Chapter 9 chapter eight

20 Wilbraham Lane is also called "Diana's Boarding House".There are dense iron thorns wrapped around the iron gate, probably to deter uninvited guests.A few laurel trees were lifeless, and their branches crossed the door, making it more difficult for anyone who wanted to enter. "The house should be called 'The Laurel House,'" murmured Colin Lamb. "I don't know why it's named 'Diana's Boarding House'?" He looked around critically, and saw nothing but unkemptness.The low shrubs are tangled together with teeth and claws, and there is a pungent cat's urine smell.The house looked ramshackle, the eaves had been in disrepair for years, the only thing that had been tended to recently was the new front door, a brilliant turquoise blue that made the rest of the house and garden even more haggard.There was no bell on the door, but a ring, apparently for visitors to pull.The detective stretched out his hand and pulled it, and heard a vague bell ringing in the house.

"Looks like a country estate," said Colin. After waiting for a while, there was a sound from inside the house.Very strange sound.A high-pitched voice, like singing, like talking. "What the hell—" Hardcastle couldn't resist. Whether the man was singing or talking, his voice became more recognizable as he approached the door. "No, sweetheart. Go in, cutie. Scar-scar, Mimi. Klee-kriptra. Ah, doo. Ah, loo-loo." First, I heard a few doors closing inside, and then the front door finally opened.A woman in a brown velvet robe stood in front of them, the robe was wrinkled.The fluffy hair is neatly curled into the hairstyle of thirty years ago.Around her neck is an orange fur scarf.Inspector Hardcastle asked with some hesitation: "Mrs Heim?"

"I am. Hey, sweetie, 'Sunshine,' sweetie, rascal!" Only then did the inspector suddenly see that the orange fur was a real cat.And not only this one, there are three more in the corridor, and two of them are chirping.They occupy their respective positions, curled up against the hem of their hosts, and stare at the visitors.At this moment, a pungent cat smell rushed into their noses. "I am Inspector Hardcastle." "You're here on account of that nasty man from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals," said Mrs. Heim. "What a disgrace! I once wrote against him. He said my cat was neither healthy nor happy. What a disgrace! Inspector, my cat is my life, my only joy and comfort in life. I am everything For them. Scar-scar-mi-mi. Don't do it, sweetheart."

Scary-scared- Mimi ignored the owner's restraining hand and jumped onto the table.It sat down, licked and washed its face, and stared at the stranger. "Come in," said Mrs. Helm. "Oh, not that room, I forgot." She pushed open a door on the left, and the smell inside was even more unpleasant. "Come on, cute come down!" In the room, on the chairs, on the table, there are combs and brushes with cat hair everywhere.There were at least half a dozen cats on the faded and dirty cushions. "These dear cats are my life," said Mrs. Heim. "They understand everything I say."

The Inspector walked in. Unfortunately, he was a cat sensitive person.All the cats stalked him at once, as had happened before.Some sprang up on his knees, others fisted his trousers affectionately. Inspector Hardcastle was a brave man, with his mouth tightly set and patient. "Mrs. Hemm, I wonder if I could ask you a few questions about—" "Go ahead and ask," broke in Mrs. Helm. "I have nothing to hide. I can show you what they eat, and you can see where they sleep. Five are in my room and seven are here. They eat the best fish, And I cooked it myself." "I'm not asking about cats," said Hardcastle, raising his voice. "I've come to talk to you about the unfortunate things that happened next door, which you may have heard."

"Next door? You mean Mr. Joshua's dog?" "No," said Hardcastle. "I mean the nineteenth. The murder happened yesterday." "Really?" said Mrs. Heim, only politely, her eyes still lingering on her pet. "May I ask, were you at home yesterday afternoon? Between half past one and half past three?" "Oh yes, I'm home. Usually I go out early so I can come back early to make lunch for my cat and then groom." "So you didn't notice anything going on next door, police cars—ambulances—anything of that sort?" "Well, I'm afraid I didn't look at the front window, because my Arabella was gone, and I went out the back door to look for it. It's a kitten, and it climbed up a tree, and I'm afraid it won't come down, so take a little dish but he was too frightened, poor dear. At last I had to give up and go back into the house. You won't believe it, but as soon as I came in, he came down from the tree and followed me in. ' She looked from Hardcastle to Colin, as if to see whether they believed it or not.

"I believe that," Colin couldn't bear it anymore, and said. "What did you say?" Mrs. Hemm looked at him with some surprise. "I like cats very much," said Colin. "I have studied cat nature. What you just said is the typical behavior of cats, and their habits are just like this. In the same way, your cats gathered together at my place." Friends who don’t like cats, no matter how I try to lure them, they won’t come.” If Colin's words were not at all like what a sergeant should say, Mrs. Heim's face could not see it. She just murmured vaguely to herself: "Look, people know , dear cat, is it not?"

A beautiful Persian cat, with its paws on Inspector Hardcastle's lap, looked at him with ecstasy, its paws sticking out stiffly, as if the Inspector were a pincushion.Hardcastle couldn't bear it any longer and raised his legs. "Ma'am," he said, "may I take a look at your backyard?" Colin couldn't help but smiled slightly. "Oh, of course. Do as you please." Mrs. Helm stood up. The orange cat left Mrs. Heim's neck by itself.She casually grabbed the gray Persian cat and surrounded it.She led out of the room, Hardcastle and Colin following.

"We met," Colin said to the orange cat, and then to the Persian cat sitting on the table beside a Chinese lamp, wagging its tail slightly: "You, you are a beautiful woman, aren't you?" Is it?" Colin touched it and scratched the back of its ears, the gray cat whined softly, looking obedient and obedient. "Shut the door, sir, when you come out," said Mrs. Hemm from the porch. "It's windy and cold today, and I don't want my darlings to catch a cold. Besides, there's bad boys around here— —It's really not safe to let my babies run outside alone."

With that said, she walked to the end of the corridor and opened the side door. "What bad boy?" asked Hardcastle. "Mrs. Ramsey's two boys. They lived on the south side of the alley, and their back yard was almost opposite mine. Delinquent boys, very wild. They had a slingshot, probably gone now .This kind of thing should really be confiscated. They have always been haunted by ghosts in Shenshan, and they crack apples in summer." "It's outrageous," Colin said. The back yard looks the same as the front yard, but in worse condition.Weeds are overgrown, bushes are tangled, and there are more laurel trees than the front yard, but they are patchy.A few unknown trees bear fruit and are pitifully barren.He Lin thought to himself, this time they ran away for nothing.The dense laurel, interspersed with various dwarf trees, can't see Miss Pebmarsh's garden from here. "Diana's Boarding House" was, so to speak, an isolated house with no neighbors at all as far as those who lived there were concerned.

"You mean number nineteen?" Mrs. Helm hesitated, standing in the middle of the back yard. "There is only one person living in that house, a blind woman." "The person who was murdered was not the person who lived in the house," the inspector said. "Oh, that's what it is," said Mrs. Heim, still impassive. "It's a strange thing that he came here to be murdered." Colin thought in his heart: "It's really a good description."