Chapter 19 Chapter Nineteen: The Apparition of Cadmus

At nine o'clock that evening, the main office of Ellery Queen's firm was packed.The curtains were drawn and all the lights were on.There are some instruments on the table.An expert from headquarters sat near the instrument with a puzzled expression on his face.Kelly is here, under the supervision of a detective and a female guard. Violet Day sat in a corner.Wei was a little nervous, and Kelly needed to lean over to comfort her from time to time.For the rest of the time, Kelly's eyes were fixed on Beau with an imperceptible maternal trust and patience in her eyes. Constable Quinn was there, looking worried; so was District Attorney Sampson, skeptical; Edmund De Carlos, very drunk; and Goosens, representing the Cole estate, sullen.A stranger is waiting in Beau's laboratory-cum-darkroom with a set of tools.

Beau was a little nervous.Mr. Quinn took him aside. "You're guilty. Be confident, you gorilla. You act like a expectant father, not like any other member of the human race." "That's the look in Kelly's eyes," Beau muttered. "Do you think it's going to work? Are you sure what you're told is true?" "Captain Angus and the coast detective have indeed arrived at the New York airport, I tell you," said Ellery impatiently. "They are here with the police escort, and everything is normal. Go ahead, you?" "I'm nervous and excited," Beau said, with a forced smile.

"And you've got it all in your face! The whole trick of this job is to be awesome. You're the savior, you know it all. Not even an earthquake can shake your confidence. Go for it!" Beau took a deep breath and walked in front of the crowd, while Mr. Quinn stepped back and leaned against the door leading to the reception room. Beau quickly but in great detail recounts Cadmus Cole's visit three months ago, and how the billionaire hired Ellery to conduct an investigation: Find an heir for Cole when he dies." He described Cole's appearance—his bald head, his clean-shaven chin, his tanned cheeks, his toothless mouth, the way he slammed into the doorjamb. The way he looked and the way he squinted, "he was very nearsighted, both to Mr. Quinn and to myself."

Beau went on to tell how Cole had forgotten to take his own pen with which he sat at this very desk and wrote the check for fifteen thousand dollars. "We sent the pen back to his ship, the 'Argonaut,'" Beau said, "but before sending it off, we took micrographs of some strange marks on the cap tip." He took the pen from his pocket. He took out an envelope and handed it to the expert at the headquarters sitting at the table with the instruments, "Dr. Jolliff, these are the photomicrographs. Please check them." The expert took the pictures: "Of course, I've only heard your sidelines - whatever your purpose, Mr. Rummel - that these are pictures of the pen."

"We can do better," interrupted Mr. Quinn suddenly. "Of course we can," Bo said slowly, "and we can show the pen itself!" Then he walked up to Edmund de Carlos, lifted the man's coat, and drew the pen from his vest pocket--the pen with which De Carlos wrote the letter he paid Ellery as a bribe. A check for twenty-five thousand dollars from Quinn's office--and handed the specialist the thick, gold-trimmed black pen with a look of delight. De Carlos was taken aback. "I don't understand—" "Dr. Jolliff," said Beau, "could you please look at that pen under a microscope and compare the marks on it with those on the photomicrograph?"

Experts get to work.When he looked up, he said, "The marks on this pen are the same as those on these photographs." "So can you say that these photographs," Beau asked, "are from this pen?" "no doubt." "I'm afraid, Mr. Rummel," said the district attorney, "that I don't get the point." "You will understand, Oscar," Bo Zheng said, "just remember, this man De Carlos, when he entered this office tonight, was holding a pen in his hand, and this pen was three months ago It belongs to Cadmus Cole." District Attorney Sampson looked puzzled: "I'm still—"

Beau stood face to face in front of De Carlos: "Did you tell me what your name was?" De Carlos stared at him: "Why—of course it's Edmond De Carlos. Such a ridiculous question—" "You are a ridiculous liar," said Beau, "and your name is Cadmus Cole!" The bearded man jumped up: "You're crazy!" He hummed and turned around.Beau grabbed his arm and the man cried out. "You are Cadmus Cole," said Beau softly, "—the nose is his nose, the eyes are his eyes, the chin is his chin, and indeed, all features are his. And We can prove it!"

"Proof?" The man licked his lips. "If you'll take the trouble to shave off your beard, and remove your wig, your glasses, and your false teeth, Quinn and I will officially prove that you are Cadmus Cole." "Absurd! Never heard such nonsense. Inspector, you can't—Mr. District Attorney, I insist on my right—" "Wait a minute," said the inspector quickly.He conferred with District Attorney Sampson in a voice that no one else could hear.Then he came up to Beau suddenly and said, "You claim this man is actually Cole, and you and Ellery can verify that he is Cole?"

