Chapter 8 Cell No. 16 Mystery
"That's right," began Dr. Sam Hawthorne, filling two glasses, "for a while, North Hill was on the front page of every newspaper in the country. Have some more—er—drinks? Some reports even My name was mentioned. They called me a young doctor in New England, which I was then, when the loach came to our town in the late spring of 1926..."
It was a warm May day (Dr. Sam recalls) and I went to Jeff Whitehead's farm to treat a gunshot wound.That incident in itself was unusual, as there were not that many gunshot wounds in North Hills, except during hunting season.Jeff Whitehead and his wife have forty acres of good farmland, which he cultivates with his two ten-year-old sons.The worst illness I've ever seen this family was nothing more than a cold, though I went to their farm last summer to see some giant shiitake mushrooms popping up in the pasture behind them, I'm not an expert on that - I think , It seems to be called mycology - but I can confirm that those can be eaten. On this day, my eldest son Matt picked me up at the gate of the farmhouse, and he was the one who called me.He cried, "Here, Dr. Sam, he's bleeding a lot!" "Who is it?" "Eustace Corey. He's shot in the left thigh." Curry, the owner of one of the two grocery stores in North Hills, was a troublemaker.But that didn't explain why he was bleeding profusely from a gunshot wound on Jeff Whitehead's lawn. "What happened?" "I don't know, Dr. Sam." I parked my yellow convertible next to the house and walked back and walked across the field with my purse and we came to a raised spot and there they were - Jeff Whitehead and A man called Henkel from the town stood beside Eustace Corey.They slapped something like a tourniquet on his upper thigh, but it didn't help.I saw at a glance that the wound itself was not serious, but he had lost a considerable amount of blood, which was dangerous. "I think I'm dying, doctor," he said to me. "Nonsense, Eustace!" I began to cut open his trousers. "How did this happen?" "I was walking with a gun and tripped over a tree root." The gun, a long-barreled Colt revolver, lay on the grass beside it. "It's not hunting season yet," I said, starting to heal the wound. "We're hunting groundhogs," Jeff Whitehead said spontaneously.I turned to look at his son, Matt, and then at Rudy Hankel. "You four together? Where's your wife and your youngest son. Jeff?" "Going to town to do some shopping." "If you knew there was a gunshot wound, I'd have to report it to the sheriff." "No problem," said the injured one, "you report it." After I had bandaged him as best I could, I suggested that he take my car to the clinic so I could have the bullet removed. "We may have to send you to the hospital in Felix for a few days, and you will recover soon." As I was talking, I picked up the gun, and while the other three were busy loading Eustace into my car, I opened the magazine to have a look. It was fully loaded and not fired. Pass. It was not known who shot Eustace Corey, but not himself.
On our way back to town, fate played an extremely crazy trick. I was approaching the intersection with the way out, and I was taking a look at my patient, wondering if he was going to be okay this way, when a brown Packard was coming straight sideways at high speed.I slammed on the brakes hard, but it was too late, and the front of my loudspeaker hit Packard's front right bumper with a loud crash. I got out of the car immediately and ran over to see if the other driver was injured. As I approached, he looked up and mumbled something that sounded like French. I instinctively thought he was cursing me. . "Sorry," I said to him, "I'm a doctor and I have a patient in my car." Without saying a word, he tried to back around me, but the bumper in front of him was so crooked that the wheels couldn't move.Jeff, his son, and Hankel, who followed in Whitehead's car, all got out now to see what they could do to help.The presence of others seemed to make the driver even more unpleasant. "Oops," he finally said in English with a strong foreign accent. "Help me solve it, I have to hurry." I turned to Jeff Whitehead and said, "My car is still running, can you use your car to tow him into town, I'm taking Eustace to the clinic, I'm worried about his legs. " "Okay, Dr. Sam, you go first." I left them at the crossroads, apparently the Frenchman didn't like the idea at all, I guess they dragged him to Russell's garage to see the damage.Meanwhile, I drove Corey to my clinic to rework the wound a bit better, but there was no way to remove the bullet.I asked Aibo to report the incident of the gunshot wound to Sheriff Lens.Not long after, the sheriff limped to the clinic. During the four years I worked in Beishan Town, I had a very good relationship with Sergeant Lansi. I only healed his sprained ankle less than a few weeks ago. It was during the inauguration ceremony of the new prison that he stepped on Caused by falls in slippery places.It was a very embarrassing moment for the sheriff, and this embarrassment will probably last until he fully recovers, and there is no memory of the accident. However, the new prison was opened as scheduled, and it was the largest and newest in the county. Sergeant Lansi was as proud as if he had given birth to another daughter. "Fifteen cells," he boasted the day he opened it, "bigger than a county jail, and now that bootlegging is rampant, we really need that many." Now, as Ib led him into the consulting room, he took one look at Eustace Corey and exclaimed, "My God! Eustace! Shot yourself in the leg! You're sure it's not a shovel." Did the rat shoot it out of its hole?" "It's not funny at all, Sheriff! I've lost a lot of blood—and I might die from it!" "A bad man like you doesn't die so early. Damn it, I can't believe you'd come to him after you've had such a fight with Jeff Whitehead." The sheriff squinted at him. "Are you sure you didn't trespass on his property and Jeff shot you?" "I hurt myself," Cory insisted. "It was an accident." I re-bandaged him, remembering the gun I picked up.I don't think there is any need to hide it. I took the gun from the car earlier, and now I give the gun to Sheriff Lens. "That's his gun, and it never fired, as far as I can see." The sheriff sniffed the barrel and opened the magazine again. "Oh, yes, doctor, there is a missing bullet here, and it smells like gunpowder." "Let me see," I couldn't believe my eyes.Where there were six cartridges, there was now a freshly fired empty case under the firing pin. "I don't understand. I can swear that the gun wasn't fired during the inspection." Sergeant Lan Si laughed. "Leave the gun to me, doctor, and you can just treat the wound." "I'm not crazy, Sheriff, I know exactly what I'm seeing." But our words were interrupted by Jeff Whitehead's eldest son, Matt. "Doctor, Sheriff," he said, "I think you should go to Russell's garage. The guy you hit was making such a fuss that Hank Russell said he wouldn't fix it until tomorrow. This guy wants another car, says he's in a hurry. Maybe he's a gangster or something." "Never heard of the French gang," I said.Sergeant Lansi pricked up his ears. "You say he's French?" I shrugged my shoulders. "I think so, but I'm not sure." "Let's go and see." I left Eustace in Ib's care.We accompany Matt back to Russell's garage.When we entered, the Frenchman was arguing fiercely with Hank Russell, apparently wanting to rent a car to continue his journey, but there are not so many cars in North Hills, and the big Hank Russell just shook his head. "Is there a problem?" Sergeant Lan Si asked. The little Frenchman turned around and saw the police badge pinned to the sheriff's chest. He seemed to panic for a moment, and seemed to be about to run away.Immediately afterwards, to my great surprise, Sergeant Lan Si pulled out his gun, fired the safety, and aimed eagerly at the little man. "I think you'd better stand there and not move," he said in a soft voice I rarely heard. "What's the matter, Sheriff?" Hank Russell asked. "Who's this guy?" "Unless I'm dead wrong, this is the notorious George Remy, nicknamed Loach, who is wanted by the police on two continents, and I caught him. It's in the town of North Mountain." This is the moment of Sergeant Lan Si's victory, but unfortunately this moment is too short.
