Chapter 9 Chapter 6 The End-1

“Je vous parlerai tres librement.” (French: I will have a frank talk with you.) "Did you know I would come here? How long have you been waiting?" asked a sullen and hoarse voice with a rather strange intonation. "It's only three days. What about you, where have you been hiding these days?" I replied pretending to be relaxed, but my right hand quietly reached out to my trouser pocket-I needed to give a signal to Taphne who was waiting outside. "Don't move!", his voice quickly became tense, "No matter what is in your trouser pocket, slowly, put your hands on your head.", He sneered, "Only in this way, our conversation to continue?"

"Okay okay?", I put my hands behind my head-in fact, I had expected to encounter such a situation: I made a small mechanism on the collar of the shirt-there was a section The thin wire stuck on the logo, as long as I pull it, Taphne will also receive my signal. "Don't put it where I can't see it?", the voice issued a new order, "You know, only what can be seen is the safest? Oh, not necessarily." The hoarse voice smiled, and he saw my hands on his chest, clasping them together. I also have a transmitter hidden in my chest (this little thing is also a locator - in the event of an accident, I have to leave the building without notice, and Taphne will be able to know in time. where it is), in my shirt pocket - it worked fine on the first day (I experimented with Taphne), but I just took a nap and the position of the device changed slightly.That way, I have to look for an opportunity to move my body a bit, and then find another opportunity to quietly press that button.

I should install a body monitor, there is a ready-made set in the detective agency - so that Taphne can know my movements at any time (even from the pinhole camera hidden in the shirt pocket) people's photos).I always thought that thing would be a handicap, and now I'm starting to regret it. "This is not very good.", he complained, "I should leave as soon as possible.", he muttered with some resentment, "Since you are already here, you must have taken that thing?" "However," I replied cautiously, "this is your last chance." "My last chance? Hehe?" The person in front of me smiled strangely, "Are you kidding me? Of course you know why I came here on the third day. Wenzel, I rarely say that ? This is the first time I've said that - you're a smart guy."

He suddenly looked towards a certain corner of the room—my heart sank suddenly: there was our specially installed pinhole camera and monitoring device with night vision goggles: that device was installed in a particularly hidden location, even if Even in the daytime, it is difficult to be discovered by people—not to mention it is night, it is even more impossible for people in front of you to find out: I comfort myself like this. "Hey, it should be that angle?" He didn't look at it with his heart, but turned his head and smiled at me and said, "From the perspective of the screen, it's quite appropriate for me to stand at this angle-I like to keep the side For the camera, that dull guy in Gelt prefers the front."

This is exactly the worst case: "What have you done to Taphne?", I shouted at him with the loudest voice—I know that there are still two police officers guarding this floor: they were specially sent by Jiegler to assist my actions— We've tried not to let too many people know about it in order to avoid alarming others.Think about it, if Director Richard knew that Evante might come here to get something, the ambush he arranged would definitely make passers-by feel very conspicuous. "What can I do?", he laughed dryly again, "Just let her fall asleep-by the way, those two guys were also taken care of by me. It's late now?", He looked at his watch, " It's a good time to satisfy your sleep."

"Sit down." He gave me a slightly friendly smile - that kind of smile is creepy against the moonlight, "? I really hope to be friends with you. I would like to make friends like you ?Instead of stupid doctors, and gutless cowards?" I didn't speak, but was evaluating the truth of what he said - this Civil Affairs Bureau is located in a rather remote place, there are only beautiful parks and monuments nearby, and there are no people: it is already three o'clock in the morning, and the surrounding area should be No one will pass by by chance—this is the fourth floor, the lights are not turned on, my only assistant who is hiding in a very inconspicuous car has been fascinated, and the two police officers guarding the building are probably dead .Two days ago I remembered to bring my phone, but today I was fooled by the illusion of infallibility and left my phone in the car?? Everything is so unfavorable, I am on my own in this situation .

I also hold my victory point. It will be a fair psychological battle. “La colere est ecrite sur son visage.” "As-tu encore tes douleurs?" (French: Anger is written all over his face. Do you still feel pain?) "You're a coward too?" I said with a smile, making a sorry face. "Tsk tsk, that's useless?", he shook his head, "I may be a real coward, but I'm not vulnerable or wondering? Maybe we can talk now, but you can't catch me—maybe Others can, but you can't." "Maybe." I pulled up a chair and sat down. "What do you want to talk about?", I asked him.

"You know what I'm curious about.", he yawned, "You'll suspect me, I mean—not a different me." "There is a fundamental doubt.", I said to him, "but I don't want to talk about it now-because there are more than one doubt, if I list them one by one, if I have to talk about it in detail, I'm afraid I won't be able to finish it until dawn?" I smiled. "Oh, are you laughing at me?" he coughed dryly, "not so much. And now, you haven't slept, I haven't slept--but we're still awake, if we can If we have a good discussion on this case, will our sleepless nights be barely worth it?"

"Indeed. Mr. Ifante von Todt, are you really from France?", I asked. He obviously took a liking to me calling him: "Of course, oh, of course? faire une fixette sur la vie en province (French: thinking about life in the provinces all day), young and ignorant child?" "That's just a phrase, do you know how to say the whole sentence?" The expression of the person in front of him immediately became a little cramped: "Oh, I forgot—it's been more than 20 years since I left my hometown. I can remember these things, which is pretty good." "It's a great pity—you've written only English in all your cases, and both Yuser and Sleeping Beauty will feel sorry for you," I said in a haughty tone.

