Chapter 25 Chapter 24 Physical Evidence

On Friday, October 22nd, Mr. Ellery Queen - unofficially, of course - visited the house.That is to say, it might be interesting for Mr. James Knox to call and beg Mr. Quinn to come to Knox's quarters at once to discuss something.Mr. Quinn obliged, not only because of his admiration for fame, but also for other more practical reasons, so he quickly got into a handsome taxi and drove to the Riverside Drive. Wuqian got out of the car, paid the driver who suddenly became servile, and walked steadily into the house, which is regarded as one of the top industries even in this city famous for its real estate prices. mansion.He first waited for quite a while in a reception room that seemed to have been demolished here from the Medici Palace, and then, without much courtesy, was led by a tall, thin, old servant in uniform. see master.

In spite of the luxury of the living quarters, the master was at work, bent over a very modern desk, in his—that's the word Ellery had heard from the porter of the venerable lanky policeman. —in his "study."The study is as new as the desk.Black patent leather walls, angular furniture, lamps seen in a madman's dream... In short, all kinds of new-style equipment for private studios are available. Also, there was a secretary, sitting poignantly beside her master, with a notebook on her lap, and that was Miss Joan Bright. Knox greeted Ellery warmly, handing over a hardwood case full of six-inch cigarettes, and seated the obviously agitated guest in an uncomfortable-looking chair that was actually quite comfortable. , and then stammered in his mildly mild tone: "Well, Quinn. I'm so glad you've come so soon. You never expected to meet Miss Bright here, did you?"

"I'm astounded," said Ellery seriously.Miss Bright's eyelashes fluttered, and she slightly adjusted the hem of her clothes, "I dare say, this is Miss Bright's luck." "No, no. It's my good fortune. Miss Bright is a rarity. My own secretary was lying down, gagging, or stomach-ache, or something—unbelievable. Now Miss Bright Help me manage affairs, and at the same time take care of the aftermath of Khalkis. The aftermath of Khalkis! Really, sir, I should admit that it is a great pleasure to be able to face young and beautiful girls all day long. It is a pleasure Infinity. My own secretary is a thin-faced Scot who hasn't smiled since womb. Please wait a minute, Quinn. Let me get a little more specific with Miss Bright, and I'll be free... . . . to write a check for the sums due, Miss Bright—”

"Pay," repeated Miss Bright obediently. "—and pay off the stationery you ordered. When you pay your new typewriter, don't forget to add a charge for another key change—and send the old typewriter to charity— I hate old stuff..." "Order some more steel folders for your files, if you can. That's all." Joan got up, walked across the room, sat down at a snazzy little desk, and began to type, with the neatest secretarial grace. "Now, Quinn, it's time to talk to you... These trivial matters are really annoying. The old secretary's illness has caused me a lot of inconvenience." Knox played with a golden pencil, "I remembered today. One thing, Quinn—I was so upset the other day that I should have remembered it. When I told him about it in Sergeant Quinn's office at Police Headquarters, I didn't even think about it. Forget about it."

Ellery Queen, what a fortune you are!Ellery Queen thought so.Heaven pays off.Prick up your happy ears and listen... "What's the matter?" he asked nonchalantly. Closer to home.Knox began to talk with a nervousness, but the nervousness gradually disappeared as he talked. The general idea is: that night, when Knox was visiting Khalkis accompanied by Greenshaw, something special happened.Immediately afterwards, Khalkis issued a promissory note according to Greenshaw's request, and after handing it over to Greenshaw, something special happened.It appears that Greenshaw, as he stuffed the bills into his purse, evidently thought he might as well take the opportunity to make another rip-off.So, under the pretense of "goodwill," he had the audacity to ask Khalkis for a thousand dollars--because, he said, he would not There is an urgent need.

"No thousand dollars, Mr. Knox!" cried Ellery. "Listen to me, boy," said Knox, "and Kharkis replied right away that there was no cash in the house. So he turned to me and asked me to lend it to him—pay me back the next day. Hey , hi..." Knox flicked the cigarette in his hand helplessly, "he was lucky. I just took out five 1,000-dollar bills from the bank that day for pocket money. I took them out of my wallet When the money came, I drew a card and gave it to Khalkis, who handed it to Greenshaw." "Oh," said Ellery, "where's Greenshaw?"

"Grimshaw snatched it from Khalkis, and from his waistcoat pocket a heavy old gold watch--must have been the one found in Sloan's safe--he uncapped the back of the watch and put the bills in Roll it into a small roll, stuff it behind the cover of the watch, press the cover tightly, and put the watch back in the vest pocket..." Ellery was biting his fingernails. "Clumsy old gold watch. Are you sure it's the same watch?" "Absolutely. I saw a picture of this watch in Sloane's safe in the paper the other day. It's the watch, exactly." "What a miracle!" Ellery gasped. "If it wasn't...Mr. Knox, do you still remember the numbers of the checks that were withdrawn from the bank that day? Our first priority is to immediately Open the watch cover to check. If the ticket is missing, then the number on the ticket provides a clue to track down the murderer!"