I later learned from the sheriff and from the news reports that Georges Remy was a con man who committed various crimes in Europe and then in the United States.But it was his several daring escapes from police custody that earned him the nickname "Loach".He boasted that no prison could hold him, and he seemed pretty sure of that. A front-page report in The New York Times spoke of his recent arrest in Paris.When he was escorted to the court with a dozen other prisoners, he actually slipped away from the group of adult suspects and squatted next to a group of juvenile criminals waiting to be questioned. When one of them was called by name, Remy grabbed his arm and led him out of the courtroom, pretending to be an undercover detective.When it came to juvenile court, he left the young man behind.Claiming to be a secret service officer, he deceived the guards and escaped. Since then, "Loach" has disappeared, and a few weeks later, he reappeared in Boston, pretending to be a French count who collected rare paintings, and defrauded a major museum of large sums of money.According to Sergeant Lens, just a few days ago, the Boston police locked down the apartment building where he lived and rounded up the apartment building. Although there were officers guarding every entrance and exit, he knocked out the postman, stole his uniform, and escaped disguised as a postman. go out. "Sounds like something out of a G. K. Chesterton novel," I said. "Who?" "A writer, you don't know him, Sheriff." "Well, I do know about the loach, that's true! The Boston police say he stole a carnival supplier salesman's car and drove out of town, and they've called every police station in New England." Georges Remy just looked at me and the sheriff and said, "I'm leaving this town tomorrow morning." "That's damn right!" Sheriff Lance agreed. "I've called Boston, and they'll send two detectives tomorrow to take you back. I'll just put up with you for one night." "There's no prison for me," he boasted, sounding very French. "Let's see," the sheriff took out a large bunch of keys from his pocket, and pointed to the stairs leading from his office, "Come on." I followed behind, first to a very heavy door with iron bars, Sergeant Len Si unlocked it, left the door open, and entered a corridor with empty cells on both sides.These cells occupy the entire second floor of the prison, with eleven of the fifteen cells along three outer walls.The building is almost square.The aisle just formed an inner square, and the middle part was divided into four cells used as a detention center, where drunks and the like were kept overnight.These inner cells have no windows to see the outside world, they are numbered as cells 1 to 4, and the rest are numbered from left to right until cell 16 is in the outermost corner. Sergeant Lan Si unlocked the cell door and told Remy to go in. "This is your home until tomorrow morning. I will bring you food later." The cell was about ten feet deep and six feet wide, with only an iron bed fastened to the wall.There is also a toilet with a washbasin and nothing else.About six feet above the ground there was a small window of barred glass, which was open to let in the warm May air.I know that under the window is what used to be the blacksmith's shop, now behind Russell's garage. When Sergeant Lan Si closed the cell door and locked the lock, I asked, "How come there is Cell No. 16? You only have fifteen cells in total." "Well, yes, but I skipped the thirteenth because it's unlucky." "In my opinion, any cell is unlucky for the person in it." "Yes, but the thirteenth is more unlucky than the others. People are ridiculous." "There's a novel by a man named Jack Futrell called." "It's your writers again! You read a lot, doctor." "It's about a professor who escaped from a prison cell in an incomprehensible way." "Ha! Another good reason why there shouldn't be a number thirteen in a cell." I can't argue with this logic, so I didn't say any more.
After returning to the clinic, my nurse Aibo was eager to inquire. "Tell me what's the matter. Dr. Sam, I've heard that Sergeant Lenz has got a big criminal." It made me laugh to think that little George Remy was called a criminal. "Well, it wasn't that exciting," I said, but I told her about the accident and how they had to tow Remy's car to town to fix the busted bumper and all, Russell Start repairs anyway, although no one knows who will pay the bill in the end. Later that day I took Eustace Corey to the hospital in Felix so they could extract the bullet.I'm still a little confused about the gun thing.But I thought about what might be going on.While I was still thinking about it in my apartment that night, the phone rang just after midnight.I thought of Mrs. Higgins, who was pregnant on the farm and was about to give birth, and also thought of Alan, an old man who was lingering on the sick bed and was on the verge of dying.Whoever it was, the late call meant I had to go out. But it was Sergeant Lansi who called. I have never heard him speak so excitedly. "Doctor, can you come to the prison immediately? I just went back to check the cell, and the loach is gone!" "You mean he escaped?" "I don't know what I mean, doctor—he's gone anyway!" "I'll be right there," I told him. When I arrived there, he had already turned on all the lights in the prison, and also called two of his men to help search.But it was hopeless from the start.There was only one other inmate in the jail that night—Rudy Hankel, a friend of Corey's.After Corey went to the hospital, Rudy started drinking hard.He smashed a window in Dixie's, where smuggled whiskey was sold in coffee cups, so much so that Sergeant Lens had to arrest him. Rudy was locked in cell one, which was on the opposite end of cell sixteen, but he had been sound asleep the whole time.Now, he woke up and shouted through the iron bars: "What are you doing? Turning on all the lights in the middle of the night, how can people sleep?" "Be quiet, Rudy," I said, "I'll talk to you later." And I followed Sergeant Lens down the hallway between the cells.To the room where I last saw Georges Remy locked up.Cell No. 16 is as empty as the others, with few signs of previous occupancy except for a crumpled blanket on the floor. "Just like that, Doctor. He just disappeared!" "Well," I said, "now tell me everything since I left you this afternoon." "Well, to be honest, there wasn't much to do. When it was time for dinner, I ordered something for the prisoner to eat. I delivered it myself, because all my men had already gone home. I wanted to share with him. Talk, but I hear the same old saying—that he'll be gone before morning." "How on earth did you bring the tray to him? Show me one." Inspector Lens mumbled a few words, but he went downstairs and fetched the metal tray he had been eating on. "I put the tray on the ground here, and opened the cell door. Then I took the tray and went in." "Did you lock the cell door after you went in?" "No, I left the door open and he wasn't going anywhere, and I kept my hand on the gun, and the barred door at the top of the stairs was locked." "He might knock you out. Take your keys." "Is that little one?" "He can throw food in your face, and you pounce on it before you know what's going on." "He's going to end up getting killed for this kind of trouble, I tell you." "Okay." I said.It's useless to think about this kind of thing any more, anyway, "Loach" didn't use this method to escape from prison. "And what happened to you?" "Sit there and watch him eat. Oh, he's a slick guy, yes! No problem at all! Once he got so close to the door that I had to pull the gun out, but he sat back and took the stuff Finished." "and then?" "Damn, then I picked up the tray with both hands, closed the cell door with me, and left. These cells lock themselves as soon as the door is closed. You need a key to open it again. At the top of the stairs That door has a deadbolt, and I must open it and then lock it." "Okay, what happened next?" "Nothing. I already told you about the arrest of Rudy Hankel." "Tell me again, and tell me how he was sent to the cell." "Well, that's what it is. I have to half carry him upstairs and throw him on the bed. I guess that's why I put him in the first cell behind the door. So I don't have to carry him too far." "Was 'Loach' still in Cell No. 16?" "Of course! I didn't turn on the light down the aisle. It was past ten o'clock. I thought he was sleeping, and I could see him curled up under the blanket." "But he didn't move or speak?" "No. I told you he was asleep. Anyway, I went back, turned off the light, locked the door at the top of the stairs, and then stayed in my office for the rest of the night." "Is there any other way out of this prison than by your office?" "Nope! The fire department wanted an emergency back staircase, but I told them the building is