Chapter 14 fourth scene

Sunny but cold on Wednesday.The countryside around the Hudson River is like a winter sea, and the rustling of the wind through the dense leaves is like a rough sea.The trees are in June, but the air is in November. The police car drove through steep slopes, iron bridges, gravel roads, grasslands and flower lanes in a solemn and solemn environment.Neither Prosecutor Bruno nor Inspector Sam was in the mood to speak. Old Quesy, very ugly with a jutting hump on his back, met them at the iron-buttoned door, and led them through rush-floored halls adorned with candelabrums, knights in armor, and great masks of comedy and tragedy, They walked together to a small elevator in the far corner.After ascending for a while, they stepped out of the elevator and came to the living room of Mr. Jerry Lane.

An old actor in a brown velvet jacket stood erect like a spear before the flickering flames of the fireplace.Even with the sudden change of light and shadow, they could still see the sadness on his face.He looked haggard and nothing like his old self.Still, he welcomed them with his customary cordiality, rang the bell to order Falstaff to prepare coffee and wine, told Quesy—who wanted to find out like an old greyhound—to leave the room, and set himself at the fire. sit down. "First," he said quietly, "your news, Inspector, if there is any." "That's a lot. We've got Peary's record."

"Record?" Ren raised his eyebrows. "Not the police records. I mean his past, you wouldn't guess who he was—his real name." "I'm not a prophet, inspector," Ryan said with a slight smile, "I believe he is not some missing French crown prince?" "Who? Look, Mr. Lane, this is serious business," growled Sam. "Edgar Peary's real name is Edgar Kabian!" Wren remained motionless for a moment. "Edgar Kabian," he said after a moment, "really, isn't Mrs. Hatter's first husband's son?" "Exactly! Here's the truth: when Emily Haight was Emily Kabian, married to the now dead Tom Kabian, Kabian already had a son by a previous wife .That son is Edgar Kabian. He is therefore half-sibling of Louisa Kabian—same father, different mother."

"Uh." "What puzzles me," said the prosecutor, "is why Kabian, or Peary, came to live at Hatter's house under the pretense of being a tutor. Sam said Barbara Hatter helped him get this." a job—" "That's utter nonsense," said the inspector. "I knew it the moment she spoke. She didn't know him before he got the job--I found out. What's more , obviously she doesn't know his real identity, she's in love, love!" "Does Mrs. Hatter know that Edgar Peary is Edgar Kabian, her ex-husband's son?" Ryan asked thoughtfully.

"Don't know wow—how could she know unless he told her? We found out that Peary was six or seven when his father and Emily divorced, and he's forty-four now, and she Impossible to recognize." "Have you talked to him?" "He didn't say anything, man." "Sam has him under arrest," Bruno interrupted. Wren froze, then he shook his head, relenting. "My dear Inspector," he said, "that's reckless, really reckless. On what grounds are you arresting him?" "You're not happy to hear that, eh, Mr. Wren?" Sam said with a sinister smile on his lips. "You don't have to worry about the name. I'm arresting him on a technical charge. No, sir, he's too hot a candidate." People, you can't let him run around."

"You think he murdered Mrs. Hatter?" Wren asked deadpan. The Inspector shrugged: "Maybe, maybe not. Probably not, because I can't think of a motive, and I have no proof. But he knows something, pay attention to my words, a man conceals his identity, and goes to It can't stop at a murdered home looking for work,"—he snapped his thumb and middle finger—"it can't stop there, my God." "And that smooth soft cheek, Inspector?" "Simple, we never ruled out the possibility of complicity, did we? Unless the deaf man got it wrong." "Well, well," said the prosecutor impatiently, "Sam, we didn't come all the way from the city to hear your opinion. What's on your mind, Mr. Wren?"

Ren didn't say a word for a long time.During this period, Falstaff brought in a lot of food, and Sam quenched some anger with a mug of hot black coffee. Ren didn't speak until Falstaff left. "I've been thinking about this, gentlemen," he said in a thick, flowing baritone, "since Sunday, and the result of this thinking has been quite—how should I say—unsettling." "What does that mean?" Sam demanded. "Some of the questions are clear—as clear, for example, as some of the Longstreet case—" "You mean you already know the answer?" Bruno said.