"That's not true!", he suddenly became irritable, "I don't have time to study? I'm already working hard! Ifante's French is good, Ifante's French is good? I'm already working hard? ", he seemed a little hysterical. I looked at him, the poor man—he repeated this for nearly a minute before he recovered: "I know? Oh, that's one of the doubts. But if it's just that, I can overcome it." "In the first half of your farewell letter, it was the first time you used French—five sentences in total, really remarkable!", I changed into an admiring and respectful tone again.

He looked at me suspiciously and said: "Au plaisir! (French: Goodbye!) That is indeed my farewell letter, I wrote it with my own hands—it is a poem," his doubts are gone, replaced by an infatuated look, "Les diamants e (French: diamonds radiate), and I, of course, have a gift for poetic talent." "French poets? Or do you also like Montesquieu and Rousseau?" "You know them too!" His eyes were filled with joy and admiration for a moment, "Molière and Hugo, Balzac and Voltaire, Alexandre Dumas and his genius illegitimate son? Some people say that Cervante Cervantes and Schiller surpassed them, and some say Shakespeare and Goethe far surpassed them? Those terrible jurement (French: blasphemous words), how can Cervantes and Hugo be compared? It is like asking Don Quixote to As ridiculous as a duel with Notre Dame?" "Have you read the original French?" I asked him, in a tone of pity. He looked at me in surprise, thought for a while, and then shouted in a hoarse voice: "I'll read it! Even though I don't have the time right now - soon, soon I'll have plenty of time!" "Are you going back to Ussey?", I asked. "Of course? That's my hometown," the hoarse voice trembled with longing, "I will return to my grandmother's arms, the hometown of Sleeping Beauty, and the white castle in the distance? Vous voyez d'ici le tableau! (French: imagine that!)” "What a pity?" I shook my head. "Joke!", he said to me puzzled, "Oh, a young poet who is about to return to his hometown, a wandering prodigal son? Non, merci. Yes, you should be happy, happy is it?" "But you even wrote the farewell letter wrong?" I shook my head again and sighed. "Where, where is it wrong? This is impossible!!" He gave up his guard, rushed in front of me, grabbed my collar tightly, and slammed it against the wall behind him—his strength was so great that he almost strangled me to death.I feel that my feet are about to leave the ground, and I want to pull his hand away—my hand is bleeding from his hand, and the nails are deeply embedded in his flesh, and he is motionless: just like a hidden Angry gargoyle in the bell tower. I felt like I was going to be strangled by him like this, I tried to draw my sidearm, he sensed my intentions and kept shaking me.I tried several times but couldn't get the gun out.I kicked him as hard as I could, but all of it was like a damp sandbag, and there was no response - he must have injected himself with a stimulant? Morphine, or heroin, the crazy guy. In a last effort to get a side gun, I had the misfortune to wobble and drop it to the ground—he kicked it under a bookshelf some distance away. Now, I completely gave up trying to save my life.I pretended that I couldn't breathe, and pulled open the shirt on my chest. At the same time, I quietly hid the signal device in my pocket, pressed the start switch with my thumb, and grabbed his neck again.While he wasn't paying attention, I threw the activated annunciator into his collar. In this way, even if I am killed by him here, as long as this signal device is still on his body.Tomorrow, if Taphne can still wake up, she may be able to notify the police in time to start a new round of hunting for this madman. Hopefully the battery in this one lasts long enough. In the few seconds before I lost consciousness, I finally remembered to answer the question he asked: "? Cough? Those words are all from the French dictionary, cough cough? I checked, and there is no sentence at all? There is no sentence that you said yourself?" The angry gargoyle shattered in an instant. He threw me heavily to the ground, and stood there alone—his soul must have been completely exhausted and volatilized at this moment, leaving a body that was close to collapse.He was muttering something to himself, very softly—I listened, and it seemed to be French, all French, and not sentences at all, broken phrases and proverbs and words, and some It was such a jumble of syllables that I couldn't understand it at all. At