Roger Mystery

Chapter 26 Mahjong Night

That night we played mahjong together.This simple recreation is popular in Kings Albert.After dinner, everyone arrived one after another in rubber shoes and raincoats, had some coffee, then some cakes and sandwiches, and tea.

Joining us in the game that evening were Miss Gannett and Colonel Carter, who lived near the church.Such evening gatherings are a good time to spread the gossip, and sometimes the conversation gets so heated that business is forgotten.We usually played bridge - we talked and whispered to each other and ended up messing things up.We found mahjong to be relatively peaceful, not like bridge, where you would be very upset if your partner didn't play a certain card; although we still expressed our criticism directly, it was not as targeted.

"It's cold to-night, isn't it, Shepard?" said Colonel Carter, leaning against the fire.Caroline had led Miss Gannett into her room and was helping her off the layers of her coat. "Brings back memories of Afghanistan."

"Really?" I replied politely.

"Poor Ackroyd, what a mysterious murder," said the colonel, taking his coffee. "There's a lot of mystery behind it--that's how I see it. There's one thing I can only say to you, Shepard, I I heard it’s related to blackmail!”

The colonel gave me a meaningful look, which meant "God knows, you know, I know".

"No doubt a woman was involved," he said. "Believe it or not, there must be a woman involved."

At this moment Caroline and Miss Gannett came.Miss Gannett drank her coffee while Caroline brought out the Mahjong box and poured the cards on the table.

"Shuffle the cards," the colonel joked, "that's right—shuffle the cards, that's what we say in clubs in Shanghai."

Caroline and I both thought that Colonel Carter had never been to a Shanghai club in his life.He had been in the canned beef, plum and applesauce business in India during the war and had never been farther east than India.However, the colonel's military career is genuine, not to mention in Kings Albert, no matter how much you brag about your bizarre experience, everyone will buy it.

"Start?" Caroline said.

We sat around the table, and no one spoke for the first 5 minutes. We all secretly competed with each other to see who could build their own walls first.

"You come first, James," said Caroline at last, "you're the East Wind."

I play a card.After one or two laps, the dull atmosphere was gradually broken by monotonous shouts, "three of a kind", "two barrels", "bong", and Miss Gannett shouted "no bang" from time to time, because she had a habit of calling the cards without seeing the cards clearly. Rushed to "touch", and then found out that I couldn't touch it.

"I saw Flora Aykroyd this morning," said Miss Gannett. "T--no, no, I was mistaken."

"Four barrels," said Caroline, "where did you see her?"

"She didn't see me." Only in a small place like ours can we appreciate Miss Gannett's fuss.

"Ah!" said Caroline excitedly. "Eat."

"The correct term now is 'cut,'" Miss Gannett was momentarily distracted, "not 'eat.'"

"Nonsense," retorted Caroline, "I say 'eat' all the time."

"In the clubs in Shanghai, they all say 'eat'." Colonel Carter said.

Miss Gannett had to admit defeat.

"What did you say about Flora Aykroyd?" Caroline typed intently for a minute or two before suddenly asking, "Is she with someone?"

"That goes without saying," said Miss Gannett.

The two women looked at each other and seemed to be exchanging information.

"Really?" Caroline became interested, "Is it true? Ha, as expected."

"It's up to you, Miss Caroline," said the colonel.He sometimes puts on a big man's air, seems to focus on the game and is indifferent to gossip, but no one will be fooled by him.

"If I say," said Miss Gannett, "did you just type a note, dear? Oh, no, I saw it—it was a box. Lucky, lucky, Flora, I say. Couldn't be better."

"What do you say, Miss Gannett?" asked the Colonel. "I'll take that fortune. How do you know Miss Flora's luck? She's a pretty girl indeed."

"I may not know much about crime," said Miss Gannett in a know-it-all tone, "but I can tell you that the police always begin by asking 'Who was the last person who saw the dead man alive?' This man is always going to be the object of suspicion. Well, Flora Aykroyd was the last person to see her uncle alive, and that's bad for her--very, very bad. In my opinion--never mind it, Ralph Paton went into hiding to cover her and distract her."

"Please," I retorted mildly, "do you really think that a young girl like Flora Aykroyd would be so cold-blooded as to stab her uncle to death?"

"Well, it's hard to say," said Miss Gannett. "I've had a book out of the library these days. It says that some of the worst criminals in Paris' low society are pretty young girls."

"That's in France." Caroline immediately objected.

"All right, all right," the colonel quickly smoothed things over, "Now listen to me tell you a strange thing—this story is very popular in Indian bazaars..."

