Chapter 14 14

.14. Inspector Neal stared at Miss Marple for about ten seconds, terribly confused.He intuitively thought that the old lady was not normal. "Black thrush?" he asked back. Miss Marple nodded vigorously. "Yes," she said, and recited: "Sing a sixpence song, bake twenty-four black thrushes in a pie with a sack of rye. As soon as the pie was opened, the birds began to sing. Isn't this a luxurious dish for the king? The king is counting bills in the counting room, the queen is eating honey bread in the living room, the maid is drying clothes in the garden, and a bird comes and takes her nose away. "

Inspector Neal said, "For God's sake." Miss Marple said: "I mean, everything fits. The rye he had in his pocket, didn't he? One newspaper said so. The rest just said it was grain, maybe it meant something else; maybe 'farmer's light' ' or 'cornflower' or something-maybe even-but it's actually rye?" Inspector Neil nodded. Miss Marple said triumphantly, "Here, Rex Fortescue. 'Rex' means 'King.' Of course the killer was going to put a clothespin in Glady's nose." Inspector Neil said: "You mean the whole thing was done by a madman?"

"Oh, we can't jump to conclusions—but it's very strange. You must look into the black thrush thing. There must be a black thrush involved!" At this moment, Inspector Haiyi walked into the room and said urgently, "Sir." Seeing Miss Marple, he stopped abruptly.Inspector Neil returned to normalcy and said: "Thank you, Miss Marple, I'll look into the matter. Since you care about the girl, maybe you'd like to see the relics from her room. Sergeant Hay will show you right away." Miss Marple retired obediently and walked out tremblingly. "Black Thrush!" said Inspector Neal to himself.

Sergeant Haiyi's eyes widened. "Hay, what's the matter?" Inspector Haiyi said: "Sir—" He hastily added: "Look." He produced something wrapped in a dirty handkerchief. Sergeant Hay said, "Found it in the bushes. Probably dropped it there through one of the back windows." He dumped the things lightly on the table in front of the Inspector, who leaned over to inspect, growing more and more excited.It turned out to be a nearly full jar of marmalade. The Inspector stared at it without saying a word, with a blank and stupid expression on his face.In fact it was a sign that Inspector Neil was using his imagination again.A movie played in his mind.He seemed to see a new jar of marmalade, saw a pair of hands carefully lift the lid, saw a small amount of marmalade being taken out, mixed with 'tassine' and put back into the jar, the surface was smoothed, and the lid was carefully covered.He stopped his fantasies and asked Sergeant Haiyi:

"They don't scoop out the marmalade from the jars and put it in special little bottles?" "No, sir. There was a lack of supplies during the war, so I gradually developed the habit of serving the table in the original can, and it has been used since then." Neil muttered: "Of course, it's easier that way." Hay said, "And only Mr. Fortescue had marmalade for breakfast (Mr. Percival also had it when he was home). A few others had jam or honey." Neil nodded. He said, "Yeah, that's easy, isn't it?" Another moving image appeared in his mind.Now it's the breakfast table.Rex Fortescu reached for the marmalade, scooped out a spoonful, and spread it on top of the brioche.

So much easier, it's easier than risking it in a coffee mug.The safest way to poison!and then?There was another gap, and the picture that came down was not very clear. Another bottle of marmalade scooped out the same amount to replace the poisoned one.Then there is an open window, and a hand reaches out and throws the bottle into the bushes, whose hand is it? Inspector Neil said in a businesslike tone: "Okay, of course we're going to test it to see if it contains 'Taxine'. We cannot jump to conclusions. " "No, sir. There may be fingerprints." Inspector Neil said gloomily: "Those prints may not be what we're looking for.

It must have had the fingerprints of Gretty, Crump, and Mr. Fortescue.Maybe Mrs. Crump's, the grocer's assistant's, or even someone else's was on there!If the murderers added 'tassine', they would have been careful not to touch the jar with their fingers.In short, we cannot jump to conclusions.How do they order marmalade and where is it usually placed? " The hard-working Sergeant Haiyi has already prepared the answers to these questions. "Buy six bottles of marmalade and jam at a time. When the old one is almost gone, keep a new one in the pantry." "That means the marmalade may have been tampered with days before it was served," Neil said. "Anyone who lived in the house or had access to it could have done it."

