The Black Box. E. Phillips OppenheimЧитать онлайн книгу.
Stand on one side, you loafers,” the man ordered, pushing his way out.
“We’ll have a taxicab,” Quest decided.
“Is there any one else in the house?” the policeman asked.
“Not a soul,” Quest answered.
They found a cab without much difficulty. It was five o’clock when they reached the central police-station. Inspector French happened to be just going off duty. He recognized Quest with a little exclamation.
“Got your man to bring me here,” Quest explained, “so as to get away from the mob.”
“Say, you’ve been in trouble!” the Inspector remarked, leading the way into his room.
“Bit of an explosion, that’s all,” Quest replied. “I shall be all right when you’ve lent me a clothes-brush.”
“The Ashleigh diamonds, eh?” the Inspector asked eagerly.
“I shall have them at nine o’clock this morning,” Sanford Quest promised, “and hand you over the murderer somewhere around midnight.”
The Inspector scratched his chin.
“From what I can hear about the young lady’s friends,” he said, “it’s the murderer they are most anxious to see nabbed.”
“They’ll have him,” Quest promised. “Come round about half-past nine and I’ll hand over the diamonds to start with.”
Quest slept for a couple of hours, had a bath and made a leisurely toilet. At a quarter to nine he sat down to breakfast in his rooms.
“At nine o’clock,” he told his servant, “a young lady will call. Bring her up.”
The door was suddenly opened. Lenora walked in. Quest glanced in surprise at the clock.
“My fault!” he exclaimed. “We are slow. Good morning, Miss Lenora!”
She came straight to the table. The servant, at a sign from Quest, disappeared. There were black rims around her eyes; she seemed exhausted. She laid a little packet upon the table. Quest opened it coolly. The Ashleigh diamonds flashed up at him. He led Lenora to a chair and rang the bell.
“Prepare a bedroom upstairs,” he ordered. “Ask Miss Roche to come here. Laura,” he added, as his secretary entered, “will you look after this young lady? She is in a state of nervous exhaustion.”
The girl nodded. She understood. She led Lenora from the room. Quest resumed his breakfast. A few minutes later, Inspector French was announced. Quest nodded in friendly manner.
“Some coffee, Inspector?”
“I’d rather have those diamonds!” the Inspector replied.
Quest threw them lightly across the table.
“Catch hold, then.”
The Inspector whistled.
“Say, that’s bright work,” he acknowledged. “I believe I could have laid my hands on the man, but it was the jewels that I was afraid of losing.”
“Just so,” Quest remarked. “And now, French, will you be here, please, at midnight with three men, armed.”
“Here?” the Inspector repeated.
Quest nodded.
“Our friend,” he said, “is going to be mad enough to walk into hell, even, when he finds out what he thinks has happened.”
“