Chapter 40 chapter 2

"I was terrified all the time," Audrey said. They sat on the courtyard balcony.Audrey sat near Inspector Barto.Ba Tuo made up his vacation and came to "Gull Cape" as a friend. "Fear — always," Audrey said. Ba Tuo nodded and said: "I knew you were terrified the first time I saw you. And you act like someone who's suppressing a very strong emotion. It could be love or it could be hate, but it's really fear, isn't it?" She nodded. "I started to be afraid of Neville not long after we were married. But you know, the scariest thing is that I don't know why. I thought I was crazy."

"It's not you who are crazy," Barto said. "When I married him, Neville seemed so normal to me - always happy and nice." "Interesting," Bardo said, "he's playing the part of a good athlete, you know. So he can keep such a good demeanor on the tennis court, and being a good athlete is more important to him than winning games. But It puts a lot of pressure on him, of course, that's always the way it is with characters. There's something wrong with his repression." "My heart," Audrey said in a trembling low voice, "is always hidden, making you unpredictable, just a word or a look once in a while is enough to make me imagine... what is weird about it. Like What I said, I thought it must be my own eccentricity. Then I became more and more afraid--the kind of unreasonable and inexplicable fear, you know, that makes you suffer!

"I told myself I was going crazy—but there was nothing I could do. I felt like I was going to run away desperately! Then Adrian came and told me he loved me and I thought it would be nice to run away with him and Safety……" She stopped. "You know what happened then? I ran off to meet Adrian—and he never came...he was killed...I feel as though Neville did—" "Maybe it was him," Barto said. Audrey turned to him, frightened. "Oh, you think so?" "We'll never know now. Accidents can be arranged. But don't think about it any more, Mrs. Schunk. Maybe it just happened by chance."

"I--I was completely broken. I went back to the vicarage--Adrien's. We were going to write to his mother, but since she didn't know, I thought it best not to, lest she suffer. .And then Neville came almost as soon as I got there. He was very nice--and kind--but I was always terrified when I talked to him! He said there was no need for anyone to know about Adrian, saying I Can divorce him and he will give me evidence that he will remarry after divorce. I feel very grateful. I know he always thought Kay was attractive, I hope things turn out better and I can get rid of my weird obsessive thoughts .I still think it must be my own weirdness.

"But I still couldn't get away - really. I never thought I'd really get away. Then one day I met Neville in the park and he said he really wanted me and Kay to be friends and suggested We came here together in September. I couldn't say no, how could I say no? After all the magnanimous things he did." "Please enter the urn," Inspector Barto said. Audrey trembled. "Yes, exactly..." "It was a very clever thing he did," Bardo said. "Protested loudly to everyone that it was his idea, and everyone immediately thought it wasn't."

Audrey says: "And then I came here - it was like a nightmare. I knew something terrible was going to happen - I knew Neville wanted it to happen - and it was going to happen to me. But I didn't know what Things. I thought, you know, that I was literally going crazy! I was paralyzed—like in a dream, something is going to happen and you can't move..." "I've always thought," said Chief Inspector Bardot, "that I'd like to see a snake paralyze a bird so it can't fly away—and now I'm not sure I really want to see that kind of thing." scene."

Audrey continued: "Even when Mrs Tricilian was killed, I didn't understand what was going on. I was mesmerized. I didn't even suspect Neville. I knew he didn't care about money - it was really hard to think he'd kill her to inherit fifty thousand pounds It's a ridiculous idea. "I thought over and over of Mr. Traves and the story he told that night. Even then I didn't associate it with Neville. Traves mentioned a certain physical feature that he recognized for a long time. The child from before. I have a scar on my ear myself, but I don't think any of the others have any noticeable markings."

Bardo said: "Miss Odin has a lock of white hair. Thomas Lloyd's right hand stiffness may not just be the result of an earthquake injury. Mr. Ted Latimer has an oddly shaped head. And Neville Schunkie—" He paused. "Of course there's nothing physical about Neville?" "Oh, yes. His left little finger is shorter than his right. That's very unusual, Mrs. Schunk—really very unusual." "So this is it?" "This is it." "Then Neville put up the elevator failure sign?" "Yes. Slipped out there and back, while Lloyd and Latimer were drinking with the old man. Clever and easy way—I doubt we'll ever have a way of proving it was murder."

Audrey trembled again. "Well, well," Barto said, "it's all over, my dear. Go on with the chat." "You're very smart...I haven't said that much in years!" "Hey, that's where the mistake is. When did you realize Master Neville's trick?" "I don't know exactly when. All of a sudden it all came to me. He cleared himself up and we're left. Then, all of a sudden, I saw him looking at me—a kind of schadenfreude, The self-smiling look. I knew it then! That's when—” She stopped suddenly. "How about right then?"

