Chapter 6 murder department driver's seat

The Brothers had four brothers before Dave died, and three after his death.It's a bad thing for them all.While Dave was still in the driver's seat, they had no doubts about where they were going.When he withdrew his guiding arms, Archibald Brothers, Everett Brothers, and Charlton Brothers could only move forward by smell.Sooner or later they're going to end up in a ditch, and Dave's widow wants to make sure that happens as soon as possible... That's how the story goes. That afternoon was the semi-annual board meeting of Brothers Four Brothers Coal Mining Company.The widow inherited a quarter of her husband's share in the closed company.This was the fourth time she had sat in Dave's big chair, and she had nearly filled it up.She was a tall young woman with very long legs.A head of brilliant blond hair curled into countless small curls, like the molecular structure of albumin, and a plump figure as delicate and seductive as a French pastry, decorated from head to toe.

The three brothers didn't mind her presence; she brought some embellishment to an inevitable but always dull meeting.Or at least, Archibald and Everett didn't mind.It's hard to tell what Charlton was thinking. On the surface, he looked as dry and indigestible as the peppers hanging on the wall.Archibald was ruddy, thin, and growling like a beardless Santa.If he had a gift pocket on his back, it would be full of memories of the blonde and long-legged beauty.For his own amusement, he used these memories to flirt with Daisy Brothers across the table as if she were his wife's valet, and his wife was far away in Newport.Everett teased the widow with smiling silence.Everett Brothers has cold gray skin and unfriendly eyes, and never smiles.

But the widow paid no attention to Archibald or Everett; she didn't even bother to listen to the fiery nasal voice of Charlton, who presided over the meeting. At last Charlton snapped: "If there is no new business, I shall consider—" Dave's oil portrait can be seen above Charlton's thinning hair.Daisy Brothers looked away from there before she said, "But there's business." Archibald stopped messing around, Everett smiled with interest, and the room could almost hear Charlton raising his sandpaper-thick eyebrows.They exchanged glances as if it were the smooth table that was speaking.Then they looked at her.

"There are one hundred shares in the Brothers Brothers Coal Company of Brothers, divided into four equal shares," said Dave's widow. Five shares. Today the company's assets are a hundred times the original assets." "Know, know!" roared Archibald. "Yes, Daisy," murmured Charlton, preparing to get to his feet. Everett, still smiling, put his hand on his brother's thin arm. "Since Dave's death," continued the young widow, "you three lads have been out of order. My charming brother Archibald, for example, has been cheated out of a lot of beauties. Everett though Looks like a shrewd guy, but gave his head to the dealers and the bookies. As for Charlton, I'm afraid there's not a single place in your body that doesn't hurt; you don't have Dave to tell you what to do. The market is losing shirts. Meanwhile your wives are spending as much as if our company were digging diamonds instead of coal.

"You guys have been down this big hole for days. And you're trying to get out, by selling your shares in Brothers Brothers Coal Company." The three brothers discussed. Daisy Brothers opened her handbag and checked a piece of paper inside. "Love Archibald: You sold nine out of twenty-five shares. Wise Everett: You sold seven out of twenty-five shares. Little Napoleon—I mean Chuck Leon—you sold ten shares." There was a silence, then Archibald laughed: "I never knew you had such a brain." Everett said nothing, but his smile was thoughtful. "So I'm not the only one," said Charlton gruffly, glaring at his brothers. "Daisy, what are you trying to say?"

"In the original agreement you signed with Dave," said the widow briskly, "there was a clause that prevented these things from happening. It said that if a partner in the firm The stock was bought at the original price." The brothers jumped up in shock. Charlton grinned and showed his fangs: "So what now? No one has a controlling stake in this company!" "You're wrong, brother," said his sister-in-law, "that stock you sold was bought by a short firm . . . under my control. Your ten shares, Charlton; ;nine of yours, Archibald. I bought a total of twenty-six from the three of you, and I also own twenty-five of Dave's, making fifty-one in total. Legal absolute holding right.

"And," the woman said very gently, "I will exercise my rights according to the agreement." She rummaged in her bag, "I have three checks here." She said, "One for sixteen thousand dollars The rest of your shares, Archibald; one for eighteen thousand for your eighteen shares, Everett; and one for fifteen thousand for your remaining fifteen, check Leon. That's got all the stock back." Archibald was finally able to speak, and his voice exploded. "Sixteen thousand! My sixteen shares are more than one and a half million! Do you think you can buy my dollar for a penny?"

"I'll leave that question to your lawyer." Charlton Brothers was purple to the tips of his ears. "Everett," he stammered, "do you remember something like this in the original agreement? Is this... what she said true?" Everett nodded, his eyes still on the widow. Charlton growled.His pale lips twisted, making him look like a burst vegetable. "You low-level... don't think that's all!" "Shut up, Charlton." Archibald walked around the table and put his hand around Daisy's shoulders. "Honey, why don't we go somewhere alone... and talk about this?"

She stood up suddenly, and the handsome brother almost lost his balance. "I'm going to give you three a week to get the lawyers to convince you that you're crazy to try to break that agreement in court. They're going to say you have no chance, but I still think it would be better if a prophet comes out," she said. Put the three checks back into the bag, turn around and prepare to leave. But then Everett stood up too, and for the first time he spoke. "Just one question, Daisy." "Just ask." "Why do you want to do this?" Daisy Brothers leaned against the table, the smooth surface of which reflected her hatred and pleasure. "Dave saved me from the strip table at 'Pom Pom'. Dave is a good businessman indeed. Buying my power of attorney cost him two bucks, plus five Bills. He always said it was the best business he ever had. He was right. He gave me respect and I gave him the happiest ten years of my life.

