Chapter 19 Chapter 19 The Illusory Man

That night, Dr. Fell shut himself up in the cubicle next to the study, which he used for his "scientific experiments," but Mrs. Fell took issue with it, calling it "fooling around."However, liking to fool around is the most important trait in human nature, so Rimbaud and Dorothy both volunteered to be assistants.But this time the Doctor was quite serious and very uncommonly restless.So the couple had no choice but to withdraw angrily without even daring to make a joke.The indefatigable Hadley had long since left to check his alibi.And Rimbaud only asked one question about this matter.

"I know that you want to decipher these burnt papers," he said, "and I know that you place great value on them. But what exactly do you hope to find in them?" "The fact that it might have killed me," Dr. Phil responded, "made me look like a fool last night." He shook his head sleepily, then closed the door. Rimbaud and Dorothy sat on both sides of the fireplace, looking at each other face to face.It was snowing all over the sky outside the house, this night was really not suitable for a long trip.Rimbaud originally wanted to ask Mangan out for dinner, to catch up on the old days and talk about the past; but after calling, Mangan replied that Rosette could not leave, and he had better stay with her.Mrs. Fell also went to church, so the two remaining two discussed the case freely in the library.

"Since last night," remarked the husband, "I've been hearing Gross's Law, which says you can read words by burning paper. But no one seems to know what it is. I guess, Is it a way to mix and configure chemicals?" "I know what it is," she said triumphantly. "I looked it up when you were out running around at noon today. And, as simple as this method is, I dare say it won't What's the catch. I can bet you that you won't be able to make a name for yourself!" "Have you read Gross's theory?" "Well, I read the English version. The reason is quite simple. This theory states that if you throw a letter into the stove, you will find that the writing will emerge clearly on the charred part of the letter, usually black and white or grey, and sometimes the colors are reversed. Didn't you notice that?"

"Not at all. Before I came to England I had rarely seen an open fire. Is that so?" She frowned. "It's quite useful for printed cardboard boxes or soap boxes. But for ordinary documents... Anyway, roughly this is the way to deal with it: First use round nails to staple the tracing paper to the cardboard, and then put the burnt paper Stick it on the tracing paper, and then push down hard on the burnt paper..." "Is that crumpled paper okay? It'll crush it, won't it?" "Ha! Gross said, here's the trick. You have to soften the paper. Fold the tracing paper into two or three-inch squares and wrap all the burnt paper in it. Then lay the A damp cloth folded in several layers, and the papers are placed on the cloth and soaked in moisture until they straighten and fit. Once they are all flattened and secured, you follow the grain of each burnt paper , cut the tracing paper separately. Then reassemble them on the glass plate, like playing a jigsaw puzzle. Then cover the second piece of glass on top of the first piece of glass, tie the four sides tightly, and finally let the light shine through the glass Look. I could bet you anything, though—"

"Let's try it out," said Rimbaud enthusiastically. At first, the step of burning the paper was not considered a success.First he took an old scrap of paper from his pocket and struck a match to light it.Although the action was impatient, the flame still ignited smoothly.Seeing that the paper was twisted around and fell down after leaving the hand, the sparks ran around irregularly, but when it landed on the fireside, the sparks had gradually weakened, and the paper was curled up into an umbrella-shaped charred length, No more than two inches.They knelt on the ground and watched carefully, but they couldn't see any writing.Rimbaud continued to burn several sheets of paper, each of which fluttered slowly like a gentle shooting star, and then fell to the edge of the fire.Finally, he started to lose his temper. Anything within reach could not escape the fate of being burned.The more insane he is, the more he believes that as long as it is done properly, this method will always work.Therefore, the printed matter was also tested; using Dr. Phil's typewriter, he typed the following words several times, "It's time to stand up for this group of people of kindness", and at the moment the carpet , full of fluffy shreds of paper, so it looks disorganized.

