Chapter 12 Chapter Eleven A Strange Thing

I must now make clear the part of the matter which concerns me.During the next two hours Captain Maitland and his police force arrived, along with Dr. Rayleigh.We won't talk about it in detail.I think it's just a mess, the police question everyone, it's just routine. I think we started talking about practical issues at about five o'clock.Dr. Rayleigh asked me to come with him into his office. He closed the door, sat down in Dr. Leidner's chair, gestured for me to sit down opposite him, and said briskly: "Now let's study, Miss Nurse, there is a very strange thing here.

I straightened my cuffs and looked at him curiously. He took out a notebook. "That's what I want to know for myself, now tell me, what was the exact time Dr. Leidner discovered his wife's death?" "It was a quarter to three, hardly a cent more, not a cent less," I said. "How do you know that time?" "Well, I looked at my watch when I got up, and it was twenty-three to twenty." "Let me see your watch." He took off the watch on my wrist and held it in front of him to have a look. "It's not bad, that's great. Well, it turned out to be that accurate. As far as you think, how long before she died?",

"Oh, doctor, really," I said, "I don't want to express an opinion." "Don't stick to your identity like this. I want to know if your estimate is consistent with mine." "Then I think she's been dead for at least an hour." "Exactly. I examined the body at half-past four, and I think she died between a quarter past one and a forty-five past one. We may as well guess: it was half past one, then about .” He paused and tapped his fingers on the table. "Very strange, this thing," he said. "Can you tell me what it was like at one o'clock? Tell me, were you resting? Did you hear anything?"

"At one-thirty? Didn't hear anything, doctor. I didn't hear anything at one-thirty, and I didn't hear anything at any other time. I was in bed from half-past one to three-twenty, except for the Arab I heard nothing but the boy's monotonous, dreary singing, and Mr. Emmott's occasional call to Dr. Leidner on the roof." "The Arab kid—yes." He frowned. Just then, the door opened and Dr. Leidner and Captain Maitland walked in.Captain Maitland was a fussy, small man with very alert blue eyes. Dr. Rayleigh got up and pushed Dr. Leidner into his seat. "Sit down, dude. I'm glad you're here, we need your help, there's something very strange about this."

Dr. Leidner looked down. "I know," he looked at me, "my wife has already told Nurse Leatheran the truth. Nurse, at this juncture, you don't have to hide anything, so please tell me about the conversation you had with my wife yesterday." Tell Captain Maitland and Dr. Rayleigh what happened." I told them our conversation as verbatim as possible. Captain Maitland let out an occasional exclamation.When I had finished, he turned to Dr. Leidner and said: "Is it all real, Leidner, huh?" "Everything that Nurse Leatheran told you is true." "What an extraordinary passage!" said Dr. Rayleigh. "Can you get those letters?"

"I believe those letters can be found among the insider's relics." "She took the letters out of a briefcase on the table." "Well, maybe it's still there." He turned to speak to Captain Maitland; his usually mild face became hard and stern. "It needn't be kept secret now, Captain Maitland. The only thing that must be done is that the man must be caught and punished." "You think Mrs. Leidner's ex-husband did it?" I asked. "Don't you think so, Miss Nurse?" asked Captain Maitland. "Well, I thought there was still something suspicious." I said hesitantly.

"At any rate," said Dr. Leidner, "that man is a murderer—and a dangerous madman, I suppose. Captain Maitland, this man must be my way. Definitely! It shouldn't be difficult. " Dr. Rayleigh said slowly, "It's probably harder than you think. Is it, Maitland?" Maitland twirled his mustache without answering. I suddenly remembered something and jumped in shock. "Sorry," I said, "but there's one thing I should mention." I recounted what we saw the Iraqi trying to peek through the window.Also tell them that they saw him hanging around here two days ago and wanted to question Father Lavigny.

"Okay," said Captain Maitland, "we'll take it down. It's something the police can rely on. That man might be involved in the case." "He might take money from the enemy, and be a spy," I suggested, "to find out when it's safe to do so." Dr. Rayleigh rubbed his nose in trouble. "That's hard to say," he said, "if there's any danger—eh?" I stared at him puzzled. Captain Maitland turned to Leidner and said: "I want you to listen very carefully to what I have to say, Leidner. This is the latest evidence we have had during the inspection that lunch was served at twelve and was finished by twenty-five minutes to the minute. After dinner, your wife went back to her room to rest with Nurse Leatheran, who has made her comfortable. Go up to the roof by yourself. You'll spend the next two hours there. Isn't that right? "

"yes." "Did you come down from the roof during that period of time?" "No." "Is someone coming up to find you?" "Yes. Emmott comes up a lot, and he's always coming and going between me and that kid who's down there washing the jars." "Have you ever looked into the yard yourself?" "Once or twice—usually when Emmott is called." "Does that kid sit in the middle of the yard washing pots every time?" "correct." "How long was the longest time Emmott was with you, when he was not in the yard?"

Dr. Leidner thinks about it. "It's hard to say - maybe ten minutes, I personally think it's two or three minutes. But, in my experience, when I'm focused on work and I'm interested, I don't have a good sense of time. .” Captain Maitland looked at Dr. Rayleigh, who nodded.So he said, "We'd better get down to it and get this out of the way." Captain Maitland took out a notebook and opened it to read. "Leidner, please pay attention. I am now going to read to you exactly what each of your expedition members did between one and two o'clock this afternoon."

"But, really—" "Wait, you'll see what I mean in a minute. Let's talk about the McGados first: Mr. McGado says he works in the laboratory; Mrs. McGado says she washes her hair in her bedroom." Miss Johnson said that she was busy printing the cylinder-shaped lithographs of the ancient Assyrians on clay tablets in the living room, Mr. Ritter said that he was working on the negatives of the photographer, and Father Lavigne said that he was working in the bedroom. As for the delegation The remaining two, Jarley and Coleman, the former at the excavation site and the latter in the city, have already said much about the expedition members. Now look at what the servants are doing, cook—that's you Indian —was sitting outside the arch, plucking chickens, and chatting with the guard. Abrahim and Mansey—the two servants—joined him at about fifteen. They stayed there talking and laughing until one past two thirty, and by that time your wife was dead." Dr. Leidner leaned forward and said, "I don't understand—your words are inexplicable. What are you implying?" "Your room is too big. Besides the door that opens to the courtyard, how else can you get in?" "No. There are two windows, but both are barred, and, I think, both are closed." He looked at me questioningly. "The windows are shut and bolted in," I said at once. "At any rate," said Captain Maitland, "even if it were open, no one could get in and out of it. My colleagues and I believe that all the other windows facing the fields are the same and have Iron bars, and undamaged. A stranger who wants to enter your large bedroom must enter the courtyard through the archway. But, the guard, the cook, and the servants all told me, no one really did that. " Dr. Leidner jumped up. "What do you mean by that? What do you mean by that?" "Calm down, man," said Dr. Rayleigh calmly. "I know it's a big blow, but you've got to face the blow. The murderer didn't come in from the outside. So he must have come from the inside. Depends." Mrs. Leidner must have been murdered by someone from your expedition."