Chapter 14 Chapter 14 Officer Quinn Investigates

When Beau entered room 1724 past the detective on duty at the door, he found that Kelly was not in the living room and the door to the bedroom was closed. Officer Quinn sat alone in an armchair by the window with a stack of reports in front of him.Fragments of flashbulbs littered the floor.Margo's body is gone. "Where's Kelly?" Beau asked, somewhat alarmed. The officer looked at him. "Why don't you stay here? Then you'll know where she is." "Where is she?" "In the bedroom, attended by the hotel doctor and a nurse. There was one of mine, and one of her friends, a Verette Day."

Bo blinked: "Wei! How did she get here?" "Your wife keeps asking to find her, and tells us where Miss Dai lives... No, don't go in yet. I want to talk to you." "But if Kelly's sick... let me see her for a minute!" "She's not sick, she just passed out. She's fine now." Bo fell silent.Then he said: "Has she spoken?" "You told her not to," said the old man grimly, "so she didn't. She must love you, Beau, because she couldn't be worse off." "Her situation is not inexplicable! Do you know who she is?"

"Of course. Kelly Sean. The dead woman was her cousin, Margot Cole." Beau sat down suddenly: "Look, Dad. Let's stop beating around the bush. What else do you know?" The officer sneezed on snuff, then looked at Beau intently: "Your wife's own statement proves that you were not here when the woman named Cole came. The fact that you didn't come until after the shots were fired. This makes you Discharged from the case. Your wife is alone in this room with Margot Cole—unless," said the sergeant, "she can tell there is a third person. That's the first point."

"She could tell me," Beau said quickly, "I'm here to tell you. She said I wasn't there so as not to implicate me." "It didn't work. I had one witness who saw you leave the hotel, Beau, and another who saw you come back. I know exactly when you left the hotel and when you came back. You couldn't have been in this room when it happened. Send you off." The guy who drove the elevator up to the seventeenth floor said he heard gunshots just as you were stepping off his elevator." "I tell you--" "No, not you, Beau," said the old man patiently, "it was someone else—if there was someone else. But I'm pretty sure there isn't."

"Have!" "Who?" Beau bowed his head. "I don't know—not yet." "Understood." Officer Quinn paused. "Okay, let's move on. Second point: The restaurant detective and O'Brien, the restaurant manager, both saw your wife holding the gun that killed Margot Cole. A revolver--Standing over the body with the gun in hand. The detective said the barrel was still hot when he wrapped the gun in his handkerchief. Dr. Prody came and went, and he took three bullets from the body. The bullets were from a 22-caliber pistol. The revolver in your wife's hand happens to be a .22 caliber. I'm having comparative tests in town, but I'm pretty sure the bullets came from that gun even without the test report."

"Three bullets from a 22-caliber gun?" "Yes. And, of course, your wife's fingerprints are also on the gun, and no one else's. That's number three." The officer waited a moment, but Beau didn't speak, and he continued, "Fourth Point: We did a quick check of the license records, and that records prove that the 22-caliber pistol belonged to your wife." "But someone stole it from her," Beau retorted. "When exactly? Under what circumstances?" Beau bowed his head and said, "Forget it, we can't prove the time and place. She just couldn't find the gun yesterday."

"Why didn't she report the theft?" "She hasn't had time to report it missing! She just found out the gun was missing yesterday, I tell you." The officer shook his head. "It's useless, Beau. The scene looked—well, invulnerable. The gun belonged to her, she had a chance, and she was caught red-handed just minutes after she fired it. Next to the body, with the evidence in her hand got caught with a gun... all we have to do is find out the motive." "Yeah, motive," Beau cried. "You said Callie killed Margo. Why did she kill her?"

"That's what I asked De Carlos too." Beau jumped to his feet. "You talk to that guy—where is he? What has he got to say, that chimpanzee?" “I called De Carlos and Goossens about the murder, and they were there shortly. I asked Kelly De Carlos if there was a possible motive, and he was very helpful.” "I guess he will," said Beau through gritted teeth. "What did he say, damn it?" "Oh, you don't like him? Well, he said a few things. He said that if you and Kelly hadn't run off to get married, he would have thought of a perfect motive. Once Margot died, Kelly would inherit the legacy of the dead woman." Cole's income, you know."

