2
‘It’s unbelievable. This has to be a bad prank by someone. This doesn’t happen in real life.’
‘Leroux.’
‘A murder is no joke! This has to be a nightmare. It just doesn’t make sense.’
‘Leroux, stop it.’
Agatha’s shrill voice made Leroux’s round shoulders shudder and he looked up.
‘Sorry,’ he muttered softly and stared down at the floor.
The six were all sitting around the table in the hall. Not one of them looked into the others’ faces. The empty seat which, until last night, had been occupied by the girl with the short hair and downcast eyes, stood out more than ever.
‘Who killed Orczy?’
The question from Agatha’s rose-pink lips sounded like a curse and hung trembling in the cold air.
‘Nobody’s going to just come out and say “it was me,”’ replied Ellery.
‘But the murderer has to be one of us. One of us six. Who killed Orczy? Why not stop pretending you don’t know anything about it, you murderer?’
‘Nobody’s going to kill someone and then confess to it just like that.’
‘But Ellery.…’
‘I know, Agatha. I know.’
Ellery banged his fist lightly on the table.
‘We need to find out who the murderer is. What about it, Poe? Won’t you tell us what you found out?’
After a moment’s hesitation, Poe pursed his lips and nodded solemnly.
‘I already told you just now, but she—Orczy was strangled to death. A nylon cord you can get anywhere was still wound around her neck and ligature marks were clearly visible beneath them. There’s no doubt this was murder.’
‘Signs of Orczy having fought back?’
‘No. She was probably attacked in her sleep, or when she was off-guard. I couldn’t find any signs of her being hit on the head, so she wasn’t knocked out before. But there was one thing I couldn’t make sense of.’
‘Which was?’
‘You all saw it too. I don’t know why, but the murderer arranged the body. Orczy was lying on her back with her pyjamas in order and her cardigan placed over her face. That might have been the murderer’s conscience at work, but the problem is.…’
Poe frowned deeply.
‘Orczy was missing her left hand.’
‘What?’
‘What do you mean, Poe?’
‘Her left hand had been cut off.’
Poe looked at everyone in the silent hall, placed both his arms on the table and turned them over, palms up. On his fingers were several dark red bloodstains.
‘A big, sharp instrument like a kitchen knife was used. The murderer must have found it difficult to do. The cut was horribly clumsy.’
‘It was cut off after the murder, of course,’ said Ellery.
‘I can’t say with certainty, but I think it’s correct to assume that. If it had been done while the heart was still active, there would have been a lot more blood than there actually was.’
‘And you didn’t see such an instrument in the room?’
‘No. I couldn’t find the cut off hand either.’
‘So the murderer took it with him,’ muttered Ellery to himself, as he clasped his thin fingers together.
‘Why would the murderer do that?’
‘The murderer must be insane,’ Agatha shrieked.
Ellery snorted lightly.
‘He must be, or he must love bad jokes. It’s an allusion. The murderer made an allusion to the incident which happened on this island last year.’
‘Ah.’
‘The quadruple murder in the Blue Mansion. One of the victims, Nakamura Kazue, was strangled, after which her left hand was cut off.’
‘But why, Ellery?’
‘You mean what was the intention behind the allusion? Who knows?’ Ellery shrugged. ‘Let’s go on—Poe, can you give an estimate of the time of death?’
‘There were some signs of livor mortis. I noticed that rigor mortis had just started when I checked for Orczy’s pulse. I could open the clenched fingers of her right hand relatively easily, so rigor mortis hadn’t reached her joints yet. Also, considering the coagulation of the blood…I’d say it was four or five hours after death. Orczy died between seven and eight this morning, or with a wider range, between six and nine. But I’m just an amateur, so don’t take it as read.’
‘I believe you.’
Carr laughed, his teeth sticking out of his mouth like a monkey.
‘For you’re an heir who’s going to inherit a big hospital, as well as a star of our beloved K—University’s medical faculty. Unless, of course, you yourself are the murderer.…’
Poe remained silent and didn’t even look at Carr.
‘Is there anyone who has an alibi between six and nine this morning?’ Ellery posed the question to all of them.
‘Anybody notice anything that could be relevant to the case?’
Nobody reacted.
‘Anyone with an idea about the motive, then?’
Leroux, Van and Agatha’s eyes all slowly turned to look at Carr.
‘I see.’ Ellery appeared on the point of giving up.
‘Only Carr, it seems. But that’s only if we look for obvious motives.’
‘What? Why me?’
‘Orczy turned you down, didn’t she?’
Carr gasped and clamped his mouth shut, biting his lip until blood started to ooze out.
‘But Ellery, if Carr was the murderer, he would never have arranged her body,’ Agatha cried out in a sardonic tone….
‘Carr’s the only one who wouldn’t have done that.’