Chapter 9 Chapter nine

Anthony followed Virginia out of the restaurant, secretly feeling a little smug.Things took an unexpected turn.However, when he bent down and saw the dead man on the chair, his face became serious again. "He's still hot," he said warily. "He was killed within half an hour." "Just before I came in?" "Not bad." He stood there straight, frowning in thought.Then he asked a question, and Virginia could not immediately know what his intentions were. "Then your maid has been in the room?" "No." "Does she know you've been here?"

"Why—she knows. I talked to her at the door." "Was that after you found the dead body?" "Yes" "Did you say nothing to her?" "Wouldn't it be better if I told her? I thought she might be hysterical - she's French, you know, and easily flustered - and I'm going to think about what to do in the meantime. .” Anthony nodded, but said nothing. " "I can see that you naturally think it a pity?" "It's a little regrettable, Mrs. Redford. It would be easier if you and the maid found the dead body together as soon as you got home. In that case, it must have been the man before you got home." Beat people to death."

"But now they'll all say he died after I got home—I understand—" He carefully observed her expression of slowly realizing this truth.That just confirmed his first impression of him when she had talked to him on the outside steps just now. In addition to beauty, she has courage and brains. Virginia was absorbed in thinking about this sudden difficulty. Therefore, she never imagined how this stranger could know her name so easily. "I don't know why Alice didn't hear the gunshot?" she said forward. Anthony pointed to the open window; at the same moment the sound of a car's cylinders exploding came from the street.

"Look, London is not an easy place to notice pistol shots." Virginia turned slightly tremblingly to look at the body on the chair. "He looks Italian," she said curiously. "He's Italian," said Anthony. "I think his regular occupation was as a waiter in a hotel, and he only blackmailed people in his spare time. His name was probably Giuseppe." "My God!" said Virginia. "Is this one of the Sherlock Holmes cases?" "No," said Anthony regretfully, "I'm afraid it's just simple, common deceit, and I'll tell you all about it shortly. Now, you say this man showed you some letters and asked you for money. You Give him some money?"

"Yes, I gave it to him." "How many?" "Forty pounds." "That would be bad," Anthony said, without showing any undue surprise. "Now, first let me see the telegram." Virginia lifted the telegram from the table and handed it to him.She saw his face grow serious as he read the telegram. "What's the matter?" He picked up the telegram and, without a word, pointed to the address on it. "Barnes," he said. "You were at Lanella that afternoon. How is it possible that you would not send the telegram yourself?"

Virginia was petrified by his words.It was as if a net was covering her and was tightening.He made her see what she had only dimly felt before. Anthony took out a handkerchief and wrapped it around his hands, and picked up the pistol. "We criminals have to be careful," he said apologetically, "fingerprints, you know?" She suddenly saw him becoming tense all by himself.His voice changed, becoming more succinct. "Mrs. River," he said. "Have you seen this pistol before?" "No," said Virginia inexplicably. "Are you sure?" "Definitely."

"Have you got a pistol yourself?" "No, never." "Are you sure?" "Report for sure." He looked at her intently for a moment, and then she returned the same look, marveling at the tone of his voice. Then, with a sigh, he relaxed a bit. "That's weird," he said. "How do you explain this?" He showed her the pistol.It was a small, delicate thing, almost a toy—but still deadly.It has the name "Virginia" engraved on it. "Oh, that's impossible!" cried Virginia. Her air of astonishment was real, so Anthony had to believe it.

"Sit down," he said calmly. "This situation is now more worthy of study than it was at the beginning. First, what are our assumptions? Only two are the most likely. Of course, the real Virginia who wrote those letters was one, and she probably didn't know how to use it." Some way of tracking him down here. After she shot him, she dropped the pistol, stole the letter, and got away. That's probable, isn't it?" "I suppose so," said Virginia reluctantly. "The other hypothesis is much more interesting. Whoever is out to kill Jucep wants to implicate you too--in fact, that's probably their main purpose. They can do it easily anywhere. However, it took a lot of effort to come here. No matter who they are, they know everything about you. They know that you have a villa in Dachte, and they know how your usual family affairs are arranged. , and know that you were at Lanella this afternoon. Now I'm going to ask you a question that seems stupid: Do you have any enemies, Mrs. Redford?"

"Of course I don't—I don't have that kind of enemy anyway." "The question now," said Anthony, "is what shall we do now? There are two ways we can do this: first, call the police and tell them everything. With your unassailable position in society alone, You will have no problem with living a clean life. The second is for me to figure out a proper way to dispose of this corpse. According to my personal preference, I naturally want to adopt the second way. There is always a Juhan, I just want to see if I can cover up a crime skillfully. However, I am a little nervous and don't want to cause bloodshed. Generally speaking, I think the first method is the most reasonable. In addition, there is another method, Just a twist on the first one. Call the police, etc., all the same, but suppress the pistol and the threatening letters—that is, if they're still in his possession.

Anthony quickly rummaged through the dead man's pockets. "He was stripped naked by the murderer," he announced. "There's nothing left. In order to find those letters, they will use despicable means.It is still in crisis.Ya, what is this?There was a hole in the lining of the garment - something had been stuffed there and it had been roughly ripped out - leaving a scrap of paper. " When he was speaking, he tore out the piece of paper at the same time and held it to a bright place to read.Virginia watched too. "It's a pity we don't have the rest of the paper," he murmured. "Thursday, eleven forty-five, The Chimney House—looks like an appointment."

