Chapter 22 chapter Ten

Anthony Browne stared at the business card that the servant gave him. He frowned, then shrugged, and said to the little boy: "Okay, let him in." Anthony was standing at the window when Colonel Race entered, bright sunlight slanting in over his shoulders. What he saw was a tall, military-looking man with a bronze face and iron-gray hair—someone he had seen before, but hadn't seen in years, and someone he had heard a lot about. What Reese saw was an elegant, dark portrait with a beautiful head.A pleasant and lazy voice came: "Colonel Race? You're George Patton's friend, I know. He talked about you last night. Have a cigarette."

"thanks." Anthony lit his cigarette and said: "You were the guest who was supposed to arrive last night but didn't—" "You're wrong. That empty seat wasn't reserved for me." Anthony's eyebrows went up. "Really? Barton said—" Reese rushed to say: "George Barton might have said that. His plans were quite different. The chair, Mr. Browne, is for an actress named Chloe West to sit in when the lights go down." Anthony whistled. "I'm starting to understand." "She was given a picture of Rosemary so she could imitate her hairstyle, and she was given a dress that Rosemary wore the night of her death."

"So this was George's plan? The lights came together—everything changed, and there was a scream of horror! Rosemary came back. The guilty man screamed: 'It's true—it's true—I'm done.'" He paused, and added, "It's rotten--a poor old man like George is." "I do not quite understand you." Anthony grinned. "Oh, don't let the narcissus stop blooming - pretend to be garlic, sir - hard-hearted criminals don't scream like a little girl. If someone quietly poisoned Rosemary Barton, and prepared to use the same If he killed George Patton in such a way, then that man must be a tiger. Just an actress dressed like Rosemary is not enough to scare him to spit out his guilt."

"Macbeth (Note: Shakespeare's famous play), remember, a hard-hearted criminal, when he saw the ghost of Banquo at the banquet, he was scared out of his wits." "Ah, yes, but Macbeth sees real ghosts! Not bad actors in Banquo suits! I admit that real ghosts might bring the atmosphere of another world to the human world. In fact, I would like to admit that I Believe in ghosts - have been for the past six months - especially a ghost." "Really—then whose ghost is it?" "Rosemary Barton's. You can laugh all you want. I didn't see her, but I felt her presence. For some reason, poor Rosemary couldn't rest in peace."

"I can think of a reason." "Because she was murdered?" "In other words, because she was 'killed'. What do you think, Mr. Tony Morelli?" There was a silence.Anthony sat down, put out his cigarette, and lit a new one. Then he said: "How did you know?" "You admit that you are Tony Morelli?" "I don't want to waste time denying it. You must have telegraphed to America to find out." "When you admitted that Rosemary Barton found out who you really were, you threatened to 'kill' her if she leaked out."

"I tried everything I could to scare her into shutting up," Tony readily admitted.Colonel Race had a strange feeling in his heart.The interview did not go as expected.He gazed at the figure lying in the chair before him—with a strange sense of familiarity. "Shall I tell you briefly what I know, Morelli?" "That's interesting." "You were charged with conspiracy to sabotage the Erickson Machine Works in the United States and sentenced to prison. After the sentence was completed, the authorities lost track of you. Then you were found in London, staying in a first-class hotel, calling yourself Anthony Browne. You managed to get acquainted with Sir Dowsbury, and through him the other major munitions manufacturers. You lived in Sir Dowsberry's house, and you got to see a lot of things you should never see through your VIP status! Really! It is a strange coincidence, Morelli, that some of the important machine factories you have been to have had accidents not long after your departure."

"A coincidence," said Anthony, "is very unusual." "Finally, after another disappearance, you reappeared in London, met Iris Marr in this step, and made excuses not to come to her house, lest her family know how close you were. Then, you tried to seduce her marry you privately." "You know," said Anthony, "it's very unusual for you to find these things—I don't mean the ammunition thing—I mean my threats to Rosemary, and what I said to Iris Whisper. It seems that these should not belong to the scope of work of secret agents, right?"

