Chapter 5 Chapter 4 Brado Udo

Ellery drove his old sports car towards Long Island, thinking that something strange must have happened again. For Ellery's convenience, Officer Quinn issued an emergency certificate.Therefore, when he was running on the main road at high speed, he didn't care at all about the traffic police behind him. Officer Quinn also hung up the phone calls to Police Officer Bonn in Nassau County and local prosecutor Esham: "My son is about to go to your place, please take care of me." Both Police Officer Bonn and Prosecutor Ersham expressed their sincere welcome. meaning. In the afternoon, when Ellery was driving on the road leading to a private residence, the police stopped him.

"Excuse me, is this Brado Udo?" Ellery asked loudly. But the police said very rudely: "Please go back, we have sealed off this place." Ellery poked his head out of the car and smiled. "Police Officer Bonn and Prosecutor Esham are waiting for me. You should know who I am." "Oh! You are the famous Ellery! Excuse me, please!" Ellery nodded smugly and drove away. Five minutes later, he came to the road between two private lands—a lot of police cars gathered on one of the lands, and it was obvious that this was the scene of the murder.Another piece of land is just opposite, which is the residence of Professor Yadoli, who is both a teacher and a friend.

Adori was a tall, ugly man.As soon as he saw Ellery, he came over and shook Ellery's hand. "Long time no see, Ellery." "Yes! Teacher, when did you come to Long Island? I remember when I received your letter last time, I heard that you were still punishing those second-grade students at school." Adori smiled wryly, stroked the short beard on his chin, and said, "I live in a Persian-style house now, look, it's just behind your parking lot on the left. It was rented to me by my friend. It's half new It’s old, a little old-fashioned. I’ve been researching here in the summer. Oh! By the way, this year I’m going to study the legend of the Atlantic island west of Gibraltar, which was mentioned in the book of Plato, do you remember?”

"Yes." Ellery said with a smile, "I also remember Bacon's 'New Atlantis', but at that time my interest was not in science but in literature." Adori said with some dissatisfaction: "You are still so conceited, it is really hard to change your nature. Actually, this is not a quiet place, otherwise, I would not have encountered such a thing." "Why do you think of me?" The two of them weaved down a private road packed with cars and walked up to a large colonial building, its huge columns gleaming in the midday sun. "I, I have noticed you in the newspapers a long time ago. Your analysis report on Arroyo's headless murder fascinated me. I have studied a lot of antiquities before, but nothing like your experience Interesting, although you still failed in the end." Adori continued with a smile, "I'm glad you have that unexpected insight, especially the attitude of tracing back to the origin...it must be the Egyptian cross! It's very interesting!" Aya When Dolly said this, he stopped suddenly and pointed to the front. Ellery knew that was the scene of the accident.

"What the hell does that mean?" Ellery asked, frowning uneasily. "The tau cross is primitive Egyptian..." Adori said: "We'll talk about this later. Shouldn't you go say hello to Prosecutor Esham first? He's such a good guy, he won't interfere with me when I walk around here. " Ersham was standing on the lawn.He is a short and fat middle-aged man with a pair of blue eyes and half white hair.He was having a heated discussion with a tall man in civilian clothes. "Mr. Esham," Professor Adori nodded politely, "He is my favorite student——Ellery Quinn."

When Esham heard that he was Officer Quinn's son, he immediately smiled. "Oh! You are Ellery! I have known you for a long time. It is chaotic here, I hope you can help us." Then Esham pointed to the man next to him and said, "Let me introduce you, this is Police Officer Bonn." Ellery shook hands with the two gentlemen. "Can we walk around? If there is any taboo, please tell me, I will obey." Sergeant Bonn showed his yellow teeth and smiled. "No. If you need any support, we will cooperate, Mr. Ellery." "Okay, then teacher, let's go and have a look first!"

So, the group of them walked to the scene of the accident, first walked down the stairs of the promenade, and then turned into the east corridor of the building. This is really an extremely luxurious private residence, which made Ellery very surprised by the huge house .Due to the terrain, the adjacent coast can be seen from the corridor of this house.The midday sun is reflecting on the water.The sparkling water waves are sparkling and very beautiful.According to Esham's explanation, this water area is part of Long Island Bay, called "Kegam Bay". On the other side of the bay, there is a small island with tall trees that looks like a floating boat.Professor Adori said that it was "Oista Island", and the people who lived there were all strange people.

