Chapter 28 Chapter Twenty Seven

"You don't seem to get much from Mrs Ramsey," said Colonel Baker reproachfully. "She's not much help" "Sure?" "yes." "Is she not one of them?" "No." Baker glanced at me. "Find the answer?" he asked. "You can't say that." "You want more?" "Not yet filled." "Ah—we'll have to look elsewhere...let's give up on the half-moon—huh?" "Yes" "Why are you talking only one or two words? If there is no result, it will be over?" "I can't do this job." I said slowly.

"Shall I pat your head and say 'Okay, okay'?" I couldn't help laughing. "That's better," Baker said. "Well, what's the matter? Girlfriend question, I suppose." I shook my head and said, "It's been a while since this happened." "Honestly, I didn't notice," Baker said unexpectedly. "The world is in turmoil these days, and problems are getting blurred. Once you feel discouraged, the world seems to dry up. A huge mushroom cloud Through all the walls! If that's the case, your good for us is over. You did some first-class work, boy. You're going to be satisfied. Go back to your bloody seaweed."

He gave me a push and said, "You really 'like' that nasty thing, don't you?" "I find the whole case extremely interesting." "I think it's supposed to be obnoxious. Quite a mutation in essence, isn't it? I mean 'taste.' What about that murder you patented? I dare say it was the girl." "You're wrong," I said. Baker wagged his fingers in an admonishing, unclely manner. "What I'm going to tell you is: 'Be prepared,' but not in the Boy Scout sense." I walked down Sharing Cross Street, lost in thought.

I bought a newspaper at the underground train station. I saw a report that a woman was taken to the hospital yesterday when her car crashed at Victoria Railway Station.After arriving at the hospital, I found out that I was stimulated by someone.She never came to her senses and died. Her name is Alina Riva. I called Hardcastle. "Yes," he answered me on the phone, "as reported in the papers." His voice sounded harsh and uncomfortable. "I went to see her the night before. I told her I'm afraid the jury's out about the knife scars. The tissue of the scars shows that the scars are recent. How stupid people often plant! Just for a little more. Someone pays To that woman, asking her to come forward and identify the dead body, saying that the man is the husband she broke up with many years ago."

"Well, she did! I believe she made a mistake, but she thought she was a little smarter. She thought it would be more convincing if she treated the scar as an 'afterthought', and her autopsy would be more convincing. Stronger. If she had said it straight from the start, people might have thought she had spoken too well." "So Melina Riva is very involved?" "I'm telling you, I doubt it. Suppose an old friend or someone from the past comes up to her and says, 'Look, I've got a problem. A guy I'm connected to has been murdered. If he To be identified and expose our relationship would be bad. But if you came forward and said that man was your husband, Harley Castleton, who slipped away many years ago, then the case would disappear .”

"She's bound to balk—too dangerous?" "If so, the man must have said: 'What's the danger? At most you'll just remember wrongly, as any woman would after all these years.' And maybe just then, a good sum of money will be brought up , so she said yes and did it.” "No doubt?" "She's not a suspicious woman. Oh, Colin, every time we arrest a murderer who is known to many people, and no one believes that he is the man who did such a thing!" "What happened when you went to see her?" "I scared her a bit. After I left, she did what I expected her to do - tried to get in touch with the woman or the man who dragged her in. Of course I followed her. She went into a post office, dialed Phone. Unfortunately, she didn't use the phone at the end of the street where she lived. She had to change. She came out of the phone booth with a smile on her face. She was under our surveillance, but until yesterday night It just happened. She went to Victoria Railway Station and bought a ticket to Crowding. It was half past six, the time when the traffic was at its peak. She was not at all guarded. She thought she was going to meet with Meet someone in Crowding. Take advantage of the crowd, get up behind someone, and stick a knife in... that's the easiest thing in the world. Don't think she knows she's been stabbed, you know, people are Like this. Remember Patton in the robbery case of the Leviti gang? He fell down after walking for a street. As long as there is a sudden sharp pain—you think you’ll be fine after a while, but it’s not, and before you know it, you’ve stood died."

Finally he said, "Fuck, damn it!" "Have you investigated anyone?" I couldn't help asking him. He answered without thinking. "Pemarsh was in London yesterday. She was there on an errand for the college, and won the seven-forty train back to Crotch." He paused, and then said, "Sheila Webb took typed manuscripts and A foreign writer who went to New York and stopped in London to proofread. She left the Ritz Hotel at about 5:20 and went to a movie alone before returning home." "Listen, Hardcastle," I said, "I have something for you, and a witness to vouch for it. On the ninth of September, a laundry van came to Wilbraham at one thirty-five. In front of Hutong No. 19 gate. The driver took a big basket from the car and sent it to the back. This basket is very big."

"Laundromat? Which laundromat," "Snowflake Laundry, have you been?" "Not sure. There are new laundromats opening all the time, and the name is so common." "Oh—you look it up. The man drove—the big basket into the house—" Hardcastle suddenly wondered. "You thought it up yourself, Colin?" "No, I told you I had witnesses. Check it out, Dick." I hung up the phone before he had time to make a fuss. I stepped out of the phone booth and looked at my watch.I have a lot to do--and when I do I don't want Hardcastle to disturb me.I want to make arrangements for my future life.