Chapter 5 chapter Five

The Chief of Police's brows slowly rose to his forehead, but could not reach his gray hairline in vain.He looked up to the ceiling, then down to the papers on the desk. "It's indescribable!" he said. A young man from the police station said: "Yes, sir." "It's a mess," Major Feeney complained.His fingers tapped the tabletop. "Is Hu Xu there?" He asked. "Now, sir, Inspector Hush came about five minutes ago." "Good," said the Commissioner of Police. "Call him in, will you?" Inspector Hu Xu was a tall, sad-looking man.His mournful look was so deep that no one would have believed that he might have been the soul of children's parties, telling jokes and making copper coins out of the little boys' ears to amuse them.

The Police Commissioner said: "Morning, Hu Xu, this case is a mess. What do you think?" Inspector Hu Xu breathed heavily and sat on a chair pointed out by the other party. "It seems like we made a mistake two years ago," he said. "This guy—what's his name—" The Commissioner of Police flips through the files. "Calory—no, Calgary. Some professor. An absent-minded guy, maybe? A guy like him who's always vague about time and stuff like that?" There was perhaps a pleading note in his words. Hinted, but Hu Xu didn't respond.He said: "He's a scientist, I know."

"So you think we have to accept what he said?" "Oh," said Hush, "Sir Reginald seems to have accepted it, and I don't think anything escapes him." It was a compliment to the Chief Prosecutor. "Yes," said Major Feeney, somewhat reluctantly. "If the Chief Prosecutor believes it, then I think we probably have no choice but to accept it. This means reopening the investigation of the case. Have you brought the relevant information as I asked?" "Yes, sir, here it is." The inspector general spread out various papers on his desk.

"Have you seen it all?" asked the Superintendent of Police. "Yes, sir. I read it all last night. My memory of the case is fairly clear. It was not so long ago, after all." "Okay, let's hear it, Hu Xu. What's the progress?" "Back to the beginning, sir," Inspector Hush said. "The thing is, you know, there was really no doubt at the time." "Yes," said the Commissioner of Police. "Seems like a pretty clear case. Don't think I'm blaming you, Hush. I'm with you 100 percent." "We really didn't have anything else to think about at the time," Hu Xu said thoughtfully. "One phone call said she had been killed. The news that the child had threatened her there, fingerprint evidence—his fingerprints were in the That poker, and the money. We caught him almost immediately, and the money was on him."

"What impression did you have of him at the time?" Hu Xu thought for a while. "Not good," he said. "Too overconfident, too plausible. The time, the alibi, as soon as you arrive. Too overconfident. You know the type. Killers are usually not overconfident. Think they're so smart. Think they're doing it." There's nothing wrong with what happened, no matter what it does to other people. He's a badass." "Yes," agreed Feeney, "he's a badass. All his records bear that out. But were you convinced right away that he was a murderer?"

Inspector General think about it. "It's not something you can be sure of. He's the type, I think, who kills his life a lot. Like Harmon in 1938. There's a long list of stealing bicycles, swindling money, giving old women money under his name." A record of fraud. He ended up killing a woman, pickling her in acid, smug, and starting to make a habit of it. I was one of those people who saw Jack Argyle as that type." "But," said the Commissioner slowly, "it appears we were mistaken." "Yeah," Hush said, "yes, we were wrong. And the kid died. That's bad. You remember," he went on, suddenly and vividly, "that they were bad guys. He probably wasn't the murderer— — in fact he was not the murderer, we now find out — but he was a villain.”

"Well, come on, man," snapped Feeney, "who killed her? Say, you've read the file last night. Somebody killed her. The woman ain't gonna be me Hit yourself on the back of the head with a pair of pokers. Someone else did it. Who?" Inspector Hu Xu sighed and lay back on the back of the chair. "I'm wondering if we'll ever know," he said. "Is it that difficult, huh?" "Yes, because the leads are thin, and because the evidence will be so thin that I kind of think there's never been much evidence to be found." "The point is that the murderer was someone in that house, someone close to her? It's not clear that it could have been anyone else," the inspector general said. "It was somebody in that house or somebody she let him in. The Argyles were careful doormen. The windows had burglar bars, and the front door had multiple locks and chains. They were burglarized once a few years ago, which made them more wary of thieves." He paused and continued. "The thing is, sir, we didn't look elsewhere. The case was totally against Jack. Of course, it's clear now that the murderer took advantage of that."

"Using the fact that the child has been there, quarreled with her, and threatened her?" "Yes. The man just needs to go into that room, put on his gloves, pick up the poker that Jack left there, walk up to Mrs. Argyle, who is writing at her desk, and hit her on the head." Major Feeney put it simply: "why?" Chief Inspector Hu Xu nodded slowly. "Yes, sir, that's what we have to find out. That's going to be one of the difficulties. Lack of motive." "At the time," said the Chief Constable, "there seemed to be no apparent motive, so to speak. Like most other women with property and considerable wealth, she did all kinds of legally permissible avoidance of estate tax. Arrangements are made. Trust benefits have been set up, and arrangements have been made for her children before she dies. They will not get any further benefits if he dies. And she is not an unpleasant woman, nagging Nagging, or threatening, or narrow-minded. She was generous with their money. Good education, money to start a business, good pocket money. Affectionate, kind, well-intentioned."

