Chapter 13 second scene

On a normal fine night, the bright lights in the center of downtown New York always reflect the night sky brilliantly, but on Wednesday night, all of this was completely covered by a blanket of thick fog.This unusual heavy fog permeates from broad daylight to night. Looking from the ferry terminal in New Jersey, apart from the occasional blurred lights on the other side of the river and the thick fog on the river like a gray wall, Can't see anything.Sometimes, the ferry on the river will suddenly emerge from the thick fog, and the dim lights on the deck can be seen faintly; the ghostly boat sinks and floats as if floating in the water vapor, and the fog horn sounds one after another, carefully keeping the river surface However, such a sound seemed to be immediately swallowed up by the dense fog.

The waiting room at the back of the Weehoken Ferry Terminal is a large building that looks like a warehouse, and there are already a dozen people gathered in it. Most of the people were silently paying attention to the situation around them. In the center stood the stubby Napoleon Prosecutor Bruno. He looked at his watch nervously every ten seconds and paced the hollow floor like a madman. Walking up and down, Sam peered around, keeping a close eye on the gates and the occasional people who came in and waited for the boat. The whole big waiting room seemed empty. At the other end of this group of police officers, Ryan was sitting quietly by himself. His quaint and almost weird appearance made the passengers waiting for the boat and the passengers who got off the bus couldn't help but cast curious, even smiling glances.Ren sat upright without paying attention to the surrounding situation, his slender white fingers were folded on the handle of the cane, and this rather ferocious plum tree cane was placed between his knees.He wore a long black coat with a double shawl that fell loosely over his shoulders, and a black felt hat with a stiff brim over his thick black hair.Sam couldn't help but look at Ryan every once in a while. There has never been a character like Ryan in his memory. Judging from his clothes and hairstyles, he is so old-fashioned, but from his appearance and figure Look young again.Ren's tall and straight figure was as full and powerful as a statue, and he was about thirty-five years old. His calm and contented demeanor made people want to look at him more.Of course, Wren himself had no intention of attracting these curious looks—in fact, he paid no attention to anyone passing by.

His bright eyes were fixed on Bruno's lips. Bruno came over and sat next to Ren in a little irritability: "It's a full forty-five minutes late," he complained, "It seems that we invited you here for nothing, of course, for us I mean, I'm going to have to stay here until daylight, but honestly, I'm feeling more and more stupid about us." "Mr. Bruno, you should feel more and more worried," Ren's voice was as precise and melodious as music, "You have enough reasons to worry." "You mean—" Bruno frowned before speaking—suddenly he closed his mouth, listening intently to Sam who was pacing and stopped at the same time, and there was a harsh shouting sound from the pier outside.

"Mr. Bruno, is there something wrong?" Ryan asked gently. Bruno still pricked up his ears and stretched his head forward: "You can't hear, of course...Mr. Wren, someone yelled, 'Someone fell into the water!'" Ryan stood up immediately like a cat, and Sam yelled loudly, "There's an accident at the pier," then turned around and yelled, "I'll go and have a look." Bruno also stood up, hesitating: "Sam, keep a few people here with me, maybe it's some kind of trick to divert the tiger away from the mountain, and the people we are waiting for may come at this time."

Sam has already rushed to the gate first, followed closely by Ren, and the six criminal policemen rushed to catch up. They rushed outside on the wooden floor and stopped, looking for the right direction of the call. At the far end of the covered pier, a ferry had arrived. Rubbing hard, I wanted to be precise on the iron steps on the opposite bank for passengers to disembark.When Sam, Ryan and a group of criminal police arrived, several passengers jumped off the ship nervously, and some passengers who were waiting for the ship in the waiting room also rushed out to join in the fun.The wheelhouse on the top deck of the ferry has the words "Mohawk" written in gold letters, and the lower deck on the north side is crowded with a bunch of passengers, hanging on the railing and looking down, and the passengers in the cabin are leaning out of the windows Head up, looking down at the dark water shrouded in thick fog.

The three staff members on the ferry struggled to squeeze out from the crowd and leaned against the deck. Rehn remembered that, looking at the gold watch in his hand, the time was exactly 11:40. Sam jumped onto the deck and grabbed a skinny old sailor. "I'm the police!" Sam said loudly. "What's the matter?" The old sailor seemed rather panicked: "Someone fell into the water, officer. It seems that the Mohawk fell from the top deck when it was about to dock." "Who was that overboard—does anyone know?" "I don't know, oh." "Mr. Ren, come up too," Sam called to Ren who was still on the shore, "The staff will bring people up, and let's check the place where they fell into the water."

They squeezed through the noisy port bow and walked towards the cabin door. Sam stopped suddenly with a yell and waved his arms. It turned out that on the south side of the top deck, a thin and small man was about to disembark. "Hey, DeWitt, come here!" This thin man, wearing a heavy coat, raised his head when he heard the sound, and when he saw Sam, he hesitated for a moment, then walked obediently, his face was a little pale, and he sighed softly: "Sam Inspector," he said slowly, "how are you here?" "Something," Sam replied vaguely, but his eyes were sharp. "What about you? Why are you here?"

