Chapter 25 The Crucified Dead Part Four

That morning, a group of people on the motorboat bound for the Black Forest from the land were at a loss for words because they encountered such a hurricane-like killing in a long period of no wind.Ellery's pale face complemented his linen suit. He stood on the railing of the large motorboat and stared at the yachts in front of him. There is a dull pain in the stomach, and I feel gastric juice churning in the abdomen.Ellery said: "It's so weird!" He muttered to himself, the whole group was very quiet, even the accompanying detectives were also silent, and everyone stared at the beautifully lined boat.

Many people were busy moving on the deck, and the center of activity was near the central deck.A group of men surrounded the whirlpool like a whirlpool, and when the police boat approached the whirlpool, the whirlpool gradually expanded.In the clear sky, the terrible symbol of that scene - the blood-stained corpse has been slowly put down. That thing, the first of the two masts strapped tightly to it, was nothing like a human being, and no one could have guessed that the lively, passionate figure who had been talking to him only twelve hours before was now It turned out to be such a virtue.Those two feet tied tightly to the mast don't look like part of the human body no matter how you look at it. This grim image made of flesh gives people the illusion of a heroic sacrifice.

"This is the Christ of Calvary!" Professor Adori said in a hoarse voice, "How could this be! It's unbelievable!" His lips were already bloodless. "I'm not a devout believer, but, teacher, you are blaspheming like this. It is really unbelievable. Have you read the story of the Vandal tyrant Caligra in history? There are also ancient times that required people to be sacrificed." The God of Vulcan, the Muslim assassination group, etc. They used many tortures in the trial of heretics; there were five horses, piercing the heart with an arrow, and skinning... It is really cruel. Every page in the history book is written with blood. Although the teacher has read a lot, he absolutely can't understand the strong sense of horror that he feels directly - most people can't understand the madman who likes to destroy other people's bodies, the capricious animal nature... Although it is the civilized world of the twentieth century, But there were still gangsters fighting, there were world wars, and the Holocaust is still going on like crazy. It's really hard to have a clear understanding of human barbarism."

"That's just written records." The professor said displeasedly, "You don't know, and I don't know, it's all learned from the mouths of those soldiers in the field." "That's far away," Ellery said. "Collective madness doesn't have the secret ritual demonism that individual madness does. It's indirect, so it's not disgusting, but now I'm starting to be able to." Feel the disgusting taste." The two remained silent for a while, and when the motorboat was leaning against the Black Forest, they went up to the deck by the ladder.

Among the busy people on the deck of the Black Forest that morning, only Sergeant Bonn was the least moved by this dream-like scene of strange colors. Undoubtedly, this still belongs to his job; although he rolled his eyes and said some harsh words, it was definitely not due to the relationship between him and the other party who were blushing and staring last night. It’s just unacceptable, Stephen Megara is like a wax doll that has been painted with red paint and its head is removed, and is hung on the antenna pole. Bonn is furious, scolding his subordinates for their incompetence. dereliction of duty.

"You said you didn't see anyone sneaking here behind your back?" "Yes! Officer, I can swear it!" "Don't shirk responsibility! Isn't the murderer here?" "We've been patrolling all night, sir. But there's four ships, so it's theoretically possible—" "Theoretically?" said the officer, squinting, angrily. "Anyway, he's dead!" The assistant police officer was a young man. He blushed and said, "I have never been able to understand this matter. Did the murderer come from land? We only guard against the yacht on the north shore, which is the side of the bay. So, whether the murderer came from the cloth?" Where is Radoudo from the other side?"

