Chapter 33 Chapter Thirty-Two

Surprised?Prosecutor Simpson claimed no.He said Knox was acting suspiciously early on during that exciting night.On the other hand, it is interesting that he is desperate for explanation.why?how could be?He even seemed agitated.Evidence - where is the evidence?His mind was already busy thinking about prosecuting... and decided it was a big, tough problem.So worried. The officer said nothing.He suddenly felt relaxed, but he kept peeking at his son's cramped appearance from the side.When the announcement was made, Knox was paralyzed with fright, but then miraculously returned to normal, Joan Bright couldn't believe it, he was so shocked that he couldn't breathe...Ellery dominated the stage , but not too proud.Ellery shook his head, refusing to explain, when Sergeant Quinn called for someone from headquarters to take James Knox away quietly.No, he won't talk about anything that night; talk about it tomorrow morning... yes, maybe tomorrow morning.

And so, on Saturday morning, November 6th, the actors in this bizarre drama were assembled.Ellery insisted that it be made clear not just to the investigators, but to everyone who had been implicated in the Khalkis case — and, of course, the grandstanding press. The newspapers on Saturday mornings all carried the headlines of the tycoon's arrest; there was a rumor that some prominent figure close to the president had personally written to the mayor of New York City to inquire about the matter - a rumor that might It's true, because the mayor was busy on the phone all morning, and called the chief to find out the situation, but unfortunately the chief knew less than him; then called police officer Quinn, the police officer shook his head in a senile way, and only answered all the official inquiries Said: "Wait."

The painting seized from the radiator pipes of the Knox house was handed over to Pepper for seizure at the DPS; Scotland Yard has been notified, in an upcoming courtroom sparring , needs this painting as evidence, once the jury of the corresponding level has finished the trial of Knox, the original painting will be returned. Constable Quinn's office was too small to accommodate the critical audience Ellery insisted on inviting.Therefore, the meeting place was arranged in a special meeting room of the police headquarters. The participants included: a group of outstanding reporters, the Quinns, Simpson, Pepper, Cronin, Mrs. Sloane, Joan Brown Wright, Alan Cheney, the Freelands, Nacio Suecha, Woodroff—and the Chief of Police, the Deputy Chief of Detectives, who was seated in the most unobtrusive manner, with an old The restless gentleman fingering his collar was recognized as the Mayor's closest political friend.Ellery appeared to be presiding over the meeting—a most unconventional approach that irritated Simpson, the mayor's representative, and the chief of police.

But Ellery didn't care.There is a podium in this meeting hall, and he stands on it—as if the teacher is going to give a lesson to the staring dolls in the whole classroom; there is even a blackboard behind him! He stood upright, imposing, and his pince-nez was wiped clean.Deputy Prosecutor Cronin, who was sitting in the back row, whispered to Simpson: "Henry, man, we'll see. Knox is not easy to mess with. They don't know how far they are going to mess with this case. I can't help it." I dare not even think about it!" Simpson didn't say anything, and he had nothing to say.

Ellery began serenely, setting forth in a fluent manner all the facts and reasoning which had been brought to light in the past analysis of the case, in order to enlighten those who had hitherto been ignorant of the inner mysteries of the case.It wasn't until he had finished describing all the circumstances that happened before and after receiving the two threatening letters that he paused for a moment and licked his dry lips; Play more. "The only person who can send these two threatening letters," he said, "is the person who knows that James Knox is harboring stolen paintings, as I have just pointed out. James Knox has The fact that there are stolen paintings has, fortunately, never been known. So, who knows this fact except the surveyors—that is, the few of us? Two people know, and only two people: one , is Grimshaw’s accomplice, as has been analyzed above, this person is the murderer who killed Grimshaw and Sloan. Shaw himself admitted that this party, and only this party, knew the whole story; the other person, of course, was Knox himself, a fact that none of us thought about at the time.

"Very well. Besides, the fact that the two threatening letters were each typed on half a promissory note is sufficient proof that the writers were the murderers of Grimshaw and Sloan—that is, Grimshaw's accomplices— For only the murderer could have obtained that promissory note from Greenshaw's body. Please bear this in mind; it is an important link in the logical structure. "Going further. What have we found after examining the typewritten threatening letters? "Well, the first threatening letter was typed on an 'Enderwood' typewriter, and by coincidence the same typewriter was used for the anonymous letter in which the murderer informed us that Sloane and Greenshaw were brothers. The second threatening letter was typed out with a "Lemington" brand typewriter. The typing of this second letter clearly revealed the flaws.