The Colonel's story is extremely long, endless, and very boring.What happened in India many years ago, how can it be compared with the explosive news of Kings Abbott the day before yesterday.

Caroline was lucky to reconcile, and finally brought the Colonel's story to an end.Caroline made a mistake in her counting, and was a little upset when I corrected her.We start a new round.

"East Wind's over," said Caroline. "I have my own opinion about Ralph Paton. Thirty thousand. But I haven't mentioned it to anyone so far."

"Really, dear?" said Miss Gannett. "Eat—I mean touch."

"Really." Caroline replied firmly.

"Is there something wrong with the boots?" asked Miss Gannett. "I mean, the boots are black. What's the matter?"

"There's nothing wrong," said Caroline.

"What do you think is the key?" Miss Gannett asked again.

Caroline pursed her lips and shook her head in an all-knowing air.

"Touch," said Miss Gannett, "no--no touch. Dr. Sheppard is on good terms with M. Poirot, and should know all the secrets?"

"Nothing like that," I said.

"James is so humble," said Caroline. "Ah! Concealed bar."

The colonel whistled, and the chatter was momentarily suspended.

"You're the banker," he said, "and you've touched it twice. Watch out, everyone, Miss Caroline wants a big one."

For several minutes in a row, everyone was immersed in the game without saying a word of gossip.

"As for this M. Poirot," asked Colonel Carter, "is he really the great detective?"

"By far the greatest detective in the world," replied Caroline solemnly. "He has come here incognito to avoid contact with the public."

"Eat," said Miss Gannett. "It's rare for a big man to come to a small village like ours. By the way, Clara—that's my maid, whom you also know—has a relationship with Elsie, the maid from Finley Manor." Well, guess what Elsie told her? A lot of money was lost. And she thinks—I mean Elsie thinks—that the parlor maid must be dirty. She's going to pack up this month She left and cried every day in the middle of the night. If you ask me, she probably has something to do with some criminal gang. The girl has a weird temper, she doesn't have any friends in the village, and she goes out alone every shift-I think Very unusual, very suspicious. I invited her to a girls' fraternity party once and she turned her down; then I asked her where she lived, who was in the family, etc; Arrogant. On the surface, she has good manners, but she actually refused my invitation on the spot, which is extremely rude."

Miss Gannett stopped to catch her breath, but the colonel was not interested in the servants, and talked to himself about the club in Shanghai, where they always played mahjong very fast.

So we speeded up and played a circle.

"That Miss Russell came to see James on Friday morning," said Caroline, "pretending to see a doctor, but I think she came to find out where the poison was kept. Fifty thousand."

"Eat," said Miss Gannett. "What an amazing idea! I don't think so."

"Speaking of poison," said the colonel, "er—what? I haven't played yet? Oh, eight."

"And!" cried Miss Gannett.

Caroline was furious.

"If another red hits," she said angrily, "I'll have three pairs."

"I have been pressing two red middles." I said.

"Sure enough, James," Caroline scolded, "you don't know how to play mahjong at all."

I thought I played pretty smart.If Caroline hit, I would lose a fortune; and Miss Gannett hit the lowest hand, as Caroline herself did not forget to point out.

After the east wind passed, everyone silently started a new lap.

"Actually, what I wanted to tell you just now was another matter." Caroline said.

"What?" Miss Gannett urged her on.

"I want to say something about Ralph Payton."

"Speak, my dear," said Miss Gannett, more vigorously, "eat!"

"It's too bad to 'eat' so early," Caroline pointed out solemnly, "You should be a big name."

"I know," said Miss Gannett, "you just said--Ralph Paton, didn't you?"

"Yes. Well, I have an excellent idea of ​​where he is going."

We all stopped and stared at her.

"Interesting, Miss Caroline," said Colonel Carter, "did you come up with it yourself?"

"Well, not all. Listen to me slowly. You all know that there is a big map of the whole county in the hall of our house, right?"

We all answered yes.

"When M. Poirot came out of the back room that day, he stopped in front of the map, looked at it for a long time, and said a lot - I don't remember the exact words, but it seems that the only big town in the vicinity is Cranches T-that was obvious, of course. When he was gone, it suddenly occurred to me."

"Think of what?"

"What he meant was that of course Ralph was in Cranchester."

At this moment, I knocked over the shelf on which the mahjong tiles were placed, and my sister immediately accused me of being clumsy, but her mind was basically immersed in that high-level discussion.

"He's in Cranchester, Miss Caroline?" said Colonel Carter. "Impossible! That's too near here."

"Absolutely," exclaimed Caroline triumphantly, "it is now evident that he did not escape by train, but went to Cranchester on foot. And I believe he is still there. Everyone never dreamed that he was hiding in such a close place."

