Chapter 20 Ninth scene

At 2:15 p.m. on Friday, Lane walked up Central Avenue in good spirits. On one side of the road stood the huge police headquarters and on the other side was a row of foreign stores in New York. No. 137 is a ten-story building, which is the office of the New York District Attorney General, and its style is very consistent.Ryan entered the building, walked through a long corridor, and took the elevator upstairs. As usual, he was completely in control, his face expressionless.A lifetime of stage training has allowed him to control every muscle on his face as he pleases. However, at this moment when no one is looking, his eyes are shining unstoppably, a kind of excitement, a kind of anticipation. The gleam of what is about to happen—like the fiery gleam in the eye of a waiting hunter as he takes aim at his game—is the joyful gleam of life and keen thinking.If anyone saw these eyes at this moment, they would never believe that their owner would be a deaf and elderly man... This is undoubtedly the burning feeling in the depths of his soul being touched and dug out by something, which is extremely powerful The vitality burst out, converging into a long stream of self-confidence, strength and sensitivity.

However, the moment Ryan pushed open the door of Prosecutor Bruno's outer office, the light in his eyes suddenly disappeared, and he was just that weird young man in old-fashioned clothes. The staff member in charge of reporting asked for instructions on the internal line, and was answering respectfully on the phone: "Yes, prosecutor." He turned to Ryan and said, "Sir, please sit down for a while, the prosecutor wants me to apologize to you, He's talking to the Chief of Police, can you wait a minute?" Ren said he could wait, and sat down, resting his chin on his cane and closing his eyes.

A few minutes later, Ryan with his eyes closed seemed to be asleep. The door of Bruno's inner office opened. Bruno appeared first, followed by the tall and strong chief of police.The staff member in charge of contact hurriedly stood up and found that Ren was sitting upright with his eyes closed, feeling a little overwhelmed on the spot.Bruno laughed and patted Ren on the shoulder. Ren opened his eyes, a question flashed through his soft gray eyes, and he stood up immediately. "Mr. Bruno." "Good afternoon, Mr. Wren," Bruno turned to introduce to the chief of police, who was staring at Wren curiously, "Mr. Wren - Chief Burbage."

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Wren," said the chief roughly, holding Wren's hand, "I've seen you in..." "Director Burbage, it seems that I'm a person who lives in the shadow of my past." Ryan laughed in order to dilute the polite atmosphere. "Where is there! I fully understand that you are as good as before. Bruno and I have seen your new identity and all kinds of magical performances. Mr. Lane, especially the tips you gave him to solve the case, how could he not I can't figure out how you know it," the chief shook his head, "I think, it should be said that we can't figure it out, and Sam told me too."

"It's just the basic traits of an old man, but Mr. Bruno has to be more patient," Ryan winked jokingly, "Mr. Burbage, you remind me of a brilliant name, Richard Parker." Butch, the most outstanding actor of his time, and one of William Shakespeare's three lifelong friends." The director was a little confused, but he was quite happy. The three chatted for a while, and then the director left first, so Bruno welcomed Ryan to his inner office. Inside, Sam was on the phone with an expression of disbelief.Sam put his ears to the microphone and raised his thick eyebrows as a greeting, and Ren sat down facing him.

"Listen carefully," Sam said loudly. In fact, when he was listening to the other party, his face turned red bit by bit, and finally became violent as if he was about to explode. "You remind me What the hell are you reminding me?... You shut your crow's mouth for me, you said I told you to call me at 2:30 this afternoon, and reminded me that I have a special task for you to do? Your brain Is it burnt out? Or are you fucking drunk!... What? I'll tell you myself? Damn, wait, wait, wait," Sam turned to Bruno, "This pig's head, I One of his subordinates suddenly went crazy, you won’t believe me when I tell you, this guy—hey, what are you talking about?” Sam yelled into the microphone again, “You still pull the carpet for me? You bastard you stupid ass, what are you talking about rugs? Oh my god, wait a minute," Sam turned to Bruno again, "this case is driving everyone crazy, this guy is saying I was in yesterday What the hell loitering around Wood's house in Weehoken! Might be—hey, you bastard," Sam cried, "must be some--"

At this time, Sam's eyes fell on Ren's face, and he found that Ren was also staring at him with interest. Sam's jaw relaxed, and his red eyes suddenly became enlightened.He smiled bitterly, and said loudly into the microphone: "Okay, I didn't say anything just now, you stay there and continue to guard the house, it's okay." After finishing speaking, he hung up the phone, turned around, and looked at the room with his elbows on the table. Ren, Bupno looked at the two people in front of him inexplicably, and Sam asked, "Hey, Mr. Ren, I'm you, right?"

