Country homes -- Fiction; Middle-aged women -- Fiction; Murder -- Investigation -- Fiction; Mystery fiction
In the course of his investigations the detective had come to the inner
pocket of the dead butler’s black coat. Here he found some things that
interested him. One was a small flat key, with a red cord tied to it,
and the other was a bit of white paper, on which was written something
in Thomas’ cramped hand. Mr. Jamieson read it: then he gave it to me.
It was an address in fresh ink—
LUCIEN WALLACE, 14 Elm Street, Richfield.
As the card went around, I think both the detective and I watched for
any possible effect it might have, but, beyond perplexity, there seemed
to be none.
“Richfield!” Gertrude exclaimed. “Why, Elm Street is the main street;
don’t you remember, Halsey?”
“Lucien Wallace!” Halsey said. “That is the child Stewart spoke of at
the inquest.”
Warner, with his mechanic’s instinct, had reached for the key. What he
said was not a surprise.
“Yale lock,” he said. “Probably a key to the east entry.”
There was no reason why Thomas, an old and trusted servant, should not
have had a key to that particular door, although the servants’ entry
was in the west wing. But I had not known of this key, and it opened up
a new field of conjecture. Just now, however, there were many things to
be attended to, and, leaving Warner with the body, we all went back to
the house. Mr. Jamieson walked with me, while Halsey and Gertrude
followed.
“I suppose I shall have to notify the Armstrongs,” I said. “They will
know if Thomas had any people and how to reach them. Of course, I
expect to defray the expenses of the funeral, but his relatives must be
found. What do you think frightened him, Mr. Jamieson?”
“It is hard to say,” he replied slowly, “but I think we may be certain
it was fright, and that he was hiding from something. I am sorry in
more than one way: I have always believed that Thomas knew something,
or suspected something, that he would not tell. Do you know how much
money there was in that worn-out wallet of his? Nearly a hundred
dollars! Almost two months’ wages—and yet those darkies seldom have a
penny. Well—what Thomas knew will be buried with him.”
Halsey suggested that the grounds be searched, but Mr. Jamieson vetoed
the suggestion.
“You would find nothing,” he said. “A person clever enough to get into
Sunnyside and tear a hole in the wall, while I watched down-stairs, is
not to be found by going around the shrubbery with a lantern.”
With the death of Thomas, I felt that a climax had come in affairs at
Sunnyside. The night that followed was quiet enough. Halsey watched at
the foot of the staircase, and a complicated system of bolts on the
other doors seemed to be effectual.
Once in the night I wakened and thought I heard the tapping again. But
all was quiet, and I had reached the stage where I refused to be
disturbed for minor occurrences.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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