Chapter 20 Chapter 20 Mr. Quinn Explains a Logical Error

"You are both crazy," exclaimed Mr. Edmond de Carlos, "get out of my way." "What's going on?" Bo looked at Ellery inexplicably. "If you don't let me go, I'll have someone arrest you!" Captain Angus touched his thin chin, trying to hide the smile on his lips: "This looks like an internal dispute. So, if gentlemen don't mind my leaving—" Mr. Quinn wiped away tears from his laughter. "You must stay, Captain," he said with a breath, and then laughed again. "What's so funny?" Beau snarled. "Everyone's going to laugh at what happened tonight!"

"Yes, oh yes, Beau. A big laughing stock indeed. And I'm the one being laughed at." Mr. Quinn took a long breath and wiped his eyes again. "I hope you can too. Stay, Mister de Carlos." "I don't see why I should stay!" "Because I beg you to stay," said Mr. Quinn, smiling, looking at De Carlos, who was rattling his dentures nervously, "please sit down, gentlemen, please sit down. We should like Like civilized people, discuss this ridiculous failure. Would you like a drink?" Captain Angus showed joy on his face: "Oh, that's another matter."

Ellery took a full bottle of Scotch and glasses from a desk drawer.The captain threw aside his coat and hat, drew up a chair, and took a glass kindly. "You too, Mr. de Carlos," said Mr. Quinn. "Oh, never mind, man! Even the best detective agency makes mistakes." He smiled so reassuringly, and The light from the bottle was so alluring that De Carlos sat down and took the glass too, though he was still scowling. "Bo?" "Don't I look like I need a drink?" Bo asked bitterly. "The way you look, you should drink a whole bottle. Gentlemen, let's drink to Logic—never underestimate it!" Mr. Quinn drank, and smiled at them all.

"What do we do now?" Beau muttered worriedly. "Kelly's back in jail, and we still don't have answers, like before." "Not really." Mr. Quinn leaned back and looked at them with keen eyes, "Not really, Bo. This little experience taught me a lesson: I should always obey the dictates of reason. The little voice of reason warned me, and I was rude at the time, and I completely ignored it. I should be ashamed." De Carlos suddenly poured himself another glass of wine, and drank it down in one gulp. "I'll tell you, Beau," continued Mr. Quinn, looking at De Carlos, "that there was a hole in our chain of facts that bothered me at the time. Poor old De Carlos chap was We confirmed that it was Cadmus Cole, and the result of this confirmation seemed so unquestionable that it caused me to make an unforgivable mistake... Before I knew the whole case and it was not time for the final showdown, Just allow the curtain to fall. It's embarrassing not only for De Carlos, but also for me, and as for Officer Quinn, my loving elder," he grimaced, "wait and see when I'm in our loving home. When he was alone at home. Did you see the look on his face when he left?"

"I see," Beau groaned, "but, Ellery, for God's sake, how could we have gone wrong? I still can't see—" “Our conclusion is that De Carlos is in fact Cole. We base this conclusion on three things: one, that he possesses Cole’s pen; It is exactly like the person who visited this office three months ago; thirdly, and most critically—the two people have exactly the same handwriting, this indisputable fact." "Do you really need me here?" De Carlos murmured, "I still—" "Have another drink, Mr. De Carlos?" Mr. Quinn glanced at him and asked, and De Carlos quickly reached for the bottle again, "Now let's talk about the first point, that pen, it seemed to be The most insignificant of the three points . . . has now become the most important or fundamental point. And yet that's where the loophole lies."

"What loophole?" Beau asked loudly. "Hey, those distinctive markings on the cap can only be tooth bites. Of course you see that, Beau? Those curved indentations? Those deep indentations printed on hard rubber, obviously these The mark was left on the cap by a man who was in the habit of biting his pens." "Why, of course," Beau said, "so what?" "The person who used the pen in our office that day was assumed to be the owner of the pen, and the owner of the pen undoubtedly had a habit of biting the pen. However, the person who used the pen that day, who claimed to be Ka Demos Cole's people don't even have a single tooth in their mouths!

"That's the loophole. I've asked myself, not once, but dozens of times, and I've ended up ignoring the question: How can a toothless person leave teeth marks on the cap of a pen?" Captain Angus poured himself another glass of wine, but after seeing De Carlos' face, he suddenly gave the glass to the bald man.De Carlos took it and drank it down with a look of despair, while the captain's cold eyes became even colder. "But De Carlos wears dentures," Beau protested. "Can't those marks be from dentures? Dentures can bite like real teeth."

