Chapter 4 Chapter 3 Mystery

Deputy Attorney Pepper is a handsome young man.Things did go well from then on, when Woodruff arrived at the Khalkis home half an hour after he called the police.He had a gift for making people talk because he knew the art of flattery—a gift that poor barrister Woodroff never possessed.To Woodruff's surprise, even he himself felt much more comfortable after his brief chat with Pepper.No one noticed the chubby, cigar-smoking face who came with Pepper—the man's name was Hesse, and he was an agent in the Public Prosecutor's Office; At the door of the room, quietly smoking a cigarette, completely unobtrusive.

Woodruff pulled the imposing Pepper into a corner and told what had happened during the funeral. "Well, that's the way it is, Pepper. I went into Khalkis' bedroom five minutes before the funeral procession lined up in the house"—he pointed generally to the other door leading to the study ——"Take the key on Khalkis' iron box, come back here, open the safe, open the iron box, I clearly see that it's still inside. But now—" "What's in there?" "Didn't I tell you? I must be too excited." Pepper didn't have to point out to Woodruff, who was obviously too excited, he was wiping the sweat from his face, "I'm talking about Khalkis' new will Alas! A new copy, please note! There is the new will in the iron box, there is no doubt; I picked it up and read it, and it has my own seal on it. I put it back in the box and locked it Unpack the box, lock the safe, and leave this room..."

"Wait a minute, Mr. Woodruff."—Pepper has a policy of doing business, and he always refers to people who hope to dig up clues, "Sir"—"Anyone else has the key?" "Absolutely not, Pepper, absolutely not! It was the only key on the box, Khalkis himself told me so not long ago; I found it in Khalkis' pocket in his bedroom, and I was in After locking the box and safe, I pocketed the key. On my own key ring, in fact. Still have it.” Woodroff pulled a key pouch from his hip pocket; Tremblingly, he picked out a small key, untied it, and handed it to Pepper. "I can guarantee it's been in my pocket all these times. Oh, there's no way someone stole it from me!" - Pepper nodded solemnly - "There's no time to steal it. Just as I left the study Time, the queues started, and then we went to the funeral. When I got back, maybe it was instinct or something that made me come here again, open the safe-oh, God, the will and the box It's all gone!"

Pepper clicked his tongue repeatedly, expressing sympathy: "I guess who took it?" "Estimates?" Woodruff looked around the room. "I have enough estimates, but unfortunately no evidence! You listen, Pepper. The situation is obvious. Number one: When I saw the will in the box, whoever was in Everyone in the house is still here; no one never goes back. Second point: Everyone who attends the funeral leaves the house in a file, walks in a file across the backyard to the cemetery, and they are in The entire time of the cemetery is verifiable, and they have not had contact with any outsiders except for a few people they met on the cemetery. Third point: When the original crew returned to the house, even these few The outsiders I met also came together, and these few people are still here."

Pepper's eyes sparkled: "This situation is so interesting. In other words, if someone in the original team stole the will and passed it on to an outsider, it would be of no benefit at all, because as long as you search for this A few outsiders will reveal themselves, unless the will is hidden on the way or in a cemetery. Very interesting, Mr. Woodruff. So, who are the outsiders you mean?" Woodroff pointed to the little old woman in the old-fashioned black millinery: "She's one of them. This old madman is Mrs. Susan Moth, and she lives in one of the six houses that surround the backyard. So it's a neighbor." Pepper nodded, and Woodroff pointed to the sexton who stood trembling behind Pastor Ida, "And this little huddled man named Hennieville —he is the sexton of the church next door; and the two workers beside him, gravediggers, are employed by the man over there—that man over there is Stuart the undertaker. Now for the fourth Point: When we were in the cemetery, no one came in or went out - I checked with the journalists who stayed outside the door to confirm this. And after I verified that no one came in or out, I locked the doors with my own hands up, so no one can get in or out anymore."

"This is getting tricky, Mr. Woodruff," Pepper was saying, when he heard a growl behind him, and twisting around, it was the young fellow, Alan Cheney, flushed, prodding with his forefinger. Light Woodruff. "Who is this?" Pepper asked. Allen shouted: "Please, sir, don't believe him. He didn't ask the reporters! It was Joan Bright who asked--it was Miss Joan Bright over there. Not you. huh, Joni?" Joan was born with a icy exterior—slender British figure, haughty jaw, very bright blue eyes, prone to wriggling nose.She looked at little Allen in Pepper's direction, and said coldly in a sonorous tone: "You're drunk again, Mr. Cheney. Please don't call me 'Joanie.' I hate it. "

Alan stared directly at her delicate shoulders with sleepy eyes.Woodruff said to Pepper, "He's drunk again, you see—his name is Alan Cheney, Khalkis' nephew, he's—" Pepper replied, "I'm sorry," and turned to Joan.She looked at him with a slightly disdainful expression. "Miss Bright, did you think of asking the reporters?" "Exactly!" said two flushes in her cheeks. "Of course, Mr. Cheney thought of that too; we went together, with Mr. Woodroff following us. That little drunkard was very interesting, drunk." How could he not lose his masculinity and refuse to discredit a woman's achievements..."

