The Crime of the French Café and Other Stories — John Shaqi
The Crime of the French Café and Other StoriesCarter, Nicholas (House name)
General
The Crime of the French Café and Other Stories
Carter, Nicholas (House name)
Mystery fiction
"The identification of that woman gets stronger all the time," said the
superintendent. "I'm beginning to think that she is really the wife of
our prisoner."
"It looks so," said Nick.
At that moment a card was brought in. The superintendent looked at it
and whistled softly.
Then he handed the card to Nick, who read the name. The two men
exchanged glances, and both smiled.
"Mrs. John Jones," said Nick; "well, this puts a new face on the
matter."
"It's a great case," was the reply. "I'm mighty glad you happened to be
on the scene at once."
He turned to the officer who had brought the card, and directed that
Mrs. Jones should be admitted immediately.
A pretty young woman entered. She was of about the same height as the
unfortunate victim of the tragedy in the restaurant, and much like her
in build.
The faces did not resemble each other in outline, but the coloring was
similar. There was a faint resemblance in the large, light blue eyes.
The hair was of the same peculiar shade, and nearly as luxuriant. But
nobody would ever have mistaken one woman for the other, after a fair
look at their faces.
The costumes, however, were positively identical. Mrs. John Jones, to
all appearances, wore the very same clothes as Nick had seen upon the
woman in room B.
Mrs. Jones was evidently very nervous, but she made a fine attempt to
control herself.
"You have my husband under arrest, I believe," she said. "And he is
accused, they say, of killing me."
She tried to smile, but it was rather a ghastly effort.
The superintendent motioned the woman to a seat.
"Mr. John Jones is here," he said, "and he is suspected of murder."
"I have read about it," replied the woman. "There certainly appeared to
be evidence against him, but of course you must be aware that I know him
to be innocent."
"How?"
"Because I was with him when the crime was committed. At half-past seven
o'clock of that evening we were walking toward the Grand Central Depot.
"We had dined in our flat. The people who say they saw us go out tell
the truth.
"But we came back. It was my intention to take an afternoon train, but I
decided to wait.
"So we came back and had dinner. Nobody saw us go in or out of the flat.
"After dinner we walked to the depot, and I took the eight-ten train for
my home in Maysville, ten miles from Albany.
"I arrived in Albany Wednesday morning, and remained there with friends
throughout the day and night. Then I went to Maysville, where I heard
the news, and came back at once."
The superintendent touched his bell. Two minutes later John Jones was
brought into the room.
"Amy!" exclaimed he. "How came you here?"
He ran up to her, and they greeted each other affectionately. The
woman, who had controlled herself up to this point, burst into tears.
Jones turned in wrath toward Nick.
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.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account