"The Chimney Building?" Virginia asked aloud. "How incredible!" "How incredible? It's impossible for such a low-level person to go to such a noble place?" "I'm going to Chimney House this evening. At least I'm going." Anthony turned sharply to her. What did you say?please repeat again? "I'm going to Chimney House this evening," repeated Virginia. Anthony stared at her intently. "I see now. I may have guessed wrongly. But, at least, it's an idea. Perhaps someone is eager to keep you from going to Chimney House?" "My cousin George Lomax tried to stop me," Virginia said with a smile. "However, I really don't doubt that George will kill anyone." Anthony didn't smile.He was lost in thought. "If you call the police, then you can't go to Chimney House today—or even tomorrow. I think that will make our unknown friends Zhang Huang confused. Mrs. Redford, you let May I plan it for you? "Then, the second method is to be adopted." "The second way. The first thing to do is to dispatch your maid. Can you do it?" "It's easy." Virginia went out into the hall and called upstairs. "Alice, Alice." "Mrs." Anthony heard her say something quickly and briefly to the maid.Then, the sound of the door opening and closing was heard.Virginia came back into the room. "She's gone. I sent her to buy a particular perfume—I told her the shop I was talking about was open until eight. Of course, it wasn't. I told her not to come back, but to take the next one. The train will arrive later." "Good," said Anthony approvingly. , "Now we can proceed to dispose of the body. This is the old method. But I must ask you, is there a trunk here?" "Of course there are. Go down to the basement and pick one up." There are various large suitcases in the basement.Anthony picked out a fairly large, sturdy case. "I'll take care of that part of the job," he said tactfully. "You go upstairs and get ready, and we'll start." Virginia did as he was told.She went upstairs and took off the tennis suit and put on a brown traveling suit and a nice orange hat.When she came downstairs, she saw a well-bundled suitcase waiting for her in Anthony's production hall. "I wanted to tell you my personal situation," he said. "However, we're going to be very busy this evening. Now, what you should do is this. Get a taxi and put your luggage on board, including this trunk. Take a ride to Paddington Station. You're in Leave your luggage there in the luggage room. I'll be on the platform. When you pass me, drop the luggage slip on the ground. I'll pick it up and give it to you. In fact, I'll leave the list .You just go to Chimney House, and I'll do the rest." "It's very kind of you," Virginia said. "It's really wrong for me to entrust the task of disposing of such a dead body to a stranger who has never met." "I like this mission," Anthony said nonchalantly. "A friend of mine, Jimmy McGrath, would tell you if he was here, something like this would be perfect for me." Virginia watched him intently. "What name did you just say? Jimmy McGrath?" Anthony's sharp eyes were also watching the ground. "Yes. What? Have you heard his name?" "Yes—and recently," she paused, then continued. "Mr. Cade, I must speak to you. Can you come to Chimney House?" "You'll see me soon, Mrs. Redford—I can tell you this, right now, Conspirator A is sneaking out the back door. Conspirator B is going out the front door blatantly, and taxis away." The plan went so well that Anthony hailed another taxi to the platform and picked up the luggage slip.Then he left the platform to find an old car.It was a second-hand Maurice Cowley he had bought in advance, just in case he needed it. He went back to Paddington Station in that car and handed the baggage-list to the porter.The workman took the big suitcase out of the luggage room and put it in the back of the car.So Anthony drove the car away. His current goal is to work abroad in London.Pass Notting Hill, Shepherd's Bush, go down the Golden Eagle Road, pass through Blenzine and Hounslow, and drive until you reach the long road between Hounslow and Stein.It was a well-traveled road, with cars passing by constantly.It was impossible to show footprints or traces of vehicles here, and Anthony found a place to stop the car.He got out of the car, first painted the number on the license plate with mud, and then waited until there were cars approaching on both sides of the road where he could not hear. sound.Then he opened the trunk, emptied Giuseppe's body, and placed it on the side of the road, under a bend, so that it would not be seen by the headlights of passing cars. Then he got in the car again and drove away.From beginning to end, this matter was not bad at all, and it only took a minute and a half.He circled back to the right and drove back to London via the Baihemu camphor forest.In that kind of woods, he stopped the car again.He picked the biggest tree in the forest and climbed it calmly.This matter, as far as Anthony is concerned, is also considered a remarkable effort.He put a brown paper packet in the topmost branch, close to the trunk, where it was suitable for hiding. "It's a very clever way to dispose of the pistol this way," thought Anthony proudly. "Everyone searches the ground, or fishes in a pond. But very few people in the UK can climb that tree to find it these days." Then he went back to London, and Paddington station.Here he stowed the trunk—in another luggage room this time, on the side where the travelers stood.He was craving something now, like a good rump steak, juicy ribs, and big french fries.However, he glanced at his watch and shook his head mournfully.He filled his Morris with gas and hit the road again.This time it was heading north. It was just after eleven-thirty when he stopped on the road next to the evil circle of the Chimney Building.He jumped out of the car, easily scaled the wall of Xieyuan, and headed straight for the building.It took longer than he had thought.So, before long, he was running fast forward.In the dark night, looming was a huge gray mass—the stately chimneys of the Chimney House.In the distance a stable bell chimed, announcing the time of three quarters of an hour. Eleven forty-five—the time mentioned in the note.Now that Anthony was on the terrace of the house, looking up at the house, everything seemed dark and still. "These politicians, they go to bed early," he thought secretly. Suddenly, a sound shook his ears—it was a gunshot. Anthony looked around quickly.The shot came from inside the room—he could tell.He waited a minute, but there was dead silence.At last he went up to the long French windows from which, as he judged, the shot that had startled him had come from.He tried the window handle.is locked.He tried several other windows, listening intently all the while.However, no sound broke the silence. In the end, he thought that the gunshot was probably his own imagination, or maybe it was the gunshot of a poacher who happened to come from the forest.He turned and walked back across the circle, feeling vaguely dissatisfied and restless. He looked back at the building. At this moment, a light in a window on the second floor suddenly turned on, but in a blink of an eye, it went out again.Then the place became dark again.