England -- Social life and customs -- 20th century -- Fiction; Murder -- Fiction; Mystery fiction
Next, he described in detail the bringing-down of the two men. There was
nothing remarkable here either, except that the living one had "kept on
moving his hand all the time like this"--illustrated by an aimless
fluttering of the right hand, now a few inches this way, now a few
inches that.
But I had an involuntary start when Mr. Westbury pompously announced
that he "had offered himself to Inspector Webster as a witness in case
he should be wanted." It was, of course, just what such a fellow would
do, if only out of vain officiousness, and I don't quite know why I
didn't like the sound of it. I had gone into that Saloon Bar to glean,
if possible, what people at large thought of flying over London, what
their temper would be if there were very much of this, and similar
things; but instead I had apparently hit on some sort of a human
bramble, who hooked himself on everywhere with a tenacity out of all
proportion to the value of any fruit he was likely to bear, and who
would scratch unpleasantly when you tried to dislodge him. There was
nothing to be uneasy about, but the whole of the events of that morning
were so far inexplicable, and to that extent intimidating.
"Yes, me and Inspector Webster will probably be having a talk about
things this evening," Mr. Westbury continued with hearty relish. "We're
neighbors in Lennox Place, the very street behind Lennox Street--you can
see right across from my bedroom window. So I had my choice of two good
views in a manner of speaking.... Five-and-twenty to two. Not worth
while going home for lunch now. May as well be hung for a sheep as a
lamb. I wonder if they've got a snack of anything here?"
If they had I have not the least doubt he got it.
III
Musingly I mounted an eastward-bound bus and sought my office. The more
I thought things over the less able I became to shake off the sense of
accumulating trifles, of gathering events. And it was as I passed
through Pimlico that yet another incident, temporarily forgotten, came
back into my mind. This was the curious way in which Esdaile had
snapped--it had been a snap--when Rooke had wanted to sweep up the
broken picture-glass, to draw the studio blinds back again, and to
return the bottle of curaçao to its place in the cellar. "You've done
enough for one morning," Esdaile had said. What had Monty done that was
"enough"?
Now I have known Monty Rooke, as I told you, for a dozen years, and in
that time I have learned not to be surprised at anything he does
provided it is sufficiently out of the way, unprofitable to himself, and
unlike anything an ordinary person would have done. I will give you an
instance of what I mean.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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