"When typists typed the group of words $30,000, they made mistakes; it can be clearly seen from the mistakes that the symbol on the upper row of the word '3' is not an ordinary symbol on a standard keyboard. I will To describe to you what the group of $30,000 in the letter looks like will help to illustrate the point I am now forming." He turned and quickly chalked the following image on the blackboard: $30,000. "Look now, folks," Ellery said, turning around. "The typist's mistake was that he didn't let go of the 'font change button' completely after typing the dollar sign ($), and as a result, when he picked up the When I went down and pressed the second character key—that is, when the character '3' was typed—half broken characters appeared on the paper.

"The typist will naturally press the 'reversed button' to retype the word '3', but this is irrelevant; the important thing is that the half-broken character of the '3' key is still on the paper. So, if you make this mistake After the usual typos -- "The so-called mistake is: when trying to type the character in the lower row of the key, but not completely let go of the 'font change button', or the 'capital font button' - so what? It is nothing more than this: ready to type The space for the characters in the lower row of keys is still vacant; the upper part of the characters in the lower row is printed on the top of the space. You may wish to look at the sketch I drew on the blackboard. Do you hear me clearly?"

"Excellent. Let us consider the key for the word '3' on the standard keyboard of all typewriters," continued Ellery. "It goes without saying that I mean American typewriters. How is it? '3' is on the lower row of the key, and the upper row of the key is the symbol representing 'number'. Let me draw it for you." He turned to the blackboard again, and wrote with chalk The following symbol: #. "Easy, huh?" he said, turning around, "but I want to draw your attention to the fact that the error on the second threatening letter shows that it was not typed from a standard keyboard, at least the '3' The key stick is not standard. Because, the decapitation symbol above the place where the '3' is typed one space back, should be the lower half of the '#' symbol, but - as you can see on the blackboard - —That’s not the case at all! On the contrary, it is a very special symbol—an arc circle on the left, and a curved line drawn to the right.”

He has firmly attracted the entire audience here.He leaned forward: "So, as I said just now, the 'Remington' brand typewriter used in this second threatening letter usually has the symbol '#' in the upper row of the key of '3'." There are obviously other special symbols in the part, "—he shook his head towards the "#" symbol on the blackboard—"It is also obvious that this 'arc curve' is just the bottom of a complete symbol. half. What will its upper half look like? What is the whole picture of this symbol?" He stood upright, calm and quiet: "Everyone, think about it for a while. Please look at the mark on the word '3' that I drew on the blackboard with chalk." He waited.Everyone puffed up their eyes.But no one answered, "Actually, I can't understand it any more,"