"No, no," Ryan was silent for a while, "don't get me wrong. I'm far from—far from finding the answer. Because there are other questions that are very suspicious, not only suspicious, gentlemen, but also very strange. His voice fell into a whisper. "Strange," he said, and they both stared at him uneasily. He got up and started pacing up and down the rug in front of the fire: "I can't tell you how troubled I am, how troubled I am! I'm even beginning to doubt the evidence of my senses—my remaining four senses. "—the two men looked at each other in bewilderment—"Forget it," Ryan said suddenly, "now I can tell you that I have made a decision. I have two definite directions of investigation in front of me, and I plan to Following the line, neither lead has been touched."

"Clues?" the inspector couldn't help but explode, "Here we go again! What ghost clues haven't been touched, don't you think?" Wren didn't smile or stop pacing: "That smell," he murmured, "the smell of vanilla. It's one of those things, and it's special—it stumps me. I have a problem with that." Theory, I intend to pursue thoroughly. If God has mercy on my efforts..." He shrugged, "I don't want to mention another one for now. But it is very amazing, very unimaginable, and very logical... Without giving them a chance to utter the question that was evidently on the line, he went on, "Tell me, Inspector, what aspects of the case you are sure of, taking into account the whole. We'd better Be honest with each other, sometimes working together is more productive than thinking alone."

"That's right," said Sam brightly. "Everyone cooperates. It's clear to me that the murderer sneaked into the bedroom last Saturday night, or Sunday morning, trying to poison the pear. The pear is It was for Louisa, the man knew she would eat it the next morning. Mrs. Hatter woke up while the murderer was still in the room, made some movement or yelled, and the murderer, in a moment of panic, rushed to her Hitting her head down, probably didn't mean to kill her at all, just to silence her. The old witch's death was, in my opinion, an accident. Bruno agrees with me, and I see no reason to doubt it."

"In other words," murmured Mr. Jerry Lane, "you and Mr. Bruno both believe that the murder of Mrs. Hatter was unintentional, a temporary crime under unforeseen circumstances?" "Yes." Sam said. "I totally agree," Bruno said. "Then, gentlemen," said Wren kindly, "you two are wrong." "I—what do you mean?" Bruno demanded—defensively. "I mean so. There is no doubt in my mind that Mrs. Hatter's murder was deliberate, that she was the victim of a conspiracy even before the murderer set foot in that bedroom, and that the murderer had no intention at all." To poison Louisa Kabian!" They chewed this passage in silence, the eyes of the two people were full of doubts, and they looked like they were waiting for an answer.Ryan offered the answer calmly and carefully. "Let's begin," he said, sitting down first in front of the fire, and taking a sip of wine, "with Louisa Kabian. What is the prima facie evidence? From the syringes and poison pears, it seems very Apparently the mercuric dichloride was aimed at Louisa - she liked fruit, and the only other Mrs. Hatter, who used to eat fruit from the same bowl, didn't like fruit in general, and hated pears in particular One of the pears was poisoned, so on the face of it, the murderer deliberately chose a fruit that he knew Louisa would eat and Mrs Hatter would not, which clearly made taking Louisa's life the main motive impression, as you two gentlemen believe—a theory that, in fact, is strengthened by the fact that, two months before this second plot, the first plot to take her life ended at the last moment. It's a failure." "Yes, sir," said the inspector, "it seems so to me. If you can prove otherwise, you're better than me." "I can attest, Inspector," Wren replied calmly, "that if the murderer expected Louisa Kabian to eat that pear, then you were both right. But he really Do you expect her to eat that poisonous pear?" "Why, of course." Bruno was surprised. "I'm sorry I have to contradict you, but he didn't. For the following reason: From the outset we can assume that the murderer, whether he was a member of the family or not, was at least well aware of the house's most intimate details. This assumption is Well-founded, for example, he knew that Louisa drank eggnog milk in the dining room at two-thirty every afternoon; he knew the secrets of the chimneys and fireplaces of his living room and bedroom; for example, he knew exactly where the mandolin was kept, and he