"To tell you the truth," Rimbaud pressed his cheeks to the ground and looked at the pieces of paper with his eyes closed. "These pieces of paper are not burnt, they are completely burnt, and they do not meet the conditions of the experiment at all. Ha, yes, I saw 'this group of people', clearly. Compared with the original typeface, it is much smaller; and the scorched black place seems to be a little irregularly curved; but it is indeed these words. You still have handwritten letter?" With the new discovery, Dorothy herself became more and more excited.On a piece of dirty gray paper, the words "East 11th Street" were clearly visible.Though most of the scattered papers would shatter at the touch of a button, many words were eventually made out under their careful management: "Saturday night," "Weird," "Hangover," and "Gin and Tonic." ".Rimbaud rose contentedly.

"If the paper can really be flattened, with the aid of moisture, then it will work!" he declared. Experts, only Gross can handle it. I wonder what Dr. Phil is looking for?" Until the dead of night, this topic continued to be discussed. "Now that the case has been turned upside down," Rimbaud pointed out, "where are we going to find a motive? That's the point. There is no reasonable motive for killing Grimaud and Frey in series! By the way, about your last night A strange theory, that the murderer is either Pettis or Burnaby, what's next?" "You left out that ridiculous-looking blond woman," she corrected emphatically. "You know, what bothers me most about this case is the fact that the coat changes color and then disappears. Which seems to point the arrow back That house is gone, isn't it?" She sat quietly in thought. "No, my whole mind has changed. I don't think Pettis or Burnaby were involved in the case. Even the blond woman couldn't possibly be involved. I It is now absolutely certain that the list of suspects can be narrowed down to the other two."

"Oh?" "If it's not Dreyman, it's O'Luoqi," she said decisively, nodding her head. "I'll let it go." Rimbaud resisted the urge to retort. "Yes, I have also considered Orloch," he admitted, "but there are only two reasons why you chose him. First, he is a circus trapeze artist, and you think the murderer used an aerial escape technique." However, as far as I can see, Orloch is also useless as a hero. The second and most important point is that you don't think he has anything to do with this case; Popping up, usually that's a suspicious sign. Isn't it?"

"maybe." "As for Dreyman... that's right, Dreyman is the only one who is involved in the past of Grimaud and Frey. That's the point! Besides, from dinner time to about eleven o'clock in the evening Well, no one has seen him. But I don't think he is guilty. Let's make a rough timetable of what happened last night, so we can sort out the clues. Let's go one by one , let’s start with dinner. This timetable will be very rough, and many small details are still guessed by ourselves. Except for the real time of the incident and related testimony, we really don’t know much, but we can still try I'm trying to think about it. The time before dinner is not clear. We'll just start from..."

He took out an envelope bag and wrote quickly on it. (Approximately) 6:45: Mangan arrives at the mansion, hangs his coat in the hall closet, and sees a black coat hanging inside. (Approximately) 6:48: Anne arrives from the dining room (assuming it takes her three minutes) to turn off the cabinet light that Mangan had turned on and left on.She didn't see the black coat at all. (Approximately) 6:55 (this time is not specified, but before dinner): Mrs. Dummer looks in the hall closet and finds a yellow overcoat. "I'll tidy it up like this first," Rimbaud said, "because I'm assuming that Mrs. Dumo couldn't fly to the closet to check in the very short time between Mangan hanging up his coat and leaving and Anne coming to turn off the lights."

