Chapter 17 Chapter Seventeen

The city of London is covered with a gray color, but it is a friendly, comfortable gray after the rain on the Roshmere River.The vibrant greenery of Westminster stands out like fire against a dark background.It's a great feeling to be back with your buddies, to let all your guard down in front of them, to be blatantly honest with each other, and to let go of all the metaphorical conversations that come out of the "office" at HQ. But when I thought about seeing Bryce soon, I didn't feel so happy.I don't know if he is in a good mood or a "bad" mood today? On average, the Inspector General is in a bad mood for every three days in a good mood. This ratio of three to one is not constant and depends on his personal mood swings. .Add to this the factor of wet weather.Whenever the weather was wet, the inspector general's mood almost fell to the bottom.

Bryce is smoking a pipe, it can be seen that he is in a good mood today (if he is in a bad mood, he often smokes a cigarette, and within five seconds after blowing out the match, he immediately puts the cigarette in the ashtray and puts it out ). Grant was worried and didn't know how to speak. He couldn't say directly: You told me this thing four days ago, and the situation is still the same four days later; Bryce broke the ice for him.Bryce looked him up and down carefully with his small sharp eyes and said, "I seem to see 'sir, please, it's really not me' written on your face."Grant couldn't help laughing.

"Yes, sir, it's a real mess." He put the notebook on the table, then walked to the seat across the table and sat down—the seat that the suspect always sat in the office. "You don't think that bastard whitemoore did it, do you?" "No, sir. I just don't think he's that suspicious." "An accident?" "You don't think so," said Grant, laughing. "Isn't he? His judgment is really good!" "In some ways he's just a very simple person. He just doesn't think it was an accident, and he just said it without thinking. In fact, he couldn't prove that it was an accident, and of course it would be better for him to say that. .He is still puzzled by this disappearance, and I guarantee that he has absolutely nothing to do with this case."

"Any other inferences?" "Well, I know someone who is very likely, and has enough motivation and means." "So what are we waiting for?" Bryce said casually. "It's a pity that the fourth element is missing." "No evidence." "Not at all." "Who is it?" "The mother of Walter Whitemore's fiancée. She was actually a stepmother who raised Elizabeth Gallopby and took care of her. I don't mean possessive, just -" "Everything is for Elizabeth." "That's right. She can't wait to see her daughter marry her nephew, hoping to tie the family together.

I think Syl sabotaged their plans, which is a likely motive.She also had no alibi for that night, and she could easily find out where they were camping.She definitely knew the right spot, because every night they would call back to Trinian Manor to inform Fitch of their location and progress.Likewise, Wednesday night they described where they would be camping. " "But she couldn't have known that they were going to quarrel and split up and go back to the river. How would she cope with such a temporary situation?" "Well, it's a strange quarrel. Searle is said to have been a very gentle man, but this quarrel was caused by him. I heard Whitemore say it, and I believe it. He laughed at Whitemore. He said he wasn't good enough for Elizabeth Gallopy at all, and bragged that he could definitely win her over in a week. He was very calm at the time, which was not at all his personality, presumably There is some unknown motive."

"Do you think he deliberately parted ways with Whitemore that night? Why?" "It is probable that he wished to see Elizabeth Gallopy. Miss Gallopy was not at home when the two gentlemen called back that evening, but Mrs. Gallopy answered. I am sure that in other more In matters, she also acts as an agent.” "Elizabeth asked him to wait for her under the third oak tree next to the old factory." "Probably so." "So the angry mother waited there with a hard tool in her hand, and then pushed him into the river. I hope God will help you find his body as soon as possible."

"I want to find it more than you do, sir. What shall we do if the body is missing?" "Even if the body is found, you still have no actual evidence." "No. But if we can clearly know the whereabouts of the corpse, we will be more at ease and even more comfortable." "Is there any evidence of Searle's relationship with the girl?" "He kept her gloves in a wardrobe drawer." Bryce muttered, "This is supposed to be between lovers," unknowingly quoting what Officer Williams had said. "I showed her the glove, but she was not surprised at all, and said that he might have picked it up, and planned to find a chance to return it to her."

"She too is suspect," replied the Inspector-General. "She's a good girl," said Grant softly. "So is Madeleine Smith. Do you think there are any other suspects?" "No. There is only a rough range. It may be that those who are dissatisfied with Syl and have no alibi took the opportunity to kill him." "Are there many such people?" Bryce said to Grant in plural "those" People's claims are doubted. "I know of Toby Tullis, who is still dissatisfied with Searle's behavior. Tullis lives on the river bank, has a boat of his own, and his alibi is provided by one of his A confused subordinate testified.

