The Greatest Works of S. S. Van Dine (Illustrated Edition). S.S. Van Dine

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СКАЧАТЬ front and rear, until there is no longer the slightest danger of a recurrence of what has taken place here.”

      Heath nodded his unqualified approbation.

      “I’ll arrange for that, sir. There’ll be two men guarding this place day and night from now on.”

      “How positively thrilling!” exclaimed Sibella; but I noticed a strange reservation of apprehension in her eyes.

      “We won’t detain you any longer, Miss Greene,” said Markham, rising. “But I’d greatly appreciate it if you would remain in your room until our inquiries here are over. You may, of course, visit your mother.”

      “Thanks awf’ly, but I think I’ll indulge in a little lost beauty sleep.” And she left us with a friendly wave of the hand.

      “Who do you want to see next, Mr. Markham?” Heath was on his feet, vigorously relighting his cigar.

      But before Markham could answer Vance lifted his hand for silence, and leaned forward in a listening attitude.

      “Oh, Sproot!” he called. “Step in here a moment.”

      The old butler appeared at once, calm and subservient, and waited with a vacuously expectant expression.

      “Really, y’ know,” said Vance, “there’s not the slightest need for you to hover solicitously amid the draperies of the hallway while we’re busy in here. Most considerate and loyal of you; but if we want you for anything we’ll ring.”

      “As you desire, sir.”

      Sproot started to go, but Vance halted him.

      “Now that you’re here you might answer one or two questions.”

      “Very good, sir.”

      “First, I want you to think back very carefully, and tell me if you observed anything unusual when you locked up the house last night.”

      “Nothing, sir,” the man answered promptly. “If I had, I would have mentioned it to the police this morning.”

      “And did you hear any noise or movement of any kind after you had gone to your room? A door closing, for instance?”

      “No, sir. Everything was very quiet.”

      “And what time did you actually go to sleep?”

      “I couldn’t say exactly, sir. Perhaps about twenty minutes past eleven, if I may venture to make a guess.”

      “And were you greatly surprised when Miss Sibella woke you up and told you a shot had been fired in Mr. Chester’s room?”

      “Well, sir,” Sproot admitted, “I was somewhat astonished, though I endeavored to conceal my emotions.”

      “And doubtless succeeded admirably,” said Vance dryly. “But what I meant was this: did you not anticipate something of the kind happening again in this house, after the other shootings?”

      He watched the old butler sharply, but the man’s lineaments were as arid as a desert and as indecipherable as an expanse of sea.

      “If you will pardon me, sir, for saying so, I don’t know precisely what you mean,” came the colorless answer. “Had I anticipated that Mr. Chester was to be done in, so to speak, I most certainly would have warned him. It would have been my duty, sir.”

      “Don’t evade my question, Sproot.” Vance spoke sternly. “I asked you if you had any idea that a second tragedy might follow the first.”

      “Tragedies very seldom come singly, sir, if I may be permitted to say so. One never knows what will happen next. I try not to anticipate the workings of fate, but I strive to hold myself in readiness——”

      “Oh, go away, Sproot—go quite away,” said Vance. “When I crave vague rhetoric I’ll read Thomas Aquinas.”

      “Yes, sir.” The man bowed with wooden courtesy, and left us.

      His footsteps had scarcely died away when Doctor Doremus strode in jauntily.

      “There’s your bullet, Sergeant.” He tossed a tiny cylinder of discolored lead on the drawing-room table. “Nothing but dumb luck. It entered the fifth intercostal space and travelled diagonally across the heart, coming out in the post-axillary fold at the anterior border of the trapezius muscle, where I could feel it under the skin; and I picked it out with my pen-knife.”

      “All that fancy language don’t worry me,” grinned Heath, “so long’s I got the bullet.”

      He picked it up and held it in the palm of his hand, his eyes narrowed, his mouth drawn into a straight line. Then, reaching into his waistcoat pocket, he took out two other bullets, and laid them beside the first. Slowly he nodded, and extended the sinister exhibits to Markham.

      “There’s the three shots that were fired in this house,” he said. “They’re all .32-revolver bullets—just alike. You can’t get away from it, sir: all three people here were shot with the same gun.”

      CHAPTER X

       THE CLOSING OF A DOOR

       Table of Contents

      (Friday, November 12; 9.30 a. m.)

      As Heath spoke Sproot passed down the hall and opened the front door, admitting Doctor Von Blon.

      “Good morning, Sproot,” we heard him say in his habitually pleasant voice. “Anything new?”

      “No, sir, I think not.” The reply was expressionless. “The District Attorney and the police are here.—Let me take your coat, sir.”

      Von Blon glanced into the drawing-room, and, on seeing us, halted and bowed. Then he caught sight of Doctor Doremus, whom he had met on the night of the first tragedy.

      “All, good morning, doctor,” he said, coming forward. “I’m afraid I didn’t thank you for the assistance you gave me with the young lady the other night. Permit me to make amends.”

      “No thanks needed,” Doremus assured him. “How’s the patient getting on?”

      “The wound’s filling in nicely. No sepsis. I’m going up now to have a look at her.” He turned inquiringly to the District Attorney. “No objection, I suppose.”

      “None whatever, doctor,” said Markham. Then he rose quickly. “We’ll come along, if you don’t mind. There are a few questions I’d like to ask Miss Ada, and it might be as well to do it while you’re present.”

      Von Blon gave his consent without hesitation.

      “Well, I’ll be on my way—work to do,” announced Doremus breezily. He lingered long enough, however, to shake hands with all of us; and then the front door closed on him.

      “We’d better ascertain СКАЧАТЬ