this moment, I happened to be narrowly escaped, and like a conditioned reflex, I crawled towards that distant bookshelf—my remaining consciousness told me that there was my pistol there. Unexpectedly, at this time, he rushed over again, lifted my whole body, and then slammed it on the ground: I felt that my whole body was going to fall apart, and then, his fist came down, not fast, but very fast. Heavy? He just punched like this, and I turned my back to him, knowing exactly how much he punched me—my back, my spine, the back of my head, my ears? He just punched like this hard, when About the time he hit the forty-first punch (by which time, I couldn't even utter a full sentence), suddenly everything stopped.He stood up very gently, patted the ashes on my shoulders and back, helped me up, and let my back lean against the wall. I looked at him, his blood red eyes suddenly became extremely guilty, and he said to me: "I'm sorry, Mr. Wenzel. To bother you so much? Now, it's time to end this." I looked at him and wanted to do something, but my body was like a puppet with its strings broken, unable to do anything. He smiled, picked up a black plastic bag by the windowsill, and left the room. As the door closed, he said: "Actually, I don't have any hometown, even the sky is someone else's?" The door closed, but opened again shortly afterwards - and I heard Taphne's screaming in my ears.I opened my eyes slightly and saw Taphne was hugging me, she tried to lift me out, but couldn't, she cried.I want to comfort her and remind her to find someone to help? My body still does not listen to my command, exhausted the last of my strength, I raised my head slightly - at this moment, I saw In the cold white moonlight, a black shadow flashed down. Then, there was a bright light, another moment? Just like the first ray of light from the morning sun. The light shone on our faces, on the walls, throughout the room: everything disintegrated into astonishing fragments, so angular that it was supposed to be a signal from someone lost, returning home “Cela est le premier pas vers la verite.” (French: This is the first step towards the truth.) I went back to the Third Hospital and William helped me arrange the best room.After a week of rest, with a bandage still on my right shoulder (where the cracked bone may take months to heal) and a large bruise on my back—anyway, I can finally discharged from the hospital. Throughout the week, Taphne was busy watching two brand new soap operas on FW5 and Cable 3 — the wall-mounted TV that was on 24/7 in my hospital room, and my thoughtful assistant insisted on keeping it on. The hospital took care of me: Therefore, everything is so logical "Wenzel, you can be discharged from the hospital so quickly, the orthopedic department has a lot of credit for the rehabilitation program that is regularly broadcast every day!" William said this to me during our visit today. "Oh, oh yeah? Those rehab shows?" I answered vaguely—but I didn't watch any orthopedic rehabilitation programs. "I came to your ward two days ago, but when I walked to the door twice, I heard the sound of the TV. I didn't want to interrupt your treatment, so I didn't knock on the door and came in?" Dr. William said. Ha, it turned out to be the case. "Huh? There's no better recovery show than that?", I said seriously. "It's just a little bit longer in the whole process-should give some advice to the orthopedic show crew." Taphne was helping me pack my clothes, with her back to us.Regarding this conversation between me and the doctor, although she pretended not to hear, I could just see that the corners of her mouth were quietly raised——she was holding back a smile. At this time, someone knocked on the door again, and Taphne went to open the door—in came our two old friends, Handik and Mossman. "Look, it's worse than summer, I knew it?" Handik said, taking out some wilted white chrysanthemums, and inserting a large bouquet of beautiful heavenly lilies into the vase in the ward. Mossman took out a delicate little paper box: "Chocolate Cookies," he handed the carton to Taphne, "Mom specially baked these for you today." "How are Benson and Nell doing?" I asked Hendik with a smile. "Have you had any trouble getting that police ID hidden in the back of the bookcase?" "Forget about these troubles?" Handik smiled wryly. "A bottle of DOCG's Goya Estate Mist Wine is finally worth it? By the way, I remember you said it was from the 93rd year?" Indeed, all troubles were over. In the early hours of a