Detective and mystery stories; Wise, Pennington (Fictitious character) -- Fiction
Richard Bates sat still, wondering if the joyful news that no one he
cared for was implicated could really be true! He awaited Molly’s coming
with impatience, longing to get the whole matter cleared up.
“And so, Molly,” Zizi began, when the girl came into the room and Wise
had closed the door behind her, “and so it was Mr Vail who married you!”
A suppressed shriek answered them, and Molly glared like an angry tiger.
“No!” she screamed, “_no_!”
“Useless talk,” said Zizi, “your fright and your excitement give the lie
to your words! Though your words are oftener lies than not. Now, Molly,
you don’t dare go contrary to Mr Vail’s orders, I know, but don’t you
think you’d better do that than to go to jail?”
“I don’t know——Oh, I don’t know _what_ to do,” and the girl broke down
and wept so piteously that Zizi was sorry for her.
“There, there, Molly,” she said, “I’ll take care of you. You’re only a
tool in the hands of a villain; you stay by me, and I’ll look after you.
Penny, we want Vail.”
They got Vail. At first he brazened it out, and finally, when he was
cornered, he turned state’s evidence to save what he could of his own
skin.
It seemed, Vail was determined to make the deal for the Binney Buns,
and, as a last resort, had waylaid Sir Herbert on his way home from the
Hotel Magnifique after the dinner to the chorus girls.
With Vail on that occasion was a friend of his, one Doctor Weldon, who
was a skillful surgeon, more careful in his surgical operations than in
his mental or moral ones. He was Vail’s tool, by reason of past historic
incidents, and the scheme had been planned by the two conspirators.
Binney was invited to Dr Weldon’s home, not far from The Campanile, and
there, from midnight on, both Vail and Weldon tried to persuade the
Englishman to consent to Vail’s terms.
But Binney was obdurate and finally went home, accompanied by the two
men. When near The Campanile, Vail darted on ahead, and managed adroitly
to get into the elevator with Moore and be on the way up when Binney and
Dr Weldon entered the onyx lobby.
The rest was easy. Binney had the Prall paper-knife with him and the
Doctor knew it. With it, the skilled surgeon stabbed his victim and made
away at once. Sir Herbert, dying, but with mind alert, wrote the fact
that two men were responsible for his death; and whether he tried to
continue with ‘get both’ or ‘get Bob’s evidence’ or ‘get bakery,’ or
what was in his fast clouding brain, they never knew.
But when to the surprise of the criminals, women were suspected, they
felt so freed from suspicion that they took no care about it.
Vail, however, was keen for the recipe, which was, in part, why he had
Binney killed, and he made many attempts to find it in its clever hiding
place. When he did find it, Molly knew of it, and in order to keep the
girl quiet he married her, with, however, a mock ceremony.
Discovering this, Molly was so angry that she told on Vail, and he, in
turn, told on Doctor Weldon.
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