fireproof—it's all brick on the outside. Besides, the back stairs have to be locked at all times, so in case of fire Not much use." I went to the window and reached up to the iron bars that were mounted there, all of which were so firmly in place that even a man as small as Georges Remy could not have squeezed through the gaps. , I bent down to pick up the blanket from the floor. "You said he slept under this blanket?" "That's right." I suddenly thought of one thing. "When you went back to check on him, did you try to make sure the cell door was locked?" "Of course I did! The door is indeed locked, yes, and he's inside." "Okay. When did you go up again?" "Half an hour ago, Hankel started to make a fuss. I could hear him because he was at the top of the stairs. After I went up, he said he had a nightmare. This time I will check the status of 'Loach' The cell, it's empty." "Let's go look outside," I said. Under the cell on the second floor is an open space behind Russell's garage, but at this time in the middle of the night, there is no one there.I saw a lantern set on a large barrel, and I lit it, and a gloomy light shone on the hard ground. "One more thing, Sheriff," I said, "did you notice that the door to Cell Sixteen was locked when it was empty?" "Not bad at all!" "Is it possible that Remy is hiding under the bed?" "Impossible, I turned on all the lights immediately, and only after I was sure the cell was empty, I unlocked the cell door. The blanket was on the floor, and the other person was gone." I bent down and picked something up from the ground directly under Remy's cell. "What?" Sergeant Lansi asked. "A long rope." "rope?" "It's as if 'Loach' made himself so small that he could squeeze through the iron bars. Then use this rope to let him down to the ground." "How can there be such a thing!" "Do you have any better ideas?" "No," Sergeant Lens admitted. "Did he have any rope in his pocket when you arrested him?" "Possibly," said the Inspector. "I searched him only for a weapon, but I didn't ask him to take out all his pockets. I don't think he was here but one night." "Then maybe he has something to pick locks too." "No, no—as long as it's metal, I'll feel it when I search. Besides, these new locks shouldn't be able to be opened without a key." I rolled up that rope and put it in my pocket. "So what do we know now? At ten o'clock, 'Loach' was in Cell No. 16. There were two locked doors between him and Liberty. Two hours later, he disappeared. The doors were still locked, the windows untouched. No one else was even on the same floor as him except Rudy Henkel, who had been crying in his own locked cell. Go to sleep." "Doctor. That story you mentioned, Cell 13 or something—how did the people in that get out?" "The method used is very complicated, but basically he is trying to find a way to send a letter to a friend of his who is outside to help him." "Do you think 'Loach' has friends outside?" "I don't know what to think now," I admitted. "Ask me tomorrow morning." "By tomorrow morning, 'Loach' will probably be almost in Chicago." "I don't think so," I said, looking behind Russell's garage.
The next morning, shortly after eight o'clock, Aibo burst into the clinic. "Oh, we're really early today." "I didn't get much sleep last night," I told her. "Have you heard about 'Loach' escaping from prison? Sergeant Lan Si will be ridiculed and run out of town." "It's too bad if that's the case, I like the sheriff. He's a good guy." "His brand-new, fifteen-cell prison from which no one can escape! The first real prisoner he puts in, walks out as if the prison were made of paper." "Aibo, do I have any patients this morning?" "Mrs. Bassett will come by for a new prescription, that's all." "I'll prescribe the medicine first, and you can give it to her. I'm going out for a while." "To the jail?" "No, to Russell's Garage." Although it was still early, Hank Russell was covered in sooty grease.His father was a former blacksmith. After his death, Hank saw the right moment and turned the blacksmith shop into a garage. For a small town like North Hills, he is a very good auto repair mechanic. We can catch up with the automobile age. "Hello, Dr. Sam, how is your patient?" he asked me as soon as I entered the garage. "which one?" "Of course it's Eustace Corey!" I completely forgot about Cory's injury. "Oh, I'm sure he's recovering well and they're probably releasing him today." "That's fine, what a stupid accident." If that was really an accident, I thought.I asked aloud, "How long will it take you to fix that car?" "It was just repaired. But I guess Loach doesn't need this car now. I'm afraid he's gone a long way." I went over to look at the car.Russell had knocked out the crooked bumper and the wheels were turning freely. "Has anyone else been here?" I asked, "say, Whitehead's son?" "Haven't seen him since yesterday." I walked over to the prison and found that Sergeant Lens was on the phone with the Boston police, trying to explain what was going on with his prisoner. After he finished talking embarrassingly, I asked, "What do you want?" Is Rudy Henkel released?" "Damn it, not yet, Doctor, if I say it, he'll have to stay here until he dies." "The judge will probably have something to say about that." "I've been thinking about it all night, and I'm thinking about how Loach got out. That's the only way he can get out! It's like that story you told me about cell thirteen. He Pulled the rope out of his pocket and dangled a note from his cell window. Hank Russell saw it in his garage and came over to read the note. Loach promised to pay him Help, so Hank went to Rudy Hankel who was still nearby to help. Rudy pretended to be drunk and smashed the window, so I had to arrest him. After he entered the cell, he Find a way to give the lockpicking tool to Loach, and the French guy used that tool. I know our locks should be impossible to pick, but does anyone know what the French guy is capable of?" "How did Rudy give 'Loach' the unlocking thing?" I asked. "Uh. I guess it slipped across the ground," Sergeant Lan Si replied a little uncertainly. "But the cell of 'Loach' is in the opposite corner of the house. There is a long corridor from Hankel's cell, and there is a turn to the left. Hankel can't get there, even from his cell. It's impossible there." "Yes," murmured the Inspector, "I think you're right. But I still think Hankel has a lot to do with it." "Let me go talk to him, Sheriff, and maybe I'll know something." He took me upstairs and opened the cell door.Rudy Henkle sat on the bed with his head in his hands. "Hello, Rudy," I said.Sergeant Lens re-locked the door behind me. "When will they let it out? Doctor? I don't know anything about the escape of 'Loach'." "But you got drunk and broke another window, Rudy." "Uh, yes..." "why?" "What do you mean by that, doctor?" "Why are you drunk? It's not like you." He turned his head away. "I have no idea." "Shall I tell you, Rudy? Shall I tell you what happened yesterday at Whitehead's farm?" Sergeant Lance turned to check Cell No. 16 again.But anyway, I have lowered my voice, and he can't hear it. "How do you know?" "I know. The first time I looked at that Curt revolver, it hadn't been fired, but when Sergeant Lens checked it out, right after the crash. Not only did it smell of gunpowder, but there was a blank casing left In it. I know I'm not blind, so there's only one explanation left - there were two Colt revolvers on Whitehead Farm yesterday, and some of you put them down when my car was pulled over in a crash Changed." "I do not know what you're talking about--" "Then what's the point of the two long-barreled Colt revolvers?" "what?" "duel." His shoulders slumped, but he said nothing. "Two crazy nerds dueling there yesterday, weren't they? Whitehead and Eustace Corey. To settle their old feud with pistols! Jeff Whitehead's son was his second-in-command, You're Cory's second-in-command. Only Cory hasn't even fired a shot, has he? Jeff Whitehead shot him in the leg, and all of a sudden you all need a doctor." "We're all fucking stupid," Rudy admitted, looking up at me. "It's weird that none of them died. After I figured things out rationally last night, I went out to drink Drunk! But even that didn't help—I passed out in my cell and dreamed about it and even heard the gunshot." "Gunshots?" "That woke me up in the middle of the night as if someone had actually fired a shot. But I knew it must be because I was dreaming about the duel." I patted his knee. "Don't worry, Rudy. I'll talk to the sheriff and he'll let you go." Sergeant Lan Si came back and unlocked the cell door for me. I walked out the second door first and locked the door after he came out. "Did you find anything?" he asked. "Just a thought—but I think I know how Loach escaped. I'll be back here tonight and let you see what's going on."