In addition, there is Soji.Rodolph, a dancer, was influenced by Toby to hate Searle.According to Sorge himself, he was dancing on the grass by the river on Wednesday night.There was another Silas Wickley, a well-known novelist, who lived in the alley near where Searle disappeared on Wednesday night.Silas, who likes to pursue beauty but also has the urge to destroy it, said that he was working that night in a small room at the end of the courtyard. " "Is it impossible for these people to do it?" "I don't think so, except that Wickley is more suspect. Wickley is the kind of man who could go mad at any moment and then end up in Broadmoor Hospital (Camberley, Polkshire, England, 1863) A nearby hospital for mentally ill prisoners, and became the prototype of a special hospital He's shrewd enough to ruin his life foolishly with a murder. As for Rodolphe, I can imagine him committing a murder, only before he gets to the place where it was committed, another new idea pops up in the His mind, let him immediately forget what he was thinking."

"Is this whole village full of weirdos like that?" "Unfortunately, this has been 'proven' for the majority of residents." "Well, it seems that we have to wait until the body is found." "If you can find it." "Generally speaking, they must be found, and found in time." "According to local police reports, five people have drowned in the Roshmere River in the past four years, excluding Mill Harbor and the area near the ship. Two people drowned in the upper reaches of the town of Sarka and three others in the Roshmere River. its downstream.