Audrey said slowly: "That's when I thought it'd be the end of it—preferably." Chief Inspector Barto shook his head. "Never give in. That's my motto." "Oh, you're right. But you don't know what it's like to be in constant fear. It paralyzes you -- you can't think -- you can't plan -- you're just there waiting for something terrible to happen. And then, once it does happen."—she gave a quick quick smile—"the relief will surprise you! No more waiting, no fear—it's here. You'll think I'm pretty delirious, I suppose. , if I told you that when you came here to arrest me for murder, I wouldn't give a damn. Neville's got his way, and it's over. I felt so safe leaving with Inspector Leech."

"That's part of the reason we did it," Bardo said. "I want you out of that madman's clutches. Besides, if I want him to break down, it's going to be by shock effect. He thought his plan It's already worked—it's even more effective that way." Audrey whispered: "If he didn't break down, would there be any evidence?" "Not much. There's Mark White's testimony that he saw a man climbing ropes in the moonlight. And the bundle of ropes that backs up his story, and it's in the attic, and it's still a little wet. It rained that night, you know." He paused and looked straight at Audrey, as if he was expecting her to say something. Since she was only acting interested, he went on: "And the striped suit. He took it off, of course, and tucked his suit into the crevices of the rocks on the rocky ground at night over at Tung Tau Bay. Right into a dead body that washed ashore two days ago. A smudge on the shoulder--and it stinks. I found someone at the hotel saying that there was something wrong with the drain. That was Neville himself spreading the word. He had a raincoat over his suit , but the smell still oozes out. Then he worried that the suit would be a problem, so he hurriedly took it to the laundromat when he had a chance, but he didn’t tell the laundromat his real name. He just told them who he was in Name seen in the hotel room book. So by accident, your friend got the suit, he had a good head, and he associated it with the time he saw a man climbing a rope. Unless it was you at night Take off your clothes and swim, you don't touch a dead fish on the shoulder of your suit, you step on it, you don't touch it with your arm on purpose. And no one swims in the water on a September night for fun. He put the whole thing together. Very clever man, Mr Mark White." "Not just smart," Audrey said. "Well, maybe. Want to know more about him? I can tell you a little bit about his past." Audrey listened intently.Baduo found her to be a good listener. she says: "I owe him a lot—and you." "Don't feel indebted to me," said Inspector Barto. "If I hadn't been so stupid, I should have known from the bell." "Human bell? What is a human bell?" "The bell in Mrs. Tricilian's room. I've always thought there was something wrong with it. When I came down the stairs from the attic and saw the wooden stick you used to open the window, I almost figured it out." Audrey still looked puzzled. "You know, the whole point of the bell was—to give Neville Springer an alibi. Barrett said that Mrs. Tricilian didn't remember what she was doing when she rang the bell—of course she didn't, because she didn't ring the bell at all! Neville Will was out in the passage pulling the stick on the bell wire that was attached to the ceiling. So Barrett heard the bell and went downstairs and saw Neville Schunk coming down and out, and she saw Mrs. Tricilian alive and well. That The handmaid's business is shaky. What good is drugging her for a murder that's going to happen before midnight? Nine times out of ten she won't be fully on the drug by then. But it could show that the murder is one of the family Yes, and to give Neville time to play the role of the first-suspect - and then Barrett wakes up, Neville succeeds in clearing himself, and no one is going to check exactly when he went to the hotel. We Knowing that he did not come back by ferry. Nor did he charter a boat. The only possibility left was to swim. He is a good swimmer, but time must have been very tight for him. He climbed up to the The rope on the window left a lot of water on the floor as we noticed. "It's a pity we didn't see the point at the time. Then put on his blue coat and trousers, and sneaked into Mrs. Tricilian's room--the rest would go without saying--in a matter of minutes, He had prepared the steel ball in advance—then went back to his room, took off his clothes, climbed and slid down the rope, and returned to Dongtouwan Hotel—” "What if Kay breaks into his room?" "She's been drugged, too, I suppose. She's been yawning since dinner, they told me. Besides, he's had a fight with her on purpose, just to make her angry. Lock the door and ignore him, and it just won't ruin his business." "I was trying to figure out if I noticed the steel ball on the guardrail was gone. I don't think I noticed. When did he put it back?" "While everyone was making a fuss the next morning. As soon as he got back here in Ted Latimer's car, he had a whole evening to clean up the mess, fix the tennis racquet, and all that. Oh, and he Attacked the old lady with a backhand. You know, that's why it looks like the murder was done by a left-hander. Shi Chunji's backhand has always been his special skill, you remember!" "Don't—don't say any more—" Audrey raised her hands, "I can't listen anymore." He smiled at her. "It would do you good to have a talk. Mrs. Schunji. May I venture to give you some advice?" "Please say." "You lived with a demented murderer for eight years—that's enough to break any woman's nerves. But now you've got to get away with it all, Mrs. Schunk. You don't have to be afraid anymore—you've got to understand for yourself at this point." Audrey smiled at him.The frozen look on her face was gone, replaced by a sweet, a little shy, but