MR. J. G. REEDER SERIES: 5 Mystery Novels & 4 Detective Stories. Edgar Wallace

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СКАЧАТЬ him twice.”

      Craig turned his bright, suspicious eyes upon the porter.

      “Peter been here? I didn’t see anything about Mr. Brown of Montreal?” he asked sarcastically.

      “No, he hasn’t. I haven’t seen Peter since the Lord knows when,” said the porter emphatically. “That’s the truth. You can give the elevator boy permission to tell you all he knows, and if Peter was here tonight you can hang me.”

      Craig considered for a long time.

      “Does Peter know his way in by the easy route?” he asked.

      “You mean the fire-escape? Yes, Peter knows that way, but members never come in by the back nowadays. They’ve got nothing to hide.”

      Craig went out of the room and walked down the passage stopping at No. 13. Immediately opposite the door was a window, and it was wide open. Beyond was the grille of the fire-escape landing. He stepped out through the window and peered down into the dark yard where the escape ended. By the light of a street lamp he saw a stout gate, in turn pierced by a door, and this led to the street. The door was open, a fact which might be accounted for by the presence in the yard of two uniformed policemen, the flash of whose lanterns he saw. He came back into the corridor and to Stevens.

      “Somebody may have used the fire-escape tonight, and they may not,” he said. “What time did Gray come in? Who came in first?”

      “Jeff came first, about five minutes before Gray.”

      “Then what happened?”

      “I had a chat with Captain Gray,” said the porter, after a second’s hesitation. “He went round into the side passage—”

      “The same way that Jeff had gone?”

      The porter nodded.

      “About a minute later – in fact, it was shorter than a minute – I heard what I thought was a door slammed. I remarked upon the fact to the elevator man.”

      “And then?”

      “I suppose four or five minutes passed after that, and Captain Gray came out. Said he might look in later.”

      “There was no sign of a struggle in Captain Gray’s clothes?”

      “No, sir. I’m sure there was no struggle.”

      “I should think not,” agreed Craig. “Jeff Legge never had a chance of showing fight.”

      The girl was lying on the sofa, her head buried in her arms, her shoulders shaking, and the sound of her weeping drew the detective’s attention to her.

      “Has she been here before tonight?”

      “Yes, she came, and I had to throw her out – Emanuel told me she was not to be admitted.”

      Craig made a few notes in his book, closed it with a snap and put it in his pocket.

      “You understand, Stevens, that, if you’re not under arrest, you’re under open arrest. You’ll close the club for tonight and admit no more people. I shall leave a couple of men on the premises.”

      “I’ll lock up the beer,” said Stevens facetiously.

      “And you needn’t be funny,” was the sharp retort. “If we close this club you’ll lose your job – and if they don’t close it now they never will.”

      He took aside his assistant.

      “I’m afraid Johnny’s got to go through the hoop tonight,” he said. “Send a couple of men to pull him in. He lives at Albert Mansions. I’ll go along and break the news to the girl, and somebody’ll have to tell Peter – I hope there’s need for Peter to be told,” he added grimly.

Chapter XVI

       Table of Contents

      A surprise awaited him when he came to the Charlton. Mrs. Floyd had gone – nobody knew whither. Her husband had followed her some time afterwards, and neither had returned. Somebody had called her on the telephone, but had left no name.

      “I know all about her husband not returning,” said Craig. “But haven’t you the slightest idea where the lady is?”

      “No.”

      The negative reply was uncompromising.

      “Her father hasn’t been here?”

      His informant hesitated.

      “Yes, sir; he was on Mrs. Floyd’s floor when she was missing – in fact, when Major Floyd was down here making inquiries. The floor waiter recognised him, but did not see him come or go.”

      Calling up the house at Horsham he learnt, what he already knew, that Peter was away from home. Barney, who answered him, had heard nothing of the girl; indeed, this was the first intimation he had had that all was not well. And a further disappointment lay in store for him. The detective he had sent to find Johnny returned with the news that the quarry had gone. According to the valet, his master had returned and changed in a hurry, and, taking a small suitcase, had gone off to an unknown destination.

      An inquiry late that night elicited the fact that Jeff was still living, but unconscious. The bullet had been extracted, and a hopeful view was taken of the future. His father had arrived early in the evening, and was half mad with anxiety and rage. “And if he isn’t quite mad by the morning, I shall be surprised,” said the surgeon. “I’m going to keep him here and give him a little bromide to ease him down.”

      “Poison him,” suggested Craig.

      When the old detective was on the point of going home, there arrived a telephone message from the Horsham police, whom he had enlisted to watch Peter’s house.

      “Mr. Kane and his daughter arrived in separate motorcars at a quarter past twelve,” was the report. “They came within a few minutes of one another.”

      Craig was on the point of getting through to the house, but thought better of it. A fast police car got him to Horsham under the hour, the road being clear and the night a bright one. Lights were burning in Peter’s snuggery, and it was he himself who, at the sound of the motor wheels, came to the door.

      “Who’s that?” he asked, as Craig came up the dark drive, and, at the sound of the detective’s voice, he came halfway down the drive to meet him. “What’s wrong, Craig? Anything special?”

      “Jeff’s shot. I suppose you know who Jeff is?”

      “I know, to my sorrow,” said Peter Kane promptly. “Shot? How? Where?”

      “He was shot this evening between a quarter to ten and ten o’clock, at the Highlow Club.”

      “Come in. You’d better not tell my girl – she’s had as much as she can bear tonight. Not that I’m СКАЧАТЬ