8 hours

On the twenty-second of March 1900, my friend Steve Horwood and I were sitting drinking morning coffee in his rented room on Wall Street in New York City. The caller turns towards me, addressing .. "Addison, the commissioner has called.. There is a crime that occurred on Bowery Street in Manhattan. They want us to go there to solve the circumstances of the case. Commissioner Rocky says that crimes have occurred for three days there and they do not know who the perpetrator is. Come on Let's go to Manhattan now." Without saying a word, I got up and followed Horwood to the car. It was Horwood's, a black Alfa Romeo.. After Horwood drove the car, I asked him while we were on the road, "Horwood, you said there were crimes three days ago in Manhattan on Bowery Street. Do you think the crimes were planned by the same perpetrator, or what?" "I think they are crimes committed by the same person, nine crimes within three days, and all of them are arson crimes.. This is not a coincidence." "Wow! Three crimes a day then! Actually It's a mystery that caught my attention, I hope we can solve this matter." And after the passage of time, we finally arrived ... Fifty-first Street, a burning house, and they were two victims in the fire, we got out of the car and headed towards the city commissioner there, and he and the police had surrounded The area was investigated to investigate the circumstances of the case, and we introduced ourselves to him, then my friend asked him for information about the victims so that the commissioner would kindly do so. The first victim was Respected sir, his name was Jean Sayes, at the age of fifty-six years, the case is married.. As for the second victim, she was a woman, but he did not indicate To him in the civil registry that she was not his wife, Horwood asked the commissioner if the lady was wealthy The commissioner replied, "No." The commissioner thanked us. Then my friend and I went inside the burning house to look for something that would indicate the identity of the killer or something like that. While we were inspecting the house, I found a piece of iron with drops of blood on it, so I took it. As for Horwood, he was inspecting the burnt bodies, and After he inspected the victims, he turned to me and said: This is not an accident, it is a fabricated crime, Addison. I asked him how did he become so sure of that?

"Addison, if you like, go ahead and examine Mr. Sayess. He shows me the marks of a blow on his forehead, apart from all the rest of his head, and the piece of iron that you have in your hand has drops of blood on it, and this means that the victim saw the killer's face, and the killer hit him on the head, and from Then the house was burned, but the question here is, where was the second victim! We must ask the commissioner where the second body was found in the house." And we went to the commissioner to ask him about the location of the second body, as it was found in the bedroom at the door of the room while Mr. Sayes was in the living room and This means that the murdered lady was in the bathroom inside the bedroom, and during the fire she came out of it, but the fire had consumed the house and the lady was burned before reaching the door of the room, but she fell at the door after her spirit vanished. Horwood was tired of the matter because there was nothing to guide us to the killer, so he decided Going to the new room we had rented in Bowery Street and he said he would complete the investigation tomorrow morning, we went to the flat and as soon as we arrived Horwood took off his suit jacket and undoed his blue tie, and sat down at his desk while I sat on the sofa relaxing with my eyes closed while Horwood lights his cigarette And he began to inhale it. When he faced issues that he did not have evidence to solve, he smoked excessively and started thinking. As usual, Horwood does not smoke ready-made cigarettes, but rather buys tobacco and rolls his cigarette himself. He reduces the tobacco in the paper so that his mouth does not smell so bad, and he brushes his teeth directly. After smoking, but, as I said, his bad habit, he smokes excessively when facing a difficult issue, just as now. Only ten minutes had passed since we entered the apartment, and he had lit his third cigarette, but he quickly put it out to say: "Come on, Addison, we're going." We had gone to Mr. Sayce's house, and in fact, as we entered the office, I had a thought, which I shared with Horwood in the car: Don't you think it was Mr. Sayce's wife who killed him? Since the second victim turns out to be his mistress?

