Chapter 7 Chapter 6: Digging the Grave and Opening the Coffin

On Friday, October 8, Mr. Ellery Queen saw for the first time the actors of the Khalkis tragedy, the scene of that tragedy for the first time, and it was also the day when he felt for the first time the "There was tension in the atmosphere" experienced by Miss Joan Bright.He is most interested in it. On Friday morning, everyone gathered in the Khalkis family living room—silent and nervous; while the crowd was still waiting for Deputy Attorney Pepper to arrive, Ellery and a tall, red-faced, white-skinned , attractive-looking young British girl accosted. "I suppose you are Miss Bright?"

"Sir," she said solemnly, "it is not my honor to know your name." Her very charming blue eyes showed a hint of a smile in the coldness. Ellery grinned: "Miss, that's wrong. Don't you think I'm born knowing names?" "Hmph, another rarity." She folded her snow-white hands on her knees reservedly, and squinted at the door, where Woodroff and Inspector Willie were standing talking. "Are you a policeman?" "It's just such a real detective. My name is Ellery Quinn, and I'm the legitimate son of the famous Sergeant Quinn."

"I don't think you're a real detective, Mr. Quin." Ellery's eyes were sharp and keen, and she took in all her slim beauty at once: "In any case," he said, "you would never be accused of such a thing." "Mr. Quinn!" She sat upright and said with a smile, "Are you making a fuss about my body shape?" "Ghost of Estadi!" murmured Ellery.He examined her figure carefully, making her face flush with shame. "But actually, I didn't notice at all." At this point, they both laughed, and she said, "I'm a different kind of ghost, Mr. Quinn. I'm quite psychic indeed. "

In this way, completely unintentionally, Ellery learned the reason for the "tension in the atmosphere" on the day of the funeral.As he said goodbye to Bright and rose to meet his father and Pepper, he found a new tension; for young Aaron Cheney was watching him murderously. Immediately behind Pepper and the officer was Detective Flint, who was also tugging at a pudgy little old man who was sweating profusely. "Who is this person?" Willie shouted as he blocked the entrance of the living room. "He claims to be from here," said Flint, clutching the short fat man's short arm. "What's to be done with him?"

The police officer stepped forward and threw his coat and hat on the chair: "Sir, who are you?" The newcomer was at a loss.The man was small and plump, Dutch, with white hair and cheeks as red as makeup.He gasped for breath, with an embarrassing expression on his face.Gilbert Sloan came across the room and said, "That's right, Sergeant. This is Mr. Jan Freeland, our frontman in the field." His voice was flat and strangely dry. "Oh!" Quinn looked at the man shrewdly, "Mr. Freeland, huh?" "Yes, yes," Freeland gasped, "it's my lord. Sloane, what's going on here? Who are these people? I thought Khalkis... Where is Mrs Leland?"

"I'm here, my dear," Mrs. Freeland appeared at the door with this sweet greeting.The little man trotted up to her, kissed her hastily on the forehead--she had to stoop, and there was a moment of unconcern in her wide eyes--then he put his hat and The overcoat was handed to Wegsch, still standing there, bewildered by everything around him. The sergeant said, "Mr. Freeland, how come you're only here now?" "I was back at the hotel in Quebec last night," Freeland said in a gasp, "and saw the telegram. Didn't even think Khalkis would die. Amazing. What's the assembly here doing now ?”

"We're going to exhume Mr. Khalkis this morning, Mr. Freeland." "Gah?" The little man looked sad, "I missed the funeral. Alas, alas! But why do you want to open the grave? Could it be—?" "Officer," Pepper said impatiently, "do you think we can get started?" Sexton Hennywell was seen prowling the cemetery, running along the rectangle of sod that had been dug up when Khalkis was buried.Hennywell pointed out the line, and two workers spit into the palms of their hands, waved their shovels, and set to work. No one uttered a word.The women remained in the house; only Sloane, Freeland, and Woodroff, the few persons connected with the case, were present; As for Cheney, he was obsessed with running around Joan Bright.The Quinns and Inspector Willie stood nearby with a newcomer, a slender man with a dark complexion, biting a strange-looking slender cigar in his mouth, and a black parcel at his feet, watching the excavation together. Tomb workers dug large chunks of soil.Outside the iron fence leaning against Fifty-fourth Street, there were a lot of journalists, all of whom had their cameras pointed at them.