"I'll ask you when I want to ask you something." The officer raised his voice and called, "Bill!" A man stepped out of the silent crowd of policemen. "what do you say?" Bill stroked his unshaven chin and said respectfully: "We are responsible for a very wide area, of course we can't say that the guy hasn't been here, but even if he came, it would be too forced to blame us for the fault." Go! Because it is very easy to sneak across from that jungle." "Hey! Everyone listen clearly." The police officer stepped back, clenched his left hand and continued, "I don't want you to say unreasonable things or evade responsibility, I want the facts. Especially which direction the murderer came from, that guy came from the coast of New York or It's very important to come from Long Island, and we can see that guy never came from Brado Udo, because he knows there's police in there. Bill, I have something for you to do—"

A motorboat towed a small boat and soon appeared beside the boat. Ellery looked at the boat through the dull air in front of him and thought it looked familiar. The police officer stood up and shouted: "There it is!" Everyone ran to the railing Over there, "What's that?" Bonn asked. "We found this boat in the bay!" replied the policeman. "I think the sign on it looks a bit like Bradoudo's neighbor's boat." Bonn's eyes lit up, and he said, "The boat of Lin and his wife—yes, that's the answer. What else is in it?" "Nothing but oars."

The police officer hastily said to me: "Take two or three people to the mansion of Mr. and Mrs. Lin, pay special attention to the pier and see if there are any footprints on the ground around. Remember, every corner must be investigated thoroughly. Walking here can be judged by the route." Ellery sighed.The noise around the pool echoed like waves, there were voices shouting orders; there were the footsteps of detectives going down the hull; then Bonn striding about; The corpse looked extremely eye-catching.Prosecutor Esham looked at the sea gloomyly. A small motorboat came riding the waves. Sitting on the motorboat was Dr. Deng Paulo with a calm expression. Small figures could be seen floating on the pier of Bradoudo, among them There is a figure of a woman.

After a short silence, the police officer walked towards the direction where Ellery and the professor were standing. He waved his hands and looked at the corpse with a cigarette in his mouth. "How?" he said. "How do you feel?" "Terrible!" murmured the professor. "What a madman's nightmare. Another 'T'!" Ellery suddenly had a sense of the unexpected!good!Because his mood has been fluctuating too much, he completely ignored the significance of using the antenna mast as a cross—an upright mast, a horizontal rod mounted on the mast, and a horizontal rod on another mast opposite the roof of the cabin, with a long rod drawn between them. Antenna - What could be more like a T drawn with thin wire than this?At this time, Ellery noticed that there were two men on the roof of the crucified cross. One of them was the forensic doctor Ramxian, but the other was never seen. It was a dark and thin old man like a sailor.

