis behind his back.He lay on his back, his wet right side on the ground, his legs bent, his eyes staring through Yang's crotch at an overturned trash can a few feet away.His whole body was ashamed, and his eyes seemed to turn white. ——This is the strange cat. A man's legs are bars, and he lies in this cage, breathing heavily. —Strange cat. Everyone seemed at ease, and when the intern finished examining Celeste, there was a cheerful atmosphere of talking and laughing.Johnson, who had never been able to get along with Goldberg, handed Goldberg a cigarette because Goldberg's cigarette case was lost somewhere.Goldberg kindly took over and helped Johnson light the fire. Johnson also said, "Thanks, Goldberg." Handcuffed together for a full 14 hours.

"I was so nervous that I had to punch him in the jaw every ten minutes to shut him up." Everyone roared with laughter. Young complained to a patrolman, "Damn it, I used to be in Harlem for six years and you had to use your knees in that fucking place before you could ask something about a shitty artist, In fact, they are all a bunch of bastards!" "I don't know about that," said the patrolman vaguely. "I know some white guys in there, or you can ask Ziggett." "What's the difference?" Yang glared at the prisoner at their feet, "He's just a scumbag. Stupid is just stupid, what's the point of talking about compatriot feelings."

The mouth of the prisoner lying at their feet moved slightly, as if chewing something. "Hey," Goldberg said, "what's he doing?" "What are you doing?" Officer Quinn poked his head in nervously. "Look at his mouth, officer!" The officer crouched on the concrete and grabbed Kazalis by the jaw. "Careful, Sergeant," said one laughing, "he's going to bite." His mouth opened obediently, and Yang took a flashlight and shone in from behind Officer Quinn. "It's all right," the officer said. "He's chewing his tongue."

"Maybe it's Weird Cat's specialty," Yang said, and everyone laughed again. "Hurry up, doctor, please," said the sergeant. "It will be fine in a while." The intern was wrapping Celeste in a blanket, and her head kept moving.Jimmy was struggling to fend off another paramedic. "Go away, go away," he said, "don't you see I'm busy?" "McKail, your mouth and chin are covered in blood." "me?" Jimmy stroked his chin, then looked at his fingers in surprise. "Sir, you almost bit your lower lip."

"Wake up, Celeste," Jimmy called softly, and then he yelled.It turned out that the medical staff were helping him clean the wound around his mouth. It suddenly got colder, but no one noticed.The fog gradually lifted, and a star or two could be seen in the night sky. Ellery sat on the trash can.The melody of "My Irish Wild Rose" lingered in his head as if someone were playing it on an accordion; several times he tried to drive it away, but it still lingered. Another star has revealed its face. The windows at the back of the surrounding houses were all lit and wide open, and the feeling was joyous.There are people in the window, and there are good box seats, which can also be said to be an arena, and this is the main hall downstairs of the theater.They can't see everything, but they can hope, they can guess, can't they?In New York, hope is written in every eye.An old house has collapsed, someone is digging a hole in the sidewalk, an opening to an underground pipeline is opened, a traffic accident.what happened?What happened?Who got hit?Is it the underworld?what are they doing there