week ago, on the top floor of the Civil Affairs Bureau, Dr. Geert Nagel performed the final baptism of atonement with nitroglycerin and narcotic ether: he sprinkled his whole body with these drugs, which were more dangerous than gasoline , Then, tied a few empty and full medicine bottles around his head, head down, and jumped from the height of the six-story building. Carl brought me photos of the scene, but I didn't go to see them—according to my suggestion, the Evidence Department collected many hair samples of the doctor with hair follicles at the doctor's home and conducted DNA analysis on them.The results of the previous afternoon's report had come in—confirmation that the glass-streaked, mostly charred body fragments were indeed the Doctor himself. The remains of the miniature signal device I left on the doctor, together with some parts of the doctor's body fragments, have also become one of the conclusive evidence. It was obtained from the Civil Affairs Bureau, Geert Nagel and Dill The voluntary premarital examination report made by Ser Heras in October 1992 also proved that the blood types of the pile of fragments and the doctor were both type A. The blood type of the headless body in the morgue, the body of Dr. Gelt, which was proved by the DNA files of the medical staff of the Second Mission Hospital, was O. That's not Dr. Gelt Nagel at all. Our clever Mr. Ifant has deceived us, and I am tempted to go on with a series of wonderful deceptions, but it would be a bit dull to do so.Therefore, I would like to quote here the conversation I had with Inspector Carl when he brought the DNA report the afternoon before yesterday.I believe that it will be more interesting to tell everyone the truth of the whole case in this way, so now the time goes back to two o'clock in the afternoon the day before yesterday, and Taphne stopped watching those boring serials (it happened to be a serial during the afternoon) vacuum period), our black detective just opened the door and inserted a small bouquet of white chrysanthemums into the empty vase in the ward. "The report came out," he glanced at me who was half-lying on the hospital bed and getting an IV drip, "It's just as you expected?" "Isn't Jiegler here?" I glanced at the closed ward door.Taphne poured Inspector Karl a glass of water, and he took the water and put it on the table, saying "thank you" to Taphne. "He said it's not good to have too many people coming at once," Carl sat down, "Esther and Tahiborg also want to come - Jiegler stopped them, he hopes you can rest in peace?" "That good old man?" I smiled and glanced at the white chrysanthemum sent by Karl. "The annunciator you speak of was also found on a piece of charred corpse—like growing on it?" "This is terrible?" Taphne murmured, "How could the doctor think of such a suicide method." "Should it be Evante?" Karl took a sip of water. "Probably the doctor himself." I corrected Karl, "There is no need for Evante to commit suicide. The only thing he wants to do is to return to that Usser who only exists in paranoia." "If it's Evanter's personality that brought those dangerous medicines, but he doesn't know why he brought them—isn't it strange?" "For a patient with a severely split personality, it's hard to say. Perhaps Dr. Gelt's personality has given some hints to Evanter's personality, such as the suggestion of using the cruel methods that those drugs can cause to retaliate against me—— In my impression, what the doctor said to me at the end and his behavior at that time were very different from the crazy behavior of the previous few minutes. I therefore think that during that period of time he experienced at least what we know, The last personality change." "If only I hadn't been sneaking to sleep?" Taphne said guiltily. "I thought no one would come that night." In this part of the content, Gelt successfully deceived me - he saw our car and what was displayed on the monitor (of course, maybe he had noticed it two days ago), but he was not stunned Taphne: Taphne fell asleep by herself.And the two police officers, they were also sleepy and fell on the sofa in the duty room - it's not their fault, it's already the third day, and it's still three o'clock in the morning, anyone's vigilance will be tortured by sleepiness Very few. "Nothing? He wouldn't have shown up if you hadn't fallen asleep? It's not your fault," I reassure Taphne, "and you came right after I activated the annunciator—look, actually Everything went as planned." "Okay," Carl shrugged, "maybe