"Then you did not telephone Bishopsgate Street earlier?" inquired
Winter, permitting himself to be surprised.
"No. I had other things to bother me."
"Now, Mr. Fenley, can you tell me where your brother is?"
"I can not."
He placed a rather unnecessary emphasis on the negative. The question
seemed to disturb him. Evidently, if he could consult his own wishes,
he would prefer not to discuss his brother.
"I take it he has not been home since leaving here on Saturday?"
persisted Winter.
"That is so."
"Had he quarreled with your father?"
"There was a dispute. Really, Mr. Winter, I must decline to go into
family affairs."
"But the probability is that the more we know the less our knowledge
will affect your brother."
The door opened again. Mr. Winter was wanted on the telephone. Then
there happened one of those strange coincidences which Furneaux's
caustic wit had christened "Winter's Yorkers," being a quaint play on
the lines:
Now is the Winter of our discontent
Made glorious Summer by this sun of York.
For the Superintendent had scarcely squeezed his big body into the
telephone box when he became aware of a mixup on the line; a querulous
voice was saying:
"I insist on being put through. I am speaking from Mr. Fenley's bank,
and it is monstrous that I should be kept waiting. I've been trying
for twenty minutes----"
Buzz. The protest was squelched.
"Are you there?" came the calm accents of the Assistant Commissioner.
"Yes, sir," said Winter.
"Any progress?"
"A little. Oddly enough, you are in the nick of time to help
materially. Will you ring off, and find out from the exchange who
'phoned here two minutes ago? I don't mean Fenley's Bank, which is
just trying to get through. I want to know who made the preceding
call, which was effective."
"I understand. Good-by."
Winter explained in the dining-room that the Assistant Commissioner
was anxious for news. He had hardly finished when the footman
reappeared. A call for Mr. Hilton Fenley.
"Confound the telephone," snapped Fenley. "We won't have a moment's
peace all day, I suppose."
Winter winked heavily at Furneaux. He waited until Fenley's hurried
footsteps across a creaking parquet floor had died away.
"This is the bank's call," he murmured. "The other was from the Lord
knows who. I've put the Yard on the track. I wonder why he lied about
it."
"He's a queer sort of brother, too," said Furneaux. "It strikes me he
wants to put Robert in the cart."
CHAPTER V
A FAMILY GATHERING
Fenley was frowning when he reappeared.
"Another call from the Bank," he said gruffly. "Everything there is at
sixes and sevens since the news was howled through the City. That is
why I really must go to town later. I'm not altogether sorry. The
necessity of bringing my mind to bear on business will leaven the
surfeit of horrors I've borne this morning....
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