DeWitt put his hand in the left pocket of his jacket, trembling a little. "I'm going home," DeWitt said, "I don't know what happened?" "We are investigating, and we should know soon?" Sam said kindly, "Let's go together, by the way, let me introduce, this is Mr. Jerry Lane, he is assisting us in handling the case, Lane Mr. is an actor, a great celebrity, Mr. Lane, and this is Mr. DeWitt, partner of Lonstreet." Ryan nodded politely, and DeWitt's suspicious eyes fell on the actor's face, and he immediately showed a look of enlightenment, mixed with strange excitement: "Oh, Mr. Fortunate to be able to meet you.”

Sam on the side didn't seem to be affected by the atmosphere, his face was quite gloomy, and a group of detectives following Sam waited patiently for instructions. Sam stretched his neck and looked around, as if he was looking for someone but couldn't find it, and whispered cursed.Then he shrugged. "Let's go." Sam said bluntly, and his burly body led the crowd into the crowd like an awl. The cabin was in chaos. Sam first climbed up the inner stairs with brass handrails, followed by a group of people, passed through the oval-shaped top cabin, and went out through a door on the north side to the dark top deck. The flashlight began to inspect the deck. Just between the middle of the deck and the bow, that is, behind the wheelhouse, a few feet away from the spire of the bow, Sam found a long scratch that was not easy to notice. Focus the flashlight.The scratch ran back from where the iron railings crossed in the bow, across the deck, to a small room, or rather, a cubicle recessed into the cabin, in the northwest corner of the cabin.The west and south walls of this small room are shared with the ship. The north side is only erected with a thin wooden board as the wall, while the east side is completely open. The flashlight shines in along the scratches, and it is found that one end of the traces really comes from the small room.Inside was a locked toolbox hanging on the wall, some survival gear, a broom, a bucket, and odds and ends.There is an iron chain across the open side, so people can't get in.

"Go find the key, you go in and check, maybe you can find something." The two criminal police led the order and left. "You, Jim, you go down there and keep everybody on board." Sam himself and Ryan walked to the railing of the bow, and DeWitt followed.Outside the railing, the deck protruded two and a half feet. Sam took a flashlight to check the scratches on the deck, looked up at Lane and said, "Mr. Lane, it seems that you have won the lottery, right? It seems to me that this is caused by the heels of shoes rubbing against the deck when the heavy body was dragged across the deck, which means that it may be another murder."