Ren put away his joking look: "Inspector," he said seriously, "if I ever doubted your sense of humor, it's over now." "Hey, what kind of charades are you two playing?" Only Bruno remained in the cloud. Sam Sagan put a crumpled cigarette into his mouth: "It's almost like this. I did a lot of things yesterday. I went to Weehoken, asked Mrs. Muffie, searched Wood's house, And found a copy of Wood's passbook under the rug. Listen, it was one of my men who assisted me in these things. It was with me for six full years before I left. Come to think of it, isn't it Fucking miracle? Because, while I'm at Weehoken doing all this stuff, I'm sitting in my office goofing off with you, right? Right here on Central Avenue!"

Bruno looked at Ryan and laughed on the spot: "This is really a little too much, Mr. Ryan, and it is really a bit risky." "There is absolutely no risk, I can assure you," Ryan said softly, "Mr. Bruno, I have the best makeup artist in the world to help me... Inspector, I must beg your forgiveness, the reason why I changed yesterday Like you, there is a very serious and necessary reason. Maybe the part of telling your subordinates to make a phone call is a bit mischievous, and it is indeed a little off the track, but this also shows that I have no intention of concealing whether the two of you are not ?"

"You'll at least show me what I look like next time," Sam muttered grimly. Forget it, take out that passbook and let's have a look." Ren took out the passbook from the inner pocket of his coat, and Sam took it over and carefully checked the records on the inside pages. "Inspector, this is very possible. I may disguise myself as another person in the near future, which will scare you even more." Sam picked up the five-dollar bill in the passbook and rolled it between his fingers: "Oh," he grinned, "at least you are honest in this." Sam threw the book to Bruno, and Bruno checked it again. Put it in a drawer.

