Chapter 26 Chapter Twenty-Five

On a Saturday afternoon in Brooklyn... Worse, as Ellery walked down the long residential streets under the bare trees of Brooklyn, he remembered wistfully—to come to this backwater Spending the weekend afternoon... Thinking about it, he stopped to look for the house number, which was painted vaguely like a joke.It suggested a certain atmosphere, a calmness and composure--a very serene tranquility, and a very cool composure... He imagined Mrs. The Broadway figure actually fell into this almost rural environment, and I couldn't help but secretly laughed. Mrs. Jesse M. Odell was at home when he turned onto a small gravel road and climbed the five wooden steps that led to the porch of a white-walled house.When she heard the bell and opened the door, her blond eyebrows rose; she evidently took him for a door-to-door salesman, and drew back with the sharpness of a seasoned housewife, Going to slam the door shut.Ellery smiled and put his foot on the threshold.It wasn't until he showed his ID that the hostility that repulsed people thousands of miles away disappeared from her beautiful big face, and was replaced by a panicked look.

"Come in, Mr. Quinn. Come in—I didn't recognize you at first." She wiped her hands nervously on the apron—she was wearing a rough, patterned house dress—and she was walking Ahead, leading him into a dark and cold living room.The french door on the left was open; she led him into the back room again, "I—you want Jerry—I mean you want Mr. Odell, don't you?" "As long as you don't give up." She walked out immediately. Ellery smiled and looked around.Lily Morrison changed a lot when she married, and it was not just a change of surname; after she got married, Lily devoted her whole body and mind to family life.Ellery stood in a very comfortable, very old-fashioned, very clean room--the Odells' "parlor room," of course.

The fiery red cushions must have been the work of industrious and unskilled women; the walls were decorated with gaudy pictures that indicated the new master's tastes—the lamps were almost all Victorian.The furniture, too, was red and green, carved and carved; Ellery could see, as soon as he closed his eyes, Lily, from the land of Albert Grinshaw, standing blushing against the gigantic Jessie Odell in the cheap furniture store, to buy the heaviest, the richest, the brightest. . . . He was interrupted by the occupant of the house, who had entered the house in his amused contemplations—Mr. Jessie Odell, with dirty hands, who must have been scrubbing in a private garage somewhere behind the house. car; the big Irishman made no apologies for his dirty hands or a few polite words about his disheveled clothes; he waved Ellery to sit in a chair, which he himself sat down, and the The bride would rather stand upright beside him, and he roared: "What's going on? I always thought this kind of damn questioning would be over long ago! What the hell are you people doing now?"

The lady didn't seem to want to sit down.Ellery stood too.The behemoth Odell contained anger that hadn't exploded. "I'm just here to chat. Not business, you know," Ellery said softly, "I just wanted to check—" "I thought the case was already closed!" "The case is indeed settled." Ellery smiled. "Of course I am sure that you will not be able to talk about anything important to the case, Mr. Odell. You always know that all important information has been covered by us." Mastered……" "Pfft, isn't that just another police trick?"

"Mr. Odell!" said Ellery in surprise. "Haven't you read the papers? Why are we playing tricks on you? You were just a little evasive when Officer Quinn questioned you. But since then, objective The situation has completely changed. There is no longer any doubt about you, Mr. Odell." "Okay, okay. What are you going to do?" "Why did you deny that you went to the Pinedy's to find Greenshaw that Thursday night?" "Well—" Odell said in a bleak tone.His wife put a hand on his shoulder, and he paused, "Don't worry about it, Lily."

"No," she said in a trembling voice, "no, Jerry. We didn't handle this the right way. You don't know about these people—the police. They'll keep following us until they figure out... Tell Mr Quinn, Jerry." "It's always the wisest thing to do, Mr. Odell," said Ellery earnestly. "Why do you insist on not talking when you have a clear conscience?" The two looked at each other.Odell dropped his head immediately and stroked his large, dark chin; he paused in thought, while Ellery waited quietly. "Well," said the Irishman at last, "I'll tell. But, boy, if you're coming for a stunt, I'll take my fate! Sit down, Lily; don't make me nervous." She listened After saying this, he sat down on the sofa, "I did go there, the police officer asked a good question. I went to the cash register shortly after a woman—"

"Then you are the fourth person to look for Greenshaw," said Ellery thoughtfully. "There is no doubt. Mr. Odell, what are you going to do?" "Grimshaw's a thug who got Lily right out of jail. I didn't know—I didn't know Lily's life before I married me. I didn't dislike her because of her life, you know Well, but she thought I would despise her, so she acted like a fool and never told me what she did before she met me..." "That's very unintelligent, Mrs. Odell," said Ellery, in a serious tone. "You should always tell your heart to your bedmate. Always. .”

