Chapter 12 Chapter Eleven Foresight

Ellery took out a handkerchief, wiped his mouth politely, put down the empty glass, still smiling, and disappeared into Khalkis' bedroom.The officer and Pepper followed him with resigned looks. Khalkis' bedroom was large and dark, with no windows—a blind man's room.Ellery turned on the light and began to explore the newly opened territory.The room was quite messy; the bed had been slept in and not made neatly; there was a large pile of men's clothes on the chair not far from the bed; there was a slightly disgusting smell in the room. "Perhaps," said Ellery, walking towards the tall cabinet facing the wall, "the smell of perfume, or something. The house is old, and it may have been solid when it was built. That's what Emen Krue said, but it was built without the necessary ventilation in mind." He inspected the tall cabinet, carefully, but without touching anything.Then, with a sigh, he flipped through the drawer.In the upper drawer, he seemed to find something interesting; he held two sheets of paper in his hand, and read one of them with interest."What did you find?" the officer exclaimed, and he and Pepper put their heads on Ellery's shoulders.

"Here's the dress schedule our idiot friend used to dress his cousin," Ellery murmured.They saw that one piece of paper was written in a foreign language, and the other - similar in content - was written in English. "My knowledge of linguistics," Ellery went on, "is enough to see that this thing is a modified modern Greek written language. Education is incredible!" Neither Pepper nor the police officer smiled; So Ellery sighed and began to read the English procedure sheet aloud.The content is as follows: "Well, what's the matter?" asked the inspector.

"What's the matter?" Ellery repeated his question. "It's really what's the matter." He walked to the door and looked into the study. "Mr. Cugara! Please come in." The Greek interpreter The officer obeyed and entered the bedroom. "Cygara," said Ellery, handing him the paper with the Greek writing on it, "what does it say? Read it aloud." Qu Jiala was ordered to do so.It turned out to be the verbatim translation of the English procedure sheet Ellery had just read to the officer and Pepper. Ellery told Cugara to go back to the study, and began nervously rummaging through the other drawers of the tall chest of drawers.At first there seemed to be nothing of interest, then I went to the third drawer and found a long flat package, sealed and never opened.The above address is sent to: Mr. George Khalkis, 11 East Fifty-fourth Avenue, New York City.In the upper left corner is the imprint of "Bailey Clothing Company", and in the lower left corner is printed the words "personal delivery".Ellery unwrapped the package.

Inside were six red moiré ties, all identical.He put the package on top of the tall chest, and went into the next Dami room.It's a small suite with the only window facing the backyard at the back of the house.The furnishing of the room is like a hermit's residence - a douran room, a tall grass bed like a hospital bed, a dressing table, a closet for clothes, and a chair.There was no trace of the owner's personality to be found in the room. Ellery gasped, but even though there didn't seem to be much to gain here, he searched Dummy's drawers thoroughly.The only thing that aroused his curiosity was a copy of the Greek procedure sheet he had found in the tall cabinet in Khalkis - written on carbon paper, which was known by comparing the two.

He went back to Khalkis' bedroom; the officer and Pepper had gone back to the study.At this moment, he started to work quickly with his hands and feet, and walked directly to the chair where the clothes were piled on it.He looked at them one by one--a dark gray coat, white shirt, red tie, wing collar; on the floor under the chair, a pair of gray leather leg-covers, and a pair of black pointed-toed shoes with Stuffed in black socks.He looked at all this thoughtfully, tapping his lips with his pince-nez, and walked towards the large wardrobe on the opposite wall.He opened the cupboard door and inspected the contents.Twelve outfits hung from the bars, along with three tuxedos and a tuxedo.Dozens of ties of various colors were randomly hung on a tie rod behind the cupboard door.On the floor, there are countless leather shoes, each with a shoe tree; there are also a few pairs of blanket slippers mixed in with the shoes.Ellery noticed that on the shelves above the clothes stood several hats—three, actually: a leather one, a bowler hat, and a silk top hat.