The day passed so slowly that it seemed like it would never end.Everyone in town was talking about escape, and even the state trooper came to question Sergeant Lens.There was talk of hunting Loach with hounds, thinking he had fled west, but as far as I know, nothing was done. After dark, I went back to the prison and took Sergeant Lens down the street to Russell's Garage. "What are we doing here?" he asked, "We should be chasing 'loach'!" "I don't think 'Loach' has left Beishan Town at all, and I just want to prove it." "Didn't leave at all—" "Be quieter." I warned, and we walked to the side of the garage in the growing darkness.To our right, I could see the prison, and the barred windows of the cell where Loach was kept. "I still say that Hankel has something to do with this matter," Lan Si muttered softly, "Now I have to let him go." "Hankel has nothing to do with it." "Then how is this possible? There is no other answer!" "There are at least two other answers, Sheriff." "What?" "You see, the whole impossibility rests on your testimony alone, and if your testimony collapses, so does the impossibility of escape." "But--" "Rudy Hankel was woken up by what sounded like a gun being fired. He thought it was a dream, but what if it wasn't? What if you went back to deliver Remy's food and he charged at you? You pull Shoot him and kill him, Sheriff. Then, terrified of what you've done, you carry the body out and bury it in the back weeds, making up this 'loach' to do the impossible Prison Break." Sergeant Lens stared at me in the near darkness, and I saw his hand hanging down to the gun he was carrying. "Do you believe it happened, doctor?" "No, I don't believe it. If there is such a thing, you will tell the truth. Shooting a prisoner who is trying to escape will do far less damage to your reputation than letting him escape successfully! Besides, I and You said there were two possible answers." Just then we heard a sound--nearby, not fifty feet away--moving so lightly that it would probably go unnoticed.Someone was at the side door of Russell's garage trying to break the lock. I jumped forward. "Come on, Sheriff, it's him!" George Remy turned to run, but we jumped on him, and I held him down, and Sergeant Lens handcuffed him. "We'll take better care of you this time," I said. He kept swearing in French while we locked him in.Then I sat down in the Sheriff's office and explained to him the correct solution to the Cell No. 16 mystery. While Georges Remy was smoking a cigarette in his handcuffed hands, I said, "This is a complex escape comparable to Futrill's. The Loach did not rely on external help, but a minute Minute by minute. I suppose it's his way of life, and if other criminals have the same skill and guts, they can follow his example." Sergeant Lan Si became a little impatient. "How did he escape from that locked cell?" "Well, I think he'd have to start with the cell door, and you showed me that there's a latch on the door, and it locks when it's closed. But you kept the door open while he ate, and you even told me Says he got so close to the cell door once that you had to draw your gun. In that split second, when he was by the open door, Remi figured out how to get something—a small piece of bread, maybe even It was a toothpick—it was inserted into the lock so that when the cell door was closed, the spring lock would not lock fully. Sheriff, you were holding the tray in both hands, and you didn't have one hand to make sure the cell door was locked. It's locked." "But I tried later," Inspector Lens insisted. "I'll get to that later. My point is that last night, just after dinner, Georges Rémy escaped from his cell, and the only thing between him and freedom is the door at the top of the stairs." It's just a door with iron bars." "But I'm downstairs in the office. Even if he tries to open the door somehow, it's impossible for him to pass by me." "He didn't open that door, Sheriff—you opened it for him." "I--" "That's when you got Rudy Henkel in. Remember, Henkel was in cell number one, closest to the stairs. It was one of the four cells in the middle block, right next to the one on the other side. Cell No. 16 is divided into two ends. In fact, as I specifically stated earlier, you cannot see Cell No. 16 at all from Cell No. 1. I can assume that you left the door at the top of the stairs open, Because you've got Rudy in both hands, and because I've seen you leave the door open twice in the time I've been with you. You have to use a key to lock that door, and you just can't be bothered to lock it, but对于藏身在中间那几间牢房边暗处的雷米来说，却正是他在等着的大好机会。在你转过身去把鲁迪弄上床的时候，他就溜了过去，下了楼，重获自由。” “可我在之后还见到他在上了锁的牢房里呀！”警长抗议道。 “你只看到有什么在毯子底下，楼层后面的灯没开。你只是以为那是雷米。可是'泥鳅'很聪明，他不可能知道你10点钟的时候会带个犯人上来，事实上，他只知道一直到明天早上你给他送早餐来查牢房之前，只有他一个人在那里，所以他想到一个妙计，可以给他宝贵的几秒钟时间。要是你早上一上来看到牢房空了，你就会马上发警报，甚至很可能在'泥鳅'下楼梯逃亡之前就先跑回楼梯那里。他需要你在牢房里停留三十秒到一分钟的时间，让他可以慢慢地绕过中间那几间牢房，由打开的门下楼去。” “就算你知道我让门敞着，可他怎么晓得？” “泥鳅”只笑了笑。所以我回答了这个问题。“昨天你把他抓上来关进牢房的时候，他看到你让门敞着的，警长。” "what." “反正，他在吃过晚饭离开牢房的时候，在毯子底下做了个假人，然后只要把他原先塞在锁孔里的东西拿走，让弹簧锁完全锁上，牢门就锁住了。” “什么假人？你刚告诉我'泥鳅'是怎么从上锁的牢房里逃出去的——现在告诉我假人怎么逃得出去！” “警长，乔治·雷米开着的那辆偷来的车子，原先是一个嘉年华会用品供应商推销员的，在他车子里所带的每种样品里，最可能的是什么东西？” 蓝思警长一脸茫然，可是乔治·雷米却笑了。“了不起。医生，”他说，“我从来没有想到在这样一个小镇上有人能看穿我的把戏。” “气球，”我简单明了地说，“你，袋里有几个气球，还有绑气球的绳子。你把气球吹大，放在毯子底下，再把绳子由窗口垂到外面。等你逃出去之后，就扯动绳子，把气球由铁条缝里拉出去。至少有一个气球炸了，发出的声音让半睡的鲁迪·韩克尔以为是枪声。” “他为啥要那么麻烦地把气球给拉出去？”蓝思警长问道，“为啥不留在这儿？” 我耸了下肩膀。“我猜他觉得这是个很好的花招，以后还想再用，而且没了气球，他的逃狱就更让人摸不着头脑了。所以他才会把气球带走，虽然还是掉了根绳子。” “我根本没见有绳子从窗口拉出去。” “那里很黑。你并没打开这头的灯，记得吗？你只开了靠韩克尔牢房的灯。” 蓝思警长摇了摇头。“这事有太多地方可能出差错了。” “我跟你说过'泥鳅'是在随机应变。他所有的脱逃全靠运气和大胆。所以我才想到他不会靠他两只脚往远处逃，他已经知道这里没有别的车可用，而且也怕偷到一辆在操作上不熟悉的车子，比方说，像我那部车就很难开。所以我想他可能藏在附近什么地方。等着罗素把他的车修好了，让他可以再偷第二次。” “真他妈的！”蓝思警长说。 然后我转身去问“泥鳅”：“告诉我，乔治，你在哪里躲了将近二十四个小时？” 起先我以为他不会回答，可是后来他回答了。也许他对能骗倒我感到很骄傲吧。“我就在罗素的修车厂旁边的大桶子里，”他微笑道，“就是你从上面拿了盏灯笼的那个桶子。”
“哎，”山姆·霍桑医生总结道，“这就是我怎么解决谜案、登上纽约各大报头版的经过。不过这一切当然都是白费心思。六个月之后，'泥鳅'从波士顿监狱里逃了出去，回到法国，他真是个滑不留手的家伙。你说怀德海和柯瑞的决斗怎么了？那一部分还没完呢，那事引到一桩发生在乡村小旅舍的不可能谜案。可是时间已经晚了，得等下回再说。来一点——呃——喝的再上路吗？”