Beau nodded apprehensively. "But, of course," the officer went on, "he explained—and he confirmed it when I asked Goossens later—that if Kelly married, that would automatically disinherit her from all of Cole's estate— — neither her share nor Margo's. So that motive is ruled out." "Then what else do you want to say?" Bo muttered dissatisfiedly. "But he said something," said the old man slowly, "about some of the less successful 'accidents' that have happened to your wife in recent weeks—a horse threw her off and nearly broke her neck, and that little thing that happened in the garage last night..."

"What? What did you say? So what?" "Then I had a talk with Miss Day a few minutes ago," replied the sergeant mildly, "and she told me that those were not accidents—that the horse's forefoot nails were loosened, and that your wife was Someone locked it in the garage on purpose, and said that not long ago, someone climbed into the lady's bedroom through the window at night to practice knife skills for a while—” "That big talker," Beau said hoarsely. "Miss Day also said that both she and Kelly thought all those 'accidents' were directed by Margot Cole."

Beau sat down again: "I don't understand you." Then he stood up. "Don't understand? Then I'll explain it to you." The officer leaned back. "If your wife thinks Margot Cole is trying to kill her—whether Margot Cole did it or not, I warn you!— —Isn't it then natural for your wife to go and buy a gun? Yes, sir, that sounds like a motive to me." It's a way out, Beau thought desperately, a possible way out: "Even so," he said aloud, "it's self-defense, isn't it?" "My job is to find out the facts. It's the district attorney's job to put the facts together." The old man looked at Beau. "By the way, don't you think you should hire a better criminal lawyer right now? " Beau started walking up and down the room. "This is one of the most typical circumstantial cases I've ever seen, Beau," said the inspector gravely. "You're all wrong, let me tell you. You'll understand when you hear Kelly's story!" "I'm afraid it's not enough to just tell the story." The police officer stood up, "Bo, you know how deep your father's friendship with me is. And I always treat you as my other son. Why don't you tell me what you know?" Speak up so I can help you?" "I don't know anything," Beau said quickly, "and neither does Kelly!" "There must be something else behind this. Where were you just now? What were you looking for? Who did you meet? Beau, you can trust me—" Bo said nothing. "You're embarrassing me," the sergeant said softly. "You're checking in here under Ellery's name, and even with Ellery's permission, there are a lot of personal relationships involved. I'll even I had to withdraw from the investigation of this case because of this. I also concealed the facts tonight. I took the registration card as my own and threatened with various illegal punishments the people in the hotel who knew your registration name. Newspaper boy We don't know it yet, but they will eventually. At least tell me why you took my son's name, so I can prepare an explanation." "Dad, I can't tell," Beau said hoarsely. "Dad... did you tell Kelly about this?" "Your wife?" The officer's eyes narrowed. "Are you going to stand there and tell me that even your own wife doesn't know who you are?" "She thought I was Ellery Quinn," Beau said frankly. "Ellery knew about it. Actually. It was his idea." Officer Quinn stared at him, then shook his head helplessly, and walked towards the bedroom door. Kelly was lying on the bed—one of two beds—holding Willett Day's hand tightly, with a doctor and a nurse standing beside her.There was a pungent bicarbonate smell in the air.Officer Willie leaned against the wall. Kelly was the first to react.She turned her head and was taken aback for a moment, but immediately sat up eagerly. "Honey, you've been away for so long." She sounded tired. Beau moved toward the bed, but the officer touched his arm. "Don't go." Kelly remained seated. "Doctor, could you please wait in the next room?" said the officer. "And you, nurse." They leave the bedroom.Sergeant Willie carefully closed the door behind them. "Well, I'm waiting," said Officer Quinn. Kelly moistened her parched lips. "It's all right, Kelly," Beau whispered. "Now you can tell. Tell me exactly how it happened." She shot Beau a grateful glance.Vi took her hand again.Officer Quinn nodded to Willie, who took out his notebook and pencil to record. Kelly tells briefly about the attempted murder of her, her suspicions of Margot, her purchase of a pistol, and her revolver being stolen from the car when she is trapped in the garage.She also told of Beau's proposal and their elopement. "Wait a minute." The police officer glanced at Bo, "You also think that woman Cole is behind the scenes planning these attacks?" "I know it's her." "How did you know?" "She told me." "What!" the police officer was suspicious. "I flirted with her," said Beau listlessly, "and I pretended to be on her side . It belongs to Margo. We made a deal, according to the agreement, Margot should return a part of Kelly's inheritance to me." "Why?" asked the old man, "Why