Sergeant Hay was puzzled by the words "there is a chance to enter the house".He didn't understand what the officer was thinking. But Neil was making a hypothesis that he thought was logical. If the marmalade had been tampered with beforehand—it wasn't necessarily whoever was at the dinner table that morning. This opens up several exciting possibilities. He plans to interview a lot of people -- and this time will take a completely different approach. He would open his heart...he would even seriously consider the old lady—what was her last name? ——Hints about nursery rhymes.The nursery rhyme did fit the case, appallingly; it fit the point of his fear in the first place—the sack of rye.

Inspector Neal said to himself, "Black thrush?" Sergeant Haiyi's eyes widened. He said, "It's not blackberry jam, sir, it's marmalade." Inspector Neil went to Mary Douf. He found her in a bedroom on the second floor supervising Alan peel off what appeared to be clean sheets.A stack of clean towels lay on a chair. Inspector Neil looked puzzled. He asked, "Is anyone coming to live?" Mary Douf smiled at her.Ellen is sullen and fierce, Mary is the opposite, calm as ever. "It's the exact opposite," she said. Neal looked at her questioningly.

"This is the guest room we originally prepared for Mr. Gerald Wright." "Girard Wright? Who is he?" "He's a friend of Miss Ellen Fortescue." Mary's voice was deliberately low. "He's coming here—when?" "I believe he arrived at the 'Golf Hotel' the day after Mr Fortescue's death." "the next day." Mary's voice was still deadpan: "Miss Fortescue said so. She told me she was going to have him to stay - so I got a room ready.And now—two more—tragedies—it seemed better for him to stay at the hotel. "

