Chapter 26 Chapter 25 The Lame Man

A detective walks onto the yacht with a letter. "What's that?" Bonn yelled, pointing at the letter. "It's a telegram, just arrived." "Telegram?" Ellery repeated. "From Belgrade, Inspector?" The police officer quickly tore off the seal of the envelope and quickly read the message.Then he frowned gloomily and said, "Yes." "It's just right, it's here at this time." Esham said, "What does it say?" Bonn gave the telegram to Ersham, and Ersham read it: The telegram was signed and sent by the Chief of the Belgrade Police Department in Yugoslavia.

Professor Adori said: "Ellery, everything is just as you imagined. Their brothers are just common robbers in society." Ellery said angrily: "This is nothing more than a favorable motive for Velluia Kloshak to kill. We can know the fact of murder and robbery from the telegram, and I don't think it's just a trivial matter. We should look for Kloshak's whereabouts, maybe Megara's words are true. The only difference is that he didn't send people from Montenegro to kill people, but came all the way here, and wrote letters to hire people to kill people Let's do it!"

"Oh! what a poor fellow, I even feel a little for him." "However, Professor, the bloody and cruelty of this case is an unshakable fact." Bonn said sharply, "Yes, he had a reason, but every murder has a reason! It can't be because he has a reason." The reason for the murder is to absolve him of the crime! Hey, what is this?" Another criminal policeman took a bundle of documents similar to official documents and boarded the deck: "The inspection team leader called, this is the report from last night." "Well," Bonn immediately opened the file, "it's about the couple surnamed Lin."

"What's the matter?" Ashham asked. "Nothing important, just some tracking reports, like their activities in Arizona and Florida." He pocketed the reports. At this time, a criminal policeman ran over panting, out of breath and said excitedly: "Officer, I found it, I found it...there is a clue, it's right there..." "What the hell is going on?" "At first we investigated the boat and found that it was originally tied to the trestle, and the rope was cut off with a sharp knife. There was still a section of knotted rope on the trestle, which matched exactly after comparison."

"Okay, I see." Bonn said impatiently, "Everyone knows about the boat, is there anything else?" "It's footprints!" Everyone shouted in unison. The criminal policeman nodded and said: "On the soft soil beside the bridge over there, five footprints were found - three left feet and two right feet. The shoes were exactly the same size. They were the footprints of a man, about eight and a half inches long. And it should be a lame footprint." Professor Ardori interrupted and asked, "Lame? How do you know it's a mark of lame?" The criminal police said to the old university professor in a sympathetic tone: "This is the first time I have heard of this kind of problem. Have you never read detective novels? The footprint of the right foot is quite deep, and the footprint of the left foot is very deep." It's just a shallow mark, so what is it if it's not lameness?"

"Well, very good." The police officer smiled, glanced at the old professor, and said in a cold tone, "Mr. Megara, if you are still alive, you should listen to me, and you still say no?" Need a bodyguard? Well, if you have bodyguards, how did you become like this? . . . Any other discoveries, Detective Bill?" "That's all. Because the roads of Lin's house were paved with asphalt, no footprints were found, but even if no footprints were found, it should be confirmed that he was a lame person." In fact, Bonn's men failed to track it down. After a while, there was another rumbling sound of motors on the blue sea.A small boat is speeding towards the yacht.A middle-aged man with a timid expression was sitting on the mast of the ship, holding both sides of the mast with both hands, and several middle-aged criminal policemen surrounded him.

"Who is he?" Bonn yelled gruffly. "Come on up, who did you bring?" he yelled, leaning forward. "It's big news, officer." The criminal police shouted bursts. The captured middle-aged man was pushed onto the yacht by the criminal police. With a weak smile on his face, he walked up to the deck, took off his hat, and walked forward as if meeting a king.Everyone stared at this man, like looking at a monster, full of curiosity.The man's complexion was yellow, and his mouth was inlaid with gold teeth, giving him a hard-boiled and upper-class look. "Who is he?" Bonn asked, pointing at the man.