"I'm just as happy--if it weren't for you three and your noble ladies. The way you and your wives treat me, an outsider might think Dave married a whale carcass. I'm not noble, I can't tell forks from a table; I got my diploma at the Roseland Ballroom and my grad internship was undressing in front of a bunch of drunks. It's not that I don't care. I've tried, very hard. I've tried not to Shame on you. I even went to class just to learn not to pull a man's pants chain after entering a room. But I'm poison... If it was just you bastards I wouldn't care so much, but your high born beauties It's too deceitful, I can't bear it. I won't bear it for Dave's sake. I'm his wife, and I deserve to be treated like a lady, if not a lady. I've decided that when I get the chance to get revenge ..."

Dave's widow straightened up, panting as if she had just finished a run.But when she spoke again, her voice became as smooth as the current in a high-voltage wire. "A week from today, you three, come to my house between two and three in the afternoon. Bring your stocks." Ellery saw his father standing outside the Dave Brothers mansion in East River.It had been raining since morning, and Ellery waded through the many puddles on the road to reach the inspector on the porch. "Do you really have to come?" Ellery grumbled, shaking off the rain from his hat, "Even if we had to, why didn't the taxi driver let me get off the car when there was a roof? "There was an area of ​​the road that was roped off to show it was protected. "Because of the tire tracks," Inspector Quinn said. "I thought you'd want to sit in on the case, Ellery. It's murder, it was done badly, and . . . I don't know." Ellery pulled himself together and looked at the tire tracks. "Who died, when, why, and how?" "Mrs. Daisy Brothers, ex-nightclub stripper. Stabbed to death by one of three uncles this afternoon between two and three. I heard the whole thing from her lawyer." Then the Inspector told Ellery one by one, the story of last week's board meeting of the Brothers Brothers Coal Company, and Dave's widow's stock operation, "I guess they found that she was right, they wanted to It was a waste of time and money trying to beat her in court—and so she lay there in her library at home with all three checks, a dead lady. Alone in her room—since After her husband died, she dismissed all her servants, and lived like a hermit." "And what about those tire tracks?" "Three cars came one after the other." Inspector Quinn sighed, "The tire marks indicated that these cars were Cadillacs, Rolls-Royces and Chevrolets - judging from the overlap of the tire marks That's the order. The Cadillac was a 1951 City, it belonged to a finance company--I mean Charlton Brothers; the Rolls-Royce Everett picked up cheap in London last year Used; the Chevrolet is what Archibald Brothers used when he visited his girlfriends or didn't want to be targeted by the tabloid columns. I interrogated three gentlemen who admitted that between two and three o'clock Arrive separately, the time interval is fifteen minutes." "What did they say?" Ellery muttered. "The confessions were all the same. Definitely colluding; they were all set to take on me. They probably drew lots and everyone else covered for the brother who was drawn. Everyone said she was dead when they arrived and they were terrified Ran." "That's all they can say," mused Ellery. "How else do you explain that the stock didn't go to her? Let's see the lady." Dave's widow is bloody.Whichever brother had done it with the hunting-knife letter opener on Dave's desk, he must have stabbed her many times with passion and insensitivity. The Inspector commented: "His skill is beyond praise. People will do anything for money!" "What's this?" Ellery picked up a men's raincoat with the eraser end of a pencil.The raincoat was slightly damp, and the bottom of the right sleeve was soaked in rain, and a messy red stained the front.The raincoat is medium size and not new. "We found it rolled up and stuffed under the leather chair," the inspector said. "She was fighting so hard for her life that she spattered his raincoat with blood. He was wearing it to avoid being caught or seen. Just leave it here." "Fatal mistake," Ellery said. "You think so? There's no trace of identification on it, not a speck of lint, not a speck of dust in the pockets. All three brothers have owned such raincoats, all in size medium. And they all said they couldn't put theirs on Bring it, because it was thrown away long ago. So we have no way to find him through the method of elimination." "There's another way," Ellery said. "Yes," shrugged his father, "we do analyzes of sweat, hair, and dust, but they're not always conclusive. I have a hunch, son, that we're not going to get more out of this raincoat than that." More info on the knife. Nothing on the knife." "I disagree." "Did you see something that I didn't?" Inspector Quinn exclaimed. "On this raincoat?" "Yes, Dad. There's a hint of which brother killed Dave's widow. I'm not hiding it," Ellery grinned, "but he's got a secret up his sleeve. Look at his sleeve. It's only a little wet from the rain, but the bottom half of the right sleeve is completely soaked. Why is only this part soaked and the rest of the sleeve - the rest of the whole raincoat - — all just a little wet? "The three brothers arrived at different times, each alone in the car. It rained all day, so the person wearing this raincoat must have been driving in the rain. When driving in the rain, especially considering the Traffic conditions in the area, what to do to get a sleeve wet?" "Extend your arm to signal stop and turn!" But Inspector Quinn was immediately confused again, "But drivers always signal with their left hand, Ellery, but the right sleeve of this raincoat is wet." "Conclusion: The driver signaled with his right hand." "But in doing so—" the inspector stopped, and then he said slowly, "his driver's seat is on the right." "Charlton's Cadillac and Archibald's Chevrolet are American cars, with the driver's seat on the left," Ellery nodded, "but the other car is a Rolls-Royce—a British car; and It’s still a second-hand car bought in London, and the driver must sit on the right. That means the driver of the Rolls-Royce—Everett Brothers—is the murderer... By the way, Dad, what does he look like?"