was of course intimately acquainted with the laboratory and its contents. "Obviously, this is enough to prove that the criminal was fully aware of all the details necessary to carry out his plan. Now, if he knew these matters, he must also know that Louisa is very picky about her food and drink, so must Know that she won't eat rotten or overripe fruit. Anyway, not many would -- especially when that rotten pear was in the same bowl as other ripe, fresh, unspoiled fruits of the same kind. And Dr. Schelling's analysis report pointed out that the pear had already rotted before the injection of mercuric dichloride, so it can be seen that the murderer deliberately poisoned with a rotten pear." They held their breath, and Ren smiled faintly: "Doesn't this fact make you feel strange, gentlemen? In my opinion, this is really unusual. "Now, you might object, you might say it was an accident—it was so dark in the room that he might have accidentally picked a rotten pear out of the bowl without knowing it. There's no way to even say that at all, Because even by touch it's easy to tell if a fruit is rotten, and your fingers will be slippery on the rotten skin. But suppose we let the statement hold that picking a rotten pear was purely accidental, I can still prove that it's not true. "How to prove it? In fact, Mrs. Abkel has testified that on the afternoon of the night of the murder, she only put two pears in the fruit plate. At half past eleven that night, Miss Smith also saw that there were only two pears in the fruit plate pears, and two were ripe, fresh, and not rotten. However, the morning after the crime, we found three pears in the bowl. Conclusion: The murderer must have put in the third—and it was rotten—pear, since we It is known from credible testimony that the original two pears were both fresh. It is thus proved that the poisoning of a rotten pear was a deliberate act; It was brought in from outside. "But why would a murderer deliberately bring a rotten fruit to the crime scene when he knew there was a fresh version of the same fruit in the fruit bowl and that the victim of his plot would not eat it? The only possible answer is: he I never intended to let her eat that fruit, and I am willing to use my reputation to guarantee this infallible dialectical logic." Neither listener said anything. "In other words," Wren went on, "you two were wrong in assuming that the murderer believed that Louisa Kabian would eat the poisonous pear. He knew she wouldn't, and since he must have known, The only other person who shared the fruit plate, Mrs. Hatter, could not have eaten pears at all... Then the whole poisoned pear incident was purely a cover-up in all aspects of logic. It was the murderer's intention to convince the police that Louisa was The method used to kill the target." "Wait," the inspector said hastily. "If, as you said, the Capiana woman would not eat that fruit, how can the murderer expect his fake poisoning to be discovered?" "Good question, Sam," said the district attorney. "Because, whatever his motives," Sam went on, "his tricks are useless unless someone finds out, you know what I mean?" "I understand," Wren replied without changing his face, "very shrewd to add, Inspector. You said that unless the police found the poisonous pears of the conspirators, there would be no point in his poisoning. If no one found With the pears poisoned, no one would know that someone was trying to poison Louisa - and that's exactly what the murderer intended." "Very well. There are three possible avenues by which the murderer could hope that the police would discover his poison plot—provided that the police have come to believe that Mrs. Hatter's murder was not premeditated, I repeat, but an accident. The first , leaving the syringe in the room, as he had already done. This of course would raise suspicions, which would lead to an investigation, since there had been a poisoning attempt just two months earlier. Of course, this is a possible hypothesis, and in fact it is more Perhaps the murderer lost the syringe in fear or panic. "Second, to deliberately add one pear—a poisonous pear—and not take away any of the original pears, so that the total number becomes three when several people know in advance that there should only be two. But The point also has its inevitability, which can only be luck at best, and it is very likely that no one will notice that there is an extra pear. "Third, in some way, under the guise of some pretext, he himself draws the attention of others to the rotten pear. This is the most likely one of the three channels at