Chapter 4 Chapter Four

On the morning of August 25th, the weather was clear and cloudless. This kind of weather would make even the lazy person want to get up early. Several people in the Paradise Hotel woke up very early that day. At eight o'clock, Linda sat in front of the dressing table, turned a thick leather-bound book on the table, looked at her face reflected in the mirror, her lips were tightly pressed, The pupils of her eyes contracted, she gritted her teeth and said, "I will definitely do it..." She took off her pajamas, changed into a swimsuit, put on a bathrobe, put on a pair of sandals, and walked out of the room, down the corridor, which ended with a door leading to a balcony outside, and then a staircase leading to the hotel the rocks below.There is another iron ladder on the rock leading to the sea below. Many hotel guests go down here to swim for a while before breakfast, because it takes much less time than going to the big beach in front. .When Linda was walking down from the balcony, she met her father coming up from the bottom, and he said, "You got up so early, do you want to go down and soak in the water?"

Linda nodded.They passed each other, but instead of going down, Linda went around the hotel, went to the left, and walked on to the path that led from the hotel to the embankment on the opposite side.The tide was high and flooded the embankment, but the boats that ferried the hotel guests across to the opposite bank were tied to the small pier.The person in charge of the boat happened to be away.Linda got into the boat, untied the rope, and rowed across by herself. She tied up the boat on the opposite bank and walked up the ramp, past the hotel garage, until she came to the little grocery store.The lady boss had just opened the door and was still mopping the floor when she saw Linda and was startled. "Hey, miss, you got up really early."

Linda stuck her hand into the pocket of her bathrobe, pulled out some money, and started shopping for what she wanted. When she got back to the hotel, Christine Reid was standing in her room. "Oh, so you're here," cried Christine, "I thought you weren't up." Linda said, "Well, I just went swimming." Christine saw the package in her hand and said in surprise, "The postman came early this morning." Linda blushed.With her habitual nervousness and clumsiness, the package slipped from her grasp, the string snapped, and some of its contents tumbled to the floor.Christine exclaimed, "What are you doing with all these candles?" But to Linda's relief, she didn't wait for an answer, and as she helped pick it up from the floor, she went on: "I came in to ask if you would like to go to Gull Bay with me this morning. I want to go there to sketch."

Linda happily agreed, and in the past few days, she accompanied Christine to sketch more than once.Christine was the most inattentive painter she had ever seen, but it was likely she was doing so to maintain her self-esteem, since her husband was now spending most of his time with Eleanor Marshall. Linda Marshall was getting more and more unhappy and bad-tempered, and she liked the company of Christine, because once she was paying attention to drawing, she seldom talked.Linda thought it was almost as good as being alone, and she wished oddly that she had company, and there seemed to be a subtle sympathy between her and the older woman, perhaps because they Maybe it's because they both hate the same woman.Christine said, "I have tennis at twelve, so we'd better start early, half past ten?"

"Okay, I'll be ready to meet you in the lobby." Rosamund Dailey walked out of the restaurant after eating a very late breakfast, just in time to be bumped into by Linda who was rushing down the stairs. "Ah! I'm sorry, Miss Dailey." "It's a fine morning, isn't it?" said Rosamund. "It's amazing after yesterday's weather." "I know. I'm going to Gull Bay with Mrs. Redfern. I said I'd meet her at ten-thirty. I thought I was late." "No, it's only twenty-five past ten." "Ah, great." She was panting a little, Rosamund looked at her strangely. "You don't have a fever, Linda?"

The girl's eyes were particularly bright, and her cheeks were red, "Oh, no, I never have a fever." Luo Shameng smiled slightly and said: "The weather is really nice today, so I got up to eat breakfast, usually I would ask someone to bring it to bed, but this morning I came downstairs and ate eggs and salty like a big man. Meat." "I know, compared with yesterday, today is like heaven. Gull Bay is so beautiful in the morning. I want to apply a lot of oil on my body and get a tan." Rosamund said: "Well, Gull Bay is beautiful in the morning, and it's much quieter than the beach here."

Linda said shyly, "You come too." Rosamund shook her head and said, "Not today, I have other things to do." Christine Redfern came downstairs in a very baggy beach dress with long sleeves and wide trousers, made of yellow flowers on a green background.Rosamone really wanted to tell her that yellow and green were the worst colors for her slender and somewhat anemic face.Rosamone was most displeased to see that people had no idea about clothes. She thought: "If I dress up this girl, I will make her husband sit up and pay attention to her. No matter how stupid Elena is, At least she knows how to dress, this girl looks like a wilted lettuce." She said loudly, "Have fun, I'm going to Sunshine Cliff to read a book."