"Well, yes," said Pepper, with a broad smile—he always had a smile on women—"Miss Bright, are you—?" "I was Mr. Khalkis' secretary." "Thank you." Pepper returned to the dejected Woodroff, "Well, Mr. Woodroff, you were just telling me—" "I'm telling you the whole background, Pepper, and I'm done." Woodruff cleared his throat, "I also want to tell you that there were only two people in the house at the time of the burial, one was the housekeeper, and West Mrs. Muss, who fainted from crying over the death of Khalkis, has been in her room ever since; the other was Wegsch the valet. Wegersch was in the study all the time. He insisted that no one had come in. The safe was within sight of him the whole time."

"Okay. We've finally got a clue," Pepper said cheerfully. "If Wegsch is to be believed, we can now estimate the time of the crime. Surely not from when you read the will to when the funeral procession leaves the house." In those five minutes. It seems that the matter is very simple." "Is it simple?" Woodruff disagreed. "Of course. Jesse, come here." The agent slouched across the room, ignored by everyone. "The situation is like this. We want to track down a stolen will. Its whereabouts are nothing more than the following four possibilities. Either it is hidden in this house, or it is carried by someone in this house, or it is thrown away. Somewhere along the route to and from this private backyard, we're going to find it in the cemetery. Let's solve it step by step. I'll call the prosecutor, and you stay here for a while."

He dialed the phone number of the Public Prosecutor's Office, spoke briefly to Prosecutor Simpson, and then rubbed his hands and came in: "The prosecutor will send the police to assist immediately. We are handling an important case now. Mr. Woodroff, you have been appointed As a member of the committee, you will be in charge of all the people in this room while Hesse and I go to visit the backyard and the cemetery. Everyone, please listen to me!" These people all stared blankly. He: Unfathomable, at a loss, "Mr. Woodroff is in charge here, please cooperate with him. No one should leave this room." So he and Hession strode out.