"I'm here today," Ryan said in a relaxed and forceful tone. "Aside from seeing the surprised look of our capable inspector, I have two real intentions. First, I hope to get the feedback of all the ferry passengers that night." A copy of the roster, I wonder if you two can give me a copy?" Bruno opened the top drawer of his office desk and handed a small stack of documents to Ren, who folded it and put it in his pocket: "In addition, I am also eager to get the list of missing persons in recent months, and Starting today, the report of missing persons every day, I wonder if the two of you can arrange this presumptuous request?" Sam and Bruno exchanged glances, Bruno shrugged, and Sam lazily picked up the intercom and gave the order to the missing persons unit. "Mr. Leith, you will get these lists you want, and they will be sent directly to Hamlet Heights." "It's too much trouble for you, Inspector." Bruno hesitated to speak, cleared his throat, and Ren looked at him very friendly and curiously. "God," Bruno said, "you once said that I hope we will tell you before we take specific actions..." "Oh, the big ax is finally going to be chopped off, isn't it?" Ren asked softly, "What kind of action is it?" "Arrest John DeWitt for the murder of Charles Wood. Sam and I agree that the evidence is beyond doubt. The Chief listened to my report and supported our arrest. It is not necessary to charge him with murder. Disaster." Ren suddenly became serious, and the smooth skin on his cheeks tightened even more: "Also, I believe you and Inspector Sam also believe that DeWitt killed Longstreet, right?" "Of course," replied Sam, "as you said it was Mr. X who was behind the scenes and who planned all of this. Both murders were committed by the same hand, no doubt, as a glove is to a hand. It fits just right." "Your metaphor is very vivid," Ryan said. "Inspector, very very vivid, Mr. Bruno, when do you plan to arrest DeWitt and bring him to justice?" "Actually, there is no rush," Bruno said, "DeWitt has no signs of fleeing, but the night is full of dreams, we may do it tomorrow—" Bruno added darkly, "If there is nothing new that is enough to change our minds .” "Unless God intervenes, a miracle happens, Mr. Bruno." "Almost," Bruno smiled wryly, "Mr. Wren, when Sam and I went to Hamlet Heights to ask you for help and told you about the Longstreet case, you once said that you had obtained some answers. Witt, I don't know if it fits your answer?" "It's a little regrettable," Ren said in a meaningful tone, "The time is not yet ripe... You say you are sure of solving the case, but how unbreakable is this certainty?" "Being sure would have given DeWitt's defense counsel at least a few days of sleepless nights," Bruno countered confidently. In particular, he and Wood got on the Mohawk wave ship at the same time, and until the murder happened, there were two round trips and a total of four boats. He was always on board, and he was the only passenger on board. This is very important. DeWitt himself admitted that he planned to disembark immediately after the murder. As for why he took four boats in a row (he refused to admit it at first, but was forced to ask us), DeWitt's explanation is very far-fetched, and everyone knows it is false of. "In addition, he said that he made an appointment to meet someone on the boat, but refused to disclose the object and the reason. This is even more nonsense. We can easily prove that this is a pure fabrication and an out-and-out lie. Here, two simple Facts: There was no previous call for a date, and the call he was talking about was neither recorded nor traced. All in all, the conclusion is clear, that the call and the person on the call never existed and that it was DeWitt I imagined it. Mr. Wren, what do you think so far?" "It all sounds plausible, but lacks direct evidence, please carry on." Bruno's expression hardened. He looked up at the ceiling and regrouped and said, "The top deck where the murder scene is located, DeWitt can easily go up-of course, the rest of the ship is as easy, that's true-and, from 10 DeWitt has not been seen by anyone since 1:55. A cigar found on the body of the deceased, which DeWitt admitted was his, could only have been his from the brand and the initials on the cigar band. DeWitt Tate's claim that he never gave Wood a cigar - an obvious excuse to exculpate the charge - is a stronger piece of evidence, since it makes it impossible for the cigar found on the deceased to have been a Dulwich cigar before the murder. It was specially given to Wood elsewhere." Ryan clapped his hands lightly in wordless praise. "Also, Wood didn't have the cigar on him when he got on the boat, and it was obviously given to him after he got on the boat." "Did someone give it to you? Mr. Bruno." Bruno bit his lip: "At least, it's a reasonable assumption," he added, "so far, the existence of this cigar is enough to support my argument that DeWitt met Wood on the boat, and talked—another important piece of evidence for this argument is that DeWitt admitted that he took four boat trips, and that the period of time exactly coincides with the time between Wood's boarding and his killing. It was given to Wood by DeWitt on the boat, or else Wood asked him for it when they were talking." "Wait a moment, Mr. Bruno," Wren said kindly, "you say, so you assume, that DeWitt gave Wood a cigar—or Wood begged DeWitt for a cigar—later, DeWitt killed Wood, but completely forgot about the deadly evidence on Wood, so he can be directly identified as the murderer, isn't it?" Bruno smiled lightly: "It's like this, Mr. Wren. During the murder, all kinds of stupid negligence may happen in a hurry. Obviously, DeWitt really