"That's what we're saying," Beau said, "and there's no escape for him." The officer glanced at Ellery, who nodded slowly. "Then I'm sorry, Mr. De Carlos, or Mr. Cole, or whoever you are," said Sergeant Quinn in a stern voice, "but you're going to have to take the identification test." He reached up and tugged at the man's hair, visibly taken aback when it came out in its entirety.Goossens sat there with his mouth gaping, completely, truly stunned.Kelly and Vi also gasped in surprise. "Take your teeth out!" The man suddenly complied.

"Now take off your glasses." The man complied again, then blinked and squinted incessantly in the bright office lights. "Where's the beard?" the police officer asked Beau. "Is this fake too?" "No, it's the real thing," Beau replied, laughing, "that beard must have grown in the time between his first visit to us and his reappearance in New York after his dramatic 'death'. " "Is there a razor?" Sergeant Quinn asked. "There's something better than that, a barber." Beau walked into the lab.Then he showed up, leading the stranger with the tool. "Okay, Dominic," Beau said with a broad smile, "be quick—but be good! Got it?"

The detective accompanying Kelly stepped forward at the officer's cues, but the bearded man sat down in the chair of his own accord, arms folded, blinking and squinting angrily. The barber shaved him, and the people watched him work with fascinated anticipation, but Beau stood nervously behind the chair, as if he thought the bearded man would leap from it and run away.But the man sat quietly. While the barber was shaving, Ellery entered the reception room.Carefully close the door.A moment later, he came back and pulled Beau aside. "They're here," he whispered. "Who?" "Captain Angus and the Coast Detective." "Oh, baby! Leave 'em out, Al, until I find the right moment. By then, it'll be a success!" After the beards were shaved and the barber quit, Beau and Ellery silently studied the exposed, twitching face.Tanned cheeks, squinting eyes, bald head... "Well?" asked Inspector Quinn. "Is this the man who visited you here three months ago?" "This is Cadmus Cole," said Beau. "Ellery?" "The same person." Mr. Quinn nodded. "Framed!" mumbled the shaven man, drooling. "It's framed! I'm De Carlos! I'm De Carlos!" "Ah, without the dentures, this guy even sounds like Cole." Beau grinned. "Isn't it, Ellery?" "Exactly the same." "Of course," said District Attorney Sampson, "we still have only your two gentlemen to say." "Not really," retorted Beau. "I overheard this conversation in my office next door when Cole came to visit us in this office. We have a system in our firm, sir. We like to keep the more eccentric ones. The client's full set of records. That's why we took a picture of that pen. That's why," he said, pulling a large photo from his pocket, "I took it with a handy little device in the wall. took a photo of our friend and zoomed in on it. How about this?" They circled the magnified photo and stared at it and the man in the chair in turn. "Without a doubt," said the officer quickly, "except for the ring of gray hair on his head now, it's the same man! I guess your game is over, Cole!" "I'm not Cole!" the man screamed. "I'm Edmond de Carlos! I can give a hundred proofs that I'm Edmond de Carlos." "Really?" Beau drawled.He waved to Ellery. "I now give way to my famous colleague and well-known rhetorician, Mr. Ellery Queen." Mr. Quinn stepped forward: "We have three proofs that you are Cole," he said to the bald man, "from your possession of the pen identified as belonging to Mr. Cole, from our personal identification of you as three Cole who visited us months ago, and - as legal evidence - from this candid photograph." "We are in a position to present a fourth piece of evidence so strong, Mr. Cole, that you yourself would judge on it." "My name," the bald man spit, "is De Carlos!" Mr. Quinn shrugged and picked up a photocopy from the table: "This is a photocopy of what Cadmus Cole wrote in this office the afternoon he hired us That check for fifteen thousand dollars. It was sent to the clearinghouse, as you can see. "Now how can we be sure that the signature on this check," he went on, "was actually signed by Cadmus Cole? There are three ways to confirm it. First, that he himself Written in person by Mr. and I. Second, and more tellingly, Cole's bank immediately authenticated the check with this signature, recognized the signature and paid the money. Third, we can Compare the signature on this check with the signature on Cadmus Cole's will--which, by the way, was most carefully and thoroughly examined by the judge of the probate court, and finally approved Yes. Mr. Goossens, have you brought a photocopy of Cole's will and signature at my request?" The lawyer quickly took a photocopy from his briefcase and handed it to Mr. Quinn. "Yes," said Mr. Quin with satisfaction, "even from a layman's point of view, the resemblance between the two is unmistakable. Could you please take a look?" The D.A. and Officer Quinn compared the check signatures with the will signatures. The officer nodded, and Sampson said, "Of course we'll have to get an expert opinion, but