"I don't think she knows that her husband has a mistress." After half an hour of the road, we stopped at Upper Manhattan above 96th Street, and a passer-by asked us about Mr. Sayce's family and where they were staying. After some time had passed, we finally reached the home of the victim's family. Mrs. Sayes welcomed us and kindly let us in and sit down. Horwood began to ask her question..."I should like to know, Mrs. Marple, have you and your husband been in a quarrel?" "Never, Mr. Horwood. My husband and I are on very good terms. And where did he go and when does he usually come back?" "He left at seven in the morning, went to work, left the company at ten, returned home around one in the afternoon, and went to his friends at four in the afternoon. He spends eight hours with his friends. He told me that he plays with them." Card game.. "What does your husband do? And who are his friends?" "He works for a newspaper company, 20th Building Bowery Street. Horwood thanked Mrs. Marple and asked her to see the children to ask them some questions, then we went to the car. Horwood said that Mrs. Marple does not know about her husband's mistress and her children told me that their father goes to his friends for eight hours, which is the number of hours he spends with his mistress, meaning that they do not know Something about her, the children are of no interest.. I interrupted him by saying that the killer, then, is someone who works with him in the company, but he remained silent until we got home and went to sleep, and the next morning Horwood woke me up early to go to Wraith Infirmation, which is the company he was Mr. Sayes works in it, and after forty minutes we got out of the car and went to the manager of the company, Mr. Clark Hudson, and he was fifty years old, his body was of average build, but his face was thin, his nose was somewhat long, he had wheatish skin and orange hair, he was wearing extravagant clothes The price, asked Horwood directly: "Mr. Jean Saïss used to work here, didn't he?"

Mr. Hudson calmly and coldly said yes, and then Horwood told him he wanted to ask him some questions about the victim, and when he was about to ask him he cut off a call on my phone and I answered and freaked out, just as he freaked out my friend last night with the same words, Horwood and I left the company in haste without We investigate the manager and Horwood drives the cart and asks me: Where is this time Jack? I told him that he was two streets away from the victim's house, and he said to me: What do you think, Addison? Who is this that kills people burning? And the strange thing is that there are no thefts!? I remained silent until we reached the place, and after we got out of the car, we went to get information about the victims. Four projects would come to him every day. As for the lady, she is a twenty-five-year-old girl, her name is Sarabil Luchi. We inspected the entire house, and we found in it a wooden chest that had not been touched by the fire. It was full of gold and gold coins, and this indicates that there is no theft. .. My friend Horwood was not pleased with these events and asked me to go back to the company to investigate Mr. Hudson while he went to ask in another alley, the company arrived and sat with Mr. Hudson and asked him: Where were you yesterday at four in the afternoon, sir? He muttered at first, and then said, "I know you want to come to a conclusion about Jean, but believe me, it has nothing to do with me, Mr. Addison." In fact, I doubted him, because I do not like procrastination and not answering clearly, then I repeated my question again, so he answered me: I was at home and stayed until eight o'clock, and then I returned to the company. You can be sure of that. After he answered me, I asked him another question and then to some of the employees. After I got the answers, I left for the new scene of the accident, convinced that the answers I got would not help us with anything in the course of the investigation.. After I arrived, I found Horwood had arrived before me and He asked me what happened, and I told him in detail, and when I asked him if he had found anything, he said to me: Don't you see that there is something strange about it, Addison? Three victims a day, every eight hours a victim! 'I don't understand,' said I. 'Have you come to nothing yet, Horwood?' "Yes, I knew the killer." In fact, I was very surprised when he told me he knew the killer, and I had only been separated from him for an hour, so what changed during this hour! _I have wandered alleys and quarters and asked people, Addison, and as the commissioner said, since we received this case, these fires have been occurring for three days, every day three crimes. An hour after the accident occurred, and when I asked one of the people on the third street from Bowery, he told me, pointing to a house, that its owner had gone out the night of the accident, rushing like a madman, and after the master left, I remained watching that house for five minutes, and then the man came out of the house, as he was described Lee, short in stature and fat, with a flabby face, and after I made sure that he was away from the street, I crept into his house from the bedroom window, and after searching, Addison, I found a wallet containing his identity, his name is Jogosi Tonax, he is thirty-six years old, but if you see him, you say that he Ballston .. This is not important to me, because I also found a bag of cocaine in his house and a piece of paper on his office table that reads "twelve o'clock he will be there" and I found in the garden of his house near the door a box of matches and a bottle containing half of the gasoline, I left before he returned And you came here.