forgot. You know. He must have been too nervous at the time. Mistake." "Okay, next." Bruno continued, "Let's look at the motive of the murder. Of course, the reason why DeWitt killed Wood, we can easily think that it has something to do with the murder of Lonstra. Although we have no direct evidence for this, But it couldn't be more clear to deduce. Wood wrote to the police station, saying that he knew who the murderer of Longstreet was, but he was killed before the truth was revealed-clearly, this was killing and silence, and wanted to seal the truth. There could only be one person who shut his mouth—the murderer of Lonstra. That is to say, gentlemen of the jury,” Bruno said, changing his tone jokingly, “if DeWitt killed Wood If he is the murderer, then he must also be the murderer who killed Longstreet." Sam broke in brazenly at this point: "Well, Bruno, he didn't take you seriously all the way through the room, it's just a waste—" "Inspector Sam!" Wren said in a mildly reproachful tone, "please don't misunderstand my thoughts. Mr. Bruno pointed out an inevitable inference. I completely agree with the murderer who killed Wood and Sister. , indeed the same person. As to the whole reasoning by which M. Bruno arrived at this conclusion, whether I personally agree with it or not is another matter." "You mean," cried Bruno excitedly, "that you also think that DeWitt—" "Mr. Bruno, please continue talking!" Bruno frowned, while Sam leaned back on the chair and looked at Ren's profile: "DeWitt's motive for murdering Lonstra is very clear," Bruno said again after a long silence, "These two people There has long been a serious grievance between them, stemming from Foan DeWitt's affair; from Longstreet's harassment of Jane DeWitt; more importantly, from Longstreet's DeWitt had apparently been blackmailed for a long time, and we don't know what the reason for the blackmail was. Besides, motivation aside, another thing we have established is that there was a story about Lonstra reading the newspaper in the car. DeWitt knew better than anyone the old habits of the stock market page, and the fact that he must wear glasses when he reads the paper. Therefore, he is best able to calculate this delicate murder, seize the fatal moment, let Lonstra As soon as he reached out his hand, he was stabbed by the needle on the cork. As for Wood so aware of some clues to DeWitt's murder of Lonstra, we know that between the first murder and the second murder, DeWitt at least Twice in Wood's car." "Mr. Bruno, what do you think is the definitive clue that Wood has?" "Regarding this, of course we are not very clear," Bruno's face sank, "but DeWitt was the only one involved in the two murders at the same time. I don't think it is necessary for us to find out how Wood knew DeWitt. Especially the murderer—the mere fact that Wood discovered who the murderer was was enough to constitute the sharpest point in my debate... In short, the most deadly and powerful key to the prosecution of these two crimes is that : So far we have found that DeWitt is the only one who was on the car when Lonstra was murdered and who was on the ferry when Wood was murdered." "That alone," added Sam gruffly, "could fucking close the case." "From a basic point of view of the law, this is indeed interesting enough." Bruno mused, "That cigar is a very strong evidence, coupled with reasonable inference and some evidence of circumstances, it is enough to make Dulwich DeWitt indicted before the grand jury. And, unless I've done something terribly wrong, DeWitt won't feel good about the jury verdict." "A shrewd defense lawyer also has many opportunities to put forward completely different but wonderful defense points." Ryan emphasized gently. "You mean," Bruno responded quickly, "that we have no direct proof that DeWitt killed Lonstra? Or that DeWitt was lured onto the Mohawk by someone, And the identity of this person happened to be something that DeWitt did not disclose due to some personal reasons. And the cigars were planted on the body of the deceased—in other words, DeWitt was framed by someone, right?" Bruno laughed "Of course, that's what the defense lawyers will do, but Mr. Wren, unless he can find the guy who made the phone call, he'll just have to—plead guilty on the spot. No, Mr. Wren, I I'm afraid this case isn't all that murky, and don't you forget that DeWitt won't say anything about it. Unless he suddenly changes his mind, it's only going to be worse for him to keep silent like this. . That is, even from a psychological point of view, we have the upper hand." "Hey, you two," Sam interjected again, rather unhappily, "it's going to go on like this for three days and three nights without any results, Mr. Wren, you've heard our whole idea, and your Where are you?" Sam's tone was very strong, as if he stood on two feet and waited for the enemy to pounce on him at any time to hit him head-on. Ren closed his eyes with a faint smile, and when he opened them again, his eyes were bright.He adjusted the direction of his chair and faced Bruno and Sam: "A typical mistake you make when facing a crime is exactly the same mistake that many actors make when interpreting a criminal role in a play." Sam snorted heavily, and Bruno leaned back in his chair, looking very gloomy. "The main mistake is," Ryan continued gently, folding his hands on his cane, "the way you deal with the problem is like the way some of my playmates tried to sneak into the circus for nothing when I was young-always Sneaking in with your back to the tent, maybe this metaphor is not clear enough, I can make another analogy with a drama. "Every once in a while, we hear a producer proclaim that such-and-such a well-known