I personally think they're the same." "With this additional piece of evidence, we can accept the supposition as fact. In other words, the man who wrote the check in this office three months ago must have been Cadmus Cole. Do you agree?" They nod. Mr. Quinn put down the photocopy of Cole's check signature and picked up two other photocopies: "These are the other nights of this gentleman who has always called himself Edmond de Carlos, also in this office, also A photocopy of a $25,000 check written in our presence. The original is in my possession and it has not been drawn at this time for reasons that do not matter.” Mr. Zhang handed it to the tanned man, "Do you deny that the signature on this check is yours?" "I neither deny nor affirm." The man murmured. "Never mind, Rumel and I will affirm that, and have certainly written your handwriting on hundreds of things since you took up residence at Cadmus Cole's house in Tarrytown." "Now, ladies and gentlemen," continued Mr. Quinn, taking back the photocopy, "there is a sort of distinction between the names Cadmus Cole and Edmund de Carlos. Odd and exciting affinities. Pure coincidence, of course, but it contributes to a small, compelling presentation. "Note that the name 'Edmond de Carlos' includes all the letters that occur in the name 'Cadmus Cole', i.e. to reconstruct 'Cadmus Cole' ' All the letters required for this name! Even, note, the capital initial - C. This allows us to conduct an educational experiment. "I will be cutting up these two photocopies of the check written by Mr. De Carlos - bearing his full name in his own handwriting - and dividing it into sections. "Then I'll rearrange the several cutouts and stick them on another sheet of paper in such an order that they'll spell out the name 'Cadmus Cole.' In this way , we shall have the name 'Cadmus Cole' in De Carlos' handwriting." Mr. Quinn picked up scissors and glue and got to work. When finished, he commented: "We can now appreciate a small climax. Here is Cadmus Cole's autograph, taken from the paid check: "Here is the autograph of Edmund de Carlos, taken from the original check written by himself at the request of Ellery Quinn & Associates: "Also, here is the signature of 'Cadmus Cole' assembled from two photocopies of De Carlos' signature: "Please compare the three." As people viewed his three exhibits, Mr Quinn added: "Actually, as exciting as this little demonstration is, it's in a sense unnecessary. You just have to compare the De Carlos' signature on Cole's will as witness, and Cole's signature as testator, and you'll see they're from the same hand. I've never seen the will before tonight, but I'm amazed What's more, you failed to see the resemblance between the two signatures, Mr. Goossens." "I was surprised by that myself," whispered Goossens, glancing at the exhibits, "and I guess the probate court judge felt the same way!" The inspector straightened up and said, "I think that's enough. You're Cole, sir, there's no question about that." District Attorney Sampson looked disturbed: "It certainly seems so." "Why are you pretending you're dead?" the officer asked the silent man in the chair. "What happened to the real Carlos? What's going on behind this disguise? You're pretending to be Margot with murder on your head." Cole's woman, you have a lot to explain!" The man in the chair looked around frantically. "But I'm not Cole!" he mumbled, "How many times do I have to tell you?" back to the present.This seemed to give him new strength, for he jumped out of his chair and began to dance, "I'm Edmond de Carlos! Hey, there's a man who's known me for many, many years—he's a second away. Can prove who I am because he knows Cole too!" "Who could it be?" Beau asked friendly. "Angus, captain of Cole's yacht, the Argo! Just give me a little time, officer, a little time to find Captain Angus! He'll tell you who I am! He'll—" "What would you say," asked Beauway sternly, "if I told you that your Captain Angus is next door, waiting to designate you as Cole?" The tanned man opened his mouth wide in surprise. "We've been looking for him," Beau went on briskly, "ever since you had you declared dead, Cole. One of our detectives finally found him. He retired from the job when you landed in San Diego." The trip is over. With nothing to worry about, he decided to go on a sailing holiday, and took part in a voyage around the world as a passenger. His ship docked at Frisk yesterday, and my detectives flew him here, So—"—as Beau said this, Ellery opened the door to the reception room and beckoned someone with his hand—"This is him!" A tall, lanky man in a gray suit, coat and fedora, strode in between the San Francisco detective and Sergeant Willie. Captain Angus has a dark complexion due to years of exposure to the sun at sea.Beneath thick black brows were eyes somewhere between ice blue and green, the color of icebergs clinging to the surface of the sea; people obey. As soon as he entered the office, he stopped and looked around. "Captain Angus?" said Boyle, stepping forward cheerfully, "I'm Rumel; this is Ellery Queen, my partner; and those two sad-faced gentlemen over there are from the