Finally Ellery said: "I'm amazed that no one in this room—especially the journalists—could figure it out. I can say it with confidence and see who can refute it—I think this 'circle curve' ' could only be the lower half of a certain symbol, the only one conceivable to appear on a typewriter - the symbol resembles a handwritten capital '£' with a small horizontal stroke in the center of the vertical stroke... In other words, It's the pound sign (￡)!" There was a chirp of wonder and admiration. "Very well, eh. All we need to do is find a 'Remington' typewriter - an American typewriter, of course - with the '3' on the top row of the key for the British Pound. From the probability Roughly speaking, an American 'Remington' typewriter happens to have this exotic symbol on this one keybar - I believe the odds are one in a million. In other words, if you can track down a typewriter It just so happens that there is this symbol on this key, and I can be 100% sure based on mathematics and logic that it is the typewriter used in the second threatening letter." Ellery gestured vigorously: "The above opening sentence is important for understanding what follows. Please pay attention to me. In the days when Sloane was considered suicide, after receiving the first letter Before the threatening letter, when I was talking to James Knox, I learned that Knox had a new typewriter with a modified key. I learned this by chance when I went to Visiting Knox, who was instructing Miss Bright to write a check for a new typewriter. He also reminded her not to forget to attach a small fee for changing a key. Besides, at that On the occasion, I heard Miss Bright tell me that the typewriter was a 'Remington' - she specified the brand; and I was also told that it was the only typewriter in the house. Kex had ordered Miss Bright to give to charity in my presence. Miss Bright had begun to type a number for me; she stopped halfway, tore off the paper, and cried: 'I have to use a pen to write the word 'number' (#). 'The emphatic tone is of course what I added now.The incident didn't strike me as a big deal at the time, but I learned from it that there was only one typewriter in Knox's house, and it was a 'Remington' without the 'number' (#) on it. Symbols—otherwise, why would Miss Bright have to write the '#' symbol by hand? —and, I also know that one of the keys on this typewriter has been reversed, and now, since this new typewriter has a reversed key, and since it is missing the 'number' (#) symbol, Then, according to strict logical reasoning, the word key that is exchanged must be the key of the number symbol, and the lower row of this word key is exactly the word '3'! "This is the basic logic. In this way, I only need to clarify another fact, and my reasoning is complete; position, has been replaced by the pound sign (￡), then I can safely assert that this 'Ramington' typewriter is used to type out the second threatening letter. Of course, after receiving the second threatening letter, In order to judge this, I need only look at the keys of the typewriter. Exactly, the symbol. In fact, Prosecutor Simpson, Deputy Pepper and Constable Quinn should all remember this, when they Had they noticed this, they would not have had to see the typewriter at all; for, at that time, Constable Quinn had drafted a telegram in Knox's study and sent it to Scotland Yard. £150,000', and when Miss Bright was transcribing the policeman's pencil sketch on the typewriter, lo and behold! She did not use the word £, but the symbol '£'! So, even if I I have never seen such a typewriter before, and the fact that Miss Bright can type the pound sign in the telegram, combined with other circumstances that I have at hand, will inevitably lead to the above conclusion. . . . The facts are there, undeniable: the typewriter on which the second threatening letter was written belonged to Mr. James Knox." In the front row are the journalists; their pens appear.There was no sound except for the panting and the screeching of pencils.Ellery stamped out his cigarette butt on the floor, paying no heed to headquarters rules and common decorum. "Eh bien," he said lightly, "nous faisons des progres. For we know that since Knox received his first threatening letter, he has refused all guests, even Mr. Woodroff, his temporary attorney for legal matters. Neither. This means that the only people who can use Knox's typewriter to type the second letter are the following: Knox himself, Miss Bright, the Knox family servant. And, Since both letters were written on half promissory notes—and the promissory notes can only be owned by the murderer—this means that one of the above-mentioned people is the murderer.” Ellery went on so on that a small sound in the back of the chamber—indeed, it must be said, emanating from the seat of Constable Richard Quinn—went unnoticed, Ellery. A slight smile formed at the corner of Lerry's mouth, and he kept talking, keeping possible objections out of the way. "Let us clear up the doubts one by one," he went on, "let us consider the last group first. Could the letter writer be one of the servants? No; for in the first stage of the investigation, None of these servants had ever been to Khajiz’s house—the prosecutor sent all the special staff to take charge of the specific list—so none of the servants could lay false clues against Khajiz, and later against Sloan; And this method of forging false clues is an important characteristic of the murderer." There was another flutter in the back row, and Ellery went on talking again without pausing. "Could it be Miss Bright?