Chapter 8 CHAPTER 8 SHELLINGHAM SURPRISED

The two of them didn't speak for a long time.Then Alec said, "My God! Are you 100% sure?" "It's absolutely true. It is indeed the bullet hole. The bullet is not in it, but it must have been embedded in the wood first, and then someone dug it out with a knife. You can still see the knife mark around the bullet hole. Come and have a look." Alec stood on the chair and felt the hole in the wood with his index finger. "It's probably old marks, isn't it?" said he, examining it curiously. "There are a lot of scratches around this panel." "Well, I thought so too. If it was a pothole left before, the edges would be somewhat smoothed. The edge of this hole is jagged and has many splinters. Also, the place where the knife carved is quite different from other places , it doesn't look that dark in color. No, the hole is clearly new. That's right."

Alec got out of the chair. "What do you think of this?" He asked suddenly. "I'm not sure," Roger said slowly, "that would mean our thinking was totally upended, wouldn't it? However, I'm going to tell you about one particularly important situation. Starting from this bullet hole, through From the middle of the vase print to the chair in front of the desk, there is a straight line. To me, this is very important. Let me tell you, we will go out on the lawn and talk about it in detail. Anyway, we You can't stay here for too long." Gently he replaced the chairs on the hearth rug, and went out into the garden.Alec followed step by step, and the two walked towards the cedar tree again.

"Tell me," said Alec as soon as the two sat down, "it must be interesting." Roger had other thoughts, his brows were furrowed, obviously immersed in his own thoughts with gusto.No matter what he was thinking about at the moment, his appearance of devoting himself to it gave him the air of a great detective who was profound and profound.It wasn't put on purpose, but it looked pretty presentable. "Well, first of all, let's talk about the fact that the shot that hit the vase was shot in a straight line with the chair that Mr. Steinworthy sat on before he died." He was quite insightful when he opened his mouth , "Assuming -- and I think we are all entitled to guess -- assuming the shooting was between 12:00 midnight and 2:00 a.m., my first feeling is that Mr. Stanworth fired the shot himself. Very sexual."

"Then I remembered," said Alec earnestly, "that the Inspector specifically mentioned that Mr. Steinworthy's revolver had only been fired once, and in that case, such an inference seemed absurd. In other words, rethinking think." "Yes, it's annoying," said Roger thoughtfully. "I forgot about it." "I think so too," Alec said bluntly. Roger thought about it carefully. "This question is very confusing and difficult to explain," he finally said without pretending to be profound. "I think Mr. Steinworthy fired the second shot, so that it can be explained. If it is not him, then there must be someone else." man, and this man was standing in the straight line between Mr. Steinworthy and the vase, and even the revolver he used was the same or nearly the same caliber as Mr. Steinworthy's. Sounds a bit unlikely, right?"

"But it's more reliable than Mr. Stanworth's pistol, because his gun has never been fired a second time." Alec said without exaggeration. "Well, how can the Inspector be sure that his gun has only been fired once?" said Roger, "because only one empty case was seen. But notice that at the same time he also mentioned that the clip was not fully loaded. Bullets. Now, is it possible that Mr. Steinworthy fired the shot, and then, for reasons the devil knows, took out the empty shells?" "I think it's a possibility. Yes, that's right. But if it's true, we can always find empty shell casings in the house. Why don't we see them?"

"Well, there probably is. We haven't looked for it yet. Anyway, we can't deny the fact that the second shot was probably fired by Mr. Stanworth himself. Why, then, did he shoot?" "I don't know!" Alec said impatiently. "I don't think he shot the vase purely for fun, nor did he really intend to shoot himself. Both of these possibilities can be ruled out. If he shot himself, then his marksmanship is too bad. It hit something in the opposite direction." "Yes, I also think these possibilities can be ruled out." Alec said cautiously. "Well, all right. Stanworth fired at something. What could it be? Someone, obviously. So, after all, Stanworth wasn't alone in the study last night! We started Progress is being made, isn't it?"

"It's going too fast!" Alec murmured. "You didn't even know if the second shot was fired last night, and—" "Well, yes, I'm sure, my friend, the vase was broken last night." "Okay. Anyway, you haven't figured out if Stanworth fired the shot. And now you're saying he shot someone. That's too much of a leap for me." "Alec, you're Scots, aren't you?" "Yes, that's right, but so what?" "Oh, nothing, but your innate caution seems a bit too much. Find a way to overcome it. I'll take the risk, you just follow. Where did we talk? Oh, yes, Stanworth yesterday Night is not alone in a study. So, what does that mean?"

"God knows what you're thinking," Alec muttered in despair. "I know what you're thinking," countered Roger smugly. "You must be surprised. But it seems to me that old Stanworth didn't commit suicide at all last night." "What?" Alec gasped, "What do you mean by that?" "He was murdered!" Alec put down his pipe and gazed at his companion in disbelief. "My dear old chap," he continued after a pause, "why are you suddenly so nervous?" "On the contrary," said Roger calmly, "I've never been so lucid in my life."