Homicide Squad. Officer Quinn, and New York County District Attorney Sampson." The tall man nodded. "A very unusual party," he commented coldly in a loud and deep voice. "Is this all for me, Mr. Rumel?" "Captain Angus, I just want to ask you a question." Beau stepped aside, pointed to the middle-sized, dark-skinned, bald man in the middle of the room and asked, "Who is that man?" Captain Angus looked bewildered.He looked at the bald man, then at the others, and then back at the bald man: "I don't understand. Who should he be?" "That's exactly what we asked you, Captain." The captain grinned and said, "Why, that's Mr. de Carlos. Mr. Edmund de Carlos." Bo seemed to be choking, swallowing hard to spit, and his mouth was tongue-tied.Then he called out: "De Carlos? Look again! Isn't he Cadmus Cole?" "Mr. Cole?" Captain Angus threw his head back and laughed, "I must say no! Mr. Cole is dead." "Mr. Cole - is - dead?" Mr. Quin repeated, as if he found English difficult. "Of course! He died three months ago on the Argonaut. I wrapped his body in a shroud myself, sir—an old-fashioned canvas, all in the shape of a boat, and we used to It's always done when sailing." Bo roared: "This is a scam, a conspiracy to frame him! He was bribed to say this! You'd better convict him too, Dad!" "Wait a minute." The tall man was rude, and his tone made the audience suddenly quiet, "If I heard correctly, you mean that I participated in some kind of fraud, sir?" "You heard me," Beau growled. "Oh, you're a very loud boy," said the captain softly, "and I'd like to beat you up for that. But the truth is, I can verify what I say, because I know at least five The whereabouts of the crew, they will prove me a good man. Mr. Cole's death was no hoax,—his death was as I telegraphed to the White Lady." "Show him a lesson, Captain," said De Carlos savagely. "Besides, this gentleman cannot be Mr. Cole. Mr. Cole is taller and thinner than Mr. De Carlos, and has a different eye color. Mr. De Carlos is short-sighted and must wear glasses at all times; Cole Mr. had the best eyesight of any man his age I knew--until he died; never wore glasses in his life. He was completely bald; Mr. De Carlos had rings of hair. He had no teeth. , indeed, like De Carlos; but Mr. Cole never wears dentures—the inside of his mouth is too sensitive, he used to say, and he can't bear the sensation of them at all. Besides, he's a vegetarian, no Need dentures." Kelly sat in the corner, forgotten, with a look of despair on her face. "That's not all," the captain continued, and when he saw Beau's astonished expression, he felt a little secretly proud, "Mr. Cole has very severe arthritis in both hands-deformed joints. I think it's called that. He's had it for as long as I've known him. He told me once that he got it all of a sudden, back in 1919 or 1920, I can't remember. Hi, His hands are so crippled they don't look like human hands at all! They're all tangled up and they've changed color, you'll notice the hands at a glance. But look at Mr. De Carlos' hands, they're shaped Normal color and color. Mr. Cole cannot hold a pair of binoculars with either hand. He cannot even eat by himself because he cannot hold a knife and fork. The cook's assistant has to feed him like a child." Beau started to say something, his voice sounded choked, but the officer stopped him with a raised hand. "Have you any evidence, Captain, to support your statement?" Captain Angus smiled.He pulled an envelope bulging with photographs from his breast pocket and dropped it on the table. "I just thought these might come in handy," he said. "I'm a photo junkie." The D.A. grabbed the envelope and started looking through the photos.Those are dozens of large snapshots taken with sharp, high-quality lenses. In many of the photographs, De Carlos appears next to another man, a taller and thinner man with a completely bald head and cramp-like hands.As can be seen from the background, all photos were taken on board. "That man," said Captain Angus, with a sly look at Beau, "is Cadmus Cole." Ellery grabbed those pictures.Beau took one look, and then the back of his neck turned red, and he slipped into a corner—the one opposite Kelly. "That's enough for me," said the officer quickly.He gestured to the detective and the female guard.Beau looked terrified—the first time Mr. Quinn had seen that expression on his companion's face.He pulled his shoulders deafly and looked away. Kelly was taken away, and Wei followed her closely.Soon, only Captain Angus, the San Francisco detectives, De Carlos, Beau, and Ellery are left in the room. "Excuse me, I'm going too," De Carlos said, putting his wig back on his head. "Captain, you're my guest in New York—don't forget." He stomped loudly toward the door .Then he turned around again and said with a smirk, "And thank you, gentlemen, for shaving me." But Beau jumped up like a cat and stopped him: "No, you can't go," he growled, "You stay!" Before he could say that, he turned around in surprise.For Mr. Quinn burst out laughing.He laughed so hard that he couldn't even straighten his back, clutching his stomach and slumping down on the swivel chair behind the table.