—forgive me, Miss Bright," Ellery smiled apologetically, "forgive me for bringing you into this discussion, but logic doesn't know how to treat women differently... No, it couldn't be Miss Bright, because, while she lived at the Kharkiss in the days when the false leads were made, she couldn't have been Greenshaw's accomplice, which was the murderer's. Another necessary condition. How do we know she can't be Greenshaw's associate? Isn't it strange to think that? Very simple." He paused, looked at Joan, sensed some understanding in Joan's eyes, and immediately went on: "Miss Bright has admitted to me that she was, and still is, a private member of the Victoria Museum. Detective." A commotion of wonder and excitement drowned out what he was about to say next.For a moment it seemed that the meeting would not go on; but Ellery, tapping the blackboard with teacher-like air, quieted the din.He continued to talk, not looking at Simpson, Pepper, or his father. These people all looked at him with dissatisfaction and anger. "As I said just now, Miss Bright admitted to me that she was an undercover detective hired by the Victoria Museum. The sole purpose of the Khalkis home was to track down the stolen works of Leonardo. Miss Bright was in After Sloane was deemed to have committed suicide, she told me this before the first threatening letter. At that time, she showed me the ferry ticket - she had bought the ticket to go back to England. Why? Because She thinks that the painting has been disconnected. Since the government has been alarmed, she doesn't need to intervene. What does it mean that she bought a ticket to leave here? Obviously, it means that she didn't know where the stolen painting was at the time—if she knew , she would not have left New York; her intention to go back to London proves that she knew nothing about it. And what is the main characteristic of our murderer? That is: he really knows where the stolen paintings are!—knows exactly In the hands of Knox. In other words, Miss Bright could not have been the murderer, so it was impossible to write this second threatening letter—nor the first letter, since both letters were written out of one hand. "That's good. Since Miss Bright and a few servants have been ruled out of doubt, then only Knox himself is the author of the second letter, so it is Greenshaw's accomplice and Murderer. "How to verify? Knox fully embodies the characteristics of a murderer: first, he was in and out of Khalkis' house during the days when he made false clues against Khalkis. Secondly, I might as well digress for a moment, ——Just after Knox tried his best to create the illusion that there was no third person present, why did he take the initiative to run and claim to be the third person in order to destroy the illusion created by himself? It made a lot of sense: Miss Bright had explained the situation of the teacup to his face, thus debunking the argument of the third person... Therefore, his pretense of assisting the investigation would be of great benefit to him And nothing was lost--this courageous act made him all the more innocent. He also had a connection to the Sloane question: he might have been the one who had followed Grimshaw to the Pinedy Hotel. , and learned that Sloane and Greenshaw were brothers, he wrote us an anonymous letter as a hint to frame Sloane; in the basement of his own vacant house next door, and a duplicate key in Sloane's Borun cigarette case; and finally, as the murderer, he possessed Grimshaw's watch when he collected it in Khalkis. After the general storehouse killed Sloan, he put the watch in the safe of the second victim. "Then why did he write two more letters to himself and make up the illusion that his painting was stolen? That makes more sense: Sloane's suicide story has been publicly disproved, and he knows the police authorities are still hunting for the real one. Killer. And he was being pressured to return Leonardo's work - he wrote himself a couple of letters to create the impression that the murderer was still at large, but whoever the murderer was, at least it wouldn't be him Well, it was someone out there who wrote the letter--because he wouldn't have written those two letters at all if he wanted to trace the letter back to his own typewriter. "In this way, by stealing the painting himself, he intends to further create false appearances, as if this fictional outsider deliberately lured the police away from his home in order to steal the painting; he destroyed the burglar alarm in his own home in advance, which is undoubtedly calculated Well, when we come home empty-handed from the Times Building, the destroyed burglar alarm will testify to us that the painting was stolen on our futile return trip. It was a very good plan; It relieves him of the obligation to return it to the museum, and he will be able to keep the painting in secret from now on, absolutely safe.” Ellery smiled towards the back row of the chamber: "I saw the esteemed prosecutor licking his lips and smacking his lips, annoyed and worried. My dear Simpson, you are obviously worried about the arguments of Mr. Knox's lawyers. Nothing. No doubt his legal brains will have some sample of Knox's own typing to show that what you are alleging is that he sent himself two threatening letters in a style completely different from his own. You don't have to worry about that: any judge would know that Knox, of course, deliberately altered his usual typing style—line spacing, punctuation, certain fonts—in typing these two threatening letters. , and so on—in order to reinforce the illusion that the letter is in someone else's hand... "As for the two paintings. There are but two possibilities: the first possibility is that both paintings were in Knox's possession in the first place, as he claims to be, and the other possibility is that he has only one—and The one he bought from Khalkis. If he only had one, he'd be lying when he said it was stolen, because I found one at his house after he claimed it was stolen. He saw me seize it , hurriedly brought up the allusion to the two paintings, trying to make us think that he had always owned two paintings, and that the one that was found was a copy, which had been stolen by this fabricated thief. In this way, he It is true that he sacrificed a painting, but he kept his skin—at least he thought he could. "On the other hand, if he really had two paintings to begin with, then the one I seized was either a Leonardo or a facsimile, before we hid Knox where we don't know where." It is impossible to say for sure until the other painting is found. However, regardless of which painting is now seized in the prosecutor's office, there is still another painting in Knox's possession-if he really owns two. —and this other one Knox would never hand over, for he has long since insisted that it has been stolen by an outsider. My dear Simpson, if