present." Sam and Bruno nodded. Ren shook his head: "But when I prove to you that the murder of Mrs. Hatter was not an accident, but deliberate planning and fake poisoning happened at the same time, then you will understand that the three possibilities I mentioned above are unnecessary Well, all the explanations I just made were in vain. "Because, once our investigation turns from poison to murder, so he can predict that the poisonous pear will be found. He can let things happen naturally, and can rely on the police murder investigation to find the poisonous pear, so that he doesn't have to rely on Luck, on the contrary, is almost certain. The poisoning will be discovered by accident, and the police will say that the main purpose of this crime is to poison Louisa. The murder of Mrs. Hatter was purely accidental. This way of accomplishing his real purpose: to kill Mrs. Hatter and induce the police to trace the motives of Louisa's murder, so that the killing of the old lady is discounted." "I deserve death," murmured the inspector, "very clever, if that's the case." "But it is true, Inspector, do you remember, even before we found the syringe out of the bed, you said you were going to walk around to make sure nothing was poisoned, and you did that based on two months of poisonings ...which proves that the murderer knew exactly how the police reacted, even assuming we didn't find the syringe - which I'm still pretty sure was left by accident after all the evidence - in fact, even assuming there were only two pears in there, You are still very likely to follow the poison theory and find the poisonous pear." "That's right, Sam," said the prosecutor. Ren stopped his pacing legs and stared at the flames: "Now let's prove that the murder of Mrs. Hatter was planned in advance, not a temporary accident." "One thing is obvious. The mandolin, which is used as a murder weapon, is not one of the furnishings in the bedroom. It should be placed in a glass box in the library downstairs, and it is a taboo for everyone, and it is not allowed to touch it. At one-thirty in the morning, Conrad Hitter saw it in the glass box downstairs—two and a half hours before Mrs. Hitter's life was taken, and others saw the mandolin there the same night . "Therefore it is certain that the murderer, whether he was a member of the family or not, must have gone out of his way to get the mandolin from the library, or had prepared it before entering the bedroom... ..." "Wait, wait," Bruno interjected, frowning, "what makes you think so?" Ren sighed: "If the murderer is a member of this family, he must come down from the second floor or attic to get the piano. If he is not a member of this family, he cannot enter the house from downstairs because all the doors and windows are locked. So he had to, say, climb up the fire escape to the second floor first, or, similarly, climb up the fire escape to the roof and then in through the chimney. In any case, the trip downstairs to get the mandolin was inevitable. ..." "That makes sense," Bruno admitted, "but suppose it's a member of the family, and he's late from out and picks up the mandolin on his way up the stairs? How many people are late, you know." "Very good," Ryan smiled, "assuming that one of the people who came home late picked up the mandolin on the way upstairs? Wouldn't that clearly show that there was a plan, a pre-set purpose, and deliberate Thinking about using the mandolin?" "Okay," said Sam, "get on with it." "So the murderer deliberately brought the mandolin into the bedroom with a purpose. For what purpose, gentlemen? Let's analyze it." "First, the old mandolin may have been brought into the bedroom for its intended purpose, that is, to be used for its original purpose as an instrument..." The inspector snickered, Bruno shook his head: "Of course, this is too ridiculous, we don't even need to discuss it." "Second, it may be to create a false appearance, as a false clue to deliberately frame someone, and bring it into the bedroom. But who to frame? No one else, that is the owner of the piano, York Black. But York Black Tate is dead. So our second guess is also wrong." "Wait, wait," said the inspector slowly, "not so fast. Although York Hatter is dead, whoever the murderer may be, he may not be sure of that, or, supposing he is sure that York Hatter Dead, he was trying to convince us that York Height was not dead, since the body was not in a completely satisfactory condition. How do you say that?" "I say brilliant, Inspector," Wren choked, "a complex and genius idea. But I believe I can refute the slightest