you've got something to say—anyway,? Now you can make your hypothesis public. You know, even if it's confirmed that it's the doctor's body, we still have There are many doubts that cannot be resolved.” "Of course. Can I start right away?", I smiled at Carl, "But if you need to make a written note, I will wait for you to get out a pen and paper? Taphne," I turned to my The assistant said, "If you want, you can also simply record what I said later - if you want to be lazy on the case summary, now is the perfect opportunity?" And just like that, I simply held a one-of-a-kind, hospital-bed press conference. "We'd better start with motivation," Carl asked first after thinking for a moment, "now that we have established that Evante von Todd, as the scissorhands, is actually Geert Nagel. A split personality of the Doctor. So, in your hypothesis, how do you think this murderous split personality came about?" "We must be sure that Yvante von Todt, a Frenchman of about thirty years old, with tea-colored pupils and curly blond hair, really exists," I glanced at Inspector Karl, "in this existence In terms of sex, we can develop many doubts—such as the patients received by Miss Aisha and the top floor tenant of Ms. Perdita, such as the doctor who was seen by the five witnesses during the referral conspiracy. He may have really killed someone, Maybe it's just a mental patient with homicidal delusions." "I remember you said that in your hypothesis, Dr. Gelt is the murderer of the whole case." Carl asked. "This is no longer verifiable," I replied, "in my hypothesis that the Frenchman visited Dr. Gelt several times - the first time probably not in June 2000, when there is a recorded Perhaps the first visit of the first visit is just a cover to imply that he and Evante have known each other for a long time?", I thought for a while, and then said, "Of course, if there are facts to show, it is the reality of Evante and Gelt There was nothing inappropriate about the doctor's first meeting—none of us could be sure how long it would take for a split personality to conceive." "From a subconscious point of view, maybe the doctor himself has such a wish," Taphne said, "It seems that before the appearance of Ifante, this general wish could not find a real sustenance, so it was always suppressed?" "That's right," I nodded to Taphne, "a child of Belarusian immigrants whose parents divorced at the age of twelve—although we don't know exactly why Gelt's parents divorced: we can assume, or A blatant extramarital affair, or domestic violence, or even the father's sexual assault on Gelt? The same 'noisy' childhood life, when Evante told him about his childhood, some parts of the memory fit— ——Thus, a devil-like personality that has been looking forward to being born has found a basis in reality, and immediately appeared in this world.” "Dr. Gelt extended the personality of Evante in reality, added his own consciousness to Evante's experience, and helped the French mental patient with homicidal delusions to complete his crazy plan." Carl said, "It's incredible to think about it." "This is just a possible hypothesis," I nodded. "We have to be a little bit arbitrary in terms of hypothesis. We might as well assume that Dr. Gelt began to enter his own delusions after listening to the Frenchman's delusions a few times. World—he also fantasizes about killing someone himself and communicating with Evante through dialogue? Even though his original intention may be to help this patient cure his homicidal paranoia, in any case, they are obsessed with such delusional communication. middle?" "Until they come up with a serial killing plan like this together?" Carr said. "Indeed," I replied, "in fact, the Frenchman doesn't seem to have had much to do - as can be seen from the fact that it's written in English in blood: Everything is Dr. What the extended personality does.” "? On the few pieces of paper I found in the bedside cabinet of the doctor's bedroom, there were words related to 'sleepwalking' and part of the time of committing the crime—from the contents of the paper, I think that the original personality of the doctor When the Evanter personality committed the crime, he did not lose all consciousness, and he was also aware of it: Carl, I wonder if you noticed—every time the crime happened at night, to be precise, after midnight." "You mean, Evanter's personality wakes up while the doctor's original personality is sleeping?" Carl asked, "So he thinks he's going through these cases in his