The rich man Hector is childless, and his two nephews are co-beneficiaries of his huge inheritance. At first, it was said that in order to fear the loneliness of his uncle, the eldest nephew Clarence, his wife Marianne, and the younger nephew Ambrose, rightfully moved to hector's mansion together.
Late that night, Ambrose was lying in bed, faintly heard a gunshot, he quickly put on his pajama pants, and crept downstairs. When he entered the library and turned on the electric light, he was surprised to find his uncle Hector lying in a pool of blood, out of breath, still holding a pistol in his right hand.
Ambrose was stunned for a few seconds, and the surprise quickly turned into a sneaky delight: his uncle had committed suicide, and he and his cousin could inherit a large inheritance. Thinking about it, he frowned again: If it is suicide, won't my uncle's life insurance policy be in vain? My uncle had bought $400,000 worth of life insurance, and the beneficiaries were the Ambrose brothers, which was a lot of money! Ambrose was unwilling, his brain was running at high speed, and suddenly he had an idea: he couldn't let the police see that his uncle was committing suicide, he had to set up the scene, and he had to make it look like a thief came to the door and fled again.
When all was said and done, Ambrose opened the drawer in the room, flipped through it a few times, and then put down the chair, kicked the vase, wrapped the window handle with the corner of the curtain, and opened the floor-to-ceiling window, creating the illusion that the burglar had entered the room and escaped through the window. Then he took the pistol his uncle was holding.
When Ambrose picked up the pistol at close range, his heart "clucked", wasn't this his "Smith Anderson" revolver? Usually, after he played with the gun, he would put the pistol back in the locked gun cabinet, but the other day he was partial to the convenience and only hid the gun in the drawer of the bedroom changing room. Unexpectedly, an accident occurred through an oversight, and it seemed that Uncle Hector had sneaked into the room and taken the pistol while he was not there.
So, what to do with this tricky pistol? If you drive outside now and drop your gun, in case you wake up the servant who lives in the garage, you will not be able to pay for it. With this in mind, Ambrose decided to wipe off the fingerprints on the gun and then hide it in a dust bag that he thought was the safest place in his home, a vacuum cleaner. After making sure there were no problems, he went back to the library and turned off the lights and the door.
Set up, Ambrose returned to the bedroom, where his cousin Clarence in the next room had not yet returned and looked like he was going to play all night again.
The next day, at first everything went as Ambrose had planned: in the morning, the maid found the body in the library, and the housekeeper Danvers panicked and reported to Ambrose and Marianne, who were having breakfast. Ambrose rushed to the library, pretended to confirm that his uncle was dead, and ordered the maid to close the door and call the police.
Forceful questioning
A few minutes later, Inspector Schopenler arrived at the scene with his men, and while the technicians surveyed the scene, the police took notes for everyone present. Finally, the Inspector summoned Ambrose, Marianne, and Danvers, the housekeeper, into the living room, and when he learned that Clarence was still sleeping on the second floor, he sent his men down to wake him up.
The inspector said: "Gentlemen, according to the preliminary judgment of the police, the deceased was killed. ”
Ambrose replied, "There must have been a thief who came to steal something, and my uncle heard the noise and went to check it out, but he was killed by the thief." The thief may have escaped from the floor-to-ceiling window. ”
The inspector said, "But I noticed that the lights in the library were turned off, and none of them were lit." Who would look at the strange movements in the darkness? ”
Ambrose couldn't help but curse in his heart about his habit of turning off the lights casually, but he stabilized himself and said, "Maybe the thief brought a flashlight, and his uncle planned to raid the thief and didn't turn on the light." ”
The inspector continued: "Just now a maid said that when she was cleaning the vacuum cleaner, she found a pistol in the dust bag, and we suspected that it was a murder weapon. I want to ask you, who of you has a Smith & Wesson revolver? ”
Ambrose thought something was wrong, but his mind turned and he made up a new statement: "I have one, but I gave the gun to my uncle two weeks ago." I think my uncle must have been carrying a pistol when he went to check on the movements, but then the gun was taken away by the thieves, and my uncle was killed..."
The inspector questioned: "After the thief shoots your uncle, wipe off the fingerprints on the pistol, then hide the gun in the dust bag of the vacuum cleaner, then return to the library and escape through the floor-to-ceiling window?" Do you think this argument holds water? When was the last time you used that pistol? ”
"Two weeks ago, after I handed the pistol to my uncle, I never touched it again."
"Has he ever used a gun?"
"After many times, my uncle used to go to the woods to shoot tin cans and practice marksmanship."
The inspector threw out his hand: "The technician checked the chamber of the gun, and the bullets inside left your fingerprints, how to explain?" ”
Ambrose sweated coldly and said, "I thought about it, I did load the gun a few days ago, and my uncle happened to be very busy at the time and asked me if I would like to..." Ambrose saw the inspector with a suspicious face, gritted his teeth, and changed his mouth: "Inspector, I have something to confess, my uncle actually shot himself." At about eleven o'clock last night, I heard gunshots and went downstairs to check and found my uncle lying in a pool of blood, with a pistol in his hand, apparently shooting himself. I took the pistol from my uncle's hand, wiped off my fingerprints, and hid the gun... It's all about preserving the family's reputation, because suicidal acts are laughed at by the upper class. ”
The inspector asked, "Why did he commit suicide?" ”
Ambrose shook his head.