Ren stared intently at Sam's face under the faint reflection of the flashlight. After a while, he nodded solemnly. Afterwards, the three got up and climbed the railing, looking down, the people below were already in a hurry.Sam squinted at DeWitt's expression, and now the small stockbroker had collected himself, as if he was going all out. A police boat stopped in front of the ferry, and several police officers quickly climbed to the top of the slippery wooden pile. Suddenly, two powerful searchlights were turned on, illuminating the entire ferry, and the entire pier seemed to have lifted the magic spell. Like a mantra, they emerged clearly from the thick fog, and even the top deck where the three of them were located shared a considerable amount of light.The searchlights searched slowly down the lower deck, without missing a single blind spot. Since the protruding lower deck was tightly against the lubricated wooden stakes on the edge of the pier, the searchlights could not reach the water below. The staff at the pier and The workers stood or squatted on the top of the wooden piles, yelling anxiously at the pilothouse of the ferry above. Suddenly, there was a rattling sound of the engine, and the ferry began to slide, slowly moving from the north side of the pier to the south side. The captain and pilot in the pilothouse The officers were desperately trying to move the ferry away from the part of the river where the man had fallen. "It's probably crushed into a patty," said Sam thoughtfully. "When the boat hits the stakes, he must be caught between the hull and the stakes, and the boat squeezes forward. Buried under the bottom of the boat, this can be seen by others... Wow, it worked, and I can see the surface of the water." As soon as the rumbling ferry slid away, the black and smelly oily water surface was exposed, floating with garbage and air bubbles. Immediately, a long iron rope stretched out from the top of the wooden pile, and the police and the ferry The staff's salvage operation was officially launched. DeWitt stood between Sam and Ryan, all his attention was attracted by the salvage operation below, and a criminal policeman leaned beside Sam at this time. "What?" Sam asked gruffly. "Boss, the toolbox is empty, and nothing suspicious can be found in the entire room." "Understood, you want everyone to pay attention, don't damage that scratch on the deck." Sam calmly ordered, but his eyes kept on watching DeWitt's every move. This thin securities dealer was very focused, with his left hand firmly grasping the exposed iron railing, and his right elbow resting on it, keeping An unnatural posture in which the entire upper arm does not move. "What's the matter? Mr. DeWitt, your hand hurt?" DeWitt turned his head slowly, looked at his right hand, and smiled weakly. Then, he extended his right hand to Sam, and Ren also leaned over. DeWitt's index finger, a wound from the first quarter to It stretched an inch and a half down, and it had formed a dry and hard whole scab. "I accidentally got cut by a machine in the club gym before dinner today." "Oh!" "Dr. Morris from the club helped me heal the wound and told me to be careful. Until now, there is still a dull pain here." Suddenly, a series of cheers erupted from below. Sam and DeWitt hurried back to the railing. Ren, who couldn't hear the sound, also looked down. "Found it! Come on, take your time! Take your time!" One of the ropes snaking into the water from the top of the stake, the iron hook at the end below the surface, seemed to be hooked to something. Three minutes later, a wet, limp mass emerged from the river, and the lower deck responded with another scream—a reflex scream. "Let's get down!" Sam ordered, and the three turned and ran towards the cabin door at the same time. DeWitt took the lead. When he reached out to grab the doorknob, he suddenly cried out in pain. "What's the matter?" Sam asked eagerly, and DeWitt stared at his right hand in pain, and Sam and Leth saw that the scar on DeWitt's finger was open and blood was coming out in several places. "Accidentally opened the door with my right hand again," DeWitt groaned. "The wound has opened again, as Dr. Morris warned me would." "Don't worry, I won't die." Sam said rudely. He passed DeWitt like a gust of wind and went down the stairs first. He glanced back. DeWitt was pulling out a handkerchief from his breast pocket and wrapping it carefully. right hand fingers.Ren's chin was buried in the collar of his cloak, and his eyes could not be seen clearly against the backlight.Ryan comforted DeWitt a few words, and the two of them walked down behind Sam without any delay. The three of them crossed the starboard lower deck to the forward deck, where the rescuers had spread out a large canvas, and the limp thing they had scooped up was lying on the canvas, soaked in a small puddle of foul-smelling dirt. in the river.This is a tattered man's body, the blood stains and the broken body make it impossible to see the appearance before birth. His head and face are rotten into a ball. Judging from the unnaturally twisted posture, the spine is probably broken It fell off, and the arms were amazingly flattened, as if they had been run over by a steamroller. Ryan's originally fair face was even more bloodless at this moment, but he still tried his best to calm down, staring at the horrific scene in front of him; even though Sam was accustomed to such bloody and violent scenes, he still muttered in a low voice uncomfortably ; as for DeWitt, he only glanced at it and turned away quickly, his whole face turning blue.Apart from the three of them, there were also staff at the ferry, the captain and navigator of the ferry, several criminal police officers and the police. No one spoke, they just looked at the corpse blankly. The corpse was lying prone, the lower body was not bent to the other side like a normal human body, and the broken head was leaning on the deck.On the canvas, there was also a black hat with a tongue, dripping with water. Sam knelt down and pushed the corpse with one hand. The corpse was limp like a bag of raw meat. Sam turned it over halfway. It was a big man with red hair, his facial features were beyond recognition, Sam let out a low cry of surprise, the deceased was wearing a dark blue coat with black leather stitching on the pockets, and two rows of brass from top to bottom on the front. Button, Sam snapped at the black hat on the canvas—yes, it was a conductor's hat, with the number 2101 in gold on the visor, and the words in the same gold: Third Avenue Tram. "Maybe—" Sam exclaimed, and suddenly stopped. He raised his head to look at Ren, who was bending over, focusing on the hat in Sam's hand. Sam put down his hat, reached into the inside breast pocket of the dead man's coat unceremoniously, and brought out a cheap, wet wallet, which he opened to examine, then jumped up, his ugly face gleaming. "That's right!" Sam yelled, and then he looked around. Bruno's chunky figure was running from the tram station all the way to the pier, with the hem of his coat billowing in the wind, and several plainclothes men followed behind him. Sam quickly turned his head and gave an order to a criminal policeman: "Send the order, and immediately deploy twice as many police officers to closely monitor all passengers on the ferry!" Following him, he stomped his feet and raised his hands, waving his wet wallet, "Bruno! Hurry up! We've found someone to wait for!" Bruno ran even more desperately now. He boarded the boat, glanced at the corpse, and the onlookers, as well as Ren and DeWitt, hurriedly asked, "How?" Bruno couldn't catch his breath, "You said Who - who wrote the letter?" "That's right," Sam said hoarsely, and touched the corpse on the ground with his toes, "someone is one step faster than us." Bruno's eyes widened, and he looked carefully at the corpse again, at the brass buttons of his coat, and at the hat thrown on the deck: "Conductor——" He took off his hat. He took out a silk handkerchief and wiped his sweaty head, "Sam, are you sure?" Sam pulled out a water-soaked card from his leather jacket and handed it to Bruno as an answer. Ryan immediately walked behind Bruno and looked over Bruno's shoulder. This is a circular identification card issued by the Third Avenue Trolley Company, stamped with number 2101 and signed by the holder. The signature is illegible, but legible, and reads: charles wood