Chapter 20 Section 19 Time Matters

"We all know the toast is at nine," said Amy. "And when you said you were going to go, it was eight fifty-two," Miss Emma reminded, "I just checked my watch at that time." "And then Sears came running and nearly knocked Amy over?" Taphne recalls, "and we held off a bit." "Therefore, the elapsed time should be about eight fifty-three—that is, about fifty-five minutes into the master's room, and by then John would have been killed," said our detective. "We are all used to looking at our watches when we arrive at the murder scene... Before, Wenzel came out of John's room. According to him, it was around 8:20—maybe a little later?" , said Carl, "so John was killed between eight-twenty and fifty-four."

"Why not fifty-five?" Inspector Rotter started asking stupid questions again. "Because Karl and I have good eyesight," Wenzel explained, "we opened the door of the side hall at 8:54 and walked in the direction of the master's room—we looked at the There is a door, and that door has not been opened: and, according to previous conclusions, it is impossible for anyone to come out of the door? Therefore, there should be no further explanation." "There's a beautiful cuckoo clock over the hall by the side hall door, and we all see the time...so, at least for a minute - that's the perfect back room?", exclaimed Carl. "Actually, the time should be a little earlier: according to John's cause of death, he wouldn't die so thoroughly within one minute."

"I didn't get away from Mr. Lucius until about eight-forty past eight," recalled our detective, "and there was no way anyone would have come round the garden path into the hall during that time—except me and Lucius, at least as long as we There's no one around." "Did anyone notice anyone going through the side hall door into the lobby during that time?" Carl asked. Everyone shook their heads in unison, but the detective who had been keeping records spoke: "According to the inquiry records of the guests in the hall, at around 8:45, Auguste Donado was seen coming to the hall through the side hall door."

"After that? Where did he go next?" "Two guests and a security guard can confirm that he went to the bathroom? But we didn't get any testimony about whether he entered." "Of course this is the best clue!" Inspector Roth said to Carl, who just smiled and didn't say anything. "Can anyone prove that he came back the same way?" Wenzel asked. "Two witnesses, at five past nine, saw him return to the wing through the same door." "What about the expression? Is there anything that catches your attention?" "No one noticed."

"Has anyone seen Sears' passing time?" "It was about fifty-one minutes, three witnesses - because of the cuckoo clock, the time was quite accurate. Then he went to the bathroom area, similar to August's situation, and the same security guard confirmed it. .” "Is this security guard the one guarding the aisle in the lower left corner?" Taphne asked, "Both Ms. Emma and I saw him." "So, if someone goes in and out of the floor-to-ceiling windows in the hall, the security guard can see it?" Wenzel asked, "So, did he see someone going out from the floor-to-ceiling windows in the hall?"

"No!", the detective checked the information in his hand, "Two female guests went out to blow some air before 8:30, and came in after a while. After that, no one went out." "Can the security guard see the Garden Drive outside the window?" The detective checked the information again: "According to his testimony, he was standing against the wall - he could barely see if anyone was coming in or out from his vantage point, he couldn't see anything outside the window." Wenzel glanced out again through the open French window—the tall grass wall of the garden and the taller plane trees outside the wall enveloped the night tightly: he knew that it would be the same from the hall. landscape.In this way, even if the sky is not completely dark, and there are people walking on the garden road, the group of guests who are drinking and chatting in the house, if they are not very careful, it is difficult to see through the floor-to-ceiling windows—like He looked out from the floor-to-ceiling windows of the master room before.

However, it is now at least proved that the plane trees that appeared in the detective's imagination actually existed. "In the hall, are there any guests standing by the French windows near the garden and chatting?" To be on the safe side, Wenzel asked one more question. The detective flipped through a few pages of information paper, and after careful verification, he replied: "No? Because it's so dark there, there's not much to see after dusk - and the outdoor lighting on this side of the gate is beautiful: that's what the guests said themselves." "Those were arranged one month in advance for today's reception." The butler Geiger added, "Mr. John invited the most famous outdoor lighting design experts in Europe and the most demanding construction team to complete this set. Unique lighting—not only that, it was originally planned to release carefully prepared fireworks from the lighting when the atmosphere of the reception tonight is the most lively, so as to push the entire reception to a climax, what a pity?"

"Thank you for these beautiful lights? But for the case, I should be more grateful for the cuckoo clock!" In order to prevent the butler in front of him from going off the subject again, our Inspector Carl stepped forward and said to everyone, " A few final questions here." After hearing Carl's words, the guests who were already quite tired seemed a little more energetic again. "After Mr. Pressman—that is, after about eight-thirty, until eight forty-five, did anyone see August enter the master's room again, or come out of it Woolen cloth?" Everyone shook their heads, and Pressman recalled, saying:

"After I saw that guy come out, about ten minutes later? Just after Mr. Wenzel left the side hall, in order to avoid the drunk Lucius, we came to Miss Esther and the others— ——At that time, I paid special attention to it: August had been hovering outside the master's room, choosing a corner that was difficult for people to see, as if he was waiting for something, and looked very anxious." "This narrative seems to have a lot of subjective elements in it?" Emma, ​​who had been silent for a long time, finally seized an opportunity to give a slightly harsh evaluation of Pressman's testimony.