Fifteen minutes later, they came back empty-handed and found four more people in the study.They were: Inspector Thomas Willie, a dark-browed, tall man of Inspector Quinn's; and two of Willie's men, Flint and Rhett; and a fat policewoman.Pepper and Willie went to a corner to discuss solemnly, Willie was as cold and noncommittal as usual, and everyone else sat and waited indifferently. "Have you trampled the back yard and the graveyard yet?" Willie asked aloud. "I stepped on it, but it's best for you and your group to check it again." Pepper said, "so that everyone can rest assured." Willie muttered something to two of his men, and Flint and Rhett went out.Willie, Pepper, and Hesse began a systematic search of the house.They searched from the room they were in, searched Khalkis' study, then searched the bedroom and bathroom of the deceased, and then checked the bedroom of Demi in the back.After checking back, Willy checked the study again without saying a word.He searched the safe, the drawer of the dead man's desk with the telephone on it, the books, the bookshelves along the wall... He searched carefully for everything, and even noticed a A small shelf with a colander and various tea things on it; Willie unscrewed the tight lid of the colander with the utmost care and peered inside.Grumblingly, he led them out of the study into the hall, from which he proceeded to search the hall, the dining room, the kitchen, the various cubicles, and the pantry behind.The inspector examined with particular care the funeral decorations which Stuart the undertaker had dismantled; but he found nothing.The men went upstairs, and swept through the bedrooms with great force, but avoided Mrs Sims's retreat; then they climbed into the garret under the roof, and rummaged through the old desks and boxes. Check it upside down, causing dust to fly. "Jesse," Willie ordered, "go check the basement." Jesse grudgingly bit his extinguished cigar, and plodded downstairs. "Well, Inspector," said Pepper, as they both panted against the bare wall of the garret, "it looks like we're going to have to do that nasty thing. Damn it, I don't want to Go search those people." "Compared to the trouble here," Willie said, looking at his dirty hands, "that thing is really enjoyable." They went downstairs, and Flint and Rhett joined them. "Lucky boy?" Willie called out. Rhett, a small, inconspicuous man with dirty gray hair, touched his nose and said, "Nothing. To make matters worse, we met a woman—a girl or something." Yes—in a house on the other side of the back yard. She said she watched the funeral from the back window, and has been watching there since. Well, Inspector, the woman said, since the funeral procession came back from the cemetery , except for two people—Mr. Pepper and Hersey, I suppose—no one has ever come out of the back door of this house. And no one has ever come out of any of the houses in the back yard." "What about the cemetery?" "There's no harvest there either," said Flint. "The newspaper guys have been hanging around the cemetery outside the iron fence on Fifty-fourth Street. After the funeral, they say, there's no more No one was seen." Jesse was beaming with joy as he had successfully lit the cigar.He shook his chubby face vigorously.Willie grumbled, "Hey, I don't know what you're laughing at, you dumb bastard," and he strode into the middle of the room, holding his head up like an inspector. , shouted loudly, "Everyone listen!" Everyone straightened up, cheered up, and the tiredness disappeared.Alan Cheney curled up in a corner, with his head in his hands, and his body swayed slightly.Mrs. Sloane's last courtesy tears had been wiped away; even the Reverend Ida looked expectant.Joan Bright looked eagerly at Inspector Willie. "I'm going to be clear now," said Willie stiffly. "You know, I don't mean to offend anyone, but I have a job to do. I'm going to search everyone in this house— Search your body if necessary. There's only one place a stolen will can be—and that's on someone here. If you're wise, be quick and generous. Hersey, Flint, Rhett— Search for men. Policewoman," he said to the strong and strong female policewoman, "you take the women to the living room, close the door, and do it quickly. Don't forget! If you can't find them on these people, You go upstairs and search the housekeeper and her room." There was a buzzing in the study: various comments, half-truths and protests.Woodruff tapped his thumbs on the table and looked benevolently at Nacio Suiza; Suiza gave a wry smile and walked towards Hesse automatically, being the first to be searched.The women came out of the study one by one. Willie grabbed a telephone: "I want Police Headquarters... Put Kim Janney on the line... Is that Janney? Call Emmen Crewe at Eleven East Fifty-fourth Street at once." Let's go. The task is urgent. Let's do it right away." He leaned back on the table and watched coldly, Pepper and Woodroff were beside him, and the three policemen searched the men one by one, thoroughly, It doesn't care about decency and face. Willy was startled suddenly: it was going to be Pastor Ada's turn next, but the pastor didn't complain. "Reverend... Hey, Flint, don't search him! Reverend, I give you permission." "Don't do that, Inspector," replied the chaplain, "I'm as much a suspect in your eyes as anyone else." He smiled, noticing the indecision in Willie's stern face. "Okay then, Inspector, I'll search myself in front of you." Even though Willie worried that it would be disrespectful to desecrate the vestment with his hands, he stared intently at the pastor turning over the pockets one by one, looking He watched him undo his clothes himself, forcing Flint to run his hands all over him. The female policeman went back into the study and reported concisely that nothing was found.The women—Mrs. Sloane, Mrs. Moth, Mrs. Freeland, and Joan—all blushed; they avoided the eyes of the men. "That fat woman upstairs—is that the housekeeper?—is all right," said the policewoman. There was silence.Willie and Pepper looked at each other with heavy hearts; Willie was pissed at what he could do, and Pepper's eyes were rolling and thinking. "There's always something wrong somewhere," Willie said in a nasty voice. "Are you sure about that, policewoman?" The policewoman just snorted. Pepper grabbed Willie by the lapel of his jacket. "Look, Inspector," he said softly, "something must have gone terribly wrong, as you said, but we can't keep up with it with our heads." Hit the stone wall. It is possible that there is a secret closet or something in this house, but we have not found it. If there is, your architectural expert Crewe will find it. Anyway, we finally tried our best. We can, we've tried our best. We can't keep these people here forever, especially those who don't live in this house..." Willie stomped on the rug. "Hell, the officer is going to kill me for this." Things move quickly.Willie took a step back, and Pepper politely announced that outsiders are free to leave, but anyone who lives in this house is not allowed to leave without official consent, and every time they leave home, they must go through a thorough process. search. Willie beckoned to the policewoman and the young and strong Flint, and led the way through the hall into the hall. When he arrived in the hall, he stood solemnly at the front door.Mrs. Moth gave a shriek of terror as she moved up to him. "Policewoman, search this lady again," Willie cried...he smiled kindly at Reverend Ida, but searched Hennywell, the sexton, himself.Meanwhile, Flint again raided the undertaker, Stuart, and his two assistants, as well as that nasty Nacio Suyza. Like the previous body search, nothing was found. When the outsiders had gone, Willie returned to the study, and he selected for Flint a spot outside the house from which he could look both at the front door and at the basement front door below the stone steps.He sent Rhett to the back door, at the top of the plank steps that led to the back yard; he sent Hesse to the back door, which was on the same level as the back yard, and which led from behind to the basement. Pepper and Joan Bright talk warmly.The boy Cheney felt badly about it, pulled his hair tousle, and scrunched his face behind Pepper.Willie held out his blunt fingers and shook them at Woodruff.