Chapter 4 Impossible Crimes Unit Three Widows

Murder has an unpleasant taste to the common taste.Ellery was a connoisseur of such problems, and he found some of the cases he worked on to be memorable.Among these dangerous delicacies, he places high on the case of the three widows. Two of the widows were sisters.Penelope sees money as dung, and Laila believes in money first, so both of them need a lot of money from time to time.They buried their useless husbands at a young age and returned to their father's mansion in Murray Hill.Many suspected that they were relieved that the state had provided generously to old Theodore Hood, who had always been doting on his daughters.But shortly after Penelope and Lyla returned to the boudoir, Theodore took a second wife, a tough, Catholic woman.Feeling threatened, the sisters fight, and their stepmother fights it out.Old Theodore, who was at the center of the firefight, longed for nothing but peace.In the end he died peacefully as he wished, leaving behind a room full of widows, each with a different ex-husband.

One night, plump Penelope and slender Lila are called into the Hood's living room by a servant.Waiting there was Mr. Straker, the family lawyer, they found. An ordinary greeting, uttered by Mr. Straker, is like the final judgment spit out from the mouth of a judge.And tonight, when he said, "Ladies, please take your seats," the tone was extremely ominous, foretelling that the perpetrator would be hanged.The two women looked at each other and declined the request. After a while, the door opened with a screeching sound, against the Victorian wall.Sarah Hood entered weakly, supported by Benedict, the family doctor.

Mrs. Hood, shaking her head slightly, looked at her stepdaughters with a certain contempt.She said afterwards: "Dr. Benedict and Mr. Straker will say what they have to say first, and then it will be my turn." "Last week," began Dr. Benedict, "your stepmother came to my office for her semi-annual check-up. Considering her age, I would consider her to be in very good health. However The very next day she fell ill - the first time in eight years. I thought she had an enterovirus, but Mrs. Hood clearly disagreed. I thought it was a fantasy, but she insisted I did certain tests. I did the tests and she was right. She was poisoned."

Penelope's round cheeks began to flush, and Lyra's thin cheeks paled. "I'm sure you understand my warning." Dr. Benedict said to the two sisters in the same tone, "From now on I will check your stepmother's body every day." "Mr. Straker," said old Mrs. Hood, smiling. "By your father's will," said Mr. Straker abruptly--to both at the same time--"you will both receive a small interest in the estate, and as long as your stepmother lives, most The inheritance goes to her. But in the event of Mrs. Hood's death, you can split the inheritance of about two million dollars equally. In other words, only you two can benefit from the death of your stepmother. I have made a statement to Mrs. Hood and Dr. Benedict said it all - if you hadn't been lucky enough to fail in this attempt, I would have spent the rest of my life making sure you were brought to justice. In fact, my advice at the time was to call the police immediately."

"Go to the police now!" Penelope yelled. Laila said nothing. "I could call the police now, Petunia," said Mrs. Hood with her constant weak smile, "but you're both too smart to be convicted of anything. My strongest protest would probably be to get you out of this institution." house; unfortunately, your father's will prevents me from doing so. Oh, I understand why you are eager to get rid of me. You are rich and will not be satisfied by my simple lifestyle. You all want to remarry, I Your money can buy you a husband." The old lady leaned forward slightly, "but I have some bad news for you. My mother died at ninety-nine, and my father at one hundred and three. Benny Dr. Dickert said I could live another thirty years, and that's exactly what I plan to do." She struggled to stand up, still smiling, "Actually, I'm taking steps to ensure this." After finishing speaking, she said out.

Exactly a week later, Ellery sat beside Mrs. Hood's mahogany bed under the anxious eyes of Dr. Benedict and Lawyer Straker. She was poisoned again.Fortunately, Dr. Benedict discovered it in time. Ellery moved closer to the old lady's face, which looked pale. "Mrs. Hood, your protection—" "As I have said," she whispered, "it is impossible." "And yet it happened," said Ellery briskly. "Let's reorganize. You put iron bars on your bedroom windows, you put new locks on your doors, and you carried your only key with you at all times." Be around. You buy ingredients for yourself. You are here to cook and eat alone. Then it is clear that there is no possibility of poison getting into the food before, during or after you eat. Besides, you tell me you bought new utensils , they are all placed in this room, and only you handle them. So it is impossible for the poison to get into your food, tableware or cooking utensils. So how did the poison get in?"