It was a warm May day (Dr. Sam recalls) and I went to Jeff Whitehead's farm to treat a gunshot wound.That incident in itself was unusual, as there were not that many gunshot wounds in North Hills, except during hunting season.Jeff Whitehead and his wife have forty acres of good farmland, which he cultivates with his two ten-year-old sons.The worst illness I've ever seen this family was nothing more than a cold, though I went to their farm last summer to see some giant shiitake mushrooms popping up in the pasture behind them, I'm not an expert on that - I think , It seems to be called mycology - but I can confirm that those can be eaten. On this day, my eldest son Matt picked me up at the gate of the farmhouse, and he was the one who called me.He cried, "Here, Dr. Sam, he's bleeding a lot!" "Who is it?" "Eustace Corey. He's shot in the left thigh." Curry, the owner of one of the two grocery stores in North Hills, was a troublemaker.But that didn't explain why he was bleeding profusely from a gunshot wound on Jeff Whitehead's lawn. "What happened?" "I don't know, Dr. Sam." I parked my yellow convertible next to the house and walked back and walked across the field with my purse and we came to a raised spot and there they were - Jeff Whitehead and A man called Henkel from the town stood beside Eustace Corey.They slapped something like a tourniquet on his upper thigh, but it didn't help.I saw at a glance that the wound itself was not serious, but he had lost a considerable amount of blood, which was dangerous. "I think I'm dying, doctor," he said to me. "Nonsense, Eustace!" I began to cut open his trousers. "How did this happen?" "I was walking with a gun and tripped over a tree root." The gun, a long-barreled Colt revolver, lay on the grass beside it. "It's not hunting season yet," I said, starting to heal the wound. "We're hunting groundhogs," Jeff Whitehead said spontaneously.I turned to look at his son, Matt, and then at Rudy Hankel. "You four together? Where's your wife and your youngest son. Jeff?" "Going to town to do some shopping." "If you knew there was a gunshot wound, I'd have to report it to the sheriff." "No problem," said the injured one, "you report it." After I had bandaged him as best I could, I suggested that he take my car to the clinic so I could have the bullet removed. "We may have to send you to the hospital in Felix for a few days, and you will recover soon." As I was talking, I picked up the gun, and while the other three were busy loading Eustace into my car, I opened the magazine to have a look. It was fully loaded and not fired. Pass. It was not known who shot Eustace Corey, but not himself.
On our way back to town, fate played an extremely crazy trick. I was approaching the intersection with the way out, and I was taking a look at my patient, wondering if he was going to be okay this way, when a brown Packard was coming straight sideways at high speed.I slammed on the brakes hard, but it was too late, and the front of my loudspeaker hit Packard's front right bumper with a loud crash. I got out of the car immediately and ran over to see if the other driver was injured. As I approached, he looked up and mumbled something that sounded like French. I instinctively thought he was cursing me. . "Sorry," I said to him, "I'm a doctor and I have a patient in my car." Without saying a word, he tried to back around me, but the bumper in front of him was so crooked that the wheels couldn't move.Jeff, his son, and Hankel, who followed in Whitehead's car, all got out now to see what they could do to help.The presence of others seemed to make the driver even more unpleasant. "Oops," he finally said in English with a strong foreign accent. "Help me solve it, I have to hurry." I turned to Jeff Whitehead and said, "My car is still running, can you use your car to tow him into town, I'm taking Eustace to the clinic, I'm worried about his legs. " "Okay, Dr. Sam, you go first." I left them at the crossroads, apparently the Frenchman didn't like the idea at all, I guess they dragged him to Russell's garage to see the damage.Meanwhile, I drove Corey to my clinic to rework the wound a bit better, but there was no way to remove the bullet.I asked Aibo to report the incident of the gunshot wound to Sheriff Lens.Not long after, the sheriff limped to the clinic. During the four years I worked in Beishan Town, I had a very good relationship with Sergeant Lansi. I only healed his sprained ankle less than a few weeks ago. It was during the inauguration ceremony of the new prison that he stepped on Caused by falls in slippery places.It was a very embarrassing moment for the sheriff, and this embarrassment will probably last until he fully recovers, and there is no memory of the accident. However, the new prison was opened as scheduled, and it was the largest and newest in the county. Sergeant Lansi was as proud as if he had given birth to another daughter. "Fifteen cells," he boasted the day he opened it, "bigger than a county jail, and now that bootlegging is rampant, we really need that many." Now, as Ib led him into the consulting room, he took one look at Eustace Corey and exclaimed, "My God! Eustace! Shot yourself in the leg! You're sure it's not a shovel." Did the rat shoot it out of its hole?" "It's not funny at all, Sheriff! I've lost a lot of blood—and I might die from it!" "A bad man like you doesn't die so early. Damn it, I can't believe you'd come to him after you've had such a fight with Jeff Whitehead." The sheriff squinted at him. "Are you sure you didn't trespass on his property and Jeff shot you?" "I hurt myself," Cory insisted. "It was an accident." I re-bandaged him, remembering the gun I picked up.I don't think there is any need to hide it. I took the gun from the car earlier, and now I give the gun to Sheriff Lens. "That's his gun, and it never fired, as far as I can see." The sheriff sniffed the barrel and opened the magazine again. "Oh, yes, doctor, there is a missing bullet here, and it smells like gunpowder." "Let me see," I couldn't believe my eyes.Where there were six cartridges, there was now a freshly fired empty case under the firing pin. "I don't understand. I can swear that the gun wasn't fired during the inspection." Sergeant Lan Si laughed. "Leave the gun to me, doctor, and you can just treat the wound." "I'm not crazy, Sheriff, I know exactly what I'm seeing." But our words were interrupted by Jeff Whitehead's eldest son, Matt. "Doctor, Sheriff," he said, "I think you should go to Russell's garage. The guy you hit was making such a fuss that Hank Russell said he wouldn't fix it until tomorrow. This guy wants another car, says he's in a hurry. Maybe he's a gangster or something." "Never heard of the French gang," I said.Sergeant Lansi pricked up his ears. "You say he's French?" I shrugged my shoulders. "I think so, but I'm not sure." "Let's go and see." I left Eustace in Ib's care.We accompany Matt back to Russell's garage.When we entered, the Frenchman was arguing fiercely with Hank Russell, apparently wanting to rent a car to continue his journey, but there are not so many cars in North Hills, and the big Hank Russell just shook his head. "Is there a problem?" Sergeant Lan Si asked. The little Frenchman turned around and saw the police badge pinned to the sheriff's chest. He seemed to panic for a moment, and seemed to be about to run away.Immediately afterwards, to my great surprise, Sergeant Lan Si pulled out his gun, fired the safety, and aimed eagerly at the little man. "I think you'd better stand there and not move," he said in a soft voice I rarely heard. "What's the matter, Sheriff?" Hank Russell asked. "Who's this guy?" "Unless I'm dead wrong, this is the notorious George Remy, nicknamed Loach, who is wanted by the police on two continents, and I caught him. It's in the town of North Mountain." This is the moment of Sergeant Lan Si's victory, but unfortunately this moment is too short.