possibility. As far as a conspirator is concerned, it is stupid." for two reasons: first, if he was to convince the police that York Height was alive and that he had inadvertently left his mandolin at the scene of his crime, the deception had to be It needs to be accepted by the police. But will the police believe that Hayt left such an obvious clue against himself? Of course not, it is absolutely impossible for him to leave such an obvious clue against himself, and of course the police will understand that this is a fake , is not a reliable clue. Second, why use such a bizarre thing as a mandolin? It is the last thing that can be associated with a murder. The police already know that there is no way that Hayt will use his own - and strange -Personal belongings were left at the scene of his crime, so it would be presumed that they were left by others to frame Het, so the conspirators' purpose was defeated. "No, Inspector, our murderer has no such dark purpose in mind. The use of the mandolin, that singular instrument, has nothing to do with the murderer's own strategy." "Go on, Mr. Lane," the prosecutor gave his colleague an annoyed look, "Sam, your idea is really ridiculous!" "Don't blame the Inspector, Mr. Bruno," Wren said. "He's perfectly right to suggest a remote possibility, or even an impossibility. The logic is unreasonable. It's a world of its own." "So, if the mandolin was brought into the bedroom not to be used as an instrument, or as a false clue to York Head, what other intended purpose might the murderer have? Apart from the only remaining plausible motive, Can you find anything else? That is, as a weapon." "What a weird weapon," Sam mused. "That eluded me from the start." "I don't blame you, inspector," Ren sighed. "It's no wonder you think so or ask such a question. As you said, it is indeed a strange weapon. When we uncover the mystery of this case..." He paused, his eyes clouded with inexplicable gloom, and then he sat up straighter and continued in a deep voice, "Since we cannot answer this question at this moment, let us forget it for now. But whatever the reason , what is certain is that this mandolin was brought into the room to be used as a weapon, and as far as the moment is concerned, that is our core consideration." "Of course," Bruno said wearily, "as you say, if the mandolin was brought in to be used as a weapon, then from the start its purpose was to be offensive; to be used as a weapon of attack or murder." "That's not necessarily true," before Ryan could answer, Sam rushed to say loudly, "How do you know it's intended to be used as an offensive weapon? How do you know it's not meant to be used as a defensive weapon—— Maybe the murderer didn't intend to kill the old hag at all, and just brought the mandolin just in case?" "That's right." Bruno murmured. "No," said Wren, "that would be wrong. Listen! Inspector, suppose, as you say, that the murderer was just in case it was necessary to silence Mrs. Hatter or even Louisa when poisoning the fruit. That is to say, the original purpose was not to attack, but to defend. We now know that the assailant was very familiar with the room, and there were at least half a dozen things in the room that could be used as weapons-like iron bars hanging from the fireplace. Pokers, and, in fact, two heavy bookends on the victim's bedside table—any of these would have delivered a more effective blow than a comparatively light mandolin. Now, if the murderer He would be asking for trouble for no good reason by going downstairs to get a weapon that was purely imaginary at the scene of the crime he had planned, when there was an even more effective weapon at his fingertips." "It follows from this logic that the mandolin is not to be carried as a defensive weapon, but as an offensive weapon; not only as a precaution, but as a planned use. And no other weapon can His purpose, mind you - just the mandolin." "Now I understand," Sam admitted. "Go on, Mr. Wren." "Very well. Now, if the murderer carried the mandolin with the intention of using it as an assault weapon--who was it? Was it Louisa Kabian? Of course not, as I pointed out, the poisoning Actions have no meaning to effect, the murderer does not intend to poison her. If he does not want to kill her with a poisonous pear, then why hit her with a strange weapon to kill her? No, mandolin Jean's of course it wasn't Louisa Carbian, so who could it be? It could only be Mrs. Hatter. Here's what I'm trying to prove, gentlemen: Louisa Carbian was never intended to be poisoned. Bean, all he ever intended was to murder Emily Hayter." Mr. Actor