He closed the cupboard door, picked up the pack of ties from the top of the tall chest, and went back to the study to find Willie having a serious discussion with the police officer.The officer looked up at him questioningly, and Ellery smiled reassuringly, then walked straight to the telephone on the desk.He called the information desk first, talked briefly, repeated the number asked, and then dialed the number immediately.After a barrage of questions, Ellery hung up, grinning.He had already inquired from the undertaker Stuarts that it was true: the pile of clothes he found on the chair in Khalkis' bedroom, after checking them one by one, turned out to be the ones Stuarts' assistants had taken off the dead man; These are what Khalkis was wearing when he died, and before the funeral, they took off what he was wearing in order to embalm and change Khalkis into one of his two tuxedos.

Ellery waved the package in his hand and said excitedly, "Anyone recognize this?" Two men answered--Wegersch and, ultimately, that Joan Bright.Ellery smiled sympathetically at the girl, but spoke to the footman first: "Wegsch, what do you know about this package?" "Sir, is this a package from Baili Company?" "It was delivered last Saturday evening, sir, some hours after Mr. Khalkis' death." "Did you accept it yourself?" "Yes, sir." "So what if you accept it?" "I—" Wegsch seemed startled, "oh, I put it on the hall table, sir, I remember."

Ellery's smile faded. "On the hall table, Wegsch? Are you sure that's the case? Did you ever take it from there and put it somewhere else?" "No, sir, I'm sure I didn't take it." Wegsch frightened. "In fact, sir, in the stressful situation of funerals and so on, I completely forgot about the package until I I just saw you holding it in your hand." "Strange...and you, Miss Bright? What have you got to do with this ubiquitous package?" "I saw it on the hall table Saturday evening, Mr. Quin. As a matter of fact, that's all I know."

"Have you ever touched it?" Ellery suddenly became serious: "Attention everyone," he said to everyone in a calm tone, "someone must have taken this package from the table in the hall and put it in the third compartment of the tall cabinet in Khalkis' bedroom. in the drawer where I just found it. Who put it there?" "Who but Miss Bright remembers seeing it on the hall table?" "Great," Ellery said through gritted teeth, and walked over to hand the package to the officer. "Dad, this might be important. You should take this pack of ties and check with Baileys—who ordered it? Sent, and so on."

The police officer nodded blankly and waved to a detective: "Did you hear what Mr. Quinn said just now, Pigott? Go and do it." "Sir, do you want me to check these ties?" Pigott asked, raising his voice. Willie glared at him, and stuffed the package onto his bony chest. Pigot coughed a few times in embarrassment, and hurried out of the room. "Is there anything else that interests you, son?" asked the inspector in a low voice. Ellery shook his head; lines of anxiety showed on his cheeks now.The old man suddenly slapped his hands, everyone was taken aback, and straightened up: "That's it for today. I want you all to understand one thing. Last week, in order to search for a stolen will, you suffered It's been a little trouble -- but all things considered, it's not a big deal at all, so your freedom hasn't been much restricted. But now, you're all involved in a difficult murder investigation. I To tell you frankly, we have not yet figured it out. All we have is that the man who was murdered had committed a crime, that he had twice been a guest at the house in the most elusive manner, and that the second time When I was there, I was with someone else who did everything in his power to hide who he really was — and who did."

He glared: "The complexity of this case lies in the fact that when the victim was found, he was buried in the coffin of a person who died of normal causes. And, I may add, he was buried next door to this house. "Under the circumstances, you are all involved. Why, and how, God only knows. But I'm going to open the sky and tell you that you men and women must be watched until the truth comes out. As for You guys, like Sloane and Freeland, have jobs and can go to work as usual; but you gentlemen must be on call. Mr. Sujza, you can go home--but you are also on call. Arrive here. Woodruff, of course you are not limited here. The rest of the people must obtain permission to leave this house and must explain where they are going. " The Inspector was indeed very distraught, and managed to put on his overcoat with difficulty.No one said anything.The old man gave orders to his men again, and placed them in various parts of the house, appointing Flint and Rhett as chiefs.Pepper ordered Hesse to stay where he was—as a representative of the prosecutor's office, acting on behalf of the prosecutor.Pepper, Willie, and Ellery each put on their coats, and the four of them walked toward the door together. Before going out, the police officer turned around and looked at the crowd: "I want to make it clear to you at this moment," he said in the most unpleasant tone, "whether you are willing or reluctant to obey—to me All the same! Goodbye!" He strode out, Ellery last, grinning alone.