"When you found him, the lights were on?"
"No, I found the body after turning on the lights."
The inspector shook his head: "People who shoot themselves may close their eyes, but they usually don't turn off the lights." More importantly, Mr. Hector did not detect any remnants of gunpowder on his hands..."
Ambrose was stunned to hear this, knowing that he was in an awkward predicament.
At this time, Marianne, who had been silent, spoke up: "Inspector, Ambrose was with me when the murder occurred." He came to the suite where my husband and I lived at one o'clock nine, and we played bridge, and Danvers was there, right? ”
Danvers, the butler, replied, "Of course, madame, we fought until about eleven thirty, when we heard the gunshots. ”
At this time, Clarence was taken to the living room by the police, his eyes were bloodshot and he looked like a hangover. The inspector asked him, "Where were you when the case happened last night?" ”
Clarence said: "Of course I'm with my wife. ”
Marianne explains: "What my husband meant was that last night all four of us were playing bridge in the suite, including my husband, Ambrose, Danvers and me. ”
Ambrose was brainbroken and hastily added: "We heard gunshots while playing cards and went downstairs together." We found my uncle's body and thought he had committed suicide. In order to preserve the reputation of the family, we arranged the scene like a burglar breaking in, and as a result, we misjudged the situation and caused trouble to the police investigation, which is very sorry! ”
Clarence said, "That's it. ”
Inspector Schborner was obviously a little reluctant, but he interrogated him until the afternoon, and made no progress, so he had to temporarily evacuate with his men.
Unspeakable secrets
When the police were gone, Ambrose pulled Clarence aside and whispered, "Why don't you say you've been out all night?" This is a clear alibi! ”
Clarence was also cheerful, and he confided his secret to his brother: "Because last night I was hanging out in the high-class club opened by Madame La Fontaine, and you know that if the police knew about that kind of place, it would cause a lot of trouble." ”
At night, Ambrose kept thinking about the whole thing in the house, and he always felt that something was wrong: Speaking of which drawer The Revolver was in? Could it really be that the thief took the pistol?
Ambrose went into the dressing room and opened the chest of drawers. In the drawer where the pistol had been placed, there were several pairs of diamond cufflinks and a few gem lighters and carved cigarette cases. If the thief stumbled upon the pistol, why didn't he take the valuables, but only the pistol?
Ambrose concluded that the pistol had not been taken by the thieves, nor would it have been taken by his uncle, because the uncle really had no reason to commit suicide. So would it be Clarence or Marianne?
At this moment, the housekeeper Danvers came into the room and said, "Sir, lunch is ready." ”
Ambrose stared at Danvers, remembering that Danvers was in the room when he returned from his own shot yesterday morning, and he must have seen himself put the pistol in the drawer.
Ambrose held out a finger to the butler and said, "Danvers, you killed your uncle!" ”
Danvers smiled and said, "Sir, you're not kidding. ”
Ambrose continued, "Only you know I put the revolver in the drawer. If you can do the test now, you will still have the marks of shooting on your hands! ”
Danvers stared straight at Ambrose, shook his head, and said, "When I started, I was wearing a long coat and gloves. Earlier today, I had burned off my coat and gloves and thrown ashes into the river. ”
Ambrose's eyes widened and he asked, "It's really you!" Why did you kill your uncle? ”
Danvers explained: "The old man found that the accounts were wrong and suspected that I was the one who was doing it, and wanted to fire me. You know how stubborn he is, and how I intercede doesn't work. He also wanted to remove me from my will. I took care of him for so long that I could have received tens of thousands of dollars from his estate, and it wasn't a small sum of money for a poor person like me. ”
Ambrose said, "Danvers, it is now my duty to tell Inspector Schpünler that you have confessed to the murder. ”
Danvers smiled, "After I shot your uncle, I heard a door on the second floor open, so I hid in the shadows of the hallway, looked up, and just saw you coming out of Madame Marianne's suite, your pants belt untied, and half of your ass exposed." Sir, I don't believe at all that you and Madame Marianne played cards in the room. ”
When Ambrose heard this, he was so nervous that he rubbed his neck with his hands. Whenever Clarence was away all night, Ambrose would go to Marianne's suite for a while, not to play cards. He thought he was doing it unconsciously, but he didn't expect to be discovered by the housekeeper. He snapped, "Danvers, this has absolutely nothing to do with murder. ”
"Sir, if I had confessed to the murder, I would have told the court of all that I had seen on the night of the murder. What would your brother do if he learned that you had given him a green hat? ”
Ambrose was silent for half a moment, and finally said, "Well, this conversation between the two of us is as if it had never happened, and you didn't see anything last night." Danvers smiled slyly, "One word is enough." ”