did you do this?" "Because my main concern is keeping Kelly alive. Margot hates her both because of me and because of the money. If I can get her the money and convince her that I love her and not Kay Kelly, Kelly's life is safe." Kelly's eyes were fixed on his lips. "There's only one thing I don't know," Beau went on, "and that's that Margot is working with someone else. Tell me, Kelly." Kelly went on.She told how they had arrived at the Villanoy, how Beau had left her, and how Margot had come. "I was sitting in an armchair by the window, and she came and stood behind me, still gloating about how she and Ellery—" the officer's face twitched—"playing behind my back. gimmick. Somehow she's talking about attacking me again—" "Really? What exactly did she say?" "All I can recall is that she said Ellery saved my life by marrying me. 'If you hadn't been lucky,' she said, 'you would be dead by now.' And she went on Said it wasn't an accident that someone broke into my room at night, my horse had an accident, I was locked in the garage and nearly gassed to death, etc. When I told her I always suspected that she was up to it, she laughed and said: 'But I didn't plan those attacks alone, it was me—and someone else.' Just as she was about to tell me who the other person was—the shot went off..." She stopped talking, her jaw trembling. "Ah, there's a shot," said the sergeant mildly. "I thought you were the only ones in the living room." "It was just the two of us," she said in a weak voice, "and the bullet flew across the yard, through my window, over my head, and hit Margot standing behind my chair. The other window, My window, me and Margo, are all in a straight line." The officer gave Beau a sympathetic look.But Beau was lighting a cigarette with trembling hands. "You might as well show me how that happens," said the old man with a sigh. Beau jumped forward to help Kelly off the bed, her fingers tightly entwined in his, and the officer looked away uncomfortably.Officer Willie opened the door for them, and they all entered the living room. Officer Quinn took some time to ponder Kelly's statement.He made her sit in the chair the way she said she had been sitting when the shots were fired, he checked the position of the body, and he made Kelly go through her account four times. "A hand threw a gun through my window, I tell you!" Kelly whimpered, "Why don't you just believe me?" "But you don't seem to know whether that hand is a man's or a woman's." "I'm in the light, and the yard and that window over there are in the dark. I can't see clearly, but I vaguely see a hand shaking. I can't tell whether it's a man's hand or a woman's. hand?" The officer grunted annoyedly.The doctor gave him a warning look and insisted that Kelly go back to her bedroom and lie down again.The officer nodded in agreement and glanced at Officer Willie, who blinked and walked out without a word. But Beau knew he was going to check room 1726.He accompanied Kelly back to the bedroom and sat on the bed. She curled up in his arms and closed her eyes. Neither of them spoke. Lloyd Goossens arrived shortly after the officer had left, and a long time later Edmund DeCarlos strode in. Goossens smoked his pipe in nervous embarrassment and rubbed his unshaven chin.He apparently got out of bed at the behest of the police officer.De Carlos has leaden skin and a wispy beard.But there was a strange gleam in the large eyes behind the glasses. Officer Willey left them in the living room, where they circled aimlessly while trying to avoid the blood-soaked spot on the carpet. Beau came out of the bedroom, and the two men posed him a barrage of questions.He told them what had happened, and then he pulled Goossens aside, much to the annoyance of De Carlos. "What do you think?" Goossens shook his head. "Looks bad, Mr. Quinn. Unbelievable story. Especially with no evidence to back it up. If I were you, I'd hire the best lawyer in New York. In fact, if you wanted to Let me recommend the advocate to Mrs. Quinn—" "Thanks, don't you think it's premature?" Beau said bluntly. When the officer returned, he conferred with De Carlos and the lawyer in the living room.Finally they all went into the bedroom. It was an awkward moment, with De Carlos and Goossens huddling back, avoiding Callie's direct gaze.But the officer's tone was sharp. "I'm going to tell you the truth," he said to Kelly and Beau, "that there is no evidence that anyone was in room 1726 tonight, except for a cigarette butt, a burnt match, and a little ashes. The maid on duty said she The room was tidied up late tonight, and there was a telegram reservation. But the maid wasn't sure if she missed the cigarette butt while cleaning, and the record clearly stated that no one was in the room tonight. .Bo." "how?" "The light was turned on in room 1726 tonight. Did you go there just now? Is that cigarette butt there yours?" Bo said, "Who? Me?" The officer shrugged. "Anyway, that's not enough evidence to support that story." "But it's true," Kelly said slowly, "I'm telling you—" Beau shook his head at her. The officer twirled his mustache with a trembling index finger. "I'm going to have to arrest you," he said.