Chapter 10 Chapter 10 Mr. Gritz Gains New Momentum

There is no room for evil in such a sacred temple. This shocking discovery brought my spirits to rock bottom.In this way, the beautiful Eleanor really is... I can't finish this sentence, even if I think about it quietly in my mind. "You look surprised," said Mr. Gritz, with a curious glance at the key, "but I don't. A lady can't shake, blush, swoon, talk incoherently, especially a lady like Miss Leavenworth." , let alone such a reaction.” "A woman who can do that doesn't tremble and faint and talk incoherently," I retorted. "Give me the key and let me see."

He proudly handed me the key. "This is the key we want, and it can't be wrong." I hand it back to Mr. Gritz. "If she said she was innocent, I would believe her." He looked at me in surprise. "You trust women," he laughed. "I hope they never let you down." I can't answer.We were silent for a while, and then Mr. Gritz broke the silence. "There's one more thing to do," said Mr. Gritz. "Forbes, you go and ask Miss Leavenworth to come downstairs—don't startle her, but she'll just come down to the drawing room." Before Forbes left, he added said this sentence.

As soon as he left, I was ready to go back to Marie, but Mr. Gritz stopped me. "Don't go, the show is about to begin," he whispered, "She's going downstairs soon, you'd better stay and watch." I looked at him with some hesitation, but it moved my heart to see Eleanor again.I told him I'd be right back, and I went up to Mary to say goodbye. "What's going on? What happened?" She gasped nervously. "I won't disturb you, don't worry." However, my face revealed my thoughts. "You must be hiding something from me!" she said.

"Your cousin is going downstairs." "Downstairs to here?" She flinched visibly. "No, to the reception room." "I don't understand, everything is terrible, everyone keeps everything from me." "I hope there's nothing to hide. With the level of trust you have in your cousin, she shouldn't have much to say. Take it easy, and if something happens that you should know, I promise to tell you." With a reassuring expression, I left her slumped on the crimson sofa cushions by herself.I went back to Mr. Gritz, and walked quickly with him to the drawing room, where Elinor just entered.

Although Eleanor still maintained a noble posture, her complexion was more haggard than an hour ago.She walked slowly, nodding softly as she met my eyes. "I've been told to come," she said to Mr. Gritz. "I presume he's one of your subordinates. If I'm not mistaken, please tell me what's the matter at once, because I'm quite tired and desperately need rest." "Miss Leavenworth," Mr. Gritz rubbed his hands and looked at the doorknob with an elder look, "I'm sorry to disturb you, I just want to ask you..." At this point Eleanor interrupted him.

"Is it about the key? You don't have to think about it, he told you he saw me throw the key in the ashes, didn't he?" "Yes, miss." "If that's the case, I can only refuse to answer the question. I have nothing to say. I just want to say..." She looked at him with pain, but also a certain courage, "I just want to say that if he told You, I have the key and try to hide it in the ashes of the fireplace, then he is right." "However, miss..." By this time she had reached the door. "I'm taking my leave now," she said. "No matter what you say, I won't change my mind, so what you do will be in vain." She glanced at me with a slightly pleading look, and said quietly. left the reception room.

Mr. Gritz watched her turn meaningfully, then bowed in an almost exaggerated gesture to salute, and quickly followed her away. I was taken aback by his sudden movement, and before I recovered, I heard hurried footsteps coming from the hall. It turned out that Mary came to me blushing and panting. "What's the matter?" she asked. "What did Eleanor say?" "Ah!" I replied, "she didn't say anything. Miss Leavenworth, it's annoying not to say anything. She finds some of what she's witnessing so painful that she prefers to keep silent. She should understand." , if you continue to do this, you will..."

"What will happen?" The deep anxiety in her voice was palpable. "She won't be able to hide from the next trouble." She stood there staring at me for a while, her eyes full of horror and suspicion.Then she slumped in a chair, covered her face with her hands and yelled. "Oh, why are we born! Why are we allowed to live! Why are we not allowed to die with our parents!" I couldn't just stand by and watch her in so much pain. "My dear Miss Leavenworth," I said, "you don't need to be so desperate. Although the prospect is bleak, it is not necessarily impossible to break through. Your cousin will explain it rationally..."