"In fact," retorted Mr. Quinn, "they couldn't have been from dentures—at least not from Mr. De Carlos' dentures." "Why is it impossible?" "Skipping it for now. Let's examine, or rather re-examine, the second point: We identified De Carlos as Cole based on physical and physical similarities." "But we got it wrong. The captain has confirmed that De Carlos is De Carlos, not Cole." "That's right," said the captain, nodding his head. "He is indeed De Carlos." "I'm De Carlos," De Carlos said defiantly, staring around.

"You are De Carlos," said Mr. Quinn softly. "It is absolutely true. But there is also no doubt that the man who visited us three months ago looked exactly like you. So, I am going to change our old Conclusion. So we said, because it was Cole who came that day, and because you look exactly like Cole, you must be Cole. Now I will say, because you are De Carlos, and because three months ago The people who came to visit us looked exactly like you, so the one who visited us three months ago was De Carlos!" "You mean," said Captain Angus in a booming low voice, "that De Carlos came here three months ago and pretended to be Mr. Cole?"

"Completely correct." "Damn me," Beau gasped. "Let's get back to that," Mr. Quinn murmured. "That's the changed conclusion, and it's the correct one. It also solves another problem that troubled me. "The man who called himself Cadmus Cole came here to hire us for his services. When I asked him--and it was not unreasonable to ask--what we were hired for, he refused to say. "We found out later that we had been hired for the simplest job - just looking for a couple of lost heirs. This added to the mystery. Why didn't Mr. Cole tell us what we were hired for at first, if the Just looking for two heirs? But now," Mr. Quinn grinned, "note what my reasoning is trying to prove. Cole creates a suspense on why he hired us, because he doesn't know why himself. Hire us! But how could Cole not know? There is only one possibility: if he is not Cole, but someone else!"