And what about the paper? Looks like he has a partner! _ I think that the paper is the time for carrying out the next crime, every eight hours, twelve o'clock and now at nine o'clock, that is, after three hours, he will commit a new crime, and he wrote this on a piece of paper because he sniffed cocaine and might forget, or maybe it is a date to meet one of them .. We will know soon Oh Addison. And after the commissioner came, we shared some information with him, and then we went to the car, heading to Jogosi's house.. I knocked on the door three times, but there was no answer. Horwood checked the house through the windows and saw that he was lying on the sofa in the living room, his eyes open and his tongue sticking out like the one He lost his life... Horwood pulled his gun from his waist and ran towards the door.. It seems he was killed. Break down the door, Addison. I broke the door and we broke into the house.. Jogosi had already been killed, he was killed by suffocation and traces of the rope were visible on his neck. Men informed us. The police and the commissioner rushed to come, as we took the victim and closed the place with tapes. The commissioner came towards us and said: What do you think about this? If the killer was killed? Horwood answered him, showing the paper: "There is an accomplice with him, sir. Look at this paper. The time on it is the time of a new crime, without a doubt. It is now ten minutes to ten, and the time is twelve o'clock. If this was a date for a meeting between him and his partner, we would have found him." He was killed after two hours and ten minutes, if they had decided to liquidate him, and if it was an appointment to meet one of his friends or neighbors, we would have found the paper hanging in that painting on the wall of the living room, which contains what he will do during the day, but it was in a small bag containing some coins, and this It means the secrecy of the paper for him, and it is not just an appointment to meet one of them, and for this reason there is only the last possibility, which is the date of a new crime, as six hours have passed since the last crime and two hours are left until a new crime." A logical analysis, Mr. Horwood, but what is the solution? Like this? Encounter That's good and But how will his partner know that whoever took the paper will understand the meaning of the date on it? "All of these are just possibilities, Mr. Jason, but I am sure that the date is the date of a new crime. We will see this after two hours. As a result, even if the date was known, it was not known by the victim, and for this reason the killer will not back down from carrying out his crime."

The commissioner and the policemen left while Steve told me to check the house again, and after five minutes of searching, Horwood came to me with a letter in his hand with a picture of a person attached to the message through wax and said: I found this message in one of the books in the library, it was sent from A party of a person named Phils Odar, in the letter, leaves his residence address as well. Come on, Addison, we will go to get to know this person. In fact, the case seemed interesting to me. After that, we went to one of the houses, ringing the bell to ask about Filiz Odar. Mr. Majid, his name was Rafael Dafoe, answered us, and we asked him about that Odar .. "Please, do not approach him, sir. This is a very dangerous and criminal person who drinks alcohol to an extent." Excessive and he killed an old man with a knife three years ago, and he was imprisoned for one year and then he was released. "He never comes home. I've never seen him come home. He hangs out in a tavern in the north-east of H. Its name is the Oblivion Bar, so whoever goes to it forgets their worries. I can say that it is the dirtiest bar in all of Manhattan, because it is in an almost deserted area, and everything in that bar is permissible, and there is no police to control that bar. Raphael thanked us and we went to the car to head north-east to the Oblivion Tavern. After we arrived, my friend and I entered the tavern. It was exactly as described to us by that Majid, and it was very dirty, where the seats and tables were dirty with spilled wine, and everyone in the tavern was drinking wine. And they smoke a lot of cigarettes, and there are those who smell cocaine and take narcotic pills, as the smell of the bar mixed with the smell of wine and tobacco. We went to the bartender to ask him about Odar, and he pointed to him and said: That is it. He was sitting in a corner of the bar with a bag of cocaine left next to him, and he was still swearing. We went towards him and started asking him. In fact, we did not face any difficulty in interrogating him. On the contrary, he told us everything without any suffering. It's all in his heart." Horwood began to ask him.