The girl suddenly narrowed her eyes. "Oh, wait! How do you know? I mean, if the lights were off, how could she see the yellow coat?" There was a silence, and they looked at each other.Rimbaud said: "The case is getting more and more interesting. So the question becomes, 'Why is she looking in the closet?' The point is, if the order of the points I wrote down holds up, the question can be explained logically." ...First, there was a black coat, Mangan saw it. Next, after Mangan left, someone stole the black coat—for reasons we don't know—so Anne didn't see anything. Later, someone put a yellow tweed coat in the same place. Sounds all right. But," he yelled, jabbing the air with his pencil, "if things don't go in that order, unless Someone lied, or the whole thing doesn't make sense. In that case, it doesn't matter when Mangan arrives, because the plot will be executed within minutes or even seconds. Understand? Mangan gets there, hangs Great coat, go away. Then Dumo came out, looked in the closet, and left. Anne followed closely, she turned off the light, and then walked away. This means that in a flash, the black coat first becomes The yellow coat, and then disappeared. It's impossible." "Well said!" said Dorothy, beaming. "Then you think, who's lying? I guess you'll insist that it's definitely not your friend—" "Of course. I think it's the Dumora woman. I'd bet you anything!" "But she's not a murderer, that's proven. And, I admire her." "Stop messing around, now," Rimbaud urged, "go on and enumerate our schedule and see if we find anything else. Ha! Where did it get written? By the way. Dinner is set for seven o'clock, because we know Dinner ends at seven-thirty. So..." Seven thirty: Rosette and Mangan.Together to the living room. 7:30: Dreyman goes upstairs to his room. 7:30: Dumo is nowhere to be found, but must be inside the house. 7:30: Mills goes downstairs to the library. 7:30: Grimaud is downstairs in the library with Mills, and Grimaud tells Mills to come upstairs at 9:30 because there will be visitors. "Whoa! There's an obstacle here. I was about to write that Grimaud then came into the living room and told Mangan that there would be a visitor at ten o'clock. But it didn't, because Rosette knew nothing about it, and she It was with Mangan! The problem is, Mangan never said when he was told. But that doesn't matter, Grimaud may have pulled him aside to say it. Likewise, we don't know when Mrs. Dumer Informed that visitors will arrive at nine-twenty; probably earlier. Actually, it's a question of the same nature." "Are you sure?" Dorothy asked while searching for a cigarette, "Hmph! Well, continue." (approximately) 7:35: Grimaud goes upstairs to his study. 7:35 to 9:30: Nothing.No one moved around.It was snowing heavily outside. (Approximately) 9:30: The snow has stopped. (Approximately) 9:30: Dumo removes the coffee tray from Grimaud's study.Grimaud mentioned that the visitors might not come that night.At this time, when Du Mo left the study... 9:30: Mills goes upstairs. "Nothing of importance should happen during the next period of time. Mills is upstairs, Drayman is in his room, Rosette and Mangan are in the living room with the radio on... wait a minute! I almost forgot one thing. At a certain moment before the doorbell rang, Rosette heard a crash somewhere in the street, as if someone had fallen from a very high place..." "If the radio is on, why can she hear the banging?" "Apparently the volume wasn't turned up enough—no, it should be quite loud. They almost didn't hear the fake Pettis because the radio was too loud. Never mind that, let's sort it out in order first." 9:45: The doorbell rings. 9:45-9:50: Dumo answers the door; and speaks to the visitor (the visitor's voice was not recognized).She accepted the business card, closed the door in front of the visitor, checked the business card, and found that it was a blank business card, she hesitated for a moment, then went upstairs... 9:45 to 9:50: After Dumo went upstairs, a visitor entered the room somehow. He first locked Rosette and Mangan in the living room, and then imitated Perry. Tis's voice answered them... "It's not that I interrupt," put in Dorothy, "but don't you wonder why it took so long for the two of them to ask loudly who the visitor was? I mean, would anyone wait so long to ask? If I were waiting for a visitor, I would say loudly, 'Hello! Who's here?'" "What are you trying to prove? Nothing? Are you sure? Don't be so harsh on that blond woman! Remember, there was still a gap before the time they expected the visitor to arrive... look at your sneering demeanor Sex, that shows your prejudice. Let us go on, between nine forty-five and nine fifty, this unknown visitor, X, enters the house and goes into Grimaud's study..." 