Chapter 11 Chapter Eleven There Will Be Murder

As Julie passed the door of her next-door neighbor, she knocked, went into the hall and called, "Is Grey in?" A lady poked her head out of the kitchen. "She's sewing in the upstairs room." Julie went upstairs and walked into a small room. Grey was kneeling on the floor with a few pins in her mouth. "Is there any news from the studio?" Julie asked. "Not much, but there are still some rumours. Marina Gray was back in the studio yesterday and she thinks something is scary." "What's up?" "She didn't like the taste of her coffee. You know they have coffee time in the middle of the morning. She took a sip and thought something was wrong. Of course it's nonsense, there can't be anything wrong, the coffee was poured straight from the jug .I always serve her in special china, there can't be anything wrong."

"It was nervousness, I suppose," said Julie. "How did it turn out?" "No, it's nothing. Luther calmed everyone down, and he was good at it. He took her coffee and poured it into the sink." "What a fool," said Julie slowly. "Why—what do you mean?" "Me, if there's anything wrong with that coffee, no one will know." "Do you really think that might be a problem?" Gray asked in surprise. "This—" Julie shrugged, "There was something wrong with the wine she drank on the day of the banquet, why not the coffee? If you don't succeed once, you will try again and again."

Gray was terrified. "Julie, I don't like it," she said. "Somebody put poison in her cup, and you know she's got a lot of threatening letters, and things broke the other day." "what." "Marble sculpture. There was a sculpture in the corner of a room on the set that was probably the Austrian Imperial Palace, and it was sitting on a shelf, and a heavy truck went by the corner road and knocked it out—just right. On the chair where Marina was filming, it was broken into pieces. Fortunately, they didn't turn it on at the time. Mr. Luther didn't say a word to her, but just changed to another chair. He said that this chair is easier for the camera to take the lens. But I tell you, she doesn't like that chair at all."

The two girls looked at each other. "On the other hand it's exciting," said Julie slowly, "and—it—" "I guess I'm not going to work on the set," Grey said. "Why? Nobody wants to poison you, or drop marble carvings on your head!" "No, it's not a matter of which one is at the other's disadvantage, but it may be another person who suffers, as Hit Bakerk did that day. I was there to help that day, and I was very close to them." "That's when Hit Baker died?" "No, she spilled the wine then, and poured it all over her dress. It was a very lovely dress, blue crepe, and she had made it for this party. It was ridiculous."

"How ridiculous?" "I thought," said Grey, "what Arthur Bakerk was going to do with Hitt's clothes. It was lovely that it could be washed, and maybe I could use it almost unchanged." "Oh—in a dead woman's clothes—" Gray watched her. "I didn't think of that," she admitted, "I just thought it was a cute one. Blue dress and expensive. I think I'll stop by and talk to Mr. Ghisper tomorrow morning when I go to work." "Is he an Italian servant?" "Yes, he is very handsome. He chased our girls to death... Anyway, I want to tell him about it and ask him what I should do."

"I don't see what you have to talk about," said Julie. "My dear, you'd better watch out, you know what those Italians look like! They have gangs everywhere. Hot blood, hot, that's Italian." Gray took a breath in ecstasy. As soon as Julie looked at her friend's chubby, freckled face, she knew her warning was not going to work. While Julie was chatting with her girlfriend, Doctor Hedak came to Miss Marple's house. "What do you think of that murder?" he asked Miss Marple. "I'm afraid I don't understand well enough," said Miss Marple, shaking her head and sighing.

"Nonsense," said Dr. Hedak, "don't tell me you don't have any opinion." "Of course I have my opinion, and it's clear." "Like what?" Hedak asked curiously. If the cocktail incident was premeditated—I can't figure out how—" "Probably in an eyedropper first," suggested Hedak. "You're very good at it," said Miss Marple appreciatively. "But in my opinion, it's strange that no one sees this kind of thing." "The murderer had to take advantage of it," Hedak said. "Of course! I'm not going to argue about this for now. According to my investigation, there were at least eighteen to twenty people at the scene. It seems to me that one of the twenty people must be an eyewitness."

Hedak nodded, "Everyone thinks so, but no one says it." "Well, there are three possibilities. I think at least one person will see that one out of twenty is a reasonable inference." "I think you're making the mistake of taking assumptions for conclusions," Hedak said. "Let's talk about the three possibilities you mentioned." "I'm afraid I can only give a rough sketch," said Miss Marple. "It may be that the person who sees it doesn't understand it. Of course, it means that the man is a fool who uses his eyes instead of his brains. If you ask him,' Did you ever see someone put something in Marina Gray's glass?' Sure answer, 'Oh no,' but if you ask, 'Did you see someone put their hand in Marina Gray's On top of the cup? 'Must be 'Oh, yes, see!'”

