Chapter 19 Chapter Nineteen

The light in this room of the police station comes from a light bulb mounted in a porcelain reflector on the ceiling.It was a strong and harsh light to weary eyes; but it did not provide sufficient light for the various furnishings of the room. With an anxious and exhausted look on Mason's face, he leaned back in his chair, put his feet on the edge of the table, and looked at his watch. "Really," he said. "I can bear it, but Della, you should get some sleep." "It looks like there's nothing we can do," she said. "We're going to give them another five minutes, and then we're going to take action," Mason said. "I……"

At this moment, the door opened.The officer who arrested Mason was standing by the door when Captain Trager entered the room.Afterwards, he also walked in behind Cui Ge, and closed the door smoothly. "Now," the officer said. "You tell the team leader what happened. You..." "Medford, let me ask him." Captain Trager interrupted.Then he turned to Mason and asked, "What the hell is going on?" Mason nodded to the police officer and said, "Captain, your suspicious friend let the murder suspect escape." "Tell me, what's going on?" Trager asked.

Mason told the whole story of their going to the yacht, the visit of the mysterious boat, and the explosion. "Why did you go on the yacht?" Trager asked. "I went there to study the effects of the tides," Mason said frankly. "How do you study?" "I was laying on the floor to see how long after high tide the pitch of the yacht would cause me to roll into the lower part of the cabin." "And what did you find out?" Trager asked.From the sound of his voice, he was interested in the answer to this question. "Four hours and one minute after high tide, my body would roll to starboard when the yacht was fully heeled to one side."

"How long after high tide do you say?" Trager asked skeptically. "Four hours and one minute." Mason repeated the time again, then yawned listlessly. "Well, dear Captain Trager, Della and I are going home now. Unless someone shows us a warrant to detain us, we're going back. Make up your mind." Trager said, "That's it, Medford, you can go now." The police officer hesitated for a moment, and then said: "Commander, from their sneaky behavior at that time, you can see that they are seriously suspected. I wish you could see their faces when I arrested them." look on the face."

"I hope so...but that's all for now, Medford," Trager said. The officer reluctantly left the room. Trager turned to face Mason and said thoughtfully, "The murder should have happened at nine forty." "The exact time has to be corrected to infer." Mason added. "But remember, the time the prosecution determined was somewhere between five-thirty and six o'clock." "That's not the case anymore," Trager admitted immediately. "After you put forward your arguments about the changing tides, and the physician's testimony about the bleeding from the head, the prosecution's argument was overturned."

"I'm afraid Hamilton Berger will not agree with you." "I don't want my opinion to be quoted, but I can tell you one thing." "What's up?" "Judge Newark agrees with you, and he's going to be in court tomorrow to give a demonstration of a little arithmetic drill. Besides, I don't think I'd be giving away a secret by telling you this—your friend, Hamilton Berger, is currently is quite confused, and you should have heard his conversation with Douglas Powell." "Oh, did you find him?" Mason asked. "Yes, we have found him."

"How did he say?" "It's a lie that he came here on the Skylark on Friday night; in fact, he came on Friday afternoon by air. Mrs. Milfield called and told him she wanted to go away with him; But when she got to the airport, she thought it wasn't going to work, and she changed her mind and went home. So Douglas went to the airport, tried to get a seat on a flight that was canceled by a passenger, and flew to Los Angeles to talk to her face to face. After a while, Delphine Milfie became very nervous; finally she said: Her husband is on a yacht in Burbank, and she wants to have a good talk with her husband, not just walk away. She proposes Tell Powell to go to the yacht club, rent a rowboat, and come back to pick her up. There's a small marina where they meet."

"Why didn't she go charter with him?" Mason asked. "She told Powell that the guy at the yacht club knew her and that she didn't want anyone to see her with Powell." "Go ahead and let's hear how things go." "Powell sailed the rowboat to where Delphine said, while she waited near the small pier. Powell was not good at sailing a dinghy, and Delphine was an expert, so she steered the boat to At the mooring of the yacht, leaving Powell on the boat, she boarded the yacht by herself, lit a candle, and stayed on the yacht for about twenty minutes. At that time, the yacht was quite tilted, and Powell did not hear No voice, no tugging, wrestling, or struggling heard. Delphine returned to the boat and told him the matter would be settled. Added that her husband was going to make a rational disposition of property; once the papers were ready , she is free to leave. She also asks Powell to return to the hotel and wait."