"Golf hotel?" "yes." "Well," said Inspector Neil. Allen put away the sheets and towels and stepped out of the room. Mary Douf looked at Neil questioningly. "You need me for something?" Neil happily said: "It's very important to find out the exact time. Their family's concept of time seems to be a little vague-perhaps it is not difficult to understand. On the other hand, Miss Doufu, I find that your statement of time is very accurate." "It's not difficult to understand again!" "Yes—perhaps—I must congratulate you for keeping the house in order despite—the panic caused by—a few murders—" He stopped and asked her curiously: "How can you do it?" He found only one crack in Mary Douf's unfathomable armor, and that was the fact that she prided herself on her efficiency.Now she spoke back a little more relaxed. "The Crumps want to go right away, of course." "We won't allow it." "I know. I also told them that Master Percival Fortescue can be--er--quite generous with anyone who will save him trouble." "Where's Allen?" "Ellen doesn't want to go." Neil said: "Ellen didn't want to go. She was so brave." Mary Douf said: "She likes misfortunes. Like Miss Percival, she finds misfortunes a pleasant show." "Interesting. Do you think Mrs. Percival-like these tragedies?" "No—of course not. That's going too far. I'm just saying she can—er—be brave." "Miss Dou Fu, how do you feel about yourself?" Mary Douf shrugged. "It was not a pleasant experience," she said flatly. Neil was eager again to break the defensiveness of the calm young woman - to find out what was behind her cautious, efficient manner. He just said abruptly: "Here—give a brief time and place. The last time you saw Gretty Martin was in the hall before tea, at twenty minutes to five?" "Yes—I asked her to bring tea." "Where did you come from yourself?" "From upstairs—I thought I heard a telephone call a few minutes ago." "Perhaps Gretty answered the call?" "Yes. It was a wrong number—someone looking for the Baytown Heath Laundry." "Was that the last time you saw her?" "After about ten minutes, she brought the tea tray into the library." "Then Miss Ellen Fortescue came in?" "Yes, about three or four minutes apart, and then I went upstairs to tell Miss Percival that tea was ready." "Do you often call her?" "Oh no, you can come to tea whenever you like—but Mrs. Fortescue asked where you were going. I thought I heard Miss Percival come down—it was a misunderstanding—" Neil interrupted her, there is new news here. "You mean you heard people moving upstairs?" "Yes—at the landing, I think. But no one came down, so I went up. Miss Percival is in her bedroom. She just came in from outside. She went for a walk—” "Go for a walk—I see. It was the time—" "Oh, I think it was around five—" "Mr. Lance Fortescue—what time will you arrive?" "A few minutes after I went down again--I thought he'd be there--but Inspector Neal interrupted: "Why do you think he's here?" "Because I glimpsed him from the landing window." "You mean he's in the garden?" "Yes—I caught a glimpse of someone walking through the yew hedge—I thought it was him." "After you told Mrs. Percival Fortescuder that the tea was ready, you went downstairs and saw it?" Mary corrected him. "No—not then—before when I first came downstairs." Inspector Neal's eyes widened. "Are you sure, Miss Douf?" "Yes, I'm quite sure. So when he rang—I was surprised to see him." Inspector Neil shook his head.He tried not to express his inner excitement when he spoke: "The man you saw in the garden couldn't be Lance Fortescue. His train—should have arrived at 4:28, was nine minutes late. He arrived at 4:37." Baytown Heath Station. He must have waited a few minutes for a taxi—the train was always full. He had left the station at nearly four forty-five (five minutes later than the man you saw in the garden), and the taxi There are ten minutes. It would be five minutes to five at the earliest before he could dismiss the taxi at the gate.No—you're not seeing Lance Fortescue. " "I did see a man." "Yes, you saw a man. It's getting dark. You can't see very well, can you?" "Oh, no—I couldn't see his face or anything—just the figure—tall and thin. We were waiting for Lance Fortescu—so I thought it was him." "Which way does the man go?" "Follow the yew hedge toward the east side of the house." "There's a side door over there. Is it locked?" "The door will not be locked until the whole family locks the door at night." "Anyone can enter the house through the side door, and the people in the house may not find out." Mary Douf thought about it. "I suppose so, yes." Then he added hastily: "You mean—that is the way—the person I heard moving upstairs might have come in by that way? Perhaps hiding—upstairs?" "almost." "But who—?" "Not sure yet. Thank you, Miss Dou Fu." When she turned to leave, Inspector Neil said in a casual tone, "By the way, I guess you can't tell me about the black thrush?" Mary Douf seemed surprised for the first time.She jerked her head back. "I—what did you say?" "I asked you about the black thrush." "you mean--" "Black thrush," said Inspector Neal. He made a silly face. "You mean that stupid thing in Xia Tian? But that's impossible..." She stopped suddenly. Inspector Neil said in a cheerful tone: "There are many rumors, but I believe you can give me a clear report." Mary Douf has returned to her calm and competent nature. She said: "I thought it must be some stupid, nasty joke. There were four dead thrushes on Mr. Fortescue's study table. The window was open in summer, and we thought it was the gardener's boy, but he insisted it wasn't him." Yes. But those thrushes were indeed shot down by the gardener and hung in the orchard." "Someone took it down and put it on Mr. Fortescue's desk?" "yes." "What's the reason—what's the matter with the black thrush?" Mary shook her head. "I don't think so." "What was Mr. Fortescue's reaction? Was he angry?" "Of course he would be angry." "But not disturbed?" "I really can't remember." "I see," Neil said. He stopped talking.Mary Douf turned and left again, but this time she seemed unwilling to leave, as if she wanted to know what he was thinking.Inspector Neal was ungrateful enough to blame Miss Marple.She reminded him that there would be black thrushes, and indeed there were black thrushes!Not twenty-four, of course, this may be said to be a symbolic sustenance. Things happened way back in the summer, but they fit perfectly.Neal couldn't imagine.He wants to use a reasonable and calm approach to investigate murders committed by normal murderers for normal reasons, and he will not allow the strange theory of black thrushes to affect him, but in the future he has to remember that there is also the possibility of madmen committing murders.