"Let's put the body down in a minute!" said the officer. "The old gentleman is an expert in knotting among the crew. I want to find out how the rope is tied before I put down the body. What do you think, Rollins? " The knotting expert straightened his bowed body, shook his head and said: "The crew would not tie knots like this. This kind of knotting is the clumsy knotting method of apprentices who don't know anything. It is the same as the one you gave me three weeks ago. I've seen the same knot on the clothesline." "Good!" said the sergeant cheerfully. "Put him down, doctor, please." He looked back and continued, "It's the clothesline again, probably so as not to waste time looking for it in the boat, because the current The sailboat is not the same as before, and finding the rope is not easy. This knot is tied in the same way as the one used to tie Bratt, so it was done by the same person.” "Logically not necessarily so," said Ellery, "but in other respects it is as you say. Can you tell us about Captain Sweet's clubbing?" "Yes. Poor old man, he hasn't woken up yet! If he wakes up, they will come to inform me... Come up!" Bonn said to Dr. Dunpaul in the small launch.He seemed to step onto the yacht without hesitation. "I need your help!" Bonn said, so he nodded and walked up the stairs. "Ah! Really!" he said in a daze, and walked up to the radio room. Bonn pointed to the nearby ladder, and Dr. Dunpaul climbed up the ladder. Ellery cleared his throat. He was a little stunned by the shock of the tragedy, so it was only now that he began to notice the intermittent blood on the deck. .The bloodstains came from Megara's cabin at the stern and went up the ladder to the roof of the radio room. Dunpale said hello to the forensic doctor Ramsen, and then the two began to put the body down with the help of the old crew. It was indeed unpleasant. Work. "It happened like this," Bonn continued at this moment, "my subordinates saw the body this morning from the pier of Bradoudo; when we came here, Captain Sweet was tied aside. , passed out like an electric shock, and the back of his head was covered with blood, so let's deal with it quickly, doctor! Please go and see Captain Sweet when you're done here." He said loudly to Dr. Dunpaul, The doctor nodded.The police officer changed the subject and continued, "Forensic doctor Ramxian came to deal with the old man Jiesheng. As far as we know, because there are not many clues, so the knowledge is limited-in fact, it is very clear that last night on this ship except There was no one else except Megara and the captain. How did Croshak do it? He first went into the mansion of Lin and his wife and rowed the boat they had set on the pier, because there were only two people on the yacht. Lighting the standing mooring lights, so he came up and knocked out the captain, then tied him up. After that, he sneaked into Megara's cabin and killed him. The situation in the cabin was very bad, and Bratt was killed It’s the same as the huts in those days.” "There's blood too! Where is it?" Ellery asked. "On Megara's cabin," Bonn said, stroking his freshly shaved chin. What happened! When I investigated the murder of Camorra, I left some strange carvings and the like. Oh, you go to the cabin to see! No! It's better not to look at it, it's simply unbearable It's like walking into a butcher's stall, that guy might have chopped off Megara's head in the cabin, so it's like a sea of ​​blood poured with red paint!" Then the officer thought for a while and added, "Carrying Megara Pulling the body up the stairs to the radio room was a laborious job, but it couldn't be said to be more difficult than hanging Bratt from the totem, so I'm sure Kloshak must be very strong." "Officer!" Professor Yadoli said, "He must be stained with blood in order to carry the dead! What do you think?" "No!" Ellery said before Bonn replied, "Just like when he killed Klimt and Blatter, he must have calculated in advance. He had already thought that he would bleed when he committed the crime, so no matter how he killed it, He had already prepared a change of clothes. I think the target of the search should be a lame man with luggage or a small traveling bag, because he can't wear the bloody clothes on himself." "I didn't pay attention to this." Bonn said frankly. "It's a good idea, but we must pay attention to two aspects. I have sent the police to investigate the possible whereabouts of Kloshak." He shouted from the side of the ship Then, he ordered the motorboat to leave. By this time, Megara's body had been lowered from the mast.Dr. Ramsen was squatting there and conducting the autopsy.Dr. Dunpaul had come down from the roof a few minutes before, and after speaking with Prosecutor Ersham, he was walking towards the boathouse, and they all followed the doctor to Captain Sweet in a short time. Captain Sweet was lying in the room at this moment, with a dried blood stain on his white haired head. The doctor said with emotion: "It seems that his injury is much more serious than mine. Fortunately, although he is old, he is still in good health. It seems that he will not have a concussion!" This cabin is not messy, although something happened, but the murderer did not seem to be resisted.Ellery also noticed an automatic pistol within easy reach. "Not fired," Bonn said, following Ellery's gaze. "Looks like Sweet hadn't had time to reach for