“Hm.” The Inspector cleared his throat noisily.
“If that is all,” said Harley, “I should welcome an opportunity of a few
hours’ sleep.”
“Oh,” said the Inspector. “Well, I suppose that is quite natural, but I
shall probably have a lot more questions to ask you later.”
“Quite,” muttered Harley, “quite. Come on, Knox. Good-night, Inspector
Aylesbury.”
“Good-night.”
Harley walked out of the dining room and across the deserted hall. He
slowly mounted the stairs and I followed him into his room. It was now
quite light, and as my friend dropped down upon the bed I thought that
he looked very tired and haggard.
“Knox,” he said, “shut the door.”
I closed the door and turned to him.
“You heard that question about Miss Beverley?” I began.
“I heard it, and I am wondering what her answer will be when the
Inspector puts it to her personally.”
“Surely it is obvious?” I cried. “A cloud of apprehension had settled on
the house last night, Harley, which was like the darkness of Egypt. The
poor girl was afraid to go to bed. She was probably sitting up reading.”
“Hm,” said Harley, drumming his feet upon the carpet. “Of course you
realize that there is one person in Cray’s Folly who holds the clue to
the heart of the mystery?”
“Madame de Stämer?”
He nodded grimly.
“When the rifle cracked out, Knox, she knew! Remember, no one had told
her the truth. Yet can you doubt that she knows?”
“I don’t doubt it.”
“Neither do I.” He clenched his teeth tightly and beat his fists upon
the coverlet. “I was dreading that our friend the Inspector would ask a
question which to my mind was very obvious.”
“You mean?--”
“Well, what investigator whose skull contained anything more useful than
bubbles would have failed to ask if Colonel Menendez had an enemy in the
neighbourhood?”
“No one,” I admitted; “but I fear the poor man is sadly out of his
depth.”
“He is wading hopelessly, Knox, but even he cannot fail to learn about
Camber to-morrow.”
He stared at me in a curiously significant manner.
“Do you mean, Harley,” I began, “that you really think----”
“My dear Knox,” he interrupted, “forgetting, if you like, all that
preceded the tragedy, with what facts are we left? That Colonel
Menendez, at the moment when the bullet entered his brain, must have
been standing facing directly toward the Guest House. Now, you have seen
the direction of the wound?”
“He was shot squarely between the eyes. A piece of wonderful
marksmanship.”
“Quite,” Harley nodded his head. “But the bullet came out just at the
vertex of the spine.”
He paused, as if waiting for some comment, and:
“You mean that the shot came from above?” I said, slowly.
“Obviously it came from above, Knox. Keep these two points in your mind,
and then consider the fact that someone lighted a lamp in the Guest
House only a few moments after the shot had been fired.”
“I remember. I saw it.”
“So did I,” said Harley, grimly, “and I saw something else.”
“What was that?”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account