9:45 to 9:50: The visitor follows Dumo upstairs and catches up with her in the top-floor hallway.He took off his hat, turned down his collar, but kept his mask on.Grimaud opened the door without recognizing the visitor.The visitor slipped in, then slammed the door shut (confirmed by Dumo and Mills). 9:50-10:10: Mills watches the door at the end of the corridor; Dumo watches the same door from the stairwell. 10:10: Gunshots rang out. 10:10-10:12: Mangan is in the living room and finds the living room door leading to the hallway locked. 10:10-10:12: Dizzy or unwell, Dumo retreats to his room (Drayman sleeps in his own room and never heard the gunshots). 10:10-10:12: After Mangan finds the door locked in the living room, he attempts to break in but fails.So he jumped out of the window, when... 10:12: We arrive outside the house; the door is unlocked; we head upstairs to the study. 10:12 to 10:15: Opens the study door with pliers and finds Grimaud shot. 10:15 to 10:20: Investigate the scene and call an ambulance. Ten twenty: The ambulance arrives and takes Grimaud away.Rosette accompanied her father in the ambulance.At Hadley's behest, Mangan went downstairs to call the police. "In this way," Rimbaud pointed out with satisfaction, "Rosette and Mangan are naturally cleared of suspicion. This paragraph does not need to be written in too much detail. The ambulance personnel went upstairs, the doctor examined the victim, and moved the victim into the hospital. Ambulance; even with a stretcher slid down the rail, it would take at least five minutes to do the above. No doubt about it! Once you lay out the process, it's so obvious! From there to The sanitarium must have taken a lot of time... Yet at 10:25 Foyle was shot dead in Cagliestre Street! Rosette was in the ambulance at this time; the paramedics arrived Mangan was in the house at the scene because he followed them up and down the stairs. It was the perfect alibi." "Oh, I didn't say they were guilty, especially Mangan, I didn't expect him to be such a good man." She frowned. Arrived at Grimaud's mansion?" Rimbaud shrugged. "If you can get there by ten-twenty," he said, "then the ambulance has to be flown directly from Guilford Street. The call was made after ten-fifteen, and they could, in fact, be there in five minutes." It is already a miracle that Nei rushed to Grimaud's mansion. It is not wrong, Mangan and Rosette can already be excluded from the list of suspects. Besides, I still remember that when she was in the sanatorium—there were several witnesses Proof - Saw lights in the windows of the Burnaby apartment, it was 10:30. Let's finish the rest and see who else we can weed out. 10:20 to 10:25: The ambulance arrives and takes Grimaud away. 10:25: Foyle is shot in Calgary Straw Street. 10:20 to (at least) 10:30: Mills stays with us in the study, answering our questions. 10:30: Rosette is in the sanatorium and sees lights in the windows of Burnaby's apartment. 10:25 to 10:40: Mrs. Dumer stays with us in the study. Ten forty: Rosette returns from the sanatorium. 10:40: Police arrive at the crime scene. Rimbaud sat back in his chair, scanning the scribbled timetable, drawing a long string of curlicues under the last item. "This timetable is as comprehensive as possible," he said, "and there is no doubt that there are two more people missing from our list of suspects. Mills and Dumo can be removed, and Rosette and Mangan can also be removed." Eliminated. So among the people in this room, only Dreyman has the possibility." "But," retorted Dorothy, after a moment's hesitation, "it's even more confusing now. How would you explain your ingenuity about that overcoat? You're implying that someone is lying, and that's only possible. It was Boyd Mangan or Ernestine Dumer; but now, both were ruled out. Unless it was Anne—but that couldn't be, could it? Or, it shouldn't be. " They both looked at each other again.He frowned, folded the form, and put it in his pocket.Outside the house, a sudden gust of wind blew up, and in the closed cubicle they heard Dr. Fell's footsteps scurrying to and fro. The next morning, Rimbaud overslept, firstly because of excessive physical exertion, and secondly because of the new day's dark clouds, which made him sleep until after ten o'clock before opening his eyes.The morning was so dark that the lights had to be lit, and so cold that it was bone-chilling.Rimbaud didn't see Dr. Phil last night, and when he went downstairs to eat breakfast in the small dining room at the back, the angry waitress was laying out bacon eggs. "Sir, the Doctor just went upstairs to wash up," said Veda. "He stayed up all night doing his science experiments, and at eight o'clock this morning I found him asleep in his chair. I don't know what Mrs. Fell will do." Say, I really don't know. Director Hadley has just arrived, and he's in the