confident face with eyes full of gratitude. "I don't know, what's the best way to proceed?" Chief Inspector Barto pondered. "Think of the hardest thing you can do and do it," he advised her. Andrew Markwright is packing his bags. He carefully put the three shirts into the trunk, then the dark blue suit he had brought back from the laundry.Two different suits from two different "Mark Whites" confuse the girl in the laundry. There was a light knock on the door, and he called, "Come in." Audrey Schunki entered.she says: "I came to thank you—are you packing?" "Yes. I leave here tonight. On board the day after tomorrow." "To South America?" "To Chile." She said, "I'll help you clean up." He declined, but she persisted and succeeded.He watched her deftly put things in order. "Okay," she said when she finished packing. "You packed up really well," Mark White said. There was a silence.Then Audrey said: "You saved my life. If you hadn't happened to see—" She didn't go on. Then she said: "Did you understand right away, that night on the cliff when you - you stopped me - when you said: go home, I'm not going to see you hanged" - did you understand then that you Got some important evidence?" "Not exactly," Mark White said, "I'll have to think about it in hindsight." "Then how can you say—how can you say that?" Mark White has always been uncomfortable when he has to explain his simple thought process. "That's exactly what I have in mind—I intend to protect you from being hanged." Audrey's cheeks flushed. "What if I really did it?" "That wouldn't make a difference." "So, do you think I did it?" "I didn't think about it. I believed you were innocent, but that didn't affect my actions in any way." "Then you remembered the man who climbed the rope?" Mark White was silent for a few minutes.Then he cleared his throat. "I figured it wouldn't hurt to let you know. I didn't really see a man climbing a rope - in fact I couldn't possibly have, because I was going to the cliff head on a Sunday night, not a Monday. I got it from that suit I deduced it, and the wet bundle of rope in the attic confirmed my deduction." Audrey's face suddenly turned from red to white.She said in disbelief: "Is your statement made up?" "Inferences are not taken seriously by the police. I must say I saw it with my own eyes." "But—you may have to go to court and testify under oath on my behalf." "yes." "Would you do that?" "I will." Audrey exclaimed, "And you—you're the one who lost his job because he didn't want to tell lies!" "I value honesty. But I've discovered there's more to it than that." "for example?" "You," said Mark White, Audrey lowered her head.He cleared his throat awkwardly. "You don't have to feel like you owe me a big favor or something. You won't see me again after today. The police have taken Shi Chunji's statement and they don't need me to testify. Anyway, I heard he is in a very bad condition." Oops, probably won't live to go to court." "I'm glad then," said Audrey. "You used to like him, didn't you?" "I like him in my mind." Mark White nodded. "Maybe, we all feel the same." he continued. "Things are turning around. Inspector Bardot can take my word for it and break that man—" Audrey interrupted him.she says: "When he was talking to me, he mentioned how lucky you are to see what you see in the moonlight, and then added - a sentence or two - that it rained that night." Mark White flinched. "That's true. I doubt I'll see anything on Monday night." "It doesn't matter," Audrey said. "He knows what you're pretending you're seeing is what's really happening. But that's why he's trying to break Neville. As soon as Tomato told him about me and Adrian, he became suspicious of Neville. Neville. He knew then that if what he knew about that type of crime was correct—that he had been on the wrong guy before—then what he needed was some evidence that he could use against Neville. As he said, all he What is needed is a miracle—your presence is the result of Inspector Barto's prayers answered." "It's strange for him to say that," Mark White said flatly. "So, you know," Audrey said, "you're a miracle. A miracle that happened especially for me." Mark White hurriedly said: "I don't want you to feel indebted to me. I'm going to be out of your circle of life." "Do you have to?" said Audrey. He stared at her with wide eyes.A flush appears, running from the ears to the temples. She said, "Aren't you going with me?" "You have no idea what you're talking about!" "I know. I'm doing something very difficult—but one that is more important to me than life and death. I know time is short. I'm old-fashioned, by the way, and I want to Get married before we leave!" "Of course," said Mark White, deeply shocked, "you wouldn't think I would do anything else." "I don't believe you will," said Audrey. Mark White says: "I'm not your type. I thought you were going to marry that quiet guy who's liked you for so long." "Thomas? My dear, faithful Thomas. He's too faithful. He's true to the girl he fell in love with years ago. But the one he really likes is Mary Odin, though he doesn't know it yet." Mark White took a step closer to her.He said firmly: "Is what you just said true?" "Yes...I want to be with you forever and never leave you. If you go, I will never find anyone like you, and I will live a sad life forever." Mark White sighed.He took out his wallet and examined it carefully. He murmured: "A special marriage certificate costs a lot of money. I have to go to the bank to withdraw the money tomorrow morning." "I can lend you some money," Audrey whispered. "You can't do this kind of thing. If I want to marry a woman, I have to pay for the marriage certificate. Do you understand?" "You don't have to," Audrey said softly, "with such a serious look." He walked towards her and said softly: "Last time I caught you, you were like a bird - struggling to escape. Now you'll never escape..."