"Yes, sir," agreed Inspector Hush, "there's no apparent reason why anyone would want to get rid of her. Of course—" He paused. "What, Hu Xu?" "As far as I know. Mr. Argyle is considering remarriage. He is going to marry Miss Gwenda Fern, his secretary for many years." "Well," said Major Feeney thoughtfully. "I think there's a motive in it. A motive we didn't know at the time. She's been his secretary for years, you say. Did it ever occur to you when the murder happened?" "I doubt it, sir," said Inspector Hush. "That sort of thing would go around the village pretty quickly. I mean, I don't think there's anything shady about them, as you might say. There's nothing for Mrs. Argyle to go to." discovered or lost their temper."

"Yes," said the Chief Constable, "but he might very well like to marry Gwenda Fern." "She's an attractive young woman," Inspector Hooch said. "Not the desirable type, I don't think so, but a good-looking, well-behaved attractive woman." "Maybe loved him for years," said Major Feeney. "These female secretaries always seem to fall in love with their bosses." "Well, we sort of found a motive in those two," Hush said. "Then the woman who helped, the Swedish woman. She may not be as fond of Mrs. Argyle as she appears, and there may be some snub or imagined snub; She didn't really benefit from her death because Mrs. Argyle had already bought her a decent pension. She seemed like a sensible woman, and not the kind of person you could imagine knocking anyone's head with pokers Woman! But that's hard to tell, isn't it? Look at the Lizzie Borden case."

"Yes," said the Superintendent, "it's hard to say. It can't be a stranger?" "There was no sign of it," the inspector general said. "The drawer where the money was kept was pulled out. An attempt to make it appear that the room had been visited by a thief, but in a very amateurish way. Deliberately arranged to make one think Jack did it." "What strikes me as strange," said the Commissioner, "is the amount of money." "Yes," Hush said. "That's very incomprehensible. Jack, one of Argyle's five-pound notes was indeed paid to Mrs. Argyle by the bank that morning. Mrs. Boltberry's name was written on the back of the note. He said the money was his mother's." To him, but both Mr. Argyle and Gwenda Fern are quite sure that Mrs. Argyle came into the study at fifteen to seven, told them about Jack asking for money and made it clear that she refused to give him any money." "It is possible, of course," the Commissioner pointed out, "that Argyle and the girl named Fern were lying, based on what we now know." "It is possible—or perhaps—" the Inspector interrupted. "What, Hush?" Feeney encouraged him to go on. "Suppose someone—let's call him or her x for now—overhears Jack arguing with his mother and threatening her. Suppose this someone sees an opportunity. Take the money, chase Tell the child that his mother wants him to take the money after all, and so paves the way for him to be framed. Be careful not to destroy his fingerprints with the poker he used to threaten her." "Damn it," said the Chief of Police angrily. "As far as I know of the family, there doesn't seem to be a single person like that. Who else was in the house that night except Argyle and Gwenda Fern. Hester Argyle and this Lindstrom woman?" "The eldest married daughter, Mary Durant, was there with her husband." He's a lame man, isn't he?This cleared him of suspicion.What about Mary Durant? " "She's a very calm woman, sir. Can't imagine her being impulsive or—er, or killing anyone." "Where's the servant?" asked the Superintendent. "They all go to work during the day, sir, and go home at six o'clock." "Let me read The Times." The inspector general gave him the newspaper. "Well... yes, I understand. Mrs. Argyle was in the study at seven-fifteen telling her husband about Jack's threats to her. Gwenda Fern overheard part of the conversation, and Hester Argyle was at about The mother who had seen her at two or three minutes to seven was alive. Then Mrs. Argyle was not seen until half past seven, when Miss Lindstrom found her body. Between seven and half past seven Chance abounds. Hester may have killed her. Gwenda Fern may have killed her before leaving the study and going out. Miss Lindstrom may have killed her when she 'found the body'. Leo. Argyle had been alone in his study from ten past seven until Miss Lindstrom's yelling. He could have gone up to his wife's sitting-room any time during those twenty minutes and killed her, upstairs. Mary Durant, could have gone downstairs and killed her mother during that half hour. And" - said Feeney thoughtfully - "Mrs Argyle herself could have let anyone in through the front door As if we thought she let Jack in. Leo Argyle said, if you recall, he thought he did hear the doorbell and the front door open and close, but he was very vague about the timing. We assumed it was Jack went back and killed her." "He didn't need to ring the doorbell," Hu Xu said. "He has the key himself. They have them all." "Where's the other brother, isn't there?" "Yes, Michael. Worked as a car salesman in Drymouth." "You'd better find out, I think," said the Superintendent, "what he was up to that night." "After two years?" said Inspector Hush. "It's unlikely anyone will remember, is it possible?" "Did you ever ask him?" "Going out to test a client's car, as far as I know. There was no reason to suspect him at the time, but he had the keys and he 'could' have gone and killed her." The Chief of Police sighed. "I don't know what you're going to do, Hush. I don't know if we're going to make any progress." "I myself wonder who killed her," Hu Xu said. "From all I know, she's a good woman. She's done a lot for other people. For less fortunate children, for various charities. She's the kind of person who shouldn't be killed. Yeah. I think Yes. Even if we never find enough evidence to satisfy the chief prosecutor, I'd like to know." "Oh, I wish you luck, Hush," said the Chief of Police. "Fortunately we're not too busy right now, but don't be discouraged if you don't get anywhere. The leads are very weak. Yes, very weak."