The crooked crossDutton, Charles J. (Charles Judson)
General
The crooked cross
Dutton, Charles J. (Charles Judson)
Bartley, John (Fictitious character) -- Fiction; Detective and mystery stories; Murder -- Investigation -- Fiction
At length, just when I was beginning to wonder if they would ever
come, there was the sound of a car—a car which came up the drive. In a
bored manner Ranville rose to his feet and went out into the hall. He
returned in a second with the chief followed by one of the village
policemen. The chief's hair was unbrushed and he was wearing no hat.
It needed but a glance to tell that his being roused from a sound
sleep had not improved his disposition.
He came into the room with the heavy swaying walk he had, but paused
when he had his first glimpse of the Chinaman sitting in the chair.
After a few words with Bartley he went over to the oriental and
touched him on the shoulder. At the touch the Chinaman muttered
something in Chinese. His eyes flared but without protest he rose and,
obeying the chief's gesture, started to the door.
With a word to his policeman the chief turned to Bartley. He was
informed I had given him all the information he needed. The Chinaman
had been caught in the house and a charge of attempted burglary could
stand on the docket. But he very strongly urged the chief to keep a
careful eye on the man until he had him in jail. To this the chief
grunted some reply and with revolver in hand started for the door.
Reaching it he gave the Chinaman a command, and they went out with him
between the chief and his policeman.
As the sound of their car died away Ranville turned to Bartley:
“Wager you a couple of pounds if they are not careful that chap never
reaches the police station. He is a pretty cold proposition.”
Bartley agreed to this, and then I asked him if he believed the story
the man had told. He was silent for a while as if running it over in
his mind then replied:
“I think in the main he probably told the truth. Don't you, Ranville?”
Ranville admitted he thought that was so. Within certain limits the
man had told the truth but not all the truth. He said that he thought
his explanation as to why Warren had in his possession a box
containing opium was the truth. And he agreed also that unless one
wished to think the scientist was engaged in smuggling the stuff there
could be no other reasonable explanation. But there were a few other
things he wanted to know. First, did the Chinaman know anything about
the murder? Was his story of finding the door of the library open, and
then walking in and discovering Warren dead, true? If it was, he could
see nothing unreasonable in the fact the man never notified the
authorities that he had found a murdered man. He might be held under
suspicion himself and to a Chinese mind the murder anyway was none of
his affair. It was because of this, because also he had told us the
story of the discovery of the body, that he had an idea the man knew
nothing about the murder itself. That was his idea but after all he
was not sure.
It was at this point I broke into his rather disconnected monologue to
say:
“I don't think the Chinaman would ever have cut that cross in Warren's
forehead.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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