Trembling, De Carlos downed another glass of wine.His cheeks, where he was freshly shaved, were deathly pale, but his nose and cheekbones were bright red. "So he's still a liar after all," said Captain Angus thoughtfully. "I've always suspected it. A sneaky guy who dares not look people in the eye." He suddenly shouted at De Carlos, " What the hell did you do that time, you liar?" "I think I can guess," said Mr. Quinn slowly, "that his impersonation of Cole three months ago had something to do with his character. Carrying out plans that were laid out by others. But, like most men who are trained to do what they are told, whenever he went it alone, he failed miserably. Isn't that right, Mr. De Carlos? "You know that Cole has written his will and that he has a heart condition. Cole may have even told you that he doesn't think he's going to live long, and probably won't even come back alive from the circumnavigation of the West Indian Ocean. So He sent you into town to deliver the sealed will to Goossens, and ordered you to drop by our office and hire Mr. Quinn to conduct an unspecified investigation. This worries you, Decca. Mr. Ross. What investigation?—but you were too cowardly to ask Cole. You were worried and you didn't dare to ask Cole for the same reason: you had a little conspiracy of your own. And the conspiracy necessitated impersonating your employer, didn't it?" De Carlos exclaimed, "You only know it happened, but you don't know why it happened! The captain can tell you—he knows Cole as well as I do. He's a devil, yes—a viper ,that person!……" "He did have times like this." Captain Angus nodded sternly. "In the years before his death," de Carlos said hoarsely, "he kept making fun of me. He used to tell me that he knew why I followed him so faithfully—why I lived Those dreadful days at sea that would have been worse than death." His face was now a uniform burgundy, full of fierce resentment, "and he said it was because I hoped to have a part of his estate when he died. Then he He'd laugh and say he was going to leave me a lot of money. Then after a while he'd act like he'd changed his mind and say he wouldn't leave me a penny. That's how he treated me like a Hanging on the hook like a fish and playing around for several years!" Mr. Quinn gave Captain Angus a questioning look, and the captain nodded: "It's true. I can testify to that." "Then it got worse," de Carlos yelled, "and he just sang one tune for the last few months—he'd leave me with nothing. I guess he liked seeing me trying to be indifferent look, old devil! When he made his will--his first document of which I don't know--he asked Angus to write it for him. He wouldn't let me stay in the cabin, so , I don't even know what the will says." "Well," said the captain, "Mr. Cole called me in and dictated his will. I wrote it down in notes and revised it to his satisfaction. At this point he let me write it out on a typewriter." Type it out. He ordered me to burn the handwritten draft, and he laughed heartily." "I was going mad with anger," said De Carlos, clenching and loosening his fists, "for so many years I was alone with him, following his orders, groveling to him, enduring his bad temper, And have to keep pretending--I see all my years and labor wasted, all for nothing! Just because he won't let me write my will, and even kicked me out of the cabin, I'm sure he's got me out I won't give me a penny except the will. When he handed me the sealed will to send me ashore, he said to me: 'Don't open it, John.' Remember! I've included instructions here for the lawyer to check the seal carefully when he receives the document - to see if it's undamaged.' And he laughed like he was telling a funny joke Like." "The instructions given to the lawyer are certainly not true," said Mr. Quinn. "He was just teasing you, trying to make you uncomfortable." De Carlos nodded and picked up the bottle again.He took a swig and put the bottle down with a "clack": "That's when I made my plan," he said defiantly. Is in a state of half madness... Does anyone know Cole himself? I asked myself. No one has seen him in eighteen years except Angus and me and the sailors. If Cole dies at sea and Angus And Sis is willing to work with me again, hey, we can buy off those sailors. So we two can go back to the shore and say to others that the man who died at sea and was buried at sea is De Carlos. Because I can play Cole role! No one will know the truth, so Angus and I can split the approximately fifty million dollars equally." He cut off suddenly, horrified by the look on Captain Angus's face. The sailor grabbed De Carlos by the collar and said to him in a low voice: "You dirty villain, tell these two men that this is the first time I've heard of this shady plan. Tell them, or else I will make you regret that you came to this world!" "No, no, I don't want to imply—" De Carlos hastily argued, "Mr. Quinn, Mr. Rumel, I assure you...the captain doesn't know my thoughts at all. He mentioned it!" "That's more or less," said the captain, still angrily, and he sat down and drank another glass of wine in silence. "I see," Quinn said softly, "then that's why you shaved off the ring of hair on your head, took off your glasses and dentures, and pretended to be Cole. After that make-up, you look exactly like Cole." It's almost the same. You plan to wait for Cole to die at sea, and after you spread the news that the dead man is De Carlos, you can call yourself Cole and come back here, and at that time at least three people will swear and swear You are Cole—those three people you visited as Cole: Goossens, Rummel, and me. It seems like a brilliant idea, Mr. De Carlos, but it's just a little too optimistic, isn't it?" "Later I realized that too," murmured De Carlos, forcing out a weird smile, "Later, when I got back to the boat, Cole personally shattered my entire plan, even though he himself Didn't know. He showed me the copy of the will I just handed to Goossens--I saw in the will that he left me a million dollars. A million!--I was loose breath, abandoning my—my plan." "But your troubles aren't over yet," said Mr. Quinn, "because when you called yourself Cole, Goossens, Rummel, and I all saw you bald, toothless, beardless, and without glasses. look - it does look a bit like being swept away. Obviously, after you give up the plan, you have to plan how to return to our society with a completely different look! You have to buy a wig - bought in Cuba, Didn’t you? — put your dentures and glasses back on, and immediately after Cole told you he left you a million dollars, you started growing a beard.” "Wait a minute," Beau said, frowning, "there's one more thing I don't understand—what's with the handwriting? The guy did write us a check, signed Cole's name, and the bank He actually accepted the account, why did it happen? Even the signature on the will—” "Oh," said Mr. Quinn, "that's the best part of the whole thing—the part that seems so perfect, so ingenious, that we've built entirely false reasoning upon it. The handwriting The problem is the key to your false identity, isn't it, Mr. De Carlos? It makes this