"I feel the same way. I'll be able to look up the number in a minute. Miss Bright, call me Bowman, the cashier at my bank." Miss Bright complied like a tool, handed the receiver to Knox, and then went back to her secretarial duties in silence. "Bowman? I'm Knox. I took out five 1,000-dollar bills on October 1st. Please tell me the numbers of these bills... Uh, ok." Knox waited Then, he took a pad and scribbled with that golden pencil.He smiled, hung up, and handed Ellery a note, "Here's the number, Quinn." Ellery held the paper absently. "Hmm—would you like to come with me to headquarters, Mr. Knox, and help me check the inside of the watch?"

"Happy to oblige. I'm attracted to this detective business." The telephone on the desk rang and Joan stood up to answer it: "Calling you, sir. About securities and debts. Would you like me to—?" "I'll hear it myself. Just a moment, Quinn." While Knox was engaged in a tedious—to Ellery at least—extremely tedious business talk, Ellery got up and wandered to another table and stood beside Joan. .He winked at her and said: "Er—Miss Bright, could you type these numbers, please?"—which he used as an excuse to lean over her seat and whisper to her.She quietly took the penciled note from him, laid a sheet of paper on the drum of the typewriter, and began to type.At the same time, she whispered: "The unknown person who came with Greenshaw that night turned out to be Mr. Knox. Why didn't you tell me?" She showed a sullen look.

Ellery shook her head to signal her to pay attention, but Knox didn't stop talking.Joan peeled off the paper from the typewriter and exclaimed, "Oh, what a hassle! I have to use a pen to write the 'number' (#) symbol," and she relaid the paper on the roller. Put the paper and quickly type those numbers. Ellery whispered, "Any news from London?" She shook her head, Rufei's fingers lagged a little, and she said loudly: "I'm still not used to Mr. Knox's typewriter - it's a 'Remington', I've always used an 'Enderwood' cards, and there's no other typewriter in the house..." When she finished typing, she tore off the paper, handed it to Ellery, and said softly, "Is that Leonardo out of his possession?"

Ellery squeezed her shoulder so hard that she flinched and turned pale.He said with a smile of sincerity, "Excellent, Miss Bright. Thank you very much," and, slipping the note into his vest pocket, he said in a low voice, "Be very careful. Keep your hands out of bounds. Don't let anyone see what you're looking for. Listen to me. You're nothing more than a secretary. Don't confide a word to anyone about a thousand-dollar bill..." "Don't worry, I know, Mr. Quinn." She said clearly, and blinked mischievously and slyly. Ellery was honored to be seated shoulder to shoulder with the tycoon himself in Mr. James Knox's limousine heading downtown.The driver of the car had a stiff neck and wore a plain uniform. The car arrived in front of the police headquarters on Central Avenue, and the two got out of the car, walked up the wide steps, and entered inside.Ellery noted with some satisfaction the millionaire's astonishment at seeing the cops, detectives, and clerks all intimate with Officer Quinn's son.He led the way to an archive room.There, Ellery, on his uncredited authority, called up the archives containing the evidence in the Grimshaw-Sloan case.He did nothing but take out the old-fashioned gold watch: he took it out of its iron case, and he and Knox examined it together in the deserted room, neither of them speaking for a while. . Ellery had a presentiment now that something was about to happen.Knox just seemed curious.Ellery opened the back of the watch.There is something rolled up in a small roll, and when you spread it out, it turns out that it is a thousand-dollar bill. Ellery was disappointed; the possibilities he had conceived in Knox's study vanished before the living note.However, as he was a down-to-earth young man, he matched the number of the ticket in the watch with the slip in his pocket, and found that the ticket he found was indeed one of the five withdrawn by Knox. .He snapped the cover back on and put it back in the archives. "No big deal. This new fact doesn't change the objective conditions on which they base their conclusions about Sloane," Ellery replied sullenly. "If it was Sloane who killed Grimshaw, Grimshaw Sloan was also an accomplice of unknown persons, so the discovery of the note still in the watch case only means that Sloane knew nothing about the note. It means that Greenshaw did Wanting to keep it for himself, never revealed that he planned to extort a thousand dollars from Khalkis, let alone share it with Sloane-just look at the strange place he hides the notes, you can imagine So, after Sloane killed Greenshaw, he took the watch for his own need, without ever thinking of opening the case, since there was no reason for him to suspect that there was a trick in it. As it turned out, the note was Been where Grimshaw hid it. Verified—what nonsense!" "I can see that you don't take seriously the conclusion that Sloane is the murderer." Knox said shrewdly. "Mr. Knox, I just don't know where to start." They walked down the corridor. "Whatever, sir, I beg you for one thing..." "Go ahead, Quinn." "Don't tell anyone a word about the thousand-dollar bill—never. I beg you." "It's a deal. But Miss Bright knows—she must have heard me when I told you." Ellery nodded: "You tell her to keep it a secret." The two shook hands, and Ellery watched Knox go.Then, he paced the hall non-stop for a while before entering his father's office.There was no one in the office.He shook his head, walked to Central Street, looked around, and called a taxi. Five minutes later he was at Mr. James Knox's bank.Find out Mr. Bowman, director of Nat.He met Mr. Bowman, the chief cashier.He waved a special police card with a high air, and asked Mr. Bowman to show immediately the serial numbers of the five thousand-dollar bills that Knox had withdrawn on October 1st. The number on the note in Greenshaw's watch matched one of the five numbers given by the banking authorities. Ellery walked out of the bank, probably feeling that he was getting nowhere, so instead of spending the extra money on a car, he went home via the Underground Railroad.