I later learned from the sheriff and from the news reports that Georges Remy was a con man who committed various crimes in Europe and then in the United States.But it was his several daring escapes from police custody that earned him the nickname "Loach".He boasted that no prison could hold him, and he seemed pretty sure of that. A front-page report in The New York Times spoke of his recent arrest in Paris.When he was escorted to the court with a dozen other prisoners, he actually slipped away from the group of adult suspects and squatted next to a group of juvenile criminals waiting to be questioned. When one of them was called by name, Remy grabbed his arm and led him out of the courtroom, pretending to be an undercover detective.When it came to juvenile court, he left the young man behind.Claiming to be a secret service officer, he deceived the guards and escaped. Since then, "Loach" has disappeared, and a few weeks later, he reappeared in Boston, pretending to be a French count who collected rare paintings, and defrauded a major museum of large sums of money.According to Sergeant Lens, just a few days ago, the Boston police locked down the apartment building where he lived and rounded up the apartment building. Although there were officers guarding every entrance and exit, he knocked out the postman, stole his uniform, and escaped disguised as a postman. go out. "Sounds like something out of a G. K. Chesterton novel," I said. "Who?" "A writer, you don't know him, Sheriff." "Well, I do know about the loach, that's true! The Boston police say he stole a carnival supplier salesman's car and drove out of town, and they've called every police station in New England." Georges Remy just looked at me and the sheriff and said, "I'm leaving this town tomorrow morning." "That's damn right!" Sheriff Lance agreed. "I've called Boston, and they'll send two detectives tomorrow to take you back. I'll just put up with you for one night." "There's no prison for me," he boasted, sounding very French. "Let's see," the sheriff took out a large bunch of keys from his pocket, and pointed to the stairs leading from his office, "Come on." I followed behind, first to a very heavy door with iron bars, Sergeant Len Si unlocked it, left the door open, and entered a corridor with empty cells on both sides.These cells occupy the entire second floor of the prison, with eleven of the fifteen cells along three outer walls.The building is almost square.The aisle just formed an inner square, and the middle part was divided into four cells used as a detention center, where drunks and the like were kept overnight.These inner cells have no windows to see the outside world, they are numbered as cells 1 to 4, and the rest are numbered from left to right until cell 16 is in the outermost corner. Sergeant Lan Si unlocked the cell door and told Remy to go in. "This is your home until tomorrow morning. I will bring you food later." The cell was about ten feet deep and six feet wide, with only an iron bed fastened to the wall.There is also a toilet with a washbasin and nothing else.About six feet above the ground there was a small window of barred glass, which was open to let in the warm May air.I know that under the window is what used to be the blacksmith's shop, now behind Russell's garage. When Sergeant Lan Si closed the cell door and locked the lock, I asked, "How come there is Cell No. 16? You only have fifteen cells in total." "Well, yes, but I skipped the thirteenth because it's unlucky." "In my opinion, any cell is unlucky for the person in it." "Yes, but the thirteenth is more unlucky than the others. People are ridiculous." "There's a novel by a man named Jack Futrell called." "It's your writers again! You read a lot, doctor." "It's about a professor who escaped from a prison cell in an incomprehensible way." "Ha! Another good reason why there shouldn't be a number thirteen in a cell." I can't argue with this logic, so I didn't say any more.
After returning to the clinic, my nurse Aibo was eager to inquire. "Tell me what's the matter. Dr. Sam, I've heard that Sergeant Lenz has got a big criminal." It made me laugh to think that little George Remy was called a criminal. "Well, it wasn't that exciting," I said, but I told her about the accident and how they had to tow Remy's car to town to fix the busted bumper and all, Russell Start repairs anyway, although no one knows who will pay the bill in the end. Later that day I took Eustace Corey to the hospital in Felix so they could extract the bullet.I'm still a little confused about the gun thing.But I thought about what might be going on.While I was still thinking about it in my apartment that night, the phone rang just after midnight.I thought of Mrs. Higgins, who was pregnant on the farm and was about to give birth, and also thought of Alan, an old man who was lingering on the sick bed and was on the verge of dying.Whoever it was, the late call meant I had to go out. But it was Sergeant Lansi who called. I have never heard him speak so excitedly. "Doctor, can you come to the prison immediately? I just went back to check the cell, and the loach is gone!" "You mean he escaped?" "I don't know what I mean, doctor—he's gone anyway!" "I'll be right there," I told him. When I arrived there, he had already turned on all the lights in the prison, and also called two of his men to help search.But it was hopeless from the start.There was only one other inmate in the jail that night—Rudy Hankel, a friend of Corey's.After Corey went to the hospital, Rudy started drinking hard.He smashed a window in Dixie's, where smuggled whiskey was sold in coffee cups, so much so that Sergeant Lens had to arrest him. Rudy was locked in cell one, which was on the opposite end of cell sixteen, but he had been sound asleep the whole time.Now, he woke up and shouted through the iron bars: "What are you doing? Turning on all the lights in the middle of the night, how can people sleep?" "Be quiet, Rudy," I said, "I'll talk to you later." And I followed Sergeant Lens down the hallway between the cells.To the room where I last saw Georges Remy locked up.Cell No. 16 is as empty as the others, with few signs of previous occupancy except for a crumpled blanket on the floor. "Just like that, Doctor. He just disappeared!" "Well," I said, "now tell me everything since I left you this afternoon." "Well, to be honest, there wasn't much to do. When it was time for dinner, I ordered something for the prisoner to eat. I delivered it myself, because all my men had already gone home. I wanted to share with him. Talk, but I hear the same old saying—that he'll be gone before morning." "How on earth did you bring the tray to him? Show me one." Inspector Lens mumbled a few words, but he went downstairs and fetched the metal tray he had been eating on. "I put the tray on the ground here, and opened the cell door. Then I took the tray and went in." "Did you lock the cell door after you went in?" "No, I left the door open and he wasn't going anywhere, and I kept my hand on the gun, and the barred door at the top of the stairs was locked." "He might knock you out. Take your keys." "Is that little one?" "He can throw food in your face, and you pounce on it before you know what's going on." "He's going to end up getting killed for this kind of trouble, I tell you." "Okay." I said.It's useless to think about this kind of thing any more, anyway, "Loach" didn't use this method to escape from prison. "And what happened to you?" "Sit there and watch him eat. Oh, he's a slick guy, yes! No problem at all! Once he got so close to the door that I had to pull the gun out, but he sat back and took the stuff Finished." "and then?" "Damn, then I picked up the tray with both hands, closed the cell door with me, and left. These cells lock themselves as soon as the door is closed. You need a key to open it again. At the top of the stairs That door has a deadbolt, and I must open it and then lock it." "Okay, what happened next?" "Nothing. I already told you about the arrest of Rudy Hankel." "Tell me again, and tell me how he was sent to the cell." "Well, that's what it is. I have to half carry him upstairs and throw him on the bed. I guess that's why I put him in the first cell behind the door. So I don't have to carry him too far." "Was 'Loach' still in Cell No. 16?" "Of course! I didn't turn on the light down the aisle. It was past ten o'clock. I thought he was sleeping, and I could see him curled up under the blanket." "But he didn't move or speak?" "No. I told you he was asleep. Anyway, I went back, turned off the light, locked the door at the top of the stairs, and then stayed in my office for the rest of the night." "Is there any other way out of this prison than by your office?" "Nope! The fire department wanted an emergency back staircase, but I told them the building is fireproof—it's all brick on the outside. Besides, the back stairs have to be locked at all times, so in case of fire Not much use." I went to the window and reached up to the iron bars that were mounted there, all of which were so firmly in place that even a man as small as Georges Remy could not have squeezed through the gaps. , I bent down to pick up the blanket from the floor. "You said he slept under this blanket?" "That's right." I suddenly thought of one thing. "When you went back to check on him, did you try to make sure the cell door was locked?" "Of course I did! The door is indeed locked, yes, and he's inside." "Okay. When did you go up again?" "Half an hour ago, Hankel started to make a fuss. I could hear him because he was at the top of the stairs. After I went up, he said he had a nightmare. This time I will check the status of 'Loach' The cell, it's empty." "Let's go look outside," I said. Under the cell on the second floor is an open space behind Russell's garage, but at this time in the middle of the night, there is no one there.I saw a lantern set on a large barrel, and I lit it, and a gloomy light shone on the hard ground. "One more thing, Sheriff," I said, "did you notice that the door to Cell Sixteen was locked when it was empty?" "Not bad at all!" "Is it possible that Remy is hiding under the bed?" "Impossible, I turned on all the lights immediately, and only after I was sure the cell was empty, I unlocked the cell door. The blanket was on the floor, and the other person was gone." I bent down and picked something up from the ground directly under Remy's cell. "What?" Sergeant Lansi asked. "A long rope." "rope?" "It's as if 'Loach' made himself so small that he could squeeze through the iron bars. Then use this rope to let him down to the ground." "How can there be such a thing!" "Do you have any better ideas?" "No," Sergeant Lens admitted. "Did he have any rope in his pocket when you arrested him?" "Possibly," said the Inspector. "I searched him only for a weapon, but I didn't ask him to take out all his pockets. I don't think he was here but one night." "Then maybe he has something to pick locks too." "No, no—as long as it's metal, I'll feel it when I search. Besides, these new locks shouldn't be able to be opened without a key." I rolled up that rope and put it in my pocket. "So what do we know now? At ten o'clock, 'Loach' was in Cell No. 16. There were two locked doors between him and Liberty. Two hours later, he disappeared. The doors were still locked, the windows untouched. No one else was even on the same floor as him except Rudy Henkel, who had been crying in his own locked cell. Go to sleep." "Doctor. That story you mentioned, Cell 13 or something—how did the people in that get out?" "The method used is very complicated, but basically he is trying to find a way to send a letter to a friend of his who is outside to help him." "Do you think 'Loach' has friends outside?" "I don't know what to think now," I admitted. "Ask me tomorrow morning." "By tomorrow morning, 'Loach' will probably be almost in Chicago." "I don't think so," I said, looking behind Russell's garage.