Hercule Poirot had his usual breakfast of coffee and rolls in his room.But the weather was so good that he left the hotel earlier than usual. It was only ten o'clock at that time, at least half an hour earlier than his usual time. He walked to the beach below, and there was only one person on the beach. That person was Elena Marshall, in her tight swimsuit and her green Chinese hat, about to push a white wooden raft into the water.Poirot thanked him with a sidelong glance at him for having ruined a pair of white suede shoes for which he had graciously rushed to help."Mr. Poirot," she called again, just as she propped the raft open.

Poirot jumped to the water's edge, "Madame," Elena Marshall said, "Do me a favor, please?" "At your command." She smiled at him and murmured: "Don't tell anyone where I am." There was a pleading look in her eyes. "Everyone follows me everywhere, I just want to be alone for a while." She swiped away hard. Poirot walked onto the beach and said to himself: "That's strange, I don't believe that." He doubted very much that this woman, who went by the stage name of Elena Stuart, ever thought of being alone in her life, as a man of the world like Hercule Poirot knew.Arlena Marshall was undoubtedly going on a tryst with someone, and Poirot knew very well who that person might be.At least he thought he knew who it would be, but on that point he was proven wrong.For not long after the raft rounded the headland and disappeared, Patrick Redfonne walked down the beach from the hotel, with Kenneth Marshall following him.

Marshall nodded to Poirot, "Good morning, Poirot, have you seen my wife?" Poirot replied evasively, "Did Madam get up so early?" Marshall said, "She's not in her room." He looked up at the sky and said, "It's a lovely day, I should go swimming now, I have a lot of typing this morning." Patrick Redfonne, surreptitiously prowling up and down the beach, sat down beside Poirot, pretending to be waiting for someone.Poirot said: "Where is Mrs. Redfern? Does she get up early too?" Patrick Redfern said, "Christine? Oh, she's been out painting, she's been taking a lot of interest in art lately." His tone was impatient, apparently absent-minded.After a long time, he became more and more impatient, and it was obvious that he was waiting for Elena to appear. Every time he heard footsteps, he anxiously turned his head to see who came out of the hotel.