Ellery didn't understand the meaning of the professor's words, and looked at the professor suspiciously, but Ersham hurriedly said, "Let's look at that later!" So the professor shrugged, as if he didn't want to get into trouble. . Along the gravel road, about 30 feet away from the colonial-style buildings, a group of people walked into the dense bushes.A hundred feet further on, a clearing suddenly appeared, and in the center of the clearing stood a strange object. Seeing the brutally murdered corpse, all four of them stopped and talked at the same time.Police surrounded the body, but Ellery's eyes were on the body alone.

It was a large nine-foot-tall wooden pillar, which was already mottled as if it had been subjected to centuries of wind and rain.Judging from the traces left on the pillars, its original colors must have been very dazzling and gorgeous. Although the color has peeled off, the engraving on it is still visible.There are monster heads used by Gothic architecture to attract rain from the roof, as well as animal patterns, and on the top of the pillars, there is a huge eagle with its sharp beak pointing down and its wings spread out to both sides. Ellery immediately felt that there was an eagle with outstretched wings on the top of the pillar, which looked like an artistic letter "T".

The male body whose head had been cut off was hanging on it.His arms were tied to the eagle's wings; his feet were also tied straight to a post about three feet above the ground.On the eagle's beak, the head of the deceased was supposed to be tied, but now there is only a big hole under the beak, a depression full of blood and stench, just like the eagle sucking the blood of the deceased, it is both terrifying and sad.The humiliated corpse was hanging limply like a rag doll whose head had been twisted off. Ellery laughed in a trembling voice, and said, "Oh, that's terrible."