stretches his legs to bake his toes: "I have a sore throat! Lack of exercise in retirement... Listen to me, if you think about the interrelationship of some of the basic things I've raised, you'll understand that this The whole line of reasoning is clear and powerful. First, that oftentimes veils, disguises, or feints are smokescreens that obscure the real purpose. Second, the plot to poison Louisa, as just shown, was a veil. Third, here A weapon was intentionally brought in by the criminal under cover of disguise. Fourth, Mrs. Hatter was the only real, or murderous, subject of such purposely brought weapon under the circumstances." In the silence, the prosecutor and Inspector Sam looked at each other with admiration and confusion.Bruno's expression was even more subtle. Behind his keen face, there was some kind of intense struggle. He glanced at Sam, then dropped his gaze to the floor, staring stubbornly at the ground for a long time. The inspector was more calm: "It does sound right, Mr. Wren, although I am very reluctant to admit that we got the wrong direction at the beginning. This has greatly improved the whole investigation, and now we have to pay attention to different motives—— It was not the murder of that woman Kabian, but the motive for the murder of Mrs. Hatter!" Ren nodded, with neither satisfaction nor victory on his face.While his reasoning was flawless, he seemed to be haunted by a sudden burgeoning demon.His face was clouded now, the luster of his speech fading, and his eyes were fixed on Inspector Bruno from under his soft brows. The inspector didn't pay attention to these details at all, his head was too busy: "Dealing with the old lady's motives, in this way... Damn, all of them have a reason to kill the old crow... So how do you deduce it? No Conclusion. From this point of view, everyone also has a reason to kill Louisa - if not for money, then for personal hatred... After we know what Barbara Height is going to do with Louisa, maybe we can find one direction." "Ah—yes, yes," Wren murmured, "I'm sorry, Inspector. Although my eyes are on you, my mind is not very focused... A more urgent question. The will has been made public. The testator is dead, and now if the deaf, dumb, and blind woman dies, all of them will benefit, and the original fake poisoning of Louisa may be true." Sam sat up straight with a surprised look on his face. "My God, I never thought of that! And there's one more thing." He yelled, "We have no way of knowing who is who. If Louisa is killed, kill her The person who killed her mother is not necessarily the same person who killed her mother. Anyone who has no connection with the first poisoning or the second poisoning and murder is now in a good position to take Louisa's life because he or she knows , the police probably believe it was the work of the original poisoners and killers. What a mess!" "Well, I agree, Inspector. Not only must we protect Miss Kabian day and night, but we must monitor everyone in Hatter's family at all times, and the poison in the laboratory should be cleaned up immediately." "You think so?" said Sam slyly. "I don't think so at all. Oh, we'll guard the lab, that's all right, but the poison stays in there, whatever's left--maybe someone will slip Maybe even come in and steal a can!" Prosecutor Bruno looked up at Mr. Jerry Lane.There was a gleam of light in Ren's eyes, and he bowed even more into the chair, all muscles tensed up, as if preparing to meet the blow. Bruno made a mischievous triumphant expression. "Hey!" he said. "I've thought it through, Mr. Wren." "Then your conclusion—?" Ren asked calmly. Bruno grinned: "I don't want to disturb your wonderful analysis, but I'm afraid I have no choice. Throughout the reasoning process, you have assumed that the poisoner and the murderer are the same person..." Ren's expression eased After coming down, he sighed in relief, "However, we have discussed before that the poisoner and the murderer are two people, not one, and they acted separately at different times on the night of the crime..." "Yes Yes." "Indeed," Bruno continued, waving his hand, "if there is an unrelated murderer, then the motive of the poisoner is not explained. But if his motive is simply to frighten the deaf, dumb and blind woman, To scare her out of the house with these bluffs? Then there are several people who might not kill but have such a motive. So, I say you don't consider the possibility of two separate criminals, in this theory Come on, the person who killed Mrs. Hatter has nothing to do with the person who poisoned her!" "Except for that