The next morning, shortly after eight o'clock, Aibo burst into the clinic. "Oh, we're really early today." "I didn't get much sleep last night," I told her. "Have you heard about 'Loach' escaping from prison? Sergeant Lan Si will be ridiculed and run out of town." "It's too bad if that's the case, I like the sheriff. He's a good guy." "His brand-new, fifteen-cell prison from which no one can escape! The first real prisoner he puts in, walks out as if the prison were made of paper." "Aibo, do I have any patients this morning?" "Mrs. Bassett will come by for a new prescription, that's all." "I'll prescribe the medicine first, and you can give it to her. I'm going out for a while." "To the jail?" "No, to Russell's Garage." Although it was still early, Hank Russell was covered in sooty grease.His father was a former blacksmith. After his death, Hank saw the right moment and turned the blacksmith shop into a garage. For a small town like North Hills, he is a very good auto repair mechanic. We can catch up with the automobile age. "Hello, Dr. Sam, how is your patient?" he asked me as soon as I entered the garage. "which one?" "Of course it's Eustace Corey!" I completely forgot about Cory's injury. "Oh, I'm sure he's recovering well and they're probably releasing him today." "That's fine, what a stupid accident." If that was really an accident, I thought.I asked aloud, "How long will it take you to fix that car?" "It was just repaired. But I guess Loach doesn't need this car now. I'm afraid he's gone a long way." I went over to look at the car.Russell had knocked out the crooked bumper and the wheels were turning freely. "Has anyone else been here?" I asked, "say, Whitehead's son?" "Haven't seen him since yesterday." I walked over to the prison and found that Sergeant Lens was on the phone with the Boston police, trying to explain what was going on with his prisoner. After he finished talking embarrassingly, I asked, "What do you want?" Is Rudy Henkel released?" "Damn it, not yet, Doctor, if I say it, he'll have to stay here until he dies." "The judge will probably have something to say about that." "I've been thinking about it all night, and I'm thinking about how Loach got out. That's the only way he can get out! It's like that story you told me about cell thirteen. He Pulled the rope out of his pocket and dangled a note from his cell window. Hank Russell saw it in his garage and came over to read the note. Loach promised to pay him Help, so Hank went to Rudy Hankel who was still nearby to help. Rudy pretended to be drunk and smashed the window, so I had to arrest him. After he entered the cell, he Find a way to give the lockpicking tool to Loach, and the French guy used that tool. I know our locks should be impossible to pick, but does anyone know what the French guy is capable of?" "How did Rudy give 'Loach' the unlocking thing?" I asked. "Uh. I guess it slipped across the ground," Sergeant Lan Si replied a little uncertainly. "But the cell of 'Loach' is in the opposite corner of the house. There is a long corridor from Hankel's cell, and there is a turn to the left. Hankel can't get there, even from his cell. It's impossible there." "Yes," murmured the Inspector, "I think you're right. But I still think Hankel has a lot to do with it." "Let me go talk to him, Sheriff, and maybe I'll know something." He took me upstairs and opened the cell door.Rudy Henkle sat on the bed with his head in his hands. "Hello, Rudy," I said.Sergeant Lens re-locked the door behind me. "When will they let it out? Doctor? I don't know anything about the escape of 'Loach'." "But you got drunk and broke another window, Rudy." "Uh, yes..." "why?" "What do you mean by that, doctor?" "Why are you drunk? It's not like you." He turned his head away. "I have no idea." "Shall I tell you, Rudy? Shall I tell you what happened yesterday at Whitehead's farm?" Sergeant Lance turned to check Cell No. 16 again.But anyway, I have lowered my voice, and he can't hear it. "How do you know?" "I know. The first time I looked at that Curt revolver, it hadn't been fired, but when Sergeant Lens checked it out, right after the crash. Not only did it smell of gunpowder, but there was a blank casing left In it. I know I'm not blind, so there's only one explanation left - there were two Colt revolvers on Whitehead Farm yesterday, and some of you put them down when my car was pulled over in a crash Changed." "I do not know what you're talking about--" "Then what's the point of the two long-barreled Colt revolvers?" "what?" "duel." His shoulders slumped, but he said nothing. "Two crazy nerds dueling there yesterday, weren't they? Whitehead and Eustace Corey. To settle their old feud with pistols! Jeff Whitehead's son was his second-in-command, You're Cory's second-in-command. Only Cory hasn't even fired a shot, has he? Jeff Whitehead shot him in the leg, and all of a sudden you all need a doctor." "We're all fucking stupid," Rudy admitted, looking up at me. "It's weird that none of them died. After I figured things out rationally last night, I went out to drink Drunk! But even that didn't help—I passed out in my cell and dreamed about it and even heard the gunshot." "Gunshots?" "That woke me up in the middle of the night as if someone had actually fired a shot. But I knew it must be because I was dreaming about the duel." I patted his knee. "Don't worry, Rudy. I'll talk to the sheriff and he'll let you go." Sergeant Lan Si came back and unlocked the cell door for me. I walked out the second door first and locked the door after he came out. "Did you find anything?" he asked. "Just a thought—but I think I know how Loach escaped. I'll be back here tonight and let you see what's going on."