theater actor was so moved by the sublime grandeur of this immortal play that he decided to play Hamlet again. At this time, this noble-hearted and correct , but often make mistakes, what is the first thing a producer usually does? He always goes to discuss with a lawyer first, draws up an amazing formal contract, and then solemnly announces the content of the contract to the public, stating To star the illustrious Mr. Barrymore or the great Mr. Capeden in this immortal classic. The focus is entirely on Mr. Barrymore or Mr. Capeden and all publicity is on Mr. Barrymore Or Mr. Capeden. So the general public sees the performance in exactly the same way - they just go to watch Mr. Barrymore or Mr. Capeden perform hard, and completely ignore the epic charm of the play itself. "Mr. Guedes was aware of this. In order to correct the mistake of overemphasizing actors, he specially used the talented young actor Mr. Massey as the protagonist. However, Mr. Guedes's initiative was not successful after all. He just destroyed it in different ways. It’s just a famous play. Mr. Guedes’s ingenuity is that Mr. Mace has never performed Hamlet, so he has indeed reproduced some of the playwright’s original intentions—but Mr. Guedes only shows the Hamlet he is interested in. Not the original Hamlet that an interpreter should strive to value. As for his other mishandlings, including the deletion of some dialogues, and the way he set Mr. Marcel's performance, Hamlet turned into a hairy-faced Young lad, like an athlete, not a deep philosopher, is of course another question... "I would say that this emphasis on the star is the gravest sacrilege of Shakespeare, one of the greatest playwrights ever to have lived. The same is true in the movies, where Mr. George Harris on the screen Is the historical character being played really Disney or Alexander Hamilton that the general public flocks to watch? No, of course not, what they watch is just another brilliant performance by George Harris." "You see," Wren continued, "if the emphasis is off, the goal is impossible to achieve. The way your modern police catch criminals, the major mistakes you often make, are like the great Mr. Harris in modern movies, or Barrymore in modern drama made the same mistake in performing Hamlet. The producer modified the original content, adjusted the original structure, and did not hesitate to reshape Hamlet in order to accommodate Mr. Barrymore, regardless of what Barrymore said. Does the new Hamlet presented match the original Hamlet written by the real Shakespeare. You, Inspector Sam and Inspector Bruno, have exactly the same fallacies. When you face this crime, you trim the original content and adjust the original structure. , in order to accommodate the conclusion that DeWitt is the murderer, you do not hesitate to reshape the crime, that is, regardless of whether DeWitt fits the real content of the crime. You do not make rigorous inferences, you only collect the most superficial facts, and you are powerless Ignoring direct and circumstantial evidence of interpretation, these errors pile up and make your hypothesis about the murderer seem too flexible to the point of arbitrary, so when it is confronted with a heap of iron in a real crime, it cannot be used. When the facts are shaken, it appears to be completely flawed and worthless. When an assumption leads to an incorrect conclusion that is incompatible with the facts, it only means that the assumption is wrong. I say so, you Do you two understand?" "Dear Mr. Ryan," Bruno frowned, his expression of confidence just now completely changed, "This is really a wonderful comment, basically, I have no doubts about its correctness. But, God, we Is there an opportunity to do what you say? We need action, we have pressure to solve the case, from our superiors, from the media, and from the general public. If a small part of us doesn't figure it out, it doesn't necessarily mean that we made a mistake , and often because this small part is itself inexplicable, trivial, irrelevant and needn't be cared about." "This issue is indeed controversial...Mr. Bruno," Ren's words suddenly changed—his face calmed down, and he returned to his usual inscrutable appearance, "let's end this pleasant discussion for now. Let's get back to the present. I applaud the action taken by law enforcement, of course, arresting DeWitt for the murder of Charles Wood." Ren got up, smiled, bowed deeply, and then left. Bruno sent him to the elevator in the long corridor, and when he returned to the office, his face was very gloomy. Sam was still buried in the chair, watching Bruno quietly, his trademark ferocious expression was gone. "What do you say, Sam?" "Damn," Sam replied, "what the hell, at first, I thought he was just a rotten old man who couldn't walk, but just now..." Sam stood up and started pacing, " The eloquent conversation just a minute ago was really not the words of a confused old man. I don't know, it's only a ghost... Oh, by the way, there is news that you must be interested in. Today at noon, Ren Lunch with DeWitt, which Moxie just reported to me." "Lunch with DeWitt, huh? But he didn't say a word just now!" Bruno murmured to himself, "I doubt that Ryan must have a special idea or plan for DeWitt." "However, he shouldn't have colluded with DeWitt," Sam said coldly. "Mexiu said that when Ren left, DeWitt looked like a beaten dog." "Maybe," Bruno sighed, slumping back into his swivel chair, "Maybe Ryan's still on our side, maybe he'll have a fucking chance to find out some truth. We'll just have to Swallow some headache medicine obediently, grit your teeth and bear with him... No, no," Bruno frowned, "It's not bitter, it's not hard!"