dreams." "That's right? The doctor initially identified these impressions as brain memory errors caused by the analysis and reconstruction of each case, the audio recordings and on-site photo hints, fatigue, and confusion about the concept of time. On the piece of paper I handed to you, Doctor Analyzing this further, he found one of the coincidences - which Jiegler should have told you, is the winning photo of the poster design competition in 1984." "Blackadder ITC cursive," Carl took over from me, "Dr. Gelt has the ability to write those neat large blood characters." I nodded again: "We may have to consult brain researchers on this point-I suspect that the personality of Evanter has suppressed Dr. Gelt's memory in this regard, making it difficult for him to realize that he would write such swashbuckling characters: Maybe the doctor is watching It was only after that photo that I remembered that I would have written that cursive, as he has been using the beautiful Edwardian Script ITC cursive in his prescription letters." "A lot of doctors like that typeface, lawyers? Even top police officers like that typeface," Carr said. "I remember Director Richard's signature, it's also in this font?" Taphne said with a smile - I know she was referring to the search warrant that Director Richard specially issued to me this summer. signature. "So, the derived personality is stronger than the original personality?" Karl exclaimed. "Well, I think? Not in all cases," Taphne said. "At least in the end, the original personality of the Gelt could choose to use death to prove its existence." "These two personalities have been fighting each other," I went on. "The Ifant personality found these things that the doctor wrote before going to bed—he smeared out the important content with the same ballpoint pen. The second was A smear, I guess, of what the Doctor wrote - 'considered in terms of split personality'." "Exactly? You guessed at least one word right," Carr said. "The handwriting experts also came out this morning—they recovered the word 'splitting,' right where the second one was badly smeared. Moreover, our people also found many similar records in the doctor's study room - all of them are research summaries on split personality, as well as excerpts of related cases and treatment methods, which can be used as evidence of the doctor's split personality .” "If I'm not mistaken," I smiled, "it was found in a desk drawer." "Have you seen it already?" Karl asked me in surprise. "Thanks for being there in time," I shrugged, "I haven't had time to look at it yet? That photo was found in that drawer?" Our black detective smiled awkwardly. Taphne stopped writing and thought about it: "Evantine can throw away those papers, and have the pictures in the drawer by itself—don't you think that's weird?", she asked me. "There are two possibilities," I replied, "one is that the original personality helped us by deliberately hiding these things in a place where the derivative personality would not notice, and tried to prevent him from destroying the evidence." "Let him only smear, but not discard?" Carl asked me, "This is a novel idea." "That's another possibility," I replied. "I think the evidence hidden in the drawer is the aid of the original personality; and the papers in the drawer of the nightstand are the provocation of the derivative personality." I paused for a moment, then said: "Even Dr. Gelt came to my detective agency for help in a panic, it may be a conspiracy to derive personality." "Why can't the original personality really intend to come to us for help?" Taphne expressed puzzlement at this inference. "I hope that's the case," I replied, "but I can't explain why the doctor came to us instead of someone else: the original personality may indeed hate the police, but there are many detective agencies in this city. Find ours alone—and the detective agency that went straight to us after finding that death notice." "Because you are the most outstanding of these detectives?" Carl said half-jokingly and half-seriously, "The case in the summer increased your popularity and made you the most famous detective in Liberty City." "Perhaps," I'm not used to Carl's praise, "I'd like to interpret that visit as a challenge to our detective agency from the derived personality—let's think about it: the analysis and Presumably, it proves that he has been aware of his split personality? Carl, have the cases in the second half been kept secret? I mean, even Dr. Gelt doesn’t know about it.” "In principle, it's