"What is your relationship with Gogosi Tunax?" The drunk smiled and said: "He is my friend in murder, huh, huh." "Why did you kill your friend in murder?" "It was not me who killed him, this is the law of our gang. We do these arson operations, and the law says that those with missions must be monitored, and when they watched Tonax's house, they saw a man infiltrate the house, and with this, Tonax was exposed and eliminated." "Why do you do these arson operations? And who is in charge of you?" Phils did not answer the last question. To Horwood, his head tilted to the right, and Horwood put his hand on Phil's neck to see that he had died as a result of his excessive cocaine snoring. We called the police, and everyone in the bar was taken to health care, and the owner of the bar was imprisoned, and we closed. That bar is forever.. Then we went to our apartment and sat in the office. I had propped myself up on the couch and Horwood was sitting in his office chair. I was surprised that he had not lit a cigarette to smoke as he does every time he got into a difficult case, and suddenly a renaissance Heading to one of the shelves to take one of the files, I got up from the sofa and went towards him to see a list of the names of all the Wealthy people who live in Bowery Street.. The first six names were killed, and all of them were killed by burning, and they are the same victims whose cases we have been investigating since our arrival in Bowery, and the seventh name was a gentleman named Daled Augurs and his fortune amounted to two million dollars, forty minutes remained for a crime to occur Another.. Horwood said: You know what, Addison? There is a quarrel between these gang members.

I told him: How did you deduce that? He said: Look, in all the crimes that happened, those rich people never robbed. He and Jugosi and their homes too, meaning that Feliz's house was supposed to be watched, and when that person watching us with official uniforms sees us, he will suspect that we are informants or investigators, and he would have gone to kill Feliz, especially if he saw us asking the neighbors, but all this did not happen, and this means There is a dispute between the gang members that made them leave the track of that criminal, and I think that the dispute is about the theft of those victims, and I also think that the dispute is temporary and was in our favor, as there is no gang leader who will abandon his gang members. The dispute, even if it was temporary, is in our interest. We have enough information to overthrow the criminals. I cried out in astonishment.. Oh my God! You're really good, Horwood, so what now? Now the next victim is Mr. Daled Augurs, there is still half an hour to the crime, and this gentleman's house will only take five minutes by car, come on, Addison, and while he was driving Horwood said to me: I forgot to tell you, Addison, that the six victims are rich and they all have mistresses And Mr. Augurs also has a mistress, and this means that his mistress's house will be burned down.. Hudson stopped driving and got out of the car to go to the public telephone in the street to contact Mr. Augurs, as his company's phone number was written in that file, and Mr. Augurs answered and He told him that he was in the company and was about to leave, and a conversation took place between him and Horwood, where Horwood told him that he knew that he had a girlfriend and that there was something important he wanted to talk about with him and his mistress. After Horwood explained some details to Mr. Augurs, we got the address of his mistress' house. And we headed there before Mr. Augurs arrived.. Ten minutes later, Mr. Augurs arrived at the house, and we sat with him and explained to him the matter of that gang and the fires that are taking place, and that one of the criminals will come to assassinate him within ten minutes, and we asked him to close the door tightly and All windows except the bedroom window M, and we have developed a plan so that as soon as they saw the criminal screaming, Horwood and I would get out of the rooms in which we were hiding, and after ten minutes that criminal came, and he had an iron stick in his hand, and he entered through the hole (i.e. the bedroom window) and headed to the sitting room and immediately If Mr. Augurs' mistress saw him, she screamed, and Horwood and I immediately went out and arrested the criminal. We called the policemen to protect Mr. Augurs. Horwood and I took that criminal to the department for interrogation. Horwood and I entered the interrogation room to interrogate the criminal named Pradeev Hisok. Perhaps he looks funny, but he is a true criminal, weak in body, not exceeding a hundred and fifty centimeters in height, light hair and worn-out clothes at the age of seventeen. Horwood asked him about his relationship with Gogosi Tunax and Feliz Odar, where the boy remained silent, and my friend asked him several questions, but he did not He must say which of them. Although Horwood was furious and clenched his fist and was about to hit that boy, he finally said, "You can't tell anything from me even if you punch me." Horwood laughed, then addressed the policeman who was standing with us, saying, "Call this boy's mother to come." And if the boy heard this phrase, he immediately panicked and shouted at the top of his voice: Please, Mr. Horwood, my family does not know about this. If my sick father knew about this, he would die forcibly, and my younger brothers would lose their trust in me, not to mention what will happen to my mother. Please stop.