whole crazy plan possible. When we saw this man sign Cole's name on the check, and the check was denied by the bank. When I paid without hesitation, who would have thought that the visitor was not Cole?" "But Captain Angus has already given us the answer to this mystery." At this moment, De Carlos slumped on the chair, looking drunk and sad, "Cole has arthritis! Osteoarthritis is a disease that causes joint deformities, A disabling disease. Once it's advanced - and it's fast - it's incurable. It's also painfully painful—" "Pain?" the captain grimaced. "Mr. Cole used to be driven mad by it. For as long as I've known him, he's been taking 60 to 120 aspirin a day to keep the pain down. I once told him he should Stop living at sea because the humidity only makes him sicker. But I guess he's too sensitive to his disability to get back ashore and integrate into society." Ellery nodded. "According to the captain, his hands were so deformed that he had to be fed - he couldn't even hold a knife and fork. So obviously he couldn't write either. "But if he can't write, then the mystery of handwriting is solved. Cole is a very wealthy man, and although he is retired, managing his vast estate occasionally requires signing legal documents. Of course, signing checks is more commonplace. He can't turn all his property into cash and carry it with him. Is there a solution? Yes, loyal 'Friday', the man who has followed him for twenty-five years. "It is certain that at the time of Cole's illness—and just before Cole made a fortune on Wall Street after the war—De Carlos had already become Cole's trusted subordinate, enough to replace Cole's own disability hands. "He therefore proceeded to authorize de Carlos to sign the name 'Cadmus Cole' on all documents, including checks. Long story short, because of his sensitivity to his disability, as Captain Angus said, He wished to keep his medical condition private. He ordered you to open another account at another bank, did he not, De Carlos? So, from the beginning of his seclusion, signing his name in your handwriting never caused Overcome other people's questions!" "You mean," asked Captain Angus, "that De Carlos didn't tell you about it?" "He missed it," said Beau coldly. "But I don't see—oh, he signed the old man's will! It must be signed by him, because Mr. Cole can't even hold a pen, as Mr. Quin said. I When the will was typed, I signed it as a witness, and took it to the dispatcher's cabin, where Spark also signed it. Then I took the will back to Mr. Cole's cabin. , he had de Carlos called in. I guess after I left, De Carlos signed the will. Before I left there, I noticed," said the captain with a pursed smile, "that Mr. Cole didn't Let De Carlos see the contents of the will and joke it to the end." "That's not the same," Beau drawled. "It seems to me that Cole, as brilliant as he is, is taking a big risk by letting a little guy named De Carlos sign a check for him!" "Not really," said Ellery. "I guess Cole keeps a close eye on you, doesn't he, De Carlos? Probably oversees the accounts, and you're basically always at sea, where you'd It won’t work if you want to make trouble.” "Stop!" Beau said. "Stop, one more thing. This monkey tried to pay us off the case. Why?" "Good question," Ellery agreed, "why?"—De Carlos looked embarrassed—"Then let me tell you. Because you've lost most of the money that Cole bequeathed you. You gambled, you failed investments, you went to nightclubs, you courted pretty girls, you drank and hung out...you spent the after-tax portion of a million dollars in no time, didn't you, De Carlos? So, that's where you were , almost broke, but there is another big treasure in your hands. So you came up with another brilliant idea." "You're such a devil in predicting things," De Carlos said inarticulately. "Please don't say that," protested Mr. Quinn. "Is that fair to the old man? Now the woman impersonating Margot Cole is dead, and Kelly Shawn, the other heir, is in jail, And--you eagerly expect--are almost doomed to be convicted, sentenced, and leave the vast Cole estate uninherited, to be managed entirely by trustees. And who are the trustees? Goossens and yourself! Isn't that inspiring, Mister de Carlos?" Beau's eyes widened. "Don't tell me Mr. Clever is going to make another deal to take advantage of Cole's estate—this time with Goossins!" "Once the stumbling block of Ellery Quinn's office is removed," muttered Mr. Quin, "I dare say that's his general idea. And I don't have the slightest doubt, Mr. Goossens." You are now as ignorant of your second plan as the good captain was of your first." De Carlos struggled to his feet. "You've always been smart, Mr. Quinn—" "By the way," said Mr. Quinn, "I admire your endurance. Of course you knew from the beginning that Beau Rumel was not Ellery Quinn, because you met us three months ago. , we were both in our true colors, and you were pretending to be Cole. But if you want to unmask us, you have to tell how you know the truth. So you Keep your mouth shut. Your situation is like one in a Chesterton novel!" "What are you—what are you going to do about me?" asked De Carlos, squinting at him. "Well, Mr. Quinn?" "At present, it is not planned to deal with it." "I think it's so-so!" said De Carlos contemptuously. "It's all groundless and unsubstantiated. Farewell, gentlemen. Come and see me at home some other day!" He staggered out Through the door, it was gone. "I think," said Captain Angus with a serious expression, "I will accept his invitation now and keep an eye on him for you. I have nothing to do anyway." "That's all very well, Captain," said Mr. Quin eagerly. "We can't have him go on a sudden trip to Indochina, can we?" The captain grinned, grabbed his coat and hat, and hurried after De Carlos. "Now we're back where we started, what should we do?" Beau threw a paper cutter at the opposite wall.The knife wobbled into the wall. "Good knife," said Mr. Quinn absently. "Oh, we're going to do it." "What are you doing?" "Sit here and think intensely. At least that's what I plan to do, and I suggest you do too. We're running out of time. We promised Pa that the prisoner would be handed over to him within twenty-four hours. That is, we only have the period between now and tomorrow noon." "Stop kidding," Beau grumbled.He threw himself on the leather couch and frowned at the ceiling. "Poor Kelly." "I'm not kidding," Bo sat up suddenly: "You mean you really think it's possible to solve this mystery?" "yes." "But the mess is messier now than ever!" "It's darkest just before dawn, and there's a light on the edge of every cloud: wait, wait," muttered Mr. Quinn, "heaps of news, piles. All we have to do is sift, bo—sift, line up and synthesize. All the facts are here, I feel it, can't you?" "No, I didn't," said Mr. Rumel gruffly. "The only thing I could feel was pain. I wanted to punch someone in the nose! Now Kelly is back in jail, heartbroken... ..." He grabbed the bottle and said angrily, "What are you waiting for? Start thinking now!"

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Notes: The name of a servant who was loyal to Robinson Crusoe.