The day passed so slowly that it seemed like it would never end.Everyone in town was talking about escape, and even the state trooper came to question Sergeant Lens.There was talk of hunting Loach with hounds, thinking he had fled west, but as far as I know, nothing was done. After dark, I went back to the prison and took Sergeant Lens down the street to Russell's Garage. "What are we doing here?" he asked, "We should be chasing 'loach'!" "I don't think 'Loach' has left Beishan Town at all, and I just want to prove it." "Didn't leave at all—" "Be quieter." I warned, and we walked to the side of the garage in the growing darkness.To our right, I could see the prison, and the barred windows of the cell where Loach was kept. "I still say that Hankel has something to do with this matter," Lan Si muttered softly, "Now I have to let him go." "Hankel has nothing to do with it." "Then how is this possible? There is no other answer!" "There are at least two other answers, Sheriff." "What?" "You see, the whole impossibility rests on your testimony alone, and if your testimony collapses, so does the impossibility of escape." "But--" "Rudy Hankel was woken up by what sounded like a gun being fired. He thought it was a dream, but what if it wasn't? What if you went back to deliver Remy's food and he charged at you? You pull Shoot him and kill him, Sheriff. Then, terrified of what you've done, you carry the body out and bury it in the back weeds, making up this 'loach' to do the impossible Prison Break." Sergeant Lens stared at me in the near darkness, and I saw his hand hanging down to the gun he was carrying. "Do you believe it happened, doctor?" "No, I don't believe it. If there is such a thing, you will tell the truth. Shooting a prisoner who is trying to escape will do far less damage to your reputation than letting him escape successfully! Besides, I and You said there were two possible answers." Just then we heard a sound--nearby, not fifty feet away--moving so lightly that it would probably go unnoticed.Someone was at the side door of Russell's garage trying to break the lock. I jumped forward. "Come on, Sheriff, it's him!" George Remy turned to run, but we jumped on him, and I held him down, and Sergeant Lens handcuffed him. "We'll take better care of you this time," I said. He kept swearing in French while we locked him in.Then I sat down in the Sheriff's office and explained to him the correct solution to the Cell No. 16 mystery. While Georges Remy was smoking a cigarette in his handcuffed hands, I said, "This is a complex escape comparable to Futrill's. The Loach did not rely on external help, but a minute Minute by minute. I suppose it's his way of life, and if other criminals have the same skill and guts, they can follow his example." Sergeant Lan Si became a little impatient. "How did he escape from that locked cell?" "Well, I think he'd have to start with the cell door, and you showed me that there's a latch on the door, and it locks when it's closed. But you kept the door open while he ate, and you even told me Says he got so close to the cell door once that you had to draw your gun. In that split second, when he was by the open door, Remi figured out how to get something—a small piece of bread, maybe even It was a toothpick—it was inserted into the lock so that when the cell door was closed, the spring lock would not lock fully. Sheriff, you were holding the tray in both hands, and you didn't have one hand to make sure the cell door was locked. It's locked." "But I tried later," Inspector Lens insisted. "I'll get to that later. My point is that last night, just after dinner, Georges Rémy escaped from his cell, and the only thing between him and freedom is the door at the top of the stairs." It's just a door with iron bars." "But I'm downstairs in the office. Even if he tries to open the door somehow, it's impossible for him to pass by me." "He didn't open that door, Sheriff—you opened it for him." "I--" "That's when you got Rudy Henkel in. Remember, Henkel was in cell number one, closest to the stairs. It was one of the four cells in the middle block, right next to the one on the other side. Cell No. 16 is divided into two ends. In fact, as I specifically stated earlier, you cannot see Cell No. 16 at all from Cell No. 1. I can assume that you left the door at the top of the stairs open, Because you've got Rudy in both hands, and because I've seen you leave the door open twice in the time I've been with you. You have to use a key to lock that door, and you just can't be bothered to lock it, but对于藏身在中间那几间牢房边暗处的雷米来说，却正是他在等着的大好机会。在你转过身去把鲁迪弄上床的时候，他就溜了过去，下了楼，重获自由。” “可我在之后还见到他在上了锁的牢房里呀！”警长抗议道。 “你只看到有什么在毯子底下，楼层后面的灯没开。你只是以为那是雷米。可是'泥鳅'很聪明，他不可能知道你10点钟的时候会带个犯人上来，事实上，他只知道一直到明天早上你给他送早餐来查牢房之前，只有他一个人在那里，所以他想到一个妙计，可以给他宝贵的几秒钟时间。要是你早上一上来看到牢房空了，你就会马上发警报，甚至很可能在'泥鳅'下楼梯逃亡之前就先跑回楼梯那里。他需要你在牢房里停留三十秒到一分钟的时间，让他可以慢慢地绕过中间那几间牢房，由打开的门下楼去。” “就算你知道我让门敞着，可他怎么晓得？” “泥鳅”只笑了笑。所以我回答了这个问题。“昨天你把他抓上来关进牢房的时候，他看到你让门敞着的，警长。” "what." “反正，他在吃过晚饭离开牢房的时候，在毯子底下做了个假人，然后只要把他原先塞在锁孔里的东西拿走，让弹簧锁完全锁上，牢门就锁住了。” “什么假人？你刚告诉我'泥鳅'是怎么从上锁的牢房里逃出去的——现在告诉我假人怎么逃得出去！” “警长，乔治·雷米开着的那辆偷来的车子，原先是一个嘉年华会用品供应商推销员的，在他车子里所带的每种样品里，最可能的是什么东西？” 蓝思警长一脸茫然，可是乔治·雷米却笑了。“了不起。医生，”他说，“我从来没有想到在这样一个小镇上有人能看穿我的把戏。” “气球，”我简单明了地说，“你，袋里有几个气球，还有绑气球的绳子。你把气球吹大，放在毯子底下，再把绳子由窗口垂到外面。等你逃出去之后，就扯动绳子，把气球由铁条缝里拉出去。至少有一个气球炸了，发出的声音让半睡的鲁迪·韩克尔以为是枪声。” “他为啥要那么麻烦地把气球给拉出去？”蓝思警长问道，“为啥不留在这儿？” 我耸了下肩膀。“我猜他觉得这是个很好的花招，以后还想再用，而且没了气球，他的逃狱就更让人摸不着头脑了。所以他才会把气球带走，虽然还是掉了根绳子。” “我根本没见有绳子从窗口拉出去。” “那里很黑。你并没打开这头的灯，记得吗？你只开了靠韩克尔牢房的灯。” 蓝思警长摇了摇头。“这事有太多地方可能出差错了。” “我跟你说过'泥鳅'是在随机应变。他所有的脱逃全靠运气和大胆。所以我才想到他不会靠他两只脚往远处逃，他已经知道这里没有别的车可用，而且也怕偷到一辆在操作上不熟悉的车子，比方说，像我那部车就很难开。所以我想他可能藏在附近什么地方。等着罗素把他的车修好了，让他可以再偷第二次。” “真他妈的！”蓝思警长说。 然后我转身去问“泥鳅”：“告诉我，乔治，你在哪里躲了将近二十四个小时？” 起先我以为他不会回答，可是后来他回答了。也许他对能骗倒我感到很骄傲吧。“我就在罗素的修车厂旁边的大桶子里，”他微笑道，“就是你从上面拿了盏灯笼的那个桶子。”
“哎，”山姆·霍桑医生总结道，“这就是我怎么解决谜案、登上纽约各大报头版的经过。不过这一切当然都是白费心思。六个月之后，'泥鳅'从波士顿监狱里逃了出去，回到法国，他真是个滑不留手的家伙。你说怀德海和柯瑞的决斗怎么了？那一部分还没完呢，那事引到一桩发生在乡村小旅舍的不可能谜案。可是时间已经晚了，得等下回再说。来一点——呃——喝的再上路吗？”