"Did Powell ask her any questions?" "Don't be silly, that guy was in love and had no doubts about everything Delphine said. The next morning, around eleven o'clock, Delphine called and told Powell that her husband was dead, And let him claim to have come here that morning on the Lark; and under no circumstances try to see her, or speak of their going to the yacht." "So, what is Delphine's current confession?" Mason asked. "Dephne was frank and said that Powell was telling the truth. She did go to meet her husband on the yacht; however, when she got there, she found him lying on the floor, dead gone."

"Where is it?" Mason asked. "That's the point," Trager said. "She said that Fred's body was lying on the port side of the yacht, with his head an inch or two from the threshold. At that time, the yacht began to tilt, but it was not completely tilted to the side; The boat was moving about. She said that there was a burnt candle left on the table, and there was only a small piece of wax left, and the wax was still warm and soft; she lit another one. candle, and stuck it on top of the wax, so that the candle stood upright because the root sank into the wax. She confessed that, apart from providing a long-term meal ticket, her husband was not in her mind. No important position. He was interested in the oil lands, so she thought it would be unwise to leave Fred before he was a millionaire; so she wanted her husband to arrange the distribution of the property. .She thought she was going to be a rich widow and decided to do it."

"Why did Delphine say she changed her mind about going to San Francisco?" "One of her husband's friends rushed to the airport and told her that if she walked away, it would never work; she thought that person had a point. If Powell hadn't flown to find her , she'd probably avoided the whole thing long ago." "How does Berg feel about all this?" Mason asked. "Berger was annoyed and in a bad mood," Trager said. "If he knew that I told you all these things, he would be very displeased. I will tell you for one reason." "Why?" Mason asked. "I just hope you can tell me what you have discovered about this case. Then, go back to sleep." Mason smiled and said, "Anyway, I'm going to sleep late. I don't even want to go to court. I want to send Jackson. I know very well that Berg will clamor for an adjournment." Trager was smoking a cigar in his mouth. "Mason, you are such a difficult person." "It's not in my nature. I learned it after a long time with the police. Trager, I don't see why I should tell you anything. You're always trying to get back at me, and this time, you're trying Pull to fight me back." "Because you and Della have been leading," Trager replied. "You and I are in a state of confrontation, Mason, your handling of cases is indeed shrewd and sharp, but you don't follow the rules. As long as you play your own way and don't play cards according to the rules, I will seize every opportunity to compete with you But, for the time being, I'm going to take a truce with you; tell me what you've found, and we'll leave Della Streeter and the bloodstained shoes alone." Mason carefully considered his proposal, and then said, "Trigger, I can only reveal one thing to you, and that is the key clue to the whole murder case." "What is that key clue?" "If a person is climbing a banked stairway, he's going to have bloody shoe prints on the lower side of the steps—not in the center." Trager's brow furrowed. "what are you saying?" "I'm telling you the key clue, which is the most important fact in the entire murder case." Trager continued to smoke his cigar. "Mason, wait a minute. Aren't you sacrificing Carlo Burbank as the price for getting Roger Burbank cleared?" "I'm just providing key clues to your case," Mason said. "You can take a four-legged ladder, tilt it at an angle, and do an experiment, and you'll see. Only when the yacht is at rest will a man put his foot in the middle of the rung; if If the yacht tilts, he'll be on the lower side. You might as well try it with a four-legged ladder, we've done that." Trager smoked his cigar in silence, then said suddenly, "Mason, I think you've talked too much. Now, I'm going to cancel the ceasefire agreement between us." Mason yawned and squashed the cigarette butt in his hand. "Trigger, I don't want to cooperate closely with you because you have troubled Della once; I don't think so much about that." "I don't care how you feel, I'm going to use her against you, man, we're going to make her pay for her stupidity, she'll suffer... and, you old fox, don't think you're the same as blowing up Yachting, concealment of evidence has nothing to do with it." "What evidence?" Mason asked. "That's the exact time the yacht tipped enough for a body to roll into the lower part of the cabin." "I've told you what I've found," said Mason. "Yes, you did—but you are acting as an agent for the owner of the bloodstained shoe, and what you say is simply unreliable." "Don't you believe me?" "I don't know, but the jury won't believe it." Mason smiled and said, "Leader, I think they'll believe it. Della, let's go." The police officer named Medford watched Mason and Della walk out of the room with a surprised expression on his face; when Mason led Della up the corridor, he also watched silently with a hostile expression from behind. watching them. "Morning, Officer," Mason said. "I think that the person that Team Leader Cui Ge most wants to talk to at present should be you."