study room now." Hadley was impatiently bumping his hind foot against the stove mantle as if he were scratching the ground.He eagerly asked about the results of the experiment. "See Phil?" he demanded. "Did he find out what was written on it? If it's something..." Rimbaud explained what happened last night. "What news do you have here?" "Yes, important news. Both Pettis and Burnaby are free. They both have irrefutable alibi." A gust of wind whizzed down Brothers Terrace, rattling the rectangular window frames.Hadley was still mopping the hearth rug with his heels.He continued: "I saw three of Burnaby's poker mates last night. One of them was a judge at the Central Criminal Court; and since he's cleared by a judge, you probably have no chance of taking him to court. Saturday night from eight Burnaby was playing poker till about half past eleven. This morning Betis went to the theater where Pettis played Saturday night. Well, he told the truth. Theater There was a bar boy who knew him very well. The second act ended at about ten-five. A few minutes later, during the intermission, the boy was willing to swear that he was pouring out Pettis at the bar. A whiskey and soda. In other words, this is the hour when Grimaud was shot ten miles away." "That's to be expected," Rimbaud said after a moment of silence, "just to be sure... I want you to read this." He handed out the schedule he had completed last night.Hadley glanced briefly. "Oh, yes. I made one myself. The form looks very reasonable; especially the part about the girl and Mangan, although we can't guarantee the timing is absolutely accurate. But I think it can stand Hold on." He tapped the envelope on the palm of his hand. "It's a good way for us to narrow down the scope of this thing. We will work on Dreyman. I called the Grimaud's house this morning. Grimaud's body has been sent back, so everyone They were all a little hysterical, Rosette only said that Dreyman was still half conscious after taking morphine. We—” When the familiar voice of shuffling and landing his cane sounded, Hadley suddenly stopped talking. The voice outside the door seemed to have the same hesitation as the words of the criminal director.Then Dr. Phil pushed open the door.He walked in panting, with no look in his eyes.His whole body seemed to be one with the gloomy morning, and there was a decisive heaviness in his expression. "The result?" Hadley urged, "Did you find the answer you wanted from those pieces of paper?" Dr. Fell groped around, found his black pipe, and lit it.Before answering the question, he waddled over and threw the match into the fire.In the end, he finally laughed softly, but there was displeasure in his smile. "Yes, I have the answer I was looking for - Hadley, I accidentally led you astray twice on Saturday night with inferences. How wrong I must have been out of my wits to commit For such a big mistake, if I hadn’t finally seen the truth yesterday and saved my dignity, the title of idiot would be the punishment I deserved in the end. Of course, my stupidity is not the only factor that made the big mistake: coincidence, and then Coupled with the cooperation of the environment and situation, it caused greater misjudgment. The combination of these factors turned an ordinary, ugly and sinister murder case into a terrifying and inexplicable unsolved case. Oh, I admit it , The murderer is indeed quite shrewd. But... yes, I have found the answer I want." "Oh? What's written on the paper? What's the point?" "Nothing," Dr. Phil said. His words were slow, hushed, and creepy. "You mean," Hadley asked aloud, "that the experiment failed?" "No, the experiment worked. I mean, there's nothing on it," Dr. Phil said in a low voice, "not even a line drawn by a hand, or a few words, or the astonishing secret of Saturday night." There's nothing about it. That's what I said just now. Except... well, yes, there are a few pieces of cardboard like cardboard with a word or two printed on it." "In that case, why burn these papers?" "Because they're not letters. That's the problem, that's where we made a mistake. Don't you understand what they are... well, Hadley, we'd better leave this thing at that, and put all the Mistakes behind you. Do you want to meet this invisible murderer, this ghost and ethereal being who runs through our dreams? Great, easy to introduce you. Did you drive here? Then Just go. I'll see if I can get him to confess." "Who will confess?" "Someone at Grimaud's house. Come on." Seeing that the answer was approaching, Rimbaud couldn't help feeling worried.What is the truth, his mind is in chaos, and he has no idea of ​​his own.Before the car could set off, Hadley had to start the unfrozen engine.They encountered several traffic jams along the way, but Hadley made no complaints.The quietest of the three