arranged like this," Carl nodded, "you and I know the reason—even Aisha's death was specially arranged by the bureau to keep Dr. Gelt from knowing." "Are you afraid that he will be worried about it?" Taphne asked. "Really? In this way, our protection work is relatively easier-protecting an unaware person is of course much easier than protecting a person shrouded in fear." "Then," I continued, "since he didn't know these things at the time—the death notice printed on the paper was not in the style before Ifante, and the doctor was also aware of his possible split personality, in such a Under objective conditions, he still came to our detective agency in a panic, declaring that his life was threatened by Evante: Why is the original personality so nervous?" "Maybe it's a hint from the derivative personality to him?" Taphne said to herself. "That's right, there's this possibility too? Carl," I turned my head and asked Carl, "You once told me that the other victims received death notices after they died." "The papers were all found at the scene where the body was found," Carl replied, "according to the transcripts of the various scenes, at least Ms. Perdita, Gottwald and Octavius ​​did not collect them in the days before their death." To something like this, others can't be sure?" "The scene at the Third Hospital is the same," I said, "the death notice left on the hospital bed is for supplying Willy and Nafp?" I glanced at the white chrysanthemum in the vase again, "but only the one brought by the doctor That one was sent out before. An advance letter instead of a letter of acceptance—it’s hard for us not to suspect the doctor’s specialness in this case.” "Perhaps Evante recognized Dr. Gelt as his friend—you also know the bloody content left by the Dierser case?" Carl said. "That's what he wants us to think," I said, "and all he's doing is trying to mislead us into believing that Dr. Gelt and Evante Scissorhands are two people. Taphne, remember you The analysis done on that death notice?" "Huh? It's a pity that the analysis of the corners is not very useful." "No, your analysis is very useful - after careful analysis, the problem of upper and lower case letters stands out: this reminds me that the prisoner made the death notice in a panic and covert situation, and I felt that the prisoner Are you in a hurry?", I recalled a little, and then said, "The uppercase letters I, T, and D should be easier to find than lowercase letters, and they are easy to cut. Die'这个句子的时候，衍生人格是不能左右本体人格的——当时的伊凡特依旧有所顾忌，而且没有太多时间能够控制博士的身体：和前半段案子的情况类似，他大概只能在博士熟睡时出来活动；相反的，博士来到我们侦探社的那天，本体人格可能已经进入长时间的睡眠状态了?腮部的胡茬、白色的慢跑鞋、糟糕的穿着——那些都是衍生人格故意留给我们的陷阱，或者说，考察眼前侦探是否有资格加入他伟大游戏的入门测验。” “但却依旧不能否认，嗯?”，塔芙妮看了一眼自己的笔记，“可能仅是本体人格受到了衍生人格的某种暗示，而表现出了真实的紧张和慌乱——那天早晨我拦下他时，可看不出他的慌张是假装的?” “是啊，”，我叹了口气，“在人格分裂这个概念上——暗示、显意识厥值、控制、伪装、自我催眠?意识层面上所发生的事情，或者说，一念之差，推理的结果就会完全不同了?” “我们最好不要老在这个问题上打转，”，卡尔对目前的话题稍稍有些不耐烦了，“或许对案子的细节研究应该留在最后——一些基本的疑点，你已经解答得很清楚了。现在，我最想知道的是，你对10月7日那整晚所发生的事情所做出的'第二种假设'。” “那样就是最好，”，我笑了笑，“我也觉得刚刚的这段分析进行起来异常麻烦——存在着太多不能确定的可能，又大都缺乏足够的线索和有力的证据。即使我们只将其中的一部分展开，就已经可以耗掉这整个下午了。” 塔芙妮将记录本合上，给我倒了一杯水： “要咖啡么？”，她转头问卡尔。 “还是水好了，谢谢?” 他的那杯水早就喝完了——他应该也渴坏了 “La nuit,tous les chats sont gris.” （法谚：夜里的猫都是灰色的。）“首先，他要准备好那晚表演所需要的道具?”，我喝了一口水，“这里请允许我先卖个关子——以免一开始就说光了精彩的部分，让后面的叙述变得如这杯水一般淡然无味。” “随你所愿?你打算从哪个时间点开始呢？”，卡尔问。 “10月7号晚上八点，我们初次登门拜访李希特街58号。”，我说道，“就在那天，博士从总局回家之前，警察还并没有入驻他家——因此，他的一切准备工作都可以在无人干扰的情况下轻松完成。博士洗完澡换上衣服之后：一件白色的短袖汗衫，米色的衬衣——左袖口上有十字针，一条黑色的条纹西裤和配套的西装，亚麻布面料?那条裤子的后裤袋不小，厚厚的西装里也有空间足够的暗袋，装下他准备好的道具绰绰有余。” “他不担心在晕倒之后，有人会检查他的口袋么？”，卡尔问道。 “他熟知第三医院运送那些病况不太明朗，病情也称不上十分紧急的病人到观察室时所遵循的实际规则——医院的规定是要给可能存在心脏隐患的病人换上宽松衣服的，随身的物品也需要进行登记：但实际上从没有人这样做过——博士的领口是塔芙妮帮忙解开的。我得说，塔芙妮的热心随行对博士而言是一个小意外，他原本期望只有积格勒小队的那三位在急救方面毫无经验的警官随行的：在那样的紧急状况下，加上原本就没有怀疑的理由，是不会有人专门去检查他那鼓鼓的后裤袋的。?塔芙妮，你注意过这点么？当时是你和博士坐在警车后排的。” “没有刻意去留意。”，塔芙妮回想了一下，说道： “?不过，我有注意到他的西服内袋里似乎装着什么东西——因为我想看看博士是否出现了心律失常，在按住他的心脏的时候?我以为那是钱包的：当时那样的紧急情况，谁还去关心那里面究竟装了什么东西！” “应该没有谁会在晚上八点后的会客时间里，还在自己的西服内袋里额外放上一只鼓鼓的钱包的?”，卡尔笑着说。 “这是我的第二个假设能够成立的又一个证据了，”，我开始继续我的讲述，“进入客厅之后，我从窗户里碰巧看到了停在别墅侧边巷中的，那辆车牌号为FZ-P3091的警车——我能从那里看到车牌号，博士也就能从那里看到。当然，他也有其它机会可以看到那个号码——比如从总局出来、登上那辆警车的时候。” “?他在自己的专用杯子里下了迷药——他之前当然故意将这个杯子放在冰箱上一个显眼的位置上，为的就是让积格勒小队的某个人注意到那个杯子，以之作为'伊凡特潜入迷倒博士'这个假设的有力证明。他还故意在杯中剩下了不少的水，以方便证物科取证。” “只可惜维戈将那个杯子洗得干干净净，他的小计谋没能得逞。”，卡尔说。 “?然后，在我们按门铃的时候，他去将迷药冲兑成一杯水，并在我们和他的谈话进行的当儿里，选择了一个适当的时候，将那杯水喝了下去。” 和水相关的话题总叫人感到口渴——我看了一眼眼前的杯子，又喝了一口水： “他所使用的应该是诱导期比较长的迷药，喝下水之后，他还能够描述前半段案子中死亡磁带里的具体内容?” “直到他在一个最紧张的情节上骤然倒下?”，塔芙妮说，“这真是一个充满戏剧性的巧妙安排。” “之后，威利、纳夫普和塔芙妮用警车送他去了最近的第三医院——按照惯例送往观察室之后，威廉医生给他做了简单的检查，注射了一剂速效且安全的利多卡因：很多麻醉药都会造成心律失衡，这当然是我们的又一个证据。” “?