Leave them alone. The strange cat has fallen into hell, and the whole world is fine. Listen up, New York newspapers, and write it down! "Jimmy, come here." "not now." "But the scoop," Ellery yelled slyly, "don't you want a year-end bonus?" Jimmy laughed. "Didn't I tell you? I got fired last week." "Give them a call and they'll hire you as an editor." "To hell with them!" "It's million dollar news for them." "I already have a million." Ellery dangled on the trash can.This weirdo is really weird, kind of kid, Jimmy.Ellery laughed again, wondering why he kept feeling weird about his hands. The windows at the back of the third floor of 486 East Twenty-ninth Street were also lit. They don't know anything.The name Soames is now in the annals, and they are still on it, wondering whose name will be in the newspaper tomorrow. "She's awake," announced the intern. "Hi, miss. Let me be the first to congratulate you. You're all right." She felt for her throat with a bandaged hand. Jimmy murmured to another paramedic, "Could you help me get this shit out of my mouth? Baby, it's me. It's over. The show's over. It's me, Jimmy, baby. remember me?" "Jimmy." "She recognized me! It's all over, baby." "That horrible..." "It's all over." "My wild Irish wild rose..." "I'm hurrying down First Avenue..." "How like a granny—I'm talking about this iodine wiper." "He dragged me in as I passed. I saw his face, and then there was a blackout. My neck..." "Take your time, take your time, we'll talk about it later, Miss Phillips," said the inspector softly. "It's all over, baby." "Strange cat, where is he? Jimmy, where is he?" "Come on, calm down, don't tremble, he's just lying there. It's just a stray cat in the alley, see? See? Don't be afraid." Celeste began to cry. "It's all over, baby." Jimmy held her in his arms, and the two of them sat on the small puddle and swayed. I don't know how they feel about Celeste.She has been a great help.Like field nurse Clara Barton... Isn't this a battlefield in front of you? Battle of First Avenue.After General Quinn sent the McKell assault team to go out to detect, he then used the Phillips Corps to lure the enemy into his central army... Ellery felt as if he saw the dark color of Marilyn Soames among the heads hair, but he immediately turned around and rubbed the back of his neck.I don't know what was mixed in the beer I drank just now? "All right, doctor, all right," said the sergeant, "come here now." The intern bent over Kazalis, then looked up. "Who do you say he is?" he asked bluntly. "He was kicked hard at the base of the thigh. I dare not touch him unless you promise it's okay." "This man is Dr. Edward Cazalis, the psychiatrist!" Everyone laughed. "Thanks, Doctor," Detective Young said, winking at the others, "I can't thank you enough." They laughed again. The intern flushed.After a while, he stood up. "Help him up, he can walk, it's fine." "stand up!" "I bet he must have been faking it just now." "Yang, you have to hone your knee skills." "Look at him, look at him." Kazalis was struggling to move his legs, taking small steps on tiptoe like a novice ballerina, his knees seemingly unable to support his weight. "Don't look," said Jimmy, "it's none of your business." "Of course it's relevant, I want to see it. You promised me..." However, Celeste trembled after just looking at it, and turned her head away. "Get rid of the idlers on the street outside." The police officer looked around, "Wait a minute—" The group stopped, and Kazalis's face was full of gratitude. "Where did Ellery go?" "There, officer." "Hey." "What the hell is he doing?" "My... wild... love..." The trash can fell ping-pong-pong, and rolled for several feet before stopping. "he is hurt." "doctor!" The intern said, "He's passed out and his hand is broken. Take your time..." Take it easy.It took time to get things done. It was just five months of investigation, digging, hunting and planning, and it took only 21 weeks. To be more precise, it was 20 weeks and one day, 148 days. A soft knock on the door of an apartment on East Nineteenth Street, a blow to the head of a man in an alley on First Avenue; from Archibald Dudley Ebernethy to Sally Stuart Phillips (alias Teenage Spy Sue Martin); from Friday, June 13 to Saturday, October 29, 44% of the days in New York City a year.During this period, one of the city's innumerable murderers reduced the population of Manhattan by nine, not to mention, of course, the incident that caused the riot at the Metropolitan Hall.All in all, though, these numbers pale in comparison to all the people who have made it to Heaven, so what's there to get excited about? Just take your time. Just take your time.Sitting on a hard chair under the pale, harsh photography lights, the cat is not the tail-wagging monster who shattered the dream of the metropolis, he is just a bad old man with shaking hands and anxious face That's all, he wants to please everyone, but he doesn't know how to do it.They found a second orange-red tussah silk rope on him; two dozen ropes, most of them dyed the familiar blue, were found hidden in a locked filing cabinet in his Park Avenue office .He had told them where it was hidden, and he had helped them pick the key out of his key case.He said he'd had those cords for years, since he retired from obstetrics in the late 1930s and traveled the world.It was sold to him by a local when he was in India, saying that it was the rope that the locals used to strangle people in previous murders and assassinations.He dyed them blue and orange before putting them away.Why have these ropes been kept all these years?With a strange expression on his face, he didn't know how to answer.His wife never knew about the ropes, and he bought them alone at the market, and then hid them... Every time he asked a question, he immediately tilted his head and listened attentively, and he was very cooperative in answering, Although sometimes he can't tell why, or he's a little bit off.It was rare, though, for him to talk nonsense, and most of the time he gave an accurate account of what happened in the past, just like the Dr. Kazalis they knew. However, his eyes remained unchanged, staring straight ahead like mirrors. Ellery, Celeste Phillips, and Jimmy McKell came straight from Bellevue Hospital.Ellery sat with his right hand splinted, just listening, not saying a word.He hasn't fully recovered yet and still has a sense of unreality.The chief of police and the prosecutor were there; shortly after 4:30 in the morning, the mayor arrived, paler than the prisoner. However, the gloomy old man sitting in the chair seemed to ignore them.It was a deliberate avoidance, they all felt it, it might be some kind of trick.They all know that you can't trust this kind of madman too much. In general, his confessions to the nine murders were admirably detailed. Some things were unclear, it might be pain in one part of the body, confusion, exhaustion—they didn't know which—but overall, his statement was impeccable. The most unsatisfactory answer came in response to the only question Ellery had asked during his interrogation that night. When the prisoner was about to finish speaking, Ellery leaned forward and asked, "Dr. Cazalis, you admit that you haven't seen these victims since they were born. It shouldn't make any sense. But, obviously, you seem to have some kind of hostility towards them, what is that? Why do you feel compelled to kill them?" "If you look at it from a realistic perspective, that is, the way a healthy mind sees the world, there is no motivation for what a psychopath does," Dr. Cazalis said. The prisoner shifted in his chair, looking straight at the source of Ellery's voice, for the bright light was shining on his livid face, and it was clear that he could see nothing but the light. "Was it Mr. Quinn who asked the question just now?" "yes." "Mr. Quin," said the prisoner, in a tone that was almost gentle, "I suppose you have no scientific training to understand this." It was broad daylight Sunday morning when they got rid of the reporters. Jimmy McKell crouched in one corner of the taxi with Celeste in his arms, and on the other, Ellery stroked his temporarily immobilized hand while looking out the window on his side, not out of Polite, but he really wanted to see clearly. New York City looks very different this morning. It's just different by feeling, smelling and hearing. Brand-new. There was music in the air, perhaps church bells.From the lower city to the upper city, from the east to the west of the city, the church bells rang together.Come on everyone!Receive the glory of God! In residential areas, snack bars, bakeries, newsstands, grocery stores are busy opening their doors. Out of nowhere a train rumbles along the elevated railway. A newsboy walked by, his hands turned blue from the ink. Occasionally, I saw one or two people who got up early, rubbing their hands because of the cold, walking nimbly on the road. There were a few cars parked at the taxi rank, the radios on, the drivers looking attentive. Passers-by began to gather around. New York, stretch out! It's time to wake up!