"Please speak, Mr. Darling." The detective shook the man's shoulders and put on a bureaucratic face. "This is Police Officer Bonn." Darling said with a look of extreme panic, "Hello, Sergeant, I am Elias Darling of Huntington, a small grocer. Last night, as I was getting ready to close, I There was a car parked outside the store for about four or five minutes. It was a Buick. The owner was a short man, and he walked away with a young lady. But when I was about to lock the door, I found A tall man stood beside the car and looked inside. The car seemed to be unlocked, so the tall man opened the door, started the engine, and headed for Xiantubo."

"Well, so what?" Bonn yelled. "The man may be the father or friend of the smaller man, or a bank clerk, and maybe the car was driven away because the thin man failed to pay the loan." what!" Darling said a little embarrassedly: "Oh, I didn't notice that, but I have to tell you, Captain—" "It's the police officer!" "Oh, Sergeant, I didn't notice the man's face, but I remembered that the man had a lame left foot." "What? Left lame?" Bonn yelled, eyes wide open like a dog discovering a bone. "Wait a minute, what the hell is going on here?"

All the people waited with bated breath for Darin's reply, expecting a new turning point.Ellery, however, stood at a distance, as if he didn't care what the grocer had to say.In fact, Ellery was right.The boss's narrative is no different from that of Mr. Karuka who runs a car dealership in Wilton, and there is still no breakthrough development on the whole incident. "I've already told this Mr. Policeman," said the Huntington businessman. "I haven't seen his face. But I know he's tall and broad-shouldered, with a little handbag in one hand, that's Our usual travel bag."

Elsham and Bonn sighed, while Professor Yadori shook his head. "Okay, Mr. Darling." Bonn said, "I'm so sorry to ask you to come here, Pickett, take Mr. Darling back in a police car." Picard criminal police helped Darling down the ladder, and then returned to land in a small boat before turning back. "Have you checked the car?" Ersham asked. "Hmm! I checked. As Darling said, it's a Buick luxury car. The owner has reported it to the police. They forgot to pull out the key because of their carelessness, so the tall man stole it." "Is there any news about the characteristics of the car?" Bonn asked. "Well, everything from the license plate number to other characteristics." "That guy must have escaped," Ersham murmured, "Kloshak must have stolen the car last night to escape, and then left on the train at two or three midnight, so it wouldn't be too late." Someone will see him." "In other words," Ellery went on, "you think Kloshak stole the car, drove it for a few hours, and left it somewhere?" "It's not an idiot, who dares to drive it all day and night?" Bonn said angrily, "Isn't that so? Do you still think there is something wrong?" Ellery shrugged. "I'm just asking, nothing surprising." "In my opinion," the professor finally spoke after pondering, "Kloshak has already figured out the time and place of committing the crime, and being able to steal the car is a pleasant surprise." "It's not an accident." Bonn interjected. "There are too many honest people in this world. If you really want to steal their cars, you can steal ten cars in an hour. Especially in Long Island." "Professor, you noticed that too," Ellery said. "But the officer is right." At this time, footsteps were heard above, he stopped and looked up, Stephen Megara's body was moving down from the roof of the radio room, a few feet away, Captain Sweet in pajamas watched intently, Next to him was Dr. Dun Paulo, who accompanied him quietly. Ellery, Bonn, Esham and the professor filed into the large police yacht. After they left, the Black Forest floated quietly on the Kegum Bay, and the body had been moved to another small boat , Lincoln was waiting on the shore, but there was no sign of the women. "Ellery, what's your opinion?" After a long silence, Ersham finally asked. Ellery turned around and replied: "This is the same as three weeks ago. There is still a long way to go to solve the case. I am also at a loss. Although the prisoner is Kloshak, who is he and what we should pursue?" The question is still who he is." He took off his glasses, showing an anxious expression, "He left footprints and clues on purpose, in fact, he was so suspicious..." His expression was a little unnatural. "What's wrong?" Professor Ardori looked at Ellery worriedly. Ellery squeezed the other hand tightly: "If only I could know what he's thinking! What is he thinking?"