night," added Sam, with an expression of astonishment at Bruno's insight, "and the one two months ago. Hey, a needle in your analysis, Mr. Wren! " Ren was silent for a while, and then he sneered a few times, startling the two guests: "Why, Mr. Bruno," he said, "I thought the facts were very obvious." "Obviously?" The two exclaimed at the same time. "Of course. Isn't it?" "Not what?" "Oh, well," Wren laughed again, "apparently my mistake was in forgetting to say something I always thought was obvious. Someone with a complicated legal mind like you, Mr. Bruno, That’s why I asked this kind of question, and it made me feel, uh, it’s like reversing the case at the last minute?” "Anyway, I want to hear your explanation." Bruno said calmly. "You will hear it." Ren calmed down and stared at the fire, "So, you have to know why I assumed that the poisoner and the murderer were the same person... The answer is: I didn't assume, I knew, I could Provide mathematically rigorous proofs." "It doesn't have to go to that," said Inspector Sam. "As long as it is reasonable, I will be convinced." The prosecutor said. "Perhaps, it's like 'Irresistible tears in a woman's eyes'," Ren said with a smile, "my reasoning will be too convincing...Maybe I can say this first, most of it has already been written on the bedroom floor. " "The bedroom floor?" Sam repeated. "Show, it's a person, not—" "Ah, Inspector! It surprises me how unobservant you are. You agree, don't you, that if there were two men involved, and not one, then of course they must have come in at different times—because obviously they had different One is to poison Louisa's pears, the other is to murder Mrs. Hatter?" Both of them nodded. "Very well. So, in what order did they enter the room?" Sam and Bruno looked at each other.Bruno shrugged. "I don't know how you can pinpoint that." Ren shook his head: "The idea is inconsistent, Mr. Bruno. To put the poisonous pear on the bedside table we found, the person who poisoned must stand between the two beds. There is no doubt about it. As for the murder of Het Madame, as Dr. Schelling pointed out, the murderer must have stood between the two beds, and therefore these two persons, if they were two persons, walked on the same stretch of carpet—that is, the carpet between the two beds. However, in that stretch of carpet There was only one set of footprints on the dust of the 1980s—of course, we're not counting Louisa Kabian's, because, if her testimony is not accepted, then we'd better give up now. "Now, if the first raider knocked over the talcum powder, there should be two sets of footprints: the first set of footprints left by the first raider after he knocked over the talcum powder, and the second set of footprints from the first man After leaving, a second raider accidentally left the room when he entered the room. But there was only one set of footprints. This means that, obviously, the talcum powder must have been knocked over by the second visitor, not the first, which means that there was a visitor, and it had to be the first, left no footprints at all. This is the basic reasoning. "Our problem, then, logically, was to find out whose footprints we found belonged—that is, who was the second visitor. The footprints in the powder were made by the shoe we found. There was a mark on the toe of the right shoe, which the medical examiner said was mercuric dichloride, the same poison found in injections in pears and in syringes. Clearly, then, the visitor who left his footprints on the powder— —The second visitor—is the poisoner. This means that the second visitor who overturned the powder box and stepped on the talcum powder is the poisoner; since the premise is that two people are involved in the case, the first visitor is the murderer. To Have you understood everything so far?" They nod. "Now, the mandolin, the weapon used by the killer, or visitor number one, tells us about the first visitor? What does it tell us: it was the mandolin that took the powder compact on the bedside table打翻的。怎么说呢？粉盒盖上的血线，只可能是因为和曼陀林琴沾血的琴弦接触所造成。桌上粉盒被打翻之前摆放的位置后面，有一个由锐器造成的凹痕。这个凹痕，根据它的位置和性质，我们结论是由曼陀林琴的琴沿击到桌上所致：而曼陀林琴的下端琴沿有一个损伤和桌面的凹痕相符，更进一步证实此点。所以说，曼陀林琴打到桌面那个特定的位置，琴弦碰到粉盒盖，而且把粉盒从桌上拖翻下来。 “曼陀林琴不可能自己挥动，它是用来打老太太头的工具。所以造成粉盒落地的那一击，必定就是在桌边打击黑特太太头部顺带造成的结果。这实在是重复说明，在检查犯罪现场的时候，我们就已经毫无疑问地建立以上观点。” 雷恩倾身向前，挥动着食指：“好，此前我们证明，是下毒的人——二号客——碰翻了粉盒。然而现在看起来，却是杀人的一号客弄翻了粉盒。无可救药的冲突！”演员先生微笑，“另一种说明的方式如下：我们发现曼陀林琴躺在一层粉堆上面。那表示曼陀林琴掉下去的时候，地上已经有粉末存在。而由于第一个分析证明，是下毒者打翻粉盒，那表示杀人者一定是第二个进来。但是如果他是第二个进来的，由于只有下毒者的脚印留下来，那么到底他的脚印哪里去了？ “所以，如果没有杀人者的脚印，那么粉盒打翻以后就不会有两个人在那里；换句话说，杀人者是另一个人这件事并不存在。那就是为什么从一开始我就'假定'，如你所说，下毒者和杀人者根本就是同一个人！”