"It's disgusting!" Esham murmured, "I've never seen such a cruel thing, I feel like my blood is frozen with fright!" He trembled a little, "Okay, let's get down to business !" As the group approached the post, Ellery noticed a small straw-covered hut a few yards from the body, guarded by a policeman.Afterwards, he turned back to observe the dead man carefully.It was a middle-aged man with a big beer belly and a pair of rough hands like an old man.He was wearing gray flannel trousers, white shoes, white socks, a jacket that looked like velvet, and a silk shirt with an open collar.The whole body, from neck to toe, was covered with blood, like a big bucket of blood. "Professor, is this a totem pole?" Ellery asked as he passed the body. Adori replied with a serious expression: "Totem pole? This is a term commonly used by everyone. Although I am not an expert in totem research, I can confirm that this object is very similar to the totem poles of North American aborigines. According to my speculation, this eagle It probably represents the meaning of the Eagle Clan." "Already know who the dead man is?" Ellery asked. "Well!" said the Bonn police officer hurriedly, "the man you see is Thomas Bratt, a wealthy carpet importer." "How can you be sure it's Thomas Bratt, but the body isn't down yet?" Ellery asked. Esham replied with some surprise: "There is absolutely nothing wrong. We have inspected his relics long ago, especially his beer belly. Even if the head is missing, it can be seen at a glance." "I see. Who found the body?" Officer Bonn explained what had happened. "At around 7:30 this morning, Blatter's driver and gardener, Fox, found the body because he wanted to go to the garage and detoured in the garden." He didn't seem to be talking about something terrible at all, and he talked freely, " At that time, Fox was so frightened that he ran back like flying, and of course, he also notified the police. But before the police came, Lincoln did not let anyone near the body." "Who's Lincoln?" Ellery asked politely. "It's the manager, the manager of 'Blatt Megara Co., Ltd.' run by Blatt. He also lives in this house. I think Blatt probably trusts him!" "Blatt Megara Co., Ltd.? So Blatt and Megara are in partnership together? Doesn't Megara live here, too?" Ersham shrugged and said: "He lives here when he's not traveling, but he's gone out on a boat and hasn't been back for a long time. Now, no one knows where he is. Blatter usually handles the company. affairs." "Then, this totem stick—oh, no, it's a pillar, alas, whatever you want—that Mr. Megara is responsible!" At this time, a short man with a black handbag walk towards them. "Mr. Ramxian is here." Prosecutor Esham said with a sigh of relief, "He is the medical examiner from Nassau County." Esham stepped forward and grabbed the medical examiner's cuff. "Doctor! Take a look!" Ramxian said angrily, "I'm just watching!" Ramson raised his head to look at the corpse. "What's this? A slaughterhouse in Chicago?" Ellery inspected the body and found that it was stiff.The forensic doctor Ramxian also looked at the corpse like an expert, and then said impatiently: "Hurry up and unload it! Do you want me to climb up to do the autopsy?" At this time, the Bonn police officer embarrassedly ordered two police officers to remove the body with a knife.A police officer ran into the hut and came back with a rusty chair.After that, place the chair next to the totem, stand on the chair, and start removing the corpse with the knife. "I want to cut the rope with a knife and keep the knot, and see how the murderer knotted the rope. Maybe I can get some clues." The police officer said thoughtfully. Although there were some people coming in and out nearby, the work of unloading the corpses was carried out in a peaceful atmosphere. "You're right," Ellery said, watching them work, "how on earth did the murderer put the body on it, and how did he tie the rope at nine feet off the ground? " At this time, Esham said very cautiously: "Because someone found a chair similar to that used by the murderer in the thatched hut, with blood stains on it, so I think there must be more than two murderers, and they were quite burly men. Therefore, It shouldn't be difficult for them to use chairs to tie the corpse to the totem." "Where did you find the chair?" Ellery asked suspiciously. "Is it the hut?" "Yes. Put the chair back after the murderer has used it up! There should be no mistake. Besides, there are many clues in the hut! Mr. Ellery, you must be very interested." "I think there must be something that will attract you." Police officer Bonn came over at this moment and suddenly interrupted their conversation, "This is it." Then he took out a small red chess from his pocket and handed it to Ai lerry. "Oh! Where did you find that?" "It was found on the gravel near the right side of the totem," replied Sergeant Bonn. "Why do you think this is important?" Ellery asked, twirling the chessmen between his fingers. Bonn replied with a smile, "First, judging from the appearance of this chess piece, it hasn't been left here for a long time. Second, I asked Fox, and he said that he didn't find this chess piece when he came to clean it last night. Son. Do you think, if a red object falls among these beautiful gray and white stones, can it not attract attention? Therefore, I judge that this chess piece must be related to the murder case." Ellery smiled: "Yes! Officer Bonn, I admire your insight. It's really not easy." Ellery said, returning the chess piece to the officer. At this time, the forensic doctor opened his mouth and was muttering, not knowing what he was talking about. "What's the matter?" Esham came over, "What happened?" The forensic doctor said in a very strong tone: "This is really strange. You