"Row this boat back to the steamer, Brendon," he said, "and tell
them to take you across to Poggi as quick as may be. If Redmayne is
there, leave him there and return. But he's not there: he's at the
bottom of the lake. Go!"
Mark hastened to the boat and one of the officers who had come with
Ganns wrote a dozen words on a sheet from a notebook. With this
Brendon reached the black steamer and in another moment the vessel
disappeared at full speed under the darkness in the direction of
Bellagio.
Then Peter turned to the rest and bade them all, with Jenny,
accompany him to the dwelling room. Supper had been laid here but
the apartment was empty.
"What has happened," explained Peter, "is this: Doria has used the
only certain means of getting Albert Redmayne out of this house, and
his wife has doubtless aided him to the best of her power by
arresting the attention of my colleague whom I left in charge. How
she did it I can easily guess."
Jenny's horrified eyes flamed at him and her face grew rosy.
"How little you know!" she cried. "This is cruel, infamous! Have I
not suffered enough?"
"If I am wrong, I'll be the first to own it, ma'am," he answered.
"But I am not wrong. What has happened means that your husband will
be back to supper. That's but ten minutes to wait. Assunta, return
to the kitchen. Ernesto, hide in the garden and lock the iron gate
as soon as Doria has passed through it."
Three big men in plain clothes had these remarks translated to them
by the fourth, who was a chief of police. Then Ernesto went into the
garden, the officers took their stations, and Mr. Ganns, indicating
a chair to Jenny, himself occupied another within reach of her. Once
she had tried to leave the room, but Peter forbade it.
"Fear nothing if you're honest," he said, but she ignored him and
kept her thoughts to herself. She had grown very pale and her eyes
roamed over the strange faces around her. Silence fell and in five
minutes came the chink of the iron gate and the footfall of a man
without. Doria was singing his canzonet. He came straight into the
room, stared about him at the assembled men, then fixed his eyes
upon his wife.
"What is this?" he cried in amazement.
"Game's up and you've lost," answered Ganns. "You're a great crook!
And your own vanity is all that's beat you!" He turned quickly to
the chief of police, who showed a warrant and spoke English.
"Michael Pendean," he said, "you are arrested for the murder of
Robert Redmayne and Bendigo Redmayne."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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