Hedak couldn't help laughing. "I admit, what about the second possibility?" Miss Marple said, "People these days are always adding something to their drink or food, and someone might pick up a glass on the table claiming it's his or hers and put something in it openly. You know, In that case, people don't think about it." "Then he (or she) isn't sure it will work," Hedak said. "Of course I'm not sure," Miss Marple agreed. "That's a gamble, a risk, and a third possibility." "The first possibility is due to idiots," said the doctor, "the second possibility is a stake, and the third is what?"

"The third is that someone saw it, but kept silent." Hedak frowned. "For what reason?" he asked. "Do you mean blackmail? If so—" "If that's the case," said Miss Marple, "it's a very dangerous thing to do." "Indeed," he looked at the calm old woman in horror, "do you think the third one is the most likely?" "No," said Miss Marple, "I didn't say that, and I didn't have enough reason, unless," she added cautiously, "someone else was murdered." "Do you think anyone else will be killed?"

"I hope not," said Miss Marple. "I pray I don't, but it happens a lot, Dr. Hedak. It's such a dreadful, tragic thing." Ira was on the phone while Marpo speculated about three possible poisonings. Ira put down the receiver, smiled, and walked out of the public phone booth, feeling content. "Almighty Chief Inspector, I can do more than him." She couldn't help but chuckle at the reaction of the man on the other end of the line.The faint threatening voice came from the other end. "I saw you..." There was a grim, sly smile on her lips, and she hadn't felt a sense of authority until the last few days.She could hardly realize how deeply she was intoxicated in it... Mrs. Buntree, busy as usual in the garden, waved to her as she passed the east house. "Damn old lady," thought Ira, and she could feel Mrs. Buntry watching her over her back. A word broke into her mind unconsciously. The trader used to come to the well... nonsense!No one would suspect that the faint threatening voice was her... She sneezed. When she walked into the office, Jason Luther was standing by the window. He turned around: "I can't figure out where you go." "I'm going to have a word with the gardener. There—" She saw the look on her face now, and said no more. She asked sharply, "What is that?" His eyes seemed more sunken than before, and the clown-like pleasure was gone. This was a man with a lot of pressure on his shoulders. She had seen him tired before, but never in this way. She asked again, "What's that?" He took out a piece of paper and handed it to her. "The coffee composition analysis table is the coffee that Marina complains and doesn't want to drink." "You sent it for analysis?" She was surprised, "But didn't you pour it into the sink? I saw you pour it in!" He grinned and said, "Ira, I have quick hands and feet." He said, "You don't understand that. Throw most of it away and save a little for analysis." She looked down at the paper in her hand: "As." "Yes, arsenic." Ira shook her head. "Who does such an abominable thing? Oh, I guess it's easy enough. All the windows are open and anyone can sneak in." "You mean we should lock up the house? But it's so hot. That man must be familiar with the environment." "Yes, I can't scare her anymore. Those threatening letters can be ignored. But arsenic, Ira, arsenic..." "This is tantamount to murder!" "You could say that. But they probably don't realize it's murder... the servants..." "I think the servant is all right." "That Gisper, when it comes to money, I really can't trust Gisper... He's been with us for a while, but—" "Jason, do you have to torture yourself like this?" He slumped on the chair, leaned forward, and put his long hands between his thighs. "What to do?" he said softly, "My God, what to do?" Ira was silent, just sat aside and watched him. "She's happy here," Jason said, as if speaking to himself, not to Ira.He looked down at the carpet under his feet, and if he looked up, he would be surprised by the expression on her face. "She's happy now," he said again. "She wanted to be happy, and now she's really happy." "Will she still feel happy in the future?" Ira said with sarcasm, "You never thought it was like this, did you?" Jason Luther smiled, "No, I think maybe there will be peace and contentment in one or two years, which may make her change her face and have confidence in herself, but this kind of thing is happening to her now." Ira moved uneasily. "A lot of things happened to her." Ira moved uneasily. "A lot of things happen to us," she said bluntly, "this is life, you have to go with it, but some people can, some people can't, she is the same kind of person who can bear it." She sneezed. "Your allergies are coming back?" "Yes. Gibson went to London." Jason was slightly surprised. "To London? What to do?" "Some troubles in the family. He has a relative who lives in Suha and is very ill. He went to ask Marina for leave and she said yes, so I'll give him a day off. He'll be back tonight, don't you mind?" "No," Jason said, "I don't mind..." He stood up and walked back and forth, "If I... now... I can take her away immediately." "But think about it—" He raised his voice. "I don't think about anything but Marina, you understand? She's in danger and that's all I can think about." She sneezed uncontrollably, stood up and left, and went back to her bedroom with the sound in her heart: Marina...Marina...Marina...Forever Marina... She couldn't help feeling angry.She suppressed it.Go into the bathroom and pick up the nasal spray. She stuffed the deodorant into her nostrils and squeezed... she was aware of the smell of bitter almonds she hadn't smelled before... but it was too late...