"That's the problem," cried Dr. Benedict. "That question, Mr. Quinn," muttered Mr. Straker, "I personally think—and Dr. Benedict agrees—that it's your job, not the police's." "My work has always been simple," Ellery answered. "It's all about seeing the point. Mrs. Hood, I've got a lot of questions to ask you. Will you, Doctor?" Dr. Benedict took the old lady's pulse and nodded.Ellery started asking questions.She answered in a whisper, but with a certain tone.In order to stay out of the house, she bought a new toothbrush and toothpaste.All her teeth are real.She hated potions, took no pills or sedatives.She doesn't drink anything but water.She doesn't smoke, don't eat sugar, don't chew gum, don't use cosmetics...the problems just keep going.Ellery asked all the questions he could think of, then forced himself to hold back a few more.

At last he thanked Mrs. Hood, patted her hand, and went outside with Dr. Benedict and Mr. Straker. "What's your diagnosis, Mr. Quinn?" asked Dr. Benedict. "Sentence, please," said Mr. Straker impatiently. "Gentlemen," said Ellery, "I have examined the plumbing and appliances in her bedroom, and have found no signs of tampering to exclude the last possibility." "But the poison comes in through the mouth," Dr. Benedict interrupted. "I found it, and I've always been very careful about the medical evidence." "If that's true, Doctor," said Ellery, "there's only one possibility."

"What's possible?" "Mrs. Hood poisoned herself. If I were you, I'd see a psychiatrist. Goodbye!" Ten days later Ellery returned to Sarah Hood's bedroom.The old lady is dead.The third poisoning finally finished her off. Notified, Ellery immediately told his father, Inspector Quinn: "Suicide." But that wasn't suicide.The most scrupulous investigation by police experts, using all the resources of criminal science, could not find a trace of poison in Mrs. Hood's bedroom.Ellery snorted contemptuously, throwing himself into the examination.His smile disappeared.He still didn't find any evidence that could overturn the old lady's previous autopsy results or the police inspection report.He interrogated the servants harshly; he scoured the crying Penelope and the yelling Lyra with merciless efficiency.Eventually, he left.

Even when Ellery's body protested, his mind refused to let go of such conundrums.For forty-six hours, he was exhausted in thinking, forgetting to sleep and eat, and kept pacing back and forth in Quinn's house.At the forty-seventh hour, Inspector Quinn took him by the arm and dragged him to bed. "I knew it," said the Inspector, "over one hundred and one degrees. What's wrong with you, boy?" "Head to toe," Ellery muttered.Then he obediently took an aspirin, applied an ice pack, and ate a steak medium-rare fried in butter. In the middle of eating, he suddenly yelled like a madman, reaching for the phone.

"Mr. Straker? I'm Ellery Queen! We'll meet at Hood's immediately! . . . Yes, call Dr. Benedict! . . . Yes, now I know how Mrs. Hood was poisoned." It's over!" They met in the closet of the Hood's living room, and Ellery glanced at the buxom Penelope and the thin Lila, and said in a husky voice, "Which of you is going to marry Dr. Benedict?" He added: "Yeah, yes, that's the only possibility. Only Penelope and Lila can benefit from the death of their stepmother, but only Dr. Benedict has the ability to murder. . . how, you ask?" Yes, doctor?" Ellery said modestly. "That was very simple. Mrs. Hood experienced her first poisoning after her semiannual check-up—that's what you did, doctor. After that you Announce that you will examine Mrs. Hood every day. And every doctor examines a patient must begin with a basic step. Dr. Benedict, I think," Ellery said with a smile, "you put the poison on the to the thermometer in Mrs. Hood's mouth!"