"What about before that? Has anyone entered or exited the master's room?" Wenzel asked, "I know, you were standing among the three of you, the only place where you could observe the exit of the master's room." "I didn't pay attention, I went to get a glass of wine halfway?" Pressman recalled the scene at the time, "It should be that no one comes in and out of there anymore-but I didn't pay much attention there either." "Where's the time to get the wine?" Wenzel glanced at the wine table in the side hall - it was placed on the side of the main entrance, a little far from where they were standing now.

"? I don't know the exact time, but just after Lucius provoked Mr. Heiner—I felt angry and drank most of the glass of wine in my hand in one gulp, so I had to go to get another glass. ’,” Pressman recalled. "Before you saw August come out?" "After that, and, a little further away from that point in time—but not too far?" "That's after eight-thirty--could it be supposed to be at eight-thirty-five?" "Probably?" Pressman replied uncertainly. "So," Wenzel continued, "where do you stand after that?" "We all looked out the window," Heiner pointed to the row of floor-to-ceiling windows near the gate of the villa, "we finally found a relatively quiet place and some exciting topics, so we no longer have time to care about what happened in the garden. What's up?" Pressman and Clu also nodded. "Very good!", he turned to Captain Harlem and Khamis, "Where were you standing?" "We're sitting," Khamis replied, "over that couch." He pointed to a place not far from where Jenny and Esther were chatting, where there was a loveseat by the window, where one could sit on it and enjoy the beautiful lighting outside the window from a good angle. "I have a bad heart," explained Khamis, "so I'm used to sitting." "That's why I developed a hobby of making models-it's a 'sport on the sofa'!", Emma took no time to sneer at the fat gentleman's hobby. "My hobby is collecting!" Khamis protested. "Hey! So what's the point of this purely buying and selling hobby?", Emma responded without showing weakness. "Drunk women are really unreasonable!" Khamis shook his head angrily, complained in a low voice, and said nothing more. Emma smiled and picked up her glass of soda. "? And these two ladies should have noticed these two men sitting and chatting unintentionally," Wenzel turned to Jenny and Esther after a brief silence, "you are so far apart from each other. close." They nodded. Wenzel asked the agent in charge of the record again: "Did anyone see Yawen with long curly red hair coming into the hall from the side hall door?" "It doesn't seem to be there," the agent looked through the information in his hand carefully, "except for Ms. Emma and Miss Jenny who came out, there is no record of other women - Ms. Emma came out at about 8:30 Around 8:50, Miss Jenny went out once, and returned to the side hall at 12. As for Miss Amy, she went in with Detective Carl and you, and there were many witnesses. As for the entry and exit after the incident, We didn't make an inquiry, and we don't have a record of it." "The case in the bathroom made the whole hall messy. Everyone wanted to go to the scene to see what happened, so no one cared about the movement at the side hall door?" Taphni recounted the situation at that time Scenario, "Therefore, even if you ask, you should not get any useful clues." "? What is Miss Jenny doing out there?" Inspector Roth asked curiously. Several people sighed when they heard this question.Emma laughed again, and she answered the question for Jenny jokingly: "Things you will do after drinking too many kinds of drinks?" She deliberately took a sip of the soda water in her hand, "I also kind of want to go now. I have to go outside, is it really troublesome?" (Author's Note: Because the guest bathroom has been used as the second site, if guests want to use the bathroom now, they can only go out of the villa and go to the two-joint building behind the garage to solve it) "I? Just to make up It's just makeup!", Jenny argued, blushing, "I said the same to Esther." "Okay, this lady is just going to touch up her makeup?" Wenzel coughed, "It seems that we may have to wait for Mr. Lucius to wake up now—the most important clue is probably held by this In the mouth of Mr. who is sleeping soundly." There was a burst of dissatisfaction from the crowd, Emma laughed loudly, and then said solemnly: "My Mr. Detective, do you think he could tell the difference between French windows and people then?" Carl's face also began to feel a little uneasy. He walked up to Wenzel, patted his shoulder, and whispered: "Man, I can't break my word—you're asking too many questions, and they don't seem to be very useful. You know, the whole case is clear?" Wenzel didn't care whether the black detective was willing or not—he grabbed him before he finished speaking, and dragged him to the master's room: the first scene. The door was closed. Everyone was stunned by this accident. The side hall, which was originally extremely noisy, suddenly became extremely quiet. Only Lucius Hessel's snoring was still sounding evenly and harmoniously, as if trying to call everyone's attention to this well-dressed gentleman who had been sleeping soundly until now. "This is really funny!" Ms. Emma laughed dryly. She quietly exchanged her cup of Cuba Libre