Chapter 12 Chapter Eleven

Today is a sunny, fairly warm day with a thick white cloud resting quietly in the western sky. A helicopter was flying about 500 feet above the ground, and the pilot said to Mason, "Mr. Mason, I don't see much. We can fly along the edge, but I doubt we can see anything." "Can you fly a little lower?" Mason asked. "Of course I can. I can even be as low as five feet above the water. The problem is that the fog is so thick that I don't want to ram blindly at low altitude." "Just do the best you can," Mason said. "Sometimes the helicopter can clear the fog very quickly," the pilot said. "Because we can stir the fog. As long as we can fly at the junction of the clear area and the dense fog, and if we stir enough, we may break up the fog, but this method may not be effective."

"Try it," Mason said. The helicopter flew toward the cloud at a steady seventy-five knots, and the closer it got, the cloud seemed to grow taller and thicker. "It doesn't seem to work," said the driver. "We could walk around the edge of the fog, but I'm afraid it won't do much. The fog is really thick and it's obviously going to be like that all day." "Can you fly down and see how low you can go?" "You can give it a try, but as soon as the vision is blurred, I will go up." "Sometimes it's brighter near the water," Mason said. "Try it!"

The helicopter flew low to about the height of a building, and was soon shrouded in a thick fog.The churning of the helicopter's rotor blades caused the fog to swirl. For a while, the fog around the helicopter seemed to rise a little, but it fell down again after a while.The driver hurriedly turned around and flew up. "It didn't work," he said. "I'm sorry, but I'm not going to fly in again. I've never seen such a thick fog in all this time. It doesn't stir a trace of air. It's like flying through milk." "Can you fly above the fog?" Mason asked.

"Of course you can, but it's useless. It looks like a thick white carpet when you look down." "Okay," Mason said. "Let's go back! But you must be on standby at any time. Once the fog clears, I will patrol the port." Mason turned to Bancroft. "Bancro, this is the only way I can do it. I can't think of any other way." "Me too," Bancroft said. Mason said, "I want to talk to your wife." Bancroft nodded. "The effects of the sedative haven't worn off," he said. "I decided to take the responsibility off my shoulders. I gave her a lot of sleeping pills, you can imagine her..."

Mason deliberately glanced at the driver, and Bancroft stopped talking. Mason said to the pilot, "I want you to charter this plane all day by the hour. As soon as the fog clears enough to enter the port, I'll go in, you understand?" "Fully understand." "Call me as soon as the fog clears," Mason said. "No problem, but Mr. Mason, the fog is still so thick, I'm afraid it won't clear for a whole day." "Just wait there," Mason said. "Leave as soon as the fog clears. Is there a heliport near here where you can wait?"

"It's only a few minutes from your office." "Hold on," Mason said. "What's the situation at the port, please contact me at any time. If you have the possibility to go in, call me immediately." The driver nodded, and Mason didn't speak again until the landing. On the drive back to the office, Mason said to Bancroft: "Are you sure the yacht is no longer where your wife jumped off?" "yes." "How did you know?" "I drove to see it." "Isn't the fog very thick?" "Not bad, but I turned on the lights and wipers and drove slowly."

"Has your wife described the place?" "It's very clearly described." "Have you noticed it?" "Yes, I walked over to the gas terminal early this morning." "Isn't the yacht there?" "Not here." "are you sure?" "Sure." "You should have called the police as soon as your wife told you what happened," Mason said. "I know, I've told you, why not call the police," Bancroft said. "I can't take that risk." "Didn't you say the gun accidentally went off?" Mason said.

"But Phyllis pointed a gun at this man and warned him..." "The gun went off by accident," Mason interrupted him. "Of course she..." "The gun went off by accident," Mason interrupted him again. "Because the yacht ran aground." "It's not the yacht, it's the anchor that caught something... a pot or something, and the yacht shook." "So the gun accidentally went off." Bancroft thought for a while before saying, "Yes, the gun accidentally went off." "What's the name of this blackmailer? Jillis?"

"It's Jilly," said Bancroft. "Okay, Ji Li shook and fell face down." "yes." "Your wife dropped everything, ran to the side of the boat and jumped off." "It was only after she jumped that she lost her things. At least that's what she thought. She vaguely remembered that the purse slipped out of her arm when she jumped." "Is she scared?" Mason said. "yes." "Are you afraid that your life will be in danger?" "certainly." "And it was hysterical," Mason said. "The gangster just threatened to kill her, and she was afraid that he would come after the boat and shoot her."

"Well... of course he's been shot..." "She didn't know where to hit it," Mason said. "Maybe it was the shoulders, maybe it was the chest, but she was so scared, she thought he was going to run over to the boat and shoot her." "Hmm... I guess so." "Don't guess," Mason said. "Speaking like this is completely in line with her actions. You must have a set of statements that match her actions." Bancroft thought for a while, then nodded slowly. Mason said: "I have an appointment at the office, it is very important, I have to go. I want you to be on call at all times, whether you want to stay near my office, or leave a phone number so that I can reach you at any time. "

"Why do you have to find the yacht?" Bancroft said. "If possible, I'm going to take a look on the yacht before the police," Mason said. "But we have absolutely no idea where the yacht might be," Bancrowe said. "Not bad at all," Mason said. "Your wife saw Jilly pulling the anchor with both hands. When he saw your wife, he casually tied the half-drawn anchor cable to the bitt, and then came back to your wife." Bancroft nodded. "Was the motor running then?" Mason asked. "good." "Did he hit the clutch?" "yes." "There's a control on the foredeck, so he can do that?" "There is a control knob, so only one person can pull the anchor, and as soon as you pull it up, you can go forward immediately. Sometimes I sail alone, and I use this control knob." "When was the gun fired?" Mason asked. "About eight thirty to nine o'clock." "Where have you been during this time?" "Waiting for my wife." "Does anyone know where you are?" "No." Mason looked at Bancrowe thoughtfully. "Bancro, when the police found out that this murder happened on your yacht and the murder gun was yours, they can certainly conclude that you were in order to protect your wife and decided to deal with it yourself." Bancroft was surprised. "You mean the police can charge me with..." "Not bad at all," Mason said. "And you said, give your wife a large amount of sedatives and prevent her from going to the police..." "I'm doing it for her own good, not letting her be interrogated when she's depressed..." "Also avoid reporting things," Mason said. "yes." "You're buying a little time," Mason said. "But once exposed it could be earth-shattering."