Answer me, then, why will your brothers lose their trust in you? "And in order to bring money, you kill people and become a criminal! Well, tell me now, what is your relationship with Tonax and Odar?" So we didn't care about anyone, and as a kind of disobedience we broke the rule and didn't watch the other assigned to the missions, but the dispute was resolved later, after we agreed to steal every victim, I would rob Mr. Augurs' house after I killed them and then burn the house according to the leader's desire " Horwood exited His notebook and wrote down what the boy said, then asked him: What is your master's name? Harvard .. Harvard Mary. Horwood wrote down the name in his notebook, then we went out to Commissioner Jason's office to see what was new, and when we told him about the name Harvard, he jumped up from his seat and thought that the young boy was deceiving us. Commissioner said: Are you crazy? What is this I hear! Harvard Maridi, he died with his wife and daughter as a result of a fire accident in his house three months ago, and he disappeared on the same day at the same hour that the accident occurred. There is a murder behind it, and this person named Bunson, since he disappeared at the time of the accident, but we did not have any evidence to prove that it was a crime, and the case was registered as just an ordinary accident .. Horwood said: Mr. Jason, there seems to be a mystery in the case you are talking about now, has it been explained The man's body was really Mr. Maredi's? _ The corpse was completely burnt and mutilated as it cannot be dissected, but this does not require intelligence, as the matter is clear that he was killed next to his wife by Wilson. _ Well, give us some time and we will discover the mystery of this crime, Mr. Jason. Then we went back to our apartment, and as usual, Horwood sat at his desk and lit a cigarette to smoke it, and I looked at him, observing his movements, then he asked me if I had a plan to overthrow the criminal Harvard and his men..

"Yes, in fact, I have a plan, my friend, in agreement with Mr. Augurs.. We empty his company of all the security men and empty the money secretly, then after that we publish news in the newspaper stating that there is a competition within the company and that there is a financial reward .. as soon as we hear about the thieves The news will come to the company on the basis that they will participate in the competition, and when they explore the company and see that there are no security men in it, they will decide to storm it and steal it after they make sure that the company will not have a guard, and during this we and the policemen will be hiding in the company's rooms since the beginning of the day In civilian clothes, on the grounds that we are participating in the competition, so as not to arouse suspicion and to reassure these thieves. behind these crimes? He said: Yes, Jack, I'm sure when he's arrested, I'll tell you the details. And we went to Mr. Augurs' company and explained the plan to him, and we agreed to implement it next Thursday, that is, after two days, and when Thursday came at twelve o'clock in the afternoon, many people came to the competition and it continued until four o'clock in the afternoon .. and we told everyone after the end of the competition that we will announce The winner is Friday at ten o'clock in the morning, and after that everyone left the company except for three people who had gone in the middle of the competition to the toilet on the second and third floor and did not leave the toilet, and by this we knew that they were the thieves, and when night fell they went out to the office of Mr. Augurs, while Horwood and I went out with our weapons and the rest of the policemen with us.. and we arrested the three of them, and Harvard Maredy was already alive and with his other two men, and he was the one who headed that gang, we took everyone to the oath to Commissioner Jason. For a moment, the Commissioner was stunned and said : How is that ? How is Harvard alive and not dead!! I will explain to you, sir, Horwood said: "Mr. Maredy has a wife and a child. His wife used to cheat on him with his neighbor, Mr. Winson, every night, spending eight hours with him. Maredy discovered his wife's betrayal of him, and his mind could not bear it, so he made his plan and burned his wife, his child, and his neighbour. The lover is in his house, and after that he becomes mentally ill. He takes from the victims the number of crimes he will commit per day, which are three crimes. His wife used to spend it with her lover, and after that he became looking for the wealthy of the city because he knew that the rich would have promiscuity, and he committed crimes against men who had mistresses and cheated on their wives, and burned girls who loved and robbed men of their husbands, and burning is the way he killed his wife .. I came to this conclusion before his arrest, because if the perpetrator was Wenson, he would not have been stupid to make the matter appear as an accident, namely the explosion of the gas cylinder, and his absence at the same time as the accident occurred to raise suspicion about himself, but it was a good plan from Maridi, if it was revealed If the incident is a crime, the police will seek it Behind Winson and Maridi will remain relieved because everyone thought he was dead, just as you suspected that it was Winson, Mr. Jaso

The end