you can get a dig up that painting, or find it somewhere else, and prove that Knox put it there, then the charges against him will be stronger than they are now." Judging from the expression on Simpson's thin face, he was still dismissive of the argument; he clearly thought the case was full of holes.But Ellery wouldn't let him speak his mind; he went on without pausing. "In summary," he said, "the murderer must have three main qualifications. First: He should be able to plant false leads against Khalkis and Sloane. Second: He should be the author of two threatening letters. Third. : He should be in Knox's house to be able to type the second letter. The only people who meet this third condition are a few servants, Miss Bright and Knox. But the servants were rejected by the first condition, which I have just explained. Miss Bright is excluded by the second condition, which I have just said. Only Knox is left. Since Knox fully meets the above three conditions, the murderer None other than him." Constable Richard Quinn didn't feel ashamed of his son's publicity.When the continual interrogation, congratulations, arguments, and pestering of reporters were all over—and it was worth noting that several of the journalists were shaking their heads—the Quinns returned to the sacrosanct office of the sheriff, the two of them alone. At the same time, the old man let out the inner feelings he had just suppressed, and Ellery felt that his father's mood was extremely unhappy. It's worth pointing out that Ellery himself doesn't look like a smug newborn at the moment. On the contrary, his thin cheeks were tense, and his eyes showed fatigue and fever.He smoked one cigarette after another without knowing the taste, and avoided his father's eyes. The old man said unambiguously: "Hey," he said, "if you weren't my son, I would have kicked you out. In all the boring, inconsequential, far-fetched things I have ever heard In the midst of the high-spirited talk, your performance downstairs just now was really—" He shrugged, "Ellery, you mark my words. Trouble is yet to come. This time, my confidence in you Yes, yes—well, you've disgraced me, damn it! As for Simpson—well, Henry's no fool; I could see it plainly as he walked out of the chamber that he felt he was facing his life The toughest case of my career is in court. The case won't stand in court, Ellery; it won't stand. No proof, no motive. Motive, damn it! You just said No motive. Why did Knox kill Greenshaw? Of course, you can use your bullshit logic and make it clear and citing that Knox is our target - but the motive? The judge wants a motive , don't need logic." He said with a splash of saliva. "It's going to be a hell of a ride this time. Get Knox, he's got some of the biggest lawyers in the Eastern United States to defend him—they'll pick on your decent case." Faults, loopholes, my boy, you're smashed to pieces like hard cheese, full of holes—" Only then did Ellery get excited.He had been sitting patiently, even nodding his head, as if he had expected the police officer's long speech, and although he didn't welcome it, it was not intolerable.But this time he stood up straight, with a surprised expression on his face: "It's full of holes like what? What do you mean?" "Ha!" cried the sergeant. "You've stepped on your tail now, haven't you? You think your old man is an idiot? Maybe Henry Simpson didn't see something, but I did, and that's a bit of a point." True. And if you don't see anything, you're a fool!" He tapped Ellery's knee. "I tell you, Ellery Sherlock Holmes Quinn! You say that you have ruled out the possibility that any of these servants could be the murderer, on the grounds that none of them were in the false During the days, I went to Khalkis’ house.” "Isn't it?" Ellery said slowly. "Yes. That's good. Great. That's right. I agree with you. Unfortunately, my stupid dear son," said the old man bitterly, "you must understand that you haven't thought it through! You put every The servants are all excluded from the murderer, but why can't anyone among them become an accomplice of the murderer outside? I'm telling you bluntly, you should think about it carefully!" Ellery didn't answer; he sighed and let it go.The police officer sat down in the swivel chair and snorted angrily: "Such a stupid negligence is really rare!...A character like you is even more rare! I really don't understand you, child. Your head is messed up. It never occurred to you that one of the servants might be bought by the murderer to use Knox's typewriter to type a second threatening letter, while the murderer outside is safe and secure! I don't mean the truth It must be so; but I'll wager those lawyers of Knox will draw this inference, so how can your whole statement leave everyone out of doubt and leave Knox alone? Are you going to stand? Bah! Your logic doesn't work." Ellery nodded in agreement. "That makes sense, Dad, you make a very good point. I hope—I don't believe anyone has thought of that level so far." "Well," said the sergeant distractedly, "I guess Henry didn't think of it, or he'd be jumping up and yelling right then and there. It's luck after all... But you see, Ayler, I just pointed out that You have obviously seen all the loopholes. Why don't you plug the loopholes now-why delay it to such an extent that it will ruin me and Henry's future?" "You asked me why I didn't plug the loophole," Ellery shrugged, throwing his arms above his head. "—God, I'm exhausted! I'll tell you why, old sufferer. For the simple reason—I dare not." The officer shook his head. "You're getting dumber," he murmured. "What do you mean—you dare not? Is that a reason? Well—even Knox. But it's business." , child, it’s business! There must always be a solid and reasonable basis, and you should know that as long as you firmly believe that you are right, I will fully support you. " "I know that enough," Ellery laughed. "A father's love is wonderful. There's only one thing more wonderful than a mother's love. . . . Dad, I can't say anything more serious right now. But I'm going to tell you this, so you might as well just take it for granted, don't care whether it's true or not... The most horrific thing in this vile and dirty case has yet to break out!"