Chapter 23 Chapter 21 The Last Clue

"Ah," said Mr. Wren calmly, and I understood—he had understood all this in some miraculous way—that a miracle had happened.Then a serene smile appeared on his face, it was a smile that had worked hard for a long time and finally succeeded.He didn't say anything. "He told me himself," Fanny Cather said with a touch of excitement in her deep voice, and the sobbing stopped, and she stared blankly at the wall into memory.That incident sounded from her mouth, as if it came from unfathomable hell: "I have been in touch with the two brothers, privately, you know, we have business contacts... The night Joel Fawcett was killed, I went to his house and Hume showed me the letter Joel wrote to me before he died, and I knew we were in danger. Ella and I have been keeping an eye on Carmichael, when Joel received the first piece of the small wooden box , he, Ella, me—the three of us discussed it together, and that was the first time we knew that Alan D'O was alive. We decided to keep it quiet, Joel—it was the Senator!" She sniffed: " He's a little bastard trying to buy off the snitch, and Ella and I have to keep an eye on him." She paused, then quickly added, "The night Joel was killed, I wanted to scare Doo off, I knew he Will come, and I know that Joel Fawcett will be so scared that he will hand over fifty thousand dollars to Dow."

This woman is lying, her eyes are wandering, the sort of person who can do anything, and I have no doubt that she went to Senator Fawcett's house on the night he was Ren Deo was really unruly, so he was killed.And I have no doubt that the Senator has the same plan in mind. "The night Ella Fawcett was murdered," she went on hoarsely, "it was such bad luck that I went to his house again. Ella told me that Deo sent him a second piece of the little box, I called him that afternoon and made an appointment to meet in the evening. Ella is always very courageous, but this time she was also terrified. He withdrew the money from the bank the day before, but he hadn't decided whether to pay it. So— —I went there to see how things were going.” I knew she was lying again, offering the money just to prove “planning to pay” that Ella Fawcett and Fanny Cather had planned for the day To kill Alan D'O at night.

Her eyes burned. "I went to his house and found Ella dead like a finfish, lying on the floor of his office with a knife stuck in his chest." The old gentleman suddenly looked concerned: "But didn't you just say—" "Yeah, I know what I just said," she murmured, "I 'thought' he was dead, and I 100% don't like to think so. It's creepy—as hell." She nodded Trembling, his huge body was trembling like waves, "I turned around and was about to run away, and then—then I saw his fingers seem to be moving from the corner of my eye...so I turned back, plopped down beside him and said: 'Ayla , Ella, did Deo kill you?' His mouth opened and I heard a gurgling sound from his throat, barely audible: 'No, no, not Deo, not Deo. It's—'" She paused, clenched her fists tightly, "then he twitched twice and died."

"Damn it!" Father muttered. "I don't know how many times it's happened, and people die before they can tell who killed them. You sure didn't hear him say—" "He's dead, I tell you. And then I ran out of the damn house and ran away." She paused, and then said again, "I'm in a tough place, and if I tell this Well, Hume's gonna find a way to get me murdered...so I've got to run away. But here on the hill these days, I know Doug's innocent, and I can't, I can't let him--I dare say, There's a devil using this snitch, 'using' him!" Her voice rose, almost screaming.

Father Muir hurried forward, and took her big fleshy hand in his pale little hand. "Fanny Cather," he said softly, "you have been a sinner all these years of your life, but today you have reformed yourself in the sight of God, and you have saved an innocent man from death, God bless you. You." His haggard eyes gleamed behind thick lenses, and he turned to Jerry Wren. "We'll get to the jail right now," he cried. "There's no time to waste." "Wait a minute, Father," the old gentleman smiled slightly, "It's still a few hours," his voice was calm and composed, and then he bit his lower lip, "There is a problem, which is quite tricky..."

I was taken aback by the look on his face, Fanny Cather's story clearly gave him a very important final clue, but what was it?From her story, I can't see any key to solve the case, except, of course, that so far, Alan Deo can be proved innocent.However, his expression suddenly changed... He said calmly: "Miss Cather, you just told us the answer to the case. An hour ago, I knew that there were three possible candidates for the murder. Now, your story has eliminated two of them." He straightened his shoulders, " Excuse me, I have to get down to business."