晚上十点左右，威廉在检查后确定，他的情况已经完全稳定了。在这里他赌了一把——威廉医生这次并没有给他做瞳孔检查：有些医生在需要但不必要的时候或许会忽略掉瞳孔检查，但另一些医生却在任何可能的时候都进行瞳孔检查。”，我笑了笑，“他撤掉了守在观察室里的两名护士，并且关掉了房间的灯——在这种情况下，从明亮走道里透过观察室门上的小窗，当然不可能看清观察室里的具体情况：威利好几次从窗口望进去，看到的大概只是病床上的一块布置得类似人形的、盖在被子里一动不动的隆起部分——塔芙妮，你也从门上的窗口望进去过，在那种情况下是不可能看到病床上病人的脸的。” 塔芙妮点点头： “那晚我进去之后，也是过了一会儿才适应里面的灰暗?” “这样，我们的博士就有整整四个小时的时间来完成他的那些小把戏了。”，我继续说道，“戴上手套之后，他首先要对付的是那些担架车——卡尔，你肯定还记得：经过那天在清洁用品室的冗长讨论之后，证物组的人又在隔壁的两间观察室里找到了被弃置的几块置物柜隔板，以及一些杂乱的、原本应该是放在担架车置物柜里的东西。” “没错。”，卡尔说道，“我们的人忙着在另两个观察室里查找证据，而你却始终待在博士的那个观察室里，只到隔壁的观察室去过一次，还是去看那些明显没有人动过的担架车。” “那是在比较。”，我说，“否则我也不能够解开这个疑点——他确实将一些东西拿了出来，你一定以为那个巨大的供氧装置是从转诊诡计里的那辆担架车下面搬出来的，但其实不是——它是从另一个留在现场的担架车里搬出来的。” “你是说，转诊的那辆担架车下面，还有一套这样的供氧装置？”，卡尔对我的说法感到吃惊。 “可能还不止一套，而是两套。他用那个重量做出了置物柜里还藏有一个人的假相——你当然还记得男护士乔希的证词。” “'在急诊通道的一个下坡拐弯处，车几乎都要倾斜了'?”，卡尔答道。 “的确，当两个那种重量的供氧装置放在同一个置物柜中时，是能够造成这种假相的——隔壁房间的三辆担架车里，都放有一套供氧装置，这说明医院的'三分之二原则'，准确点说，应该是'大于三分之二原则'——在博士所在的观察室里，如果按照第一种假设，是并不符合的：只有被拉掉氧气面罩和通气管的一套被放在房间角落里，剩下的两个担架车里一套都没有。三分之一：这当然不太寻常。” “也就是说。那辆转诊用的担架车下面，有两套完整的供氧装置，以及一套额外的氧气面罩和通气管？”，塔芙妮问。 “确实如此，我亲爱的塔芙妮——或许，你在转诊的时候并没有被剥夺纯氧供应?”，我对我的助手笑了笑，“我还留意到，其余两辆担架车里的物品，或多或少都减少了一些： 那些在另外两个观察室里发现的东西，可能也有很大部分是出自这两辆担架车——博士要做出一种'有一辆担架车下面的置物柜被完全掏空了'的错觉。 " “?他将这些准备小心做完，并且从担架床下取得了需要的麻醉药品和手术刀，然后悄悄离开了房间——他的行动路径和之前第一种假设里的恰恰相反，他先来到隔壁的观察室，可能是再隔壁的一间，然后从那里进入了防火通道，绕过换衣间之后，再从另一侧的那个观察室出来，从走道进入医生换衣间。” “?无人观察室的窗户，为了保持室内空气流通，都开着一小扇——只有在确定有病人将要迁入之后，才由护士负责关上，并打开室内暖气。”，卡尔补充道，“这样做也是为了节省开支。” “博士当然知道这一点——这也给了他很大的方便。?我们当然还记得，埃斯特提到过，彼得医生留了一双旧皮鞋在换衣间里，而我们的博士此刻很可能还光着脚！” “真的！我怎么没想到这点?”，塔芙妮惊呼，“博士昏倒之后，是我们抬他出去的——他甚至连拖鞋都没有穿！” “不过，光脚走在防火通道上显然需要勇气，”，我笑了笑，“他可能借用了观察室里专为探视者准备的塑料便鞋——可惜的是，每个观察室里没有确定的数量：否则，我们倒可以知道这种鞋是否丢失了一双。” “?他穿上了彼得医生的旧皮鞋，还有安东尼医生的医用大褂——他可能在这时戴上了他早就准备好的、那幅茶色的硬式高透氧隐形眼镜?” “你说那茶色的瞳孔是隐形眼镜？”，卡尔打断了我，“?那或许可以。但金色的茂密卷发怎么解决。博士的后裤袋再大，也不可能放下一顶假发！” “多亏博士也是金发?” 我说着，手探向床边的抽屉，从里面取出一个医帽来。我理了理自己的头发，将这顶医帽戴在自己头上。 塔芙妮笑了，卡尔则瞪大了眼睛——眼前的文泽尔，如果从背后看去，已经是一个有着花白卷发的老医生了。 “我托塔芙妮帮我到假发店去买了几包12 寸长的白色优等卷发?”，我将这顶发帽取下，丢给卡尔探长。 “?将这些漂亮的卷发整理成几个平整状的发束，然后，用布片将发束的一端小心车缝成扁平状——这部分工作依旧要感谢塔芙妮，她帮我找到了一个合适的裁缝，用最快的速度完成了这些繁琐的手工劳作。”，我将面前的水杯拿起，向我的助手举杯致意：对于我这稍显夸张的感谢，塔芙妮低下头去，显得很不好意思。 “?这些完成之后，将这些扁平状的发束用最简单的粘扣带固定在医帽的后部边缘上，左右耳的鬓角处也小心装饰上两缕——这样，一顶特制的简单发帽就做好了。它所需要占用的空间，比一整顶茂密金色假发要小得多。” “而且，”，我补充道，“博士的头发本身就是金色的——他的发束可以做得更薄些。这样的发帽戴上去，几乎看不出任何破绽来。” “?至于假发的来源，很可能是取自那具冒充的无头尸体的主人——我甚至相信，那具尸体就是那位真正的伊凡特·冯·托德先生，那个道地的法国人！” “你是说，那个衍生人格已经无法满足于自己的替身身份，而将真正的伊凡特杀害了？”，卡尔问道。 “将捷尔特的人格丢弃在真正伊凡特的尸体里，并将它伪装成真正的捷尔特博士——如此美妙的替换对于那衍生人格来说，实在是再合适不过了。”，我感叹道，“他之所以到和他的住处相隔很远的第二教会医院工作，可能就是因为那里要求建立员工的DNA档案，而且在管理上比较随便吧——捷尔特博士用伊凡特的血作为自己的血样上交了上去，大概自这时候起，真正的伊凡特就已经被他软禁了。” “还是回到我们的第二种假设?他戴上了这顶特制的医帽，顺手将阿尔博特先生的金丝眼镜架在自己的鼻梁上，再戴上口罩，最后在胸口别上自己的过期医师证。然后，再次回到走道上，经过几个空置的独立观察室，医生和护士值班室，以及那个有五个人的大观察室最后来到清洁用品室隔壁的那个观察室，从那个观察室出去，撬开清洁用品室的窗户——他本打算在回去的时候再从医生换衣间拿件衣服的，但这时他又看见了彼得医生的外套：拿这件衣服显然能够增加证明'犯人首先来到清洁用品室'这个假设的证据，他于是就这么做了。” “?然后他擦窗户，制造企图消灭闯入证据的假相——让别人觉得他在进来的时候忘记戴手套，事后想起才进行补救。他选择了几个容易留下指纹的地方擦拭，这是很高明的办法。 除此之外，他还使用了这里的某把剪刀，将自己原本的那个衬衣领剪掉，换上了随身带来的、一个白底细黑色条纹的假衬衣领——这可以解释为什么他将那件医生服最上面的扣子也扣住了：两位碰巧看到他穿着一件白底细黑色条纹衬衣的证人向我提供了这个细节——而这两位证人的名字还是你告诉我的。”，我对卡尔笑道。 “我可没有问得这么仔细?”，卡尔叹了口气。他想了想，提出了一个疑问： “但那件米色衬衣?也就是那具无头尸体所穿的，你也看到过，却并没有剪下过衬衣领。” “这倒很简单，”，塔芙妮替我回答了这个问题，“无非是准备了两件一样的衬衣，并且每个左手袖口上都缝了相同的十字针?由此看来，那具尸体身上所穿的衣物，都是他一早就准备好了的——他当然不会笨到给尸体换上一套他刚刚穿过的、可能沾有血迹和微物证据的衣服。” “积格勒在那天晚上之所以能够观察到袖口上的这个细节，就如同那个在博士右手臂内侧的三角形疤痕一样，都是那狡猾无比的犯人故意设下的陷阱，”，我对塔芙妮点点头，“甚至从疤痕这点上可以看出，至少从去年七八月间开始，那位可怜的法国妄想症病人就已经被博士软禁了。” “他在局里被小混混刺伤后，便给他的犯人也留下了一个类似的伤痕，以作为尸体替换时所能利用到的一个证据?”，卡尔抿了抿嘴，“这么说，他早在一年多前就已经开始为这个计划做准备了！” “因此，他能够将细节处理得如此完善也不足为奇?接着他原路返回医生换衣间，在那里打了我们熟悉的那两个电话——最后回到最开始的观察室里，换上一顶普通的医帽，取下医师证，假衬衣领和金丝眼镜也取下?开始等待机会。” 我喝了一口水： “这之后直到转诊的部分，大家都十分清楚，这里也没有必要再说一遍了。” “?至于在那辆急救车上究竟发生了什么事——我知道你们在前些天已经找到了那辆放着两具尸体的车，但我却专注于埋伏，没来得及问你。”，我对卡尔说道。 “或许我现在可以告诉你细节?”，卡尔说。 “似乎没有太大必要了，”，我说，“根据第二种假设——作为证据，那辆担架车会留在急救车上，不过，里面的两套供氧装置当然已经搬走，只留下那额外的一套氧气面罩和通气管?除此之外，还有安东尼医生和彼得医生的两件医生服，其中的一件染满了血。两个医帽、口罩、金丝眼镜、手套等等。嗯?还有走道上的那个托盘。如果他信任总局证物科的和指纹取证水平的话，可能仅仅留下那套氧气面罩跟通气管，以及那个托盘：如果他没有将那张已经过期的医师证放在那具无头尸体身上的话，他肯定会将它在这里留下——以作为他这次伟大计划成功的证明。” “有得必有失，”，卡尔笑着说，“他是信赖我们的取证水平的——所有地方都没留下指纹，博士的衣物纤维倒是发现了一些：这应该又是他所设下的陷阱了。” “不过，”，卡尔想了想，接着说道，“如果你没有想到打电话给狄尔瑟女士的母亲，询问她狄尔瑟和博士结婚前是否参加过自愿婚检，然后来到民政局调查了相关的档案?我是说，如果他们没有参加自愿婚检，并且我们的人也没能在博士家搜集到带发囊的头发样本——在这样的情况之下，第一种假设是否就无法推翻了呢？” “也不会。还存在着一个奇怪的矛盾?”，我说道，“不妨想想看，你们从来都没有取得过伊凡特·冯·托德的任何指纹，甚至在博士所提供的、伊凡特写下自己名字的处方函和钢笔上，也没有找到相关的指纹——或许博士会推说自己在拿这些证物的时候不小心弄掉了伊凡特的指纹，但即便如此，伊凡特有什么必要不暴露自己的指纹呢？即使他有前科——他完全没必要害怕自己的前科被人发现：对于一个想在犯罪史上留名的连环杀手而言，留下了相同字迹的血字，相同声音的死亡实录，以及使用相同手法残忍对待的尸体?那么，他为什么单单不敢留下自己的指纹呢？” 卡尔沉默着，我的助手再次替我解答了这个问题： “因为捷尔特·内格尔博士的指纹样本随处可得——一旦我们怀疑到他，而如果他又在每个现场都留下了自己的指纹，他就一定没办法脱罪了。” “毫无疑问他已经成为了一个伟大的犯罪者，”，我最后补充道，“可惜，这些荣耀今后被人提及的时候，却都是属于伊凡特·冯·托德这个法国人的——捷尔特·内格尔，一个颇有成就的医学博士：人们会这样说——他在2002年10月8日被伊凡特杀害了。” “他被他自己杀害了?”，卡尔喃喃说道。 而这就是一切的事实。