see..." Everyone immediately stared at Blatter's straight and stiff body, like a collapsed marble statue lying on the grass a few feet away from the totem pole.Except for the beer belly and clothes, the body of that blood-stained and strange-smelling corpse was almost exactly the same as that of Andrew Pang in Arroyo's T-shaped murder case six months ago. The doctor raised the dead man's right hand.On the stiff pale palm, there is a red circular stain. The forensic doctor roared: "Hmm! What do you think this is?" Ramxian the forensic doctor said triumphantly, "I think it looks like something like paint or dye. But... why did the dead man have this kind of thing on his hands?" I can't figure it out at all!" Ellery turned his face to Officer Bonn and said, "It seems that your judgment just now was correct. The chess piece found on the left side of the pillar is indeed related to the spot on the right palm of the corpse." At this time, the Bonn police officer suddenly put the chess piece in the right palm of the deceased, and said, "Actually, it should be like this." When the police officer stood up again, his expression was mixed with complacency and confusion. Prosecutor Esham looked very uncomfortable, so he shook his head and said, "I don't think this is an important clue. You haven't been to Blatter's study, so you don't know. Blatter seems to be there. Playing chess, so he moved out a lot of props. Also, Blatter may have been playing chess before he died, so he had the chess piece in his hand. The murderer didn’t pay attention, and hung the body on the totem, in the dark , the pawn fell. That's it." "So the murder happened inside the house?" Ellery asked. "No. It was at the hut. There are many clues to support this judgment. The origin of leisure chess is very simple because the texture is not very good. When sweat or Bratt's hand is warm, the color will stick to the hand. So, everyone stopped talking and walked towards the hut together, leaving only forensic doctor Ramxian who was still looking for evidence on the grass.The hut was only a few steps away from the totem pole, and Ellery looked up to look around before entering the small entrance. "Strange, why are there no lights outside the house?" "The murderer must have used a flashlight. Oh! No! This must be based on the assumption that the murder was committed at night." The police officer said, "If Ramson can tell us how long Blatt has been dead, we can know the murderer. It's time." After the policemen at the entrance saluted and walked aside, a group of people walked into the thatched cottage, which was a small circular building.With a thick tree trunk as the main frame, there is a mountain-shaped straw roof on the top. Only the lower half of the surrounding is a wall, and the upper half is built with green lattice.Among them was a rough table and two chairs, one of which was stained with blood. "There doesn't seem to be anything suspicious here." Prosecutor Esham said while pointing to the floor. At this time, Professor Yadori suddenly said in surprise: "Look, there is a big pool of blood in the middle of the floor! It's not human blood! How can such a big pool be human blood!" "It should be human blood!" Officer Bonn replied calmly. Esham also expressed nervously: "If it was really human blood, why did it bleed in such a large amount? ... This means that Blatter's head was chopped off on this floor." Ellery had been looking around the hut while they were arguing.When his sharp gaze moved to the floor in front of the table, he suddenly found a big letter T painted in blood on a corner of the floor. Ellery exclaimed, "Whoa! It's that thing again." He frowned. "Prosecutor Esham, look at this T. Can you explain what this T means?" Esham looked at the letter T, spread his hands and said, "Oh! I was just about to ask you! Don't you have a lot of research on this? Was this done by a psychopath? A normal person probably wouldn't How about this!" "This murderer is probably a lunatic, or how could he do such a vicious thing," Ellery said. "Besides, Mr. Ersham! Have you thought about the totem stick?" "Totem stick! Professor..." "Totem pole!" Professor Yadori corrected, "You mean this murder may be related to religion?" He shrugged, "Are you linking the primitive worship of North American aborigines with Christianity? People with such psychopaths Man, would you connect this together? I just can't imagine." Police Officer Bonn and Prosecutor Esham looked at each other. Needless to say, they must not understand what Professor Yadori and his "apprentice" said.And Adori and Ellery did not explain to them. Now Ellery bent down to look at the long-stemmed pipe near the clotted blood. The police officer also noticed. "I've already checked this thing, and there are only Bratt's fingerprints on it. I think it must belong to Bratt, and he must have smoked here before he died. Since I heard that you are coming, I specially put Put it back where it was." Ellery smiled back. This is a distinctive pipe with a detailed carving of Neptune on the head.According to the remaining ash in the pipe, and the same color and thin ash left on the floor next to the pipe that Bonn pointed out, it can be seen that the ash leaked from the pipe at the same time when the pipe fell to the ground. Ellery looked at Bonn. "Are you sure it belonged to the deceased? Oh... I mean, did you ever show it to the Blatt family?" "Not yet." Officer Bonn seemed a little annoyed, "but I don't think it's suspicious. Don't you forget, I've had my fingerprints checked!" "Besides, the deceased was wearing a smoking jacket!" Ersham also pointed out, "Blatt doesn't smoke other kinds of cigarettes. I don't understand why Mr. Ellery is so suspicious—" The smile on Professor Ardori's face disappeared, and