the pistol before..." The old man groaned in pain, and his eyelids moved slightly, gradually revealing his light-colored eyes.He stared blankly at Dr. Dunpaul first, then turned to look at the others. He convulsed, as if entangled from head to toe, causing Sweet to close his eyes again.When he opened his eyes again, there was already a sense of life in his eyes. "Relax, Captain." The doctor said, "Don't move your head, let me wrap it up." After speaking, Dr. Dunpaolo reached into the first aid kit to find a bandage, wrapped up the injured head, and in the silence In the movie, the head of the old man has become like a soldier wounded on the battlefield. "How is it? Are you feeling better?" Prosecutor Esham asked with concern.He really wanted to ask the old man what had happened right away. Captain Sweet said with some difficulty: "Fortunately, what happened?" Bonn replied: "Meghalah was killed." The captain blinked, licked his dry lips with his tongue and asked, "Is it dead?" "Well, may I ask you what happened, Captain." "It's already the second day, isn't it?" No one laughed, and everyone understood what he meant: "Yes, Captain." Captain Sweet looked at the ceiling of the cabin in a daze: "Last night, Megara and I returned to the Black Forest after leaving home. I didn't feel anything wrong on board. We talked for a while, Mega Mr. La said that he would go to Africa after the storm passed, and then he went back to his cabin, and I went around in a circle as usual before going to sleep in peace." "Was no one hiding in the boat?" Ellery asked. "No. However, I'm not sure. Maybe he's hiding in the empty cabin or below." "Then what time did you get back to the cabin?" Esham asked. "At half past eleven." "Eleven-thirty," murmured Ellery. "Well, I fell asleep later. I don't know how long it took, I seemed to hear the sound of breathing beside my bed. I instinctively turned over to get the pistol, but before I could get it, the light was suddenly turned on After a while of dizziness, he fell unconscious." "Who hit you? Did you see that person's face clearly?" the prosecutor asked suspiciously. The captain shook his head sadly. "I didn't see anything. It was pitch black in the house, and the light was turned on suddenly, so I couldn't keep my eyes open." There is no doubt that the captain failed to provide any favorable clues.Therefore, the group only left Dun Paulo in the captain's cabin, and the others walked back to the deck. Ellery was thinking, no, he was worried, although he didn't have any clues, but he had a sixth sense in his mind, and he was anxious to catch this sense.Finally, he shook his head unhappily, and gave up trying to find this feeling again. At this time, the forensic doctor Ramxian was waiting for them on the deck, and the workers probably left. "How is it?" asked Inspector Bonn. Ramson shrugged and said, "If you remember what I said to Mr. Blatter three weeks ago, then I don't need to say anything more about this murder case." "Aren't there any scars?" "From the neck down, I don't dare to say. As for the neck above, I dare not say. A man named Paul Dun told me that Mr. Megara had a hernia recently. Is this true?" "Well, yes. Megara mentioned it herself." "If it is confirmed, then this corpse is Megara. His hernia is quite obvious. There is no need for an autopsy. Deng Paulo has also seen it just now, and he is sure that this is Megara." Bonn glanced at the corpse, raised his head and asked Ramxian, "What time did Megala die?" Ramxian looked up obliquely, pondered for a while, and said, "From the results of various inspections, it can be speculated that the time of death of the deceased should be between 1:00 and 1:30 this morning." "Very good. Leave the corpse disposal to us! Thanks for your hard work, thank you." "You're welcome, I'm leaving!" the forensic doctor said loudly, getting off the ladder, getting into the boat waiting below, and sailing towards the land. "Officer, has something been stolen?" Ellery asked. "No. There was some cash in Mr. Megara's cabin, but the murderer never took it, and there was a safe on the wall, which no one touched." "One more thing I want to know—" As soon as Ellery spoke, a yacht approached from the water, and several big men climbed onto the deck, sweating and panting. "How is it?" Bonn asked straight to the person walking in front, "Is there any result?" The person in charge shook his head and said, "We've checked everything within a mile." "Will the murderer throw it in the sea?" Bonn said to himself. "Did you throw something into the sea?" Esham asked without knowing it. "Megala's head! In fact, even if I find it, it won't be of much use. I don't want to make such a big effort, and do such drudgery with half the effort and no result!" "Hmph! If it were me, I'd have to find it." Ellery replied disapprovingly. "I was just about to ask you if you found the head." "Well, maybe you're right... Hey, call the salvage team." "Hey! Do you think that's important?" Professor Ardori asked in a low voice. Ellery shrugged, spread his hands and said, "It's hard to say. How do I know which is important and which is not? I just think there may be very subtle clues that haven't been discovered. There must be a step that we missed. ’” Suddenly he puffed on a cigarette and said, “I’m such a hard-working detective.” "You still have self-knowledge," said the professor without sympathy.