But she didn't listen to me, she just got up and stood in front of me, looking a little scary. "If it were any other woman, they would definitely go crazy! Crazy! Crazy!" I looked at her carefully, and the more I looked at her, the more interesting she became.I thought I understood her intentions.She knew that the clues she gave had made her cousin a suspect, and she knew that she had caused the trouble they were facing.I tried to comfort her, but to no avail.She was so absorbed in her grief that she didn't notice me at all.Later, I realized that I couldn't help at all, so I turned around and prepared to leave.The gesture seemed to touch her.

"I'm sorry I've got to go," I said, "without offering you any consolation. Believe me, I really want to help you. Do you want me to inform someone for you? Boudoir friends or any relatives? It’s really hard to be alone in moments like this.” "Do you think I will continue to stay here? I will die if I stay here! Stay here tonight..." She trembled all over her body. "You needn't stay here, Miss Leavenworth," said a flat voice from behind us. I turned around abruptly.Not only was Mr. Gritz right behind us, but he had obviously been back for a while.Sitting near the door, one hand in his pocket, the other stroking the handle of a chair, he grinned, part apology for the unsolicited gesture, part reassurance that we had no bad motives.

"Miss, everything is taken care of here, you can leave with peace of mind." I thought she would resent him for meddling, but seeing him appear, she showed a sympathetic expression instead. She took me aside and whispered, "Don't you think Mr. Gritz is smart?" "Well," I replied cautiously, "he has a mission and the authorities obviously trust him." Immediately after she finished speaking, she returned to her original position, then walked across the room and stood in front of Mr. Gritz. "Sir," she said with pleading eyes, "I heard that you are very capable in handling cases and can pick out the real criminal from a group of suspects. Nothing escapes your sharp eyes. If this is the case, please sympathize with the two men." Orphans who have just lost their guardian and protector. Use your talents to find the culprit. I will not be so stupid as to hide the doubts in my cousin's testimony, but I will declare here: she is as innocent as I am Innocent, I just want to beg you to look for the criminals elsewhere and shift the eyes of justice from the innocent to the guilty." She stopped and stretched her hands in front of him, "It must be an ordinary thief Or outlaws. Can you bring him to justice?" Her attitude was quite touching, and her expression also showed sincere longing and hope. I saw Mr. Gritz's face full of depression.Although he hadn't taken his eyes off the coffee pot for a moment since she approached. "You must find the culprit...you can do it!" she went on. "Hannah...the missing maid must know the truth. Find her quickly and search all over New York City to find her. I fully support the manpower and material resources you need. I am willing to provide bonuses and offer rewards to find the murderous bandits!" Mr. Gritz rose slowly. "Miss Leavenworth," he said, breaking off.Looks genuinely offended, "Miss Leavenworth, I don't need your touching plea to remind me of my mission. I have high demands on me personally and professionally. Now that you've expressed your expectations, though, thank you I value it so much, and I won’t hide it from you. From now on, I will step up the pursuit of the real culprit. I will definitely be able to do what other people can do. Within a month from today, if I don’t come to claim the reward Bonuses, and Ebenezer Gritz wouldn't be a man." "Where's Eleanor?" "We won't mention any names," he said, waving his hands gently from side to side. After a few minutes I left the house with Miss Leavenworth, as she wished me to accompany her to a friend's house.She decides to hide from the limelight at the house of her friend Mrs. Gilbert.As we rode down the street together in the carriage which Mr. Gritz had kindly provided, I noticed that the person next to me looked back regretfully, as if her conscience felt guilty for abandoning her cousin. However, her expression quickly changed to one of alertness, as if she was afraid to see a face popping out of nowhere.She searched the street up and down, peeping through every doorway, trembling with surprise if a figure suddenly appeared on the sidewalk.She didn't fully relax until we turned onto Thirty-seventh Street.The natural look is restored.She leaned over softly and asked me if I could lend her a pen and paper.Fortunately I have both.After handing it to her, I was a little curious about what she wrote.She wrote two or three lines.It made me wonder why she chose to borrow a pen and paper to write here and