The police dispersed the crowd on the street.The servant Wegsch looked cautiously into the cemetery from outside the backyard wall.The agents leaned against the fence.The windows facing the backyard were full of people, some with their necks stretched out. The worker dug to a depth of three feet, and the shovel hit the iron, making a rattling sound.They worked hard, like pirates digging for treasure, happily clearing the plane of the horizontal iron gate leading to the underground ossuary.When their work was done, they jumped out of the shallow hole and leaned on their shovels. The iron gate opened.Immediately, the two big noses of the slender man with a cigar in his mouth vibrated rapidly, and he muttered something serious in his mouth.He stepped forward, knelt down on the ground, stretched out his body, and breathed in through his nose. Everyone was surprised and couldn't figure it out.He raised his hand, stood up hastily, and shouted to the police officer: "There is something strange here!"

According to Officer Quinn's rich experience, he knew that this lanky man with a cigar in his mouth was not a person who liked to pretend to be amazing and bluff.The man was Dr. Samuel Brody, assistant to the Chief Medical Examiner of the City of New York, and a careful gentleman.Ellery felt his pulse quicken, and Hennywell was dumbfounded.Dr. Brody didn't answer, but told the gravediggers, "Go in and drag out the new coffin, and we'll raise it right here." The workers leaned carefully into the black pit, and all this time their hoarse voices and the chaotic footsteps were heard.Then, the huge shiny black thing slowly moved outside, so they quickly assembled the equipment and issued a password...

Finally, the coffin was brought up to the floor of the cemetery and placed beside the dug-out grave. "Looking at him reminds me of Mr. Frankenstein," Ellery whispered to Pepper, looking at Dr. Brody.But neither of them smiled. Dr. Bodillau sniffed like a big police dog.However, by this time, everyone smelled a disgusting stench; and it was getting worse and worse.Sloane turned pale; he took out his handkerchief and sneezed. "Is the body embalmed?" Dr. Brody asked, leaning over the coffin.No one paid him any attention.Two gravediggers set about unscrewing the lid.It was at this dramatic moment that countless cars on Fifth Avenue happened to be honking their horns harshly, and there was a cacophony of sound—a soundtrack that was congenial to this rare scene.At this time, the coffin lid was removed...

Immediately, shockingly, unbelievably, a situation appeared before his eyes.That's where the stench came from. It turned out that on top of the rigid embalmed body of George Kharkish was covered another corpse, crooked, and-wherever the flesh was exposed-blue and stained... It's the rotting husk of a human being.Second body! It is often at such a moment that life becomes an ugly phenomenon, where nothing is permanent and nothing is permanent, only time is neither born nor perished nor increased nor decreased. The people present were terrified, all of them were stupefied -- motionless, unable to move, too frightened to make a sound, their eyes wide open. Later, Sloane retched and his knees shook. He couldn't stand up anymore, and grabbed Woodroff's thick shoulders like a child.Neither Woodroff nor Jen Freeland was even breathing—they just stared blankly at the stinking intruder in Khalkis' coffin. Dr. Brody and Officer Quinn looked at each other blankly.Then, with a muffled cry, the old man jumped forward, blocked his nose with a handkerchief, and looked into the coffin excitedly. Dr. Brody clenched his fists and began to get busy. Ellery threw his head back, looking skyward. "Murdered. Strangled." Dr. Brody came to this conclusion after a brief examination.With the assistance of Inspector Willie, he turned the body over.It turned out that when the body was discovered, the victim was face down, with his head resting on Khalkis' stiff shoulder.You could see his face now—the sunken eyes, wide open, incredibly dry and brownish.But the face wasn't deformed beyond recognition.Beneath the irregular bluish-gray patches was dark skin.This already floppy nose must have been sharp in life.The face was floppy and swollen due to decay, but it could be seen that the wrinkles were deep before the decay. Officer Quinn said in a low voice, "My God, this idiot looks so familiar!" Pepper tilted his head and looked carefully.He murmured, "It looks familiar to me too, officer. I wonder if it's—" "Can the will and tin box be in there?" Ellery asked in a crisp voice. Dr. Willie and Brody, flipping, smashing, touching... "No," Willie said disgustedly.He looked at his hands, then furtively wiped them on his thighs. "At this point, who cares about that!" the police officer snapped.He stood up straight, his short body trembling. "Oh, Ellery, what a deduction you have!" he cried. "How wonderful! Open the coffin and find the will..." "Bah!" He wrinkled his nose together. "Thomas!" Willie moved closer to him.The sergeant whispered something to him, and Willie nodded and headed for the backyard door. The officer screamed again, "Sloane, Freeland, Woodroff. Get back in the house. Now. Don't confide a word to anyone. Reed!" A burly detective came over the edge of the fence. Come over, "Go and send those journalists away. We don't want them poking around right now. Go!" Li De jumped towards the entrance of the cemetery's Fifty-fourth Street. "You - sexton, I can't pronounce your name. You people. Put that coffin on and get this wretched - get this thing in the house. Come on, doctor. There's work. Do it!"