"But—but how could he have been murdered? All the doors and windows were locked from the inside, and the keys were still in the locks! My God! There was a suicide note on the desk in front of him! Roger, I You're crazy, old man." "One more thing you forgot, the way he holds the gun, what did the doctor say? Oh, yes, the position is adjusted correctly, and it was held in life. Yes, it is difficult, Alec, You are right." Alec shrugged meaningfully. "It's got you hooked," he said irritably. "What a fuss, I say! My God! You're a terrified man."

"Well said, Alec," Roger said approvingly, "maybe I was a little bit. Still, my feeling is that Steinworthy was murdered. I could be wrong, of course," he admitted, " But I rarely make mistakes." "Damn it, it's impossible! You're going the wrong way again this time. Even if there was another person in the study last night—I suspect there wasn't one!—you can't deny that Stanworth probably waited for that Lock yourself up after the person is gone. If so, it goes back to suicide. You see, it is impossible to have both situations at the same time. According to me, this mysterious person may have caused some kind of pressure on Steinworthy , but the premise is that such a mysterious person really appeared, and then he was forced to commit suicide. As for the murder! Oh, it sounds so ridiculous, so stupid!" Alec was very emotional, and felt that this was an insult to his logic ability.

Roger was calm. "Yeah," he said after some consideration, "I knew you might be shocked. But to tell you the truth, I was a little skeptical of this suicide almost from the start. You know, I've always been concerned about the wound Moreover, the doors and windows and the suicide note did not dispel my doubts, on the contrary, they intensified my suspicions. I feel more and more that this case is a bit of a cover-up. Or in other words, the whole scene is like the first scene. After the play is over, after all the remnants of the props have been cleaned up, the stage is carefully set for the second scene. I may be stupid to think so, but I feel that way." Alec snorted contemptuously and said, "Stupid? More than that." "Don't ask too much of me, Alec," pleaded Roger. "I think I'm pretty good already." "You always think about it," Alec muttered, "just because a few people are acting a little weird, and a few others don't look sad enough, and you rush to make it a murder." .Are you going to tell the Inspector your brilliant idea?" "No, I don't think so." Roger said firmly, "Since you call it a murder case fabricated by me, I'll go and find out the truth myself. I'll consider whether to tell the police when I'm really out of luck." .” "Well, thank goodness you won't make a fool of yourself to that extent." Alec breathed a sigh of relief. "Wait, Alec," Roger warned, "you can laugh at me all you want now, if you want—" "Thank you!" Alec said gratefully. "—but, if I'm lucky, you'll just sit there and listen." "Then you may have to explain how this splendid murderer you speak of escaped from the house, which was locked from the inside," said Alec sarcastically. "Did he happen to A little skilled magician? If so, you can say he got out of the keyhole." Roger shook his head in frustration, "My dear Alec, you are too simple-minded. As for how the murderer committed the crime last night, and why we found the doors and windows firmly locked from the inside in the morning, I can tell you Make a perfectly reasonable explanation." "Well, you can do it, can't you?" Alec's tone was full of sarcasm, "Okay, let's talk about it." "Of course. When we broke open the door and went in, the murderer was still in the house, hiding in a place no one expected." Alec was startled. "My God!" he exclaimed, "of course we didn't search the house. So you think he's really been there all the time?" "On the contrary," Roger smiled slightly. "I know he's not in the house for the simple reason that there's no hiding place there. But since you insist on an explanation, I'll use an analogy." Alec snorted again in contempt.But this time he was less confident.Roger was so eloquent that even an impossible explanation took him by surprise.He changed gears. "Then, what was the motive?" he asked. "You know there can be no motive for murder. What motive did the murderer have for murdering poor old Stanworth?" "Robbery!" Roger blurted out, "the one thing that makes me think it's murder is that the safe was opened and you're not human. I told you about the key, remember? If Stanworth I am not at all surprised that there is a large sum of money and other valuables hidden in the safe. The murderer wanted these things. When the safe is opened in the afternoon, the matter will be revealed." Alec muttered under his breath.Obviously, although he didn't quite believe it yet, he was already a little moved.Roger is so eloquent and confident in the direction of his reasoning that even a person with deep doubts like Alec will dispel his initial doubts and begin to doubt the obvious facts. "Hello!" said Roger suddenly. "Is the lunch bell ringing? We'd better go in and wash up. Of course, don't tell anyone about it." The two stood up and walked slowly towards the mansion.Suddenly Alec stopped and punched his companion in the shoulder. "Fools!" he cried, "we are all fools! We forgot about the suicide note. Anyway, the suicide note cannot be ignored." "Oh, yes," said Roger thoughtfully, "and the suicide note, isn't it? But I haven't forgotten it, anyway, Alec."