Ellery said with extreme fatigue, "Okay! That's just my habitual speculation." Ellery picked up his pipe and poured out the burnt ashes in it. On the table, scrape out a little more unburnt tobacco and put it in an envelope. The other three watched his movements quietly. Ellery said: "Guys, I'm an inquisitive person, so I don't take anything for granted. I'm not implying that the pipe doesn't belong to Bratt, but the tobacco in it, although it's just some Insignificant things, but it may also be an important key to murder investigations. Maybe the tobacco in it was deliberately given to Blatter by the murderer. Look!" Ellery picked up part of the tobacco, "This is a square shape , which is very different from the general tobacco cutting method. Now, let us look at the tobacco left by Blatter. If the two match, it means that this pipe is indeed Blatter’s. If it is different, it is given by the murderer. Therefore , this may be an important clue. I think my speculation like this should not be too much!... I'm really sorry, I said so much." Professor Yaduoli said with joy on his face: "We can hear the profound meaning of detective science now!" "So! Ellery, what do you think the situation is like?" Officer Bonn looked anxious. While thinking ecstatically, Ellery took off his glasses and wiped the lenses, before he said cautiously: "So far, it would be absurd to describe the case in detail based on the above signs. As for Blatter When we arrived at the thatched cottage, did the murderer come with us? This question cannot be determined yet. However! In short, when Blatter arrived at this thatched cottage, for some reason, he was holding that chess piece in his hand—the rest of the chess pieces should still be in the house. Perhaps, he was killed while smoking in the thatched hut, so the pipe fell from his mouth to the ground. Also, maybe the hand holding the chess piece was in his pocket, so he was killed When he died, he was still holding the chess piece in his hand, and then his head was cut off, and he was moved to the side of the totem. At this time, he should still be holding the chess piece, and when his hands were tied to the totem's wings, the The chess piece slipped to the ground, but the murderer left without noticing... I think this is probably the reason why he held the chess piece. However, this does not have much effect on the clarification of the case!  … ...Teacher, is my guess too far-fetched?" "I don't know either." Adori muttered. Forensic doctor Ramxian walked into the hut in a panic."My job is over," he said. "So what's your autopsy result?" Esham asked enthusiastically. "The body did not have any external injuries, and the deceased should have been fatally attacked by a blow to the head." Ellery was taken aback and thought, "Isn't this the same autopsy report I heard in the Arroyo courthouse six months ago?" "Is there any chance of being strangled?" Ellery asked. "This will only be known based on the condition of the lungs after the autopsy." "When was the time of death?" asked the Bonn police officer. "About fourteen hours." "It was done in the dark!" Esham yelled, "The murder should have happened around ten o'clock last night!" Ramson shrugged his shoulders, and then said, "Let me say something last! By the way, there is a strawberry-shaped red mole seven inches above his knee. Other than that, there is no other characteristic. Okay, I am going home." When everyone walked out of the hut silently, Officer Bonn suddenly said: "Ah! I remembered, your father said on the phone that you can provide us with some information." Ellery looked at Professor Ardori, and the professor looked at Ellery. "Yes," Ellery replied. "I have something to tell you, Sergeant. Did you see anything unusual?" "Unusual? What do you mean?" Ellery bowed his head in thought, and kicked up a small stone at his feet.When they passed the corpse, the corpse had been covered with a white cloth.Several people are preparing to carry him away.The group of them also walked to the house at the end of the path. Ellery glanced at the body and murmured, "Why is a man hanging on this totem pole with his head chopped off?" Bonn replied angrily: "What's the use of doubt, and it can't solve the case! It can only be said to be a crazy behavior!" "Crazy?" Ellery repeated the word. "Didn't you notice the repeated T?" "The word T appears again and again?" "That's right! The pillar itself is a weird T-shape; the corpse has its head chopped off, and the outstretched arms and bound feet also form a T-shape; there is also a bloody T-shape at the scene of the murder." .” "Yeah, I saw it too." Elsham said with some doubts, "But—" "In addition, there is a very funny conclusion," Eller said without a smile, "doesn't the English word for totem (totem) also start with T?" Prosecutor Esham rushed to say: "It's really boring. This is just a coincidence. The posture of the pillar and the corpse was just formed by chance." "Coincidence?" Ellery protested. "Could it be that the series of T's—T's road, T's corpse—in the bizarre murders in West Virginia six months ago were also a coincidence? " Prosecutor Esham said bloodlessly: "Don't be kidding." Professor Yadoli said quietly: "Isn't that your job? Ordinary people like me know about it, and the news media across the country have published it." "Oh! I remember now," Ersham said. "However, such a way of speaking seems unreasonable." Bonn said suspiciously. "Unreasonable? Indeed, but in fact it happened. I have a piece of information to give you. In the Arroyo incident, there was a strange old man—Halakt." The Bonn police officer listened and suddenly shouted like a bull stung by a bee: "Halakt? On the other side of the bay, on the island of Oista, in a nudist village, there is a madman named Halakt. .”