I pointed out that there were several points in her theory that were difficult to justify, but once an idea took root in Caroline's mind, no one else could pull it out.

"And you think Mr. Poirot holds the same opinion." Miss Gannett mused. "It must be a strange coincidence, but I was walking along the roadside in Cranchester this afternoon. Drive past me."

We couldn't help but looked at each other.

"Oh, my God!" exclaimed Miss Gannett suddenly, "I've been playing cards for half a day and haven't noticed."

Only then did Caroline return to the poker table from her fantasy.She pointed out to Ms. Gannett that this is a deck of mixed cards, which can take many cards, and it is not worthwhile to play directly without making a big card.Miss Gannett listened stoically as she collected her chips.

"Yes, dear, I know what you mean," she said, "but it all depends on the cards you've got first, doesn't it?"

"If you don't make cards, you will never be able to match big cards." Caroline insisted.

"Hey, everyone has their own way of playing, isn't it?" Miss Gannett looked down at the chips in front of her, "Anyway, I win the most now."

Caroline was so frustrated that she said nothing.

After Dongfeng finished playing, we continued to shuffle the cards to start the game.Anne served tea.There was some disagreement between Caroline and Miss Gannett, which was not uncommon in evening entertainment.

"Please play a little faster, my dear," urged Caroline whenever Miss Gannett hesitated to play. "The Chinese play as fast as chirping birds."

After 5 minutes, we also imitated the Chinese and played fast.

"You haven't shared any information with us yet, Shepard," said Colonel Carter cheerfully. "You're an old fox. You've been working with the big detective and you've kept nothing out of it."

"James is a special man," said Caroline, "with a very tight mouth."

She gave me a cold look.

"I swear," I said, "I don't know anything. Poirot has done a good job of keeping it secret."

"He's very clever," giggled the Colonel, "and won't let the news slip. But these foreign detectives are very capable, and I think they're all scheming."

"Come on," Miss Gannett said in a calm tone with a bit of complacency, "it's made up."

The situation is even more tense.Miss Gannett made three consecutive fights, much to Caroline's exasperation.She reprimanded me during the yardage: "You're annoying, James. Sitting like a dummy and not saying anything!"

"But, dear," I retorted, "I really have nothing to say about the things you want to hear."

"Nonsense," Caroline scolded me as she counted the cards. "You must know something interesting."

I was silent for a moment.I'm so excited right now.I've also heard of Tianhe before—the first deck I got was a winning card, but I never expected to get it myself.

I suppressed my ecstasy and pushed the cards down on the table.

"In the clubs in Shanghai—" I announced, "they call it Tianhe—Win!"

The colonel's eyeballs were about to pop out.

"It's unbelievable," he exclaimed. "I swear, I've never seen a card like this!"

Stimulated by Caroline's previous cynicism and being carried away for a while, I didn't control my mouth.

"As for the fun stuff," I said, "how about a gold wedding ring with 'R Presented' engraved on the inside?"

Under their pressure, I was obliged to give the exact place where the treasure was found, and the date engraved on the ring, though I omitted the cause and effect.

"March thirteenth," said Caroline, "exactly six months ago. Ah!"

Everyone said what I said, excitedly made various speculations, and finally boiled down to three points of view:
[-]. Colonel Carter thinks that Ralph and Flora have been secretly married, which is the simplest explanation.

[-]. Miss Gannett believes that Roger Ackroyd has secretly married Mrs Ferrars.

[-]. My sister thinks that Roger Ackroyd and the housekeeper, Miss Russell, are secretly married.

Later, before going to bed, Caroline came up with a fourth high theory.

"Mark my words," she said suddenly, "I wouldn't be surprised if Geoffrey Raymond and Flora were married."

"If they get married, the ring should be engraved with 'G gift' instead of 'R gift'." I demurred.

"How did you know that some girls like to call men by their surnames. And didn't Miss Gannett say this evening—Flora's indiscretions."

Strictly speaking, I never heard Miss Gannett say that at all, but I admire Caroline's insinuation.

"Could it be Hector Brant?" I suggested, "if anyone—"

"Nonsense," said Caroline, "I daresay Brant admires her—maybe even in love with her. But how can a young girl like her, with a handsome secretary by her side, look old enough to As her father's man? But she might have encouraged Brant to court her, girls are cunning. But I'll tell you one thing, James Sheppard: Flora Aykroyd was not at all Didn't care about Ralph Payton, and never looked down on him. You can trust me on that."

I obediently accepted her opinion.

(End of this chapter)