Detective and mystery stories; French, Joseph (Fictitious character) -- Fiction; Police -- Great Britain -- Fiction
Since then, the young lady had changed out of
all knowing. She had become silent, melancholy, and depressed. She had
grown thin and old looking, and was eating nothing, and, Rachael had
opined, if something were not done, they would soon see her in a
decline.
Inspector French was not a little intrigued by all this information.
That there was a connection between the murder of Charles Gething and
the postponed wedding he could scarcely believe, and yet some of the
facts seemed almost to point in that direction.
If Miss Duke had first learned of the tragedy from her father at
breakfast, was this knowledge the cause of her telephone call? To whom
was the call made? What had she done during her twenty-minute absence
from the house? What had taken place at the interview between Miss Duke
and Harrington, and, most important of all, why had the wedding been
postponed? French felt that he could not rest until he had obtained
answers to all these questions, and it seemed to him that the only way
he could do so would be to trace the girl’s movements in detail during
the whole period in question.
For a long time he continued sitting at his desk as he considered ways
and means. At last he telephoned once more for Sergeant Nolan.
“Look here,” he began, when the man presented himself, “I want you to
get something more out of that girl. When can you see her again?”
“Sunday, sir,” said the charmer. “I left an opening for meeting her for
fear it would maybe be wanted.”
“And this is Friday. Well, I suppose I shall have to wait. Better see
her on Sunday and find out these things in this order. First, in what
vehicle Miss Duke drove to her friend’s girls’ club on the night of the
crime; secondly, what vehicle she came back in, and thirdly, whether she
received any note or message between the time she returned that night
and Mr. Harrington’s call next day, other than what she might have
learned during her telephone call and absence from the house after
breakfast. Got that?”
Nolan, signifying that he had, left the room, and French turned his
attention to his routine work, which had got sadly behind.
On the following Monday morning, Sergeant Nolan made his report. He had
taken his fair quarry up the river on Sunday afternoon, and there he had
got his information.
Miss Duke and Mr. Harrington had left in Mr. Duke’s car shortly before
eight. Manley, the chauffeur, had mentioned to Rachael that his young
mistress had told him he need not wait for her, as she expected that Mr.
Duke would want him later in the evening to take him home from his club.
She had returned about ten in a taxi, and had come in quickly and gone
to her room. So far as Rachael knew, she had received no caller, note or
other message from then until Mr. Harrington arrived next day, other
than those excepted in the question.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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