now. "I want to post a letter," she explained to me, with a suspicious glance at the barely legible handwriting. "Would you please stop the carriage so I can go down and post the letter?" I stopped the carriage, and she immediately folded the paper I had torn out of the notebook, wrote the address on it, and took out the stamp from her own notebook and pasted it on. "This letter looks like it was written by a madman," she murmured, placing the letter in her lap, address side down. "Why don't you wait until you arrive at the destination, and then seal and send it in a leisurely manner?" "Because I'm in a hurry. I want to send it now. Look, there's a mailbox around the corner. Please ask the driver to stop again." "Can't I post it for you?" I asked, holding out my hand. She shook her head, and without waiting for me to serve her, she opened the door and jumped out of the carriage.Even when she was about to mail the letter she had written in her haste, she paused, looking up and down the street.When the letter left her hand, she had the most cheerful and hopeful expression I had ever seen.When she turned her head a moment later to say goodbye to me in front of her friend's house, she was already in high spirits.She asked me to come see her the next day and inform her about the interrogation process. I should confess to you that I spent the night sorting out the testimony from the interrogation, eager to use the evidence I had heard to clear Eleanor of suspicion.I took a piece of paper and wrote down the doubts related to her: 1. According to Javier, she had recently been at odds with her uncle and was visibly keeping her distance. 2. A servant in the house mysteriously disappeared. 3. Her cousin's strong accusation.But only Mr. Gritz and I overheard it. 4. A handkerchief stained with pistol oil was found at the scene of the murder, and her words were inconsistent. 5. It is generally believed that she took a piece of paper from Mr. Leavenworth's desk immediately after removing his body, but she refused to provide relevant testimony. 6. The key to the study is in her hand. "Things are not good." I watched it from beginning to end and couldn't help but blurt out.However, I also started writing the following explanation on the other side of the same paper at the same time: 1. Disagreements and distance between relatives are commonplace, and cases of criminal cases are rare. Second, whether Hannah's disappearance is involved in the case is a matter of opinion. 3. Mary’s private accusations against her cousin are powerful, but she declares in front of the public that she does not know or suspect who the murderer is, which is equally powerful.In good conscience, I think that the words that came out naturally in private are more credible, but it is also true that the words that were blurted out at the time were impulsive, reckless, and may not have considered the facts in detail. 4 and 5. Innocent men and women, in times of fear, usually flicker words about facts that might harm them. But, that key!How can I explain this?There is no way to explain it.The key is in her hand, without explanation.Eleanor Leavenworth was full of suspicions, even I had to admit it.At this time, I simply stuffed the paper into my pocket, picked up the "Evening Express", and my eyes immediately fell on the following words: what!At least there's some consolation here.Her name has not yet been identified with the suspect.But what will be in the papers tomorrow morning?I thought of Mr. Gritz's meaningful expression when he handed me the key, and I couldn't help shivering. "She must be innocent, she cannot be guilty." I kept telling myself that, but eventually I stopped and asked myself what evidence?Only her beautiful face, only her beautiful face.Embarrassed, I put down the newspaper and went downstairs.At this time, the telegram boy sent a telegram from Mr. Willie, signed by the person in charge of the hotel where Mr. Willie was staying. I went into the room to meditate.Why am I suddenly relieved?Is it because I am afraid that the senior partner will come back?Who else knows the inside story of the Leavenworth family better than him?Who else can guide me but him?Is it possible that I, Everett Raymond, do not wish to know the facts?No, you should never say that.I sat down again, took out the memo I made, read it carefully, and wrote the three big characters "suspected" in heavy fonts next to the sixth item.All right!In this way, no one can say that I am only at the mercy of a beautiful face, or that if I were replaced by an unattractive lady, I would immediately think that she was involved. And yet, staring at the note after I wrote it, I found myself reading it aloud, unconsciously: "If she proclaimed her innocence, I would believe her innocence." Humans are truly selfish animals!