Odell grinned. "Listen to this young man...you thought I'd throw you away, didn't you, Lee?" The woman said nothing; "Somehow Grimshaw found her—I don't know how he found out where she was, but he did, the vile devil!—and he drove her to that Sheek's I went to the restaurant owned by the guy to meet him. She went, because she didn't dare to disobey him, lest he would reveal her old background to me." "He thought she was still doing what she was doing, doing something new--he didn't believe her claim that she had rehabilitated herself and didn't want to hang out with him any longer. He couldn't die--ordered her to go to his room at the Binedi Hotel. I went to meet you here, you bastard who is begging for nothing! So she rushed out the door, and when she got home, she told me the whole story... because she felt that things were getting serious."

"So you went to the Pinetti Hotel to settle the score with him." "That's right." Odell looked at his big scarred hands resentfully, "Go and open the skylight to this poisonous snake and tell him. Warn him, don't stretch out his claws on my wife, otherwise, I will die." To get him out, to make him look good. That's all I said. After scaring him, I went away." "How did Greenshaw react?" Odell seemed a little embarrassed: "Guess, I must have scared his soul out. When I twisted his neck, his face was white and white——" "Oh, did you use force against him?"

Odell laughed loudly: "You call this physical force, Mr. Quinn, twisting a guy's neck. In fact, you should know how we deal with those mischievous steam pipe craftsmen in our business . . . at the time, I just shook him. He was too cowardly to draw a gun and fight me back." "Has he got a revolver?" "Well, maybe not. I didn't see it. But people of this class usually have guns." Ellery pondered.Mrs. Odell said timidly: "Now you know, Mr. Quinn, Jerry really didn't do anything bad." "On the other hand, Mrs. Odell, you could have saved us a great deal of trouble if you both had taken the attitude you have when you are first arraigned."

"I didn't want to be caught," said Odell in a muffled voice. "I didn't want to be caught as the murderer of this bastard." "Mr. Odell, was there anyone else in the room when Greenshaw let you in?" "No one but Greenshaw." "Then, is there any messy cups and such in the room--could there be any sign of someone's presence?" "Even if there was, I wouldn't have noticed. I was out of breath." "Has either of you, husband and wife, seen Grimshaw again since that evening?" The couple immediately shook their heads. "Very good. I can assure you that I will never disturb you again." Ellery felt that the New York Subway was so boring that people couldn't use their brains, and the newspapers they bought couldn't solve their worries.His brow was furrowed as he rang the bell in front of the Quinn Residence on the third floor of the brownstone on West Eighty-seventh Street; Sometimes, it can't relax his frowning brows - Dijuna has always been his spiritual comfort. Dijuna's quick-witted mind sensed that something annoying was happening, and he put out his naughty tricks to relieve the trouble.He took Ellery's hat, coat and cane with a fancy gesture, made a few faces that usually elicited a laugh - but this time it didn't - and ran from the bedroom into the living room , put a cigarette between Ellery's lips, and light it respectfully... "What's the matter, Mr. Ellery?" he asked at last, despondently, when all he could do was to fail. Ellery sighed: "Dijuna, little one, everything is wrong! But, I think, it gave me courage instead. For, as Robert W. Serves said in a plain "It is because everything is wrong that the new tune is so popular," as said in the doggerel of my book; on the other hand, I am not like the little soldier of Seves, who seems unable to play the uplifting and joyful tunes. Here comes the tune. I'm not musical by nature." This seemed to Dijuna the most absurd thing to say, but whenever Ellery quoted a scripture, it always foreshadowed something inevitable, so Dijuna smiled back. "Dijuna," continued Ellery, leaning back in his chair, "you listen. That Mr. Greenshaw, five men came to him that dreadful night; , we have now identified three: the late Gilbert Sloan, his great accomplice, and the fearful Jessim Odell. We judged, despite his own denials, that Dr. Woz was among them. If we could untangle Dr. Woz from this knot, it might be clear that he was innocent; so , there is only one mysterious visitor who does not know the name, and it is still impossible to see what kind of person this person is; and if Sloane is the murderer we want to catch, then this person should be ranked second among the five people .” "Yes, sir," said Dijuna. "On the other hand, little one," Ellery went on, "I give in. It's utter nonsense. I haven't been able to find a single thing so far that would support Sloane's conclusion." Effectiveness, even if shaken a little." "Can't find it, sir," said Dijuna, "I made coffee in the kitchen." "Should say I keep coffee in the kitchen, you grammatical bastard," Ellery said primly.