Reese stared at him sternly. "You have a lot to explain, Morelli." "Not at all. I admit you're right, so what? I've been in prison, I've made some interesting friends, I've fallen in love with a very attractive girl and can't wait for him to marry her. " "Can't wait to get married before her family has a chance to find out about your past. Iris Marr is a rich young girl." Anthony nodded in agreement. "I know. The family gets meddling when it comes to money. And Iris, you know, doesn't know anything about my dark past. Honestly, I'd rather she didn't."

"I'm afraid she's going to know all about it." "Sorry," Anthony said. "Perhaps you don't understand—" Anthony interrupted him with a smile. "Ah! I could cut out your 'no'. Rosemary knew about my past, so I killed her. George Patton started to suspect me, so I killed him too! And now I'm after Iris's money! Everything is inferred so well, but you have no evidence at all." Reese stared at him intently for a few minutes, then stood up. "Everything I said was true," he said, "but it was wrong." Anthony stared at him.

"What's wrong?" "You're wrong." Reese paced slowly. "It all fit together until I saw you—but now that I've seen you, it doesn't work. You're not a villain. And if you're not a villain, you're one of us. I'm right, aren't I?" Anthony watched him silently, with a smile gradually appearing on his face.Then he said: "That's right, you're right. Anyone with a discerning eye can tell at a glance. That's why I've been avoiding you. I'm afraid you'll expose my identity. It's very important that I don't let anyone know my identity. By now As of yesterday. Now, thank goodness, the ship is up! We have wiped out the international sabotage organization. I have been on this mission for three years. I often attend certain meetings, stir up labor trends, infiltrate them, and become a well-known saboteur One of them. Later, I was arranged to instigate a major sabotage work, and I was arrested and imprisoned. In order to gain their trust, I had to pretend to be the real one.

"After I was released from prison, the mission began to make progress. I gradually infiltrated into their core—an international sabotage organization headquartered in Central Europe. I came to London as their special commissioner and stayed at the Claridge Hotel. I was ordered to To meet Sir Dowsberry. My disguise is, a social butterfly! In my position, I had to meet Rosemary Barton. Suddenly, to my great horror, I discovered that she knew that I had sat My real name is Tony Morelli. I'm terrified for her! If they knew she knew, they wouldn't think twice about getting rid of her. I tried to frighten her as much as I could to keep her from leaking out, but I didn't. High hopes. Rosemary was born big and big. I figured I'd better get out of my way. Then I saw Iris coming down the stairs, and that's when I swore that after I'd done my job, I'd will come back and marry her. "When the part of the work I was responsible for was completed, I reappeared and was in contact with Iris at the same time, but I stayed away from her house and her family because I knew they wanted to investigate me and I had to cover up more. identity for a while. But I was worried for her. She looked sick and terrified, and George Patton seemed to be acting very strangely. I urged her to run away from home and marry me. Well, she refused, maybe she was That's right. Later I was forced to come to this banquet. After we were all seated, George mentioned that you would come. I was a little too hasty to say that I ran into an acquaintance and might have to leave early. I really saw There's a guy I knew in America - Monkey Coleman - and he doesn't remember me, but I'm mainly trying to avoid meeting you. I'm on a mission and I can't meet you. "You know what happened next—George died. I had nothing to do with his death or Rosemary's. I still don't know who killed them." "Can't figure it out at all?" "Must be either the waiter or one of the five at the table. I don't think it's the waiter. No, I don't think it's Iris, it could be Cinderella Faretti, or it could be Stephen Farrer." Leedy, or perhaps a combination of the two of them. But Ruth Lessing is most likely, in my opinion." "Have you any reason to support your opinion?" "No. She seems like the most likely one, but I can't see how she did it at all! In both tragedies, she was in the least likely position to poison the dead man's champagne flute. The more I think about what happened that night, the more I realize that there was no way George could have been poisoned, and yet he was!" Anthony paused. "And there's another thing that's bothering me—did you find out who wrote those anonymous letters?" Reese shook his head. "No. I thought I found out, but I was wrong." "I'm asking you because the funny thing is, it means that somewhere, someone knows that Rosemary was murdered, so unless you're careful—that person will be next!"