Chapter 12 twelve

Mason sat on the chair and rested for a full three minutes before he pulled himself together and went to find Wilma.Staller. He walked through the heavy curtain into the drawing room, then tiptoed across the waxed tile floor.The wide staircase goes up in a circle, and the iron handrails are exquisitely and elegantly crafted.From nowhere came the monotonous sound of a grandfather clock ticking.Other than that, there were no signs of life in the building. Mason ascended the grand staircase, indifferent to the beauty and workmanship of the building.For him, the stairway that went so far was just a tool to help his wobbly legs reach the second floor.

In the upstairs hallway, Mason tiptoed for an open door.He identified Wilma.Staller dozed off, always alert for the sounds of her patient.She is an experienced nurse who regularly checks on patients, and only takes a nap during the interval between ward rounds. Mason walked through door after door, and finally one door was open, and he looked into the room. This is a luxurious and carefully furnished bedroom.Someone had slept in the bed, and the bedspread had been thrown aside.You can tell at a glance that this is a woman's bedroom.The whole house is very luxuriously furnished, it is hard for Mason to think that this is Wilma.Staller's bedroom.

He was standing in the corridor, another slightly open door aroused his interest, maybe this was the room he was looking for, Mason quietly walked to the half-open door, and gently pushed the door open.Not a sound came out.He looked into the room and couldn't help being stunned. This was Banning.Clark's room. A woman in slacks sat at a roll-top desk in the room.Mason didn't recognize her at first, but from the back of her head, the wrinkles around her neck, and the slightly sloping shoulders, she didn't look like Wilma.Staller.Her movements were also a little clumsy, and she seemed to have heard something and turned her head sideways.

Now Mason saw clearly that it was Lillian.Bradisson.The light shone through the green lampshade on her face.There was a cunning and greedy expression on her face, and this long-suppressed greed wiped away the deep fake smile on her face.At this time, Mrs. Bradisson no longer concealed it, and Mason seemed to see her naked inner world. She raised her head and listened motionlessly, apparently hearing nothing.She turned back so Mason could not see her face.Her shoulders moved slightly, and Mason couldn't see her hands. He thought for a moment and realized that she was skillfully and carefully searching the letter compartment in the desk.

Mason stood quietly in the corridor. Mrs. Bradisson, who was at the desk, concentrated all her attention. She didn't hear any suspicious noises around her.She took some papers from the letter compartment, put them in after reading them, and then took everything from another compartment. Mason saw that she had apparently found what she was looking for, a rectangular folded document.She unfolded it and began to read, leaning over to get a better view in the light of the desk lamp, so Mason could see her face clearly again.Originally, there was still a curious expression on his face, but after reading the letter, he immediately became angry.

Mrs. Bradisson produced a folded document from the opening of her civilian dress. From a distance, the two documents were almost identical.She put the document she took out into the letter grid on the desk.She pushed back the dilapidated swivel chair, ready to stand up, put the folded documents in her left hand, and stretched her right hand towards the desk lamp. Mason walked silently down the corridor, walked to a door on the left, and turned the handle.The door was unlocked, and he went in. Mason walked as far as possible into the house, in case Mrs. Bradisson came back to check. Someone was still sleeping in this room, and Mason could hear light, even breathing.

The wind blew in through the crack in the door, directly across the bed, and moved the curtains. Fearing that the wind might wake up the sleeping people, Mason closed the door as much as possible, squinted his eyes to observe the movement in the corridor from the crack in the door, and waited. The appearance of Mrs. Bradisson. But Mrs. Bradisson did not show up.About two minutes later, Mason heard a strange rhythmic boom, boom, boom, coming from the room where Mrs. Brayson had been.After a while, there was another knocking sound. Mason was a little annoyed to find that he had put himself in a dilemma.If he went into that room again to see what Mrs. Bradisson was doing, he might meet her when she came out.If you stay where you are, you won't know what's going on there.

The sleeping man rolled over. Mason decided to take a chance.But he had just entered the corridor when Mrs. Bradisson came out of that room.Mason was under attack, and simply retreated to the bedroom. Suddenly the spring bed creaked, and someone sat up on the bed. who is it? With his hand still on the doorknob, Mason stood calmly at the door.When I heard it was Della.Streeter's voice, he smiled, closed the door and said: How are you, Della? Oh, it's you!I woke up and saw someone standing there, like something happened.Boss, is everything all right? If you're fine, everything will be fine.

I'm better, she said, oh my god what a nightmare.what time is it? It's almost four o'clock.Mason turned on the light while talking. I have slept for a long time.I remember the nurse was here and she gave me an injection, how are you feeling? I'm dazed, Mason said, you know Benning.Is Clark dead? I see.Miss Staller told me they found him, but he wasn't poisoned.It is said that he was shot to death. An interesting legal question, said Mason, sitting on the edge of her bed, smoking? no thanks.I still have a strange taste in my mouth.I'm not feeling well.What is the legal issue?

Suppose, said Mason, that I gave you a dose of poison and you died, that would be murder, wouldn't it? She joked: "If I had made a mistake, I think it might have been justifiable killing.Then say, what do you think? However, Mason continued, if the poison was not fatal, another person fired the fatal shot and fled.So who was guilty of the murder? Della.Streeter frowned, both of them were guilty.she said timidly. Mason shook his head and said, No, unless they acted together or had a conspiracy, without a joint act or any conspiracy, only one person would be charged with murder. which one?

think about it. I can't figure it out.Are you saying the victim ingested enough poison to kill him? Yes. And died of poisoning? Yes.It was just a matter of minutes, maybe seconds. Della.Streeter said: Oh, anyway, I don't want to think about it now.I have to think of something else.Wake me up at four in the morning with legal questions!Come on out, I want to get dressed.I think you're leaving now, aren't you? Mason stood up and said: We have work to do. What job? I think, he said to her, what I'm going to do will make Sam.Gregory was furious.