Again and again he was disappointed, first the Gardners arrived with their knitting and books, then Miss Brest.Mrs. Gardner was as industrious as usual, and after sitting in her chair, she began knitting furiously, and said: "Mr. Poirot, there seem to be very few people on the beach this morning. Where have all the people gone? " Poirot replied that the two guests with children were all sailing out to sea, and were going to play all day. "Well, it's no wonder it's so different. They're laughing and joking around here. Only Mr. Marshall is swimming." Marshall had just finished swimming ashore, and he walked onto the beach with a towel in his hand. "It was very comfortable in the sea this morning," he said. "Unfortunately, I still have a lot of work to do, and I have to do it now." "Well, that's a pity, Mr. Marshall, especially as the weather is so fine today. Well, it was a terrible day yesterday. I just told Mr. Gardner that if the weather keeps going like this, we'll I had to get out of here. You know, when the island is full of thick fog, it's weird and spooky. However, I've been very sensitive to the atmosphere around me since I was a child. You know, sometimes I scream I yelled and yelled, of course, and it bothered my parents. But my mother was a lovely woman, and she said to my father, 'Sinclair, if the child wants to do this, we have to let her do it. , screaming is a way of self-expression for her.' My dad certainly agrees with her, he is very submissive to my mom and does her bidding. They are a very cute couple, I believe Mr. Gardner Would agree too, they're such an amazing couple, aren't they, Odyll?" "Yes, dear," said Mr. Gardner. "Where was your daughter this morning, Mr. Marshall?" "Linda? I don't know. I think she's wandering somewhere on the island." "You know, Mr. Marshall, I think that girl is too thin, and she needs to be fed, and needs, needs sympathy." Kenneth Marshall said abruptly, "Linda is fine." He walked over to the hotel. Patrick Redfern hadn't been in the water, he was still sitting there looking openly towards the hotel.He looked a little chagrined, but Miss Brest was glad to be here. Their conversation was much the same as it had been the day before, with Mrs. Gardner babbling and Miss Brest interjecting. At last she said: "The beach seems pretty empty. Have you all gone out to sea?" Mrs. Gardner said: "I also said to Mr. Gardner this morning that we should really take a boat to the Great Demos, which is very close to here, and the whole environment is very romantic. I would like to see that too. Prison—Prince County? Is it? I think we'd better make arrangements to go tomorrow, Odyll." Mr. Gardner said, "Yes, dear." Hercule Poirot said to Miss Brest: "Are you going to go swimming?" "Oh, I've been in the water once before breakfast, and someone threw a bottle out of the hotel room window and almost smashed my head." "Well, that fact is so dangerous!" said Mrs. Gardner. "I have a very good friend who was hit on the head by a can of toothpaste on the road and had a concussion—something The fact that it was thrown from a thirty-fifth-floor window is too dangerous, and he's badly hurt." She started rummaging through her pile of wool. "Well, Odyssey, I don't think I got my lavender wool. It's in the second or third drawer of our bedroom chest of drawers." "OK, dear." Mr. Gardner rose obediently, and went to find her something.Mrs. Gardner went on: "You know, sometimes I really think we've gone a little too far now, a lot of great discoveries, and the waves in the atmosphere, and I think that's what makes a lot of people nervous. I I think it's time for us to re-recognize human nature, Mr. Poirot, I don't know if you have ever been interested in the prophecies of the pyramids." "No," said Poirot. "Well, I can assure you, it's very, very interesting. Like, exactly a thousand miles north of Moscow is—well, where is it?—Could it be Nigerveh?— Anyway, if you just draw a circle, you can see the most unexpected things--and you can see that there must be some special instructions for those things, and the ancient Egyptians could not think that it was all made by themselves. If You've worked out the theory of numbers and recurrence, and ah, it's all so clear that I don't see how anyone could doubt it." Mrs. Gardner paused grandly, but Poirot and Miss Brest made no objection. Poirot eyed his white shoes with chagrin.Emily Brest says: "Mr. Poirot, have you been wading in your shoes?" Bai Luo murmured: "Unfortunately, I have no other choice." Emily Brest lowered her voice and said, "Why didn't we see our banshee this morning? She was later than usual." Mrs. Gardner looked up at Patrick Redfern, and murmured: "He looks like a sky full of clouds about to thunderstorm, alas! I really think it's a shameful thing, no. Knowing what Mr Marshall thinks, he's really a nice, quiet guy--very British, so nonchalant you don't know what he's thinking." Patrick Redfon stood up and began to walk up and down the beach.Mrs. Gardner murmured, "Like a tiger." Three pairs of eyes watched him walk up and down, and their gaze seemed to make Patrick Redfern uncomfortable.He looked more depressed than before, as if in a bad temper, and in the silence a faint chime of a bell reached their ears from the opposite side, and Emily Brest said in a low voice: It's blowing from the east, and it's a good sign to hear what time the church clock strikes." No one said anything more.Finally, Mr. Gardner came back with a bunch of bright purple wool, "Hey, Odier, why have you been away for so long." "I'm sorry, dear, but the wool isn't in the chest of drawers at all. I found it on a shelf in your wardrobe." "Well, that's very strange, I dare say I did keep it in the chest of drawers, I always say it's a good thing I never have to testify in court, and if I don't remember anything right, I will Sudden death." Mr. Gardner said: "Mrs. Gardner is a very cautious person." At the end of about five minutes, Patrick Redfonne said: "Miss Brest, are you going rowing this morning? Shall I go with you?" Miss Brest said happily, "Okay." "Let's row around the island," Redfon suggested. Miss Brest looked at her watch: "Do we have time? Oh, yes, it's not half past eleven. Then, come on, let's start now." They walked down the beach together, Patrick Redfern taking the oars