The bodies of the three people who drowned in the lower reaches of Shaka Town were all found within a day or two.The other two drowned in the upper reaches of the village and have not been seen until now. ,, "Walter Whitemore's prospects are bright." Bryce said. "Indeed," Grant replied.He thought for a moment and then said, "They were not very kind to him at 12 this morning." "Are you talking about the newspapers? No. They're good enough and considerate enough. They can't have the patience to read the papers for the bastards. It's too hard for them. I don't mean to criticize, absolutely no malice, But he's fine," he added. Bryce was silent for a while, and he habitually tapped his teeth with a pipe while thinking over and over again: "Well, I don't think we can do much now, you gave a deft and detailed explanation, just wait and see what sir How to put it. I don't know what we can do now, a drowned person, and no clues have been found so far. I don't know if it was purely an accident or something else happened. This is your conclusion, isn't it?" Grant didn't answer right away, he raised his head and said sharply, "Isn't it?" One moment you see clearly, the next moment you are lost. Something is not quite right in this case. Grant, don't be fooled by your cleverness. There was a hint of hypocrisy in it. One moment you see clearly, the next moment you are lost. The magician chattered and chanted spells. This is a scam that will blow your mind. You can escape this bondage by distracting yourself. There was a hint of hypocrisy in it... "Grant!" He came back to see the surprise on the officer's face.What did he just say? Acquiesce, let go of this burden and stick to the facts and the truth, and be safe? He regretted hearing his own voice say, "Sir, have you ever seen a woman sawed in half?" "I've seen it." Bryce looked at him cautiously and suspiciously. "I strongly feel that this case has the air of being sawed by a woman." Grant said, then immediately remembered that he had said the same metaphor to Officer Williams. "Oh, my God!" grumbled the Inspector General. "You're not going to do the Ramon thing to us, Grant." A few years ago, Grant had gone to the distant Scottish Highlands to arrest a man who had to be summoned for a legal case, and was later convicted and sentenced.After being sent to justice, after careful examination, it seemed that the wrong person had been arrested (and it really was).Scotland Yard never forgot the incident, and henceforth outlandish suggestions that contradicted the truth were called "doing the Ramon thing." Speaking of Jerry.Ramon, Grant's heart shook.He felt that it was more absurd for Jerry Ramon to bear a well-documented accusation innocently than to have a "sawed woman" smell in a simple drowning case. "Grant!" "The whole case doesn't seem quite right," said Grant stubbornly. "What's wrong?" "If I knew, it would have been in my report. It's nothing, it's just—this whole case, the whole atmosphere, the smell just isn't right." "Can you tell me exactly what is wrong with this ordinary hard-working policeman?" Grant ignored the Inspector General's displeasure and continued: "It's not right at the beginning, don't you think? Searle came out of nowhere. Yes, I know everyone knows him, and he himself said what kind of person he is." Everyone believed it. He said he came to England, we thought so, and he came via Paris. His residence was registered for him by the Madrid office of American Express. But the whole incident is very strange. Is it because Cooney Wiggin is their mutual friend, is that all he wants to get involved with Walt?" "Don't ask me! What do you say?" "Why do you want to see Walter?" "Maybe he's heard his radio show and doesn't want to wait." "He doesn't have any letters." "Who hasn't?" "Syl. He never received any letters while he was in Shaka." "Maybe he's allergic to the stickers on the envelopes. And I've heard that letters are sometimes left in banks for people to pick up." "That's another thing. No one of the US banks or advertisers has ever heard his name. And there's another little thing that strikes me as odd but really important, I mean just this case very important. He had a tin case, kind of like an oversized paint box, where he kept his photography supplies and stuff.There was one thing missing inside, about ten inches long by three and a half inches high and four inches high, that had been placed under the box (like a paint box with a drawer that has a deep space at the bottom).Nothing that exists fits the gap, and no one knows what was there before. " "What's so strange about that? There must be a hundred and one things that fit in the same space." "Like what, sir?" "This—this, I can't think of for a moment, but there must be many kinds." "He also has a lot of various boxes for stuff, so it must not be clothes or ordinary things. Whatever was originally in the box must be something from his personal collection." Bryce listened more and more engrossed. "It's gone now, doesn't seem to have had any effect on the case, and probably didn't matter at all. Just a weird thing that I can't get rid of." "What do you think he encountered when he was at Cuining Manor? Blackmail?" Bryce finally asked with interest. "I don't know, I never thought about blackmail." "Could there be anything of value in the box? It doesn't look like a letter in that shape either. Could it be some papers? A big bundle of papers." "I don't know, maybe. Whether it's related to blackmail or not, he must have used all kinds of methods." "Extortionists usually have a lot of tricks." "Yes, but Syl looks innocent. Only greedy and selfish people are greedy, but I don't think he looks like that at all." "Don't think about it too much, Grant. Calm down a bit and think about possible blackmailers." After no further speculation, he said dullly, "Yes!" Who could be the blackmailer? Mrs. Gallopy, don't you think?" "Indeed." Grant said, thinking about Emma Gallopy again, "Yes, it is indeed very possible." "Well, there are not many possible candidates, but I guess Lavinia Feige has never given a slutty image?" Grant laughed at the thought of the mild, anxious Miss Fitch with pencils stuck in her tousled hair. "Can't really think of anyone who might be suspected. I think that if there was a case of blackmail, it would have to do with Mrs. Gallopy. Your inference, then, is that Searle was murdered, but Elizabeth Gallopy had nothing to do with it at all." ’” Grant didn’t answer right away, so Bryce went on, “You think it’s a murder, don’t you?” "no." "no! " "I don't think he's dead." The two sides were silent for a while.Then Bryce leaned forward and said calmly, "Grant, listen to me clearly, you are a clever ghost, and you really live up to your name. But when you try to use your wisdom, you are often too smart. Please A little restraint, okay? You've spent the day dredging the whole river, hoping to find a drowned man, and now you're telling me you don't think this man was drowned at all. Tell me he'll do it What? Walking away barefoot? Or pretending to be a one-legged man hobbled on oaken crutches and tossing the unused ones around in his spare time? Grant, you really need to take a vacation. Tell me, what's going on in your head? Why would a professionally trained detective, while dealing with a case of 'Confirmed Missing by Drowning', pop up with another case similar to this one? Totally irrelevant nonsense?" Grant continued to remain silent. "Come on, Grant. I didn't mean to laugh at you, I really want to know your thoughts. You have found his shoes in the river, how can you judge that he didn't drown? How did the shoes fall off?" to the river" "If I had known the answer, sir, I would have closed the case long ago." "Does Seale carry a spare pair of shoes with him?" "No, only the pair on the feet." "It was one of those found in the river." "Yes, sir." "You still think he didn't drown?" "yes." Both sides remained silent again. "Grant, I don't know which to believe: your guts or your imagination." Grant said nothing.There seemed to be nothing to say, and he felt that he had said too much. "Can you give a reason, however absurd, why he is still alive?" "I think of one. He may have been kidnapped, and the kidnappers deliberately threw the shoes into the river to make it look like he was drowning." Bryce gave exaggerated admiration, "I think you chose the wrong line, Grant. You are an excellent detective, but if you were a writer of detective stories, you must have made a lot of money." "It's just a reasonable explanation to answer your question, sir." Grant said softly, "I don't really think so." Bryce calmed down a little after hearing what he said, "Hurry up and figure out a solution, the truth can adapt to changes, but you shouldn't force others to believe! Do you understand, do you understand?" After speaking, he looked at Grant's calm expression. Face for a moment, then relaxed and slowly sat back in the chair laughing, "Your fucking poker face!" he said softly, reaching into his pocket for a match. "You know what I admire most about you, Grant? Your self-control. I can't hold back my temper with people or things; it's not good for me or anyone else.My wife said it was a lack of self-confidence, a fear of not being able to achieve my goals.She has taken six psychology courses at Morey College, and she knows the inner thoughts of human beings like the back of the hand.You have a mild temper and I'm sure you're pretty fucking confident. "I don't know, sir. ’ said Grant amusedly, ‘I tried to be as calm as possible when I reported it and let you know that so far the case has gone as far as it did when you handed it over to me four days ago. " "You mean: 'I don't know if the old man has rheumatism again today? Is he in a good mood today, do I need to agree with him?" Bryce blinked his small eyes, "Okay, believe it The Commander will be satisfied with your condensed truth report, and I will not let them know of your more brilliant imagination." "Yes, sir. Because I don't quite know how to tell them what's really on my mind." "No. If you take my advice, you don't have to fight your own mind. We often use a word to describe the work of the police, 'pursue evidence'. Say it six times a day before and after meals, and you will become more practical. Don't keep fantasizing about being the great Frederick the Great, or a hedgehog or something."