is Dr. Phil. At this time, all the shutters of this haunted house in Russell Square have been pulled down.Now that the body had been moved into the house, the mansion looked even more lifeless than yesterday.The atmosphere around the whole environment was so silent that when Dr. Phil pressed the doorbell, even they standing outside the house could hear the doorbell ringing.It was a long time before Anne answered the door.She wasn't wearing a cap or skirt, and she looked pale and tense, but calm. "We'd like to see Mrs. Dumo," said Dr. Fell. Though Hadley remained calm, he couldn't help turning his head and looking around.Annie took a few steps back, her voice seemed to come out of nowhere from the darkness of the corridor. "She's inside and...she's inside," the girl replied, pointing to the door of the living room, "I'll report..." She hesitated to speak. Dr. Phil shook his head.He moved with astonishing calmness and quietly opened the living room door. The dark brown shutters were all drawn down, and heavy lace curtains were drawn back, so that only a very small amount of light could penetrate into the room.The room seemed larger because, in the shadows, all the original furniture had been evacuated; in fact one piece remained, its black gold trim shining and covered with a piece of white satin.It was an open coffin.And slender candles burned around the coffin.After the case had passed, Rimbaud recalled the scene at that time. On that lifeless face, only the tip of the nose could be seen from where he stood.But the sticks of standing candles, or the fading bushy flowers, and the scent of incense filling the air, make this scene an eerie transition from dark London to a Hungarian mountain range full of cliffs and stormy waves Somewhere in the city: where golden crosses loom to ward off demonic incursions, and garlic wreaths are laid out to ward off stalking vampires. However, the first thing that caught their attention was Ernestine Dumo, who was clutching the side of the coffin with both hands.She stood beside the coffin, and the long, slender candlelight shone on her head, turning her gray hair into blond hair; under the influence of the candlelight, the firm lines of her strong shoulders became much softer.She turned her face slowly, and they saw that her eyes were sunken and blurry and indistinct—although she hadn't been crying yet.Her chest heaved rapidly, and around her shoulders was wrapped a heavy yellow scarf, brightly colored and fringed, embroidered with red brocade and beads.Under the candlelight, the embroidery is constantly changing light.And this dazzling light is the only gaudy polish left in front of the eyes. At this moment, she also saw them.Suddenly, she clutched the sides of the coffin with both hands, as if to protect the corpse.Still only in black silhouette, she stretched her hand to the other side of the coffin beneath the dangling candle. "For your own good, ma'am, just confess," Dr. Phil said slowly, "trust me, it's for your own good." At this moment, Du Mo's breath was as light as candlelight, no wonder Rimbaud thought she had stopped breathing.Then she seemed to cough lightly, with grief in her voice, and then turned into hysterical laughter. "Confession?" she said. "Is that what you fools think? Come on, I don't care. Confession! Shall I admit to being a murderer?" "No," said Dr. Phil. The doctor said this monosyllabic word in a soft and gentle voice, but his tone was heavy and wandered around the room.She immediately glared at him, staring at him for the first time in horror as he moved closer to her. "No," said Dr. Phil, "you are not a murderer. Let me tell you what part you are playing." At this moment, his tall body stood tall in front of her, and he formed a black figure against the candlelight. Even so, his tone of voice was still gentle and kind. "Yesterday, a man named Ou Luoqi revealed to us the inside story of several kinds of tricks. These kinds of tricks all pointed out the fact that, no matter indoors or outdoors, most magic tricks require the assistance of assistants, and There are no exceptions. Your role is the internal response of the magician and the murderer." "Fantasy?" Ernestine Dumer said, and then burst into hysterical laughter. "The Illusory Man," said Dr. Phil, and turned peacefully to Hadley, "is a real person. The title of the Illusory Man is actually a bad and ironic joke, because it is both illusory and real. , even though we don’t know the identity of this person. The meaning of this title is trembling mixed with shame. Do you want to meet the murderer who was hunted in this case? The murderer is lying here,” Dr. Phil said, “But now, God has Do not allow us to judge him." In slow movements, he pointed his finger at the pale, lifeless, shut-mouthed face of Professor Charles Grimaud.