first, and he pulled hard enough that the boat shot straight ahead.Miss Brest expressed her appreciation and said: "Great, let's see if you can keep going." He laughed loudly at her, his spirits heightened. "I'm afraid I'll have blisters on my hands when we get back." He threw his black hair back as he threw his head up. "My God, what a fine day it is! There's nothing like a really good summer's day in England." Emily Brest said in a very rough voice: "In my opinion, there is nothing in Britain that others can compare to. There is only this place in the world to live in." "I totally agree." They rounded the headland and rowed west. The boat was under the cliff. Patrick Redfon looked up, "Is there anyone on Sunshine Cliff this morning? Uh, there's a shadow, I don't know who it could be ?” Emily Brest said: "Miss Daly, I think, has those Japanese parasols." They paddled along the coast, with the sea on their left.Emily Brest said, "We should have gone that way, and this way is just upstream." "The waves are not big. I have swum here before, but I didn't notice it. Anyway, I can't walk over there. The embankment won't be flooded by sea water." "Of course, it depends on the tide. But they all said that it would be very dangerous to swim too far in Little Demon Bay." Patrick was still paddling vigorously, all the while searching the cliff with his head up.It occurred to Emily Brest: "He's looking for Marshall's wife, that's why he's out boating with me. She hasn't shown up this morning, and he's wondering what's wrong with her. Maybe she did it on purpose." Do it, that's one of her ways of playing the game - playing hard to get." They walked around the rocky promontory protruding from the south side of the bay called Little Demon Bay. It was a rather small bay with many jagged and strange rocks near the shore. The bay faced northwest, and most of them were under tall cliffs. .This is a very popular picnic spot.When the sun doesn't shine in this area in the morning, few people come here.But now there is a man lying on the beach.Patrick Redfern paused, then resumed rowing, and said in a forcedly composed voice, "Well, who's there?" Miss Brest said grimly: "It looks a lot like Mrs. Marshall." "It was her," said Patrick Redfern, as if it had just occurred to him. He changed course and rowed for shore.Emily Brest protested, "We're not going ashore here, are we?" Patrick Redfonne said quickly, "Oh, there's still plenty of time." He looked her in the eye--the innocent pleading look in his eyes, like a begging puppy, that silenced Emily Brest, who thought to herself, "Poor boy, he really Trapped, well, there's nothing you can do about it, he'll be fine in a while." As the boat approached the beach quickly, Eleanor Marshall lay face down on the sand, her hands outstretched.The white raft was hauled ashore and set aside, and Emily Brest was puzzled, as if what she was seeing was something she was familiar with and yet in some ways completely different. Something is wrong.It wasn't until a minute or two later that she realized what the problem was.Elena Marshall's pose is that of sunbathing.She had lay like that many times on the beach in front of the hotel, her tanned body stretched out, her green cardboard hat covering her head and neck. But there is no sun on the seaside of Little Demon Bay, and the sun has not been able to shine here for a few hours. The cliffs standing behind it completely blocked the sun in the morning, and Emily Brest couldn't help feeling a sense of foreboding. The boat was stranded on the gravel, and Patrick Redfon called, "Hi, Elena." Immediately afterwards, Emily Brest really felt that something was wrong, because the lying person neither moved nor responded. Emily saw the expression on Patrick Redfang's face change.He jumped out of the boat, and she followed him, and they hauled the boat ashore, then walked towards the white figure lying motionless at the foot of the cliff. Millie Brest was right behind him. As if in a dream, she saw tanned limbs, a white bathing suit—some red curls peeking out from under an emerald green hat—and something else—two outstretched arms. , the angle is very strange and abnormal.The next moment, she felt the body not lying down, but thrown like this... She heard Patrick's voice—a frightened whisper, kneeling beside the motionless body— He stretched out his hand and touched his arm... He said in a low and trembling voice: "My God, she's dead..." Then he lifted the hat a little bit, looked at her neck, and said, "Oh my God, she was strangled... she was murdered." At times like this, time seemed to stand still, and Emily Brest felt an unreal feeling of being in a hallucination, and heard herself say, "We can't move anything... until the police come." Redfang replied mechanically: "That's right—that's right—of course it should be." Then he asked in a low voice with great distress: "Who? Who is it? Who would do this to Elena? She can't possibly ——The one who was murdered cannot be true!" Emily Brest shook her head, not knowing how to answer.She heard him take a deep breath—heard him say, with suppressed anger, "My God, if I catch someone doing something like that..." Emily Brest shuddered as she imagined the murderer might still be hiding behind a rock, and she heard her own voice say, "The murderer won't be around here anymore, we must hurry Get the police, maybe—" She hesitated—"one of us should be guarding—guarding the body." Patrick Redfonne said, "I'll stay." Emily Brest sighed in relief. She was not the kind of woman who would admit that she was afraid, but she privately felt that it was best not to stay on the beach alone, maybe the terrible murderer was still nearby Woolen cloth.She said, "Well, I'll go as fast as I can, I'll get on the boat, I can't get up that straight ladder. There's a police station in Cove Cove." Patrick Redfonne murmured mechanically, "Well—well, you figure it out." As Emily Brest rowed vigorously away from the shore, she saw Patrick slump down beside the dead woman, his head buried in his hands, looking like a dog guarding his dead master. The dead dog.But still she couldn't help thinking: "It would be the best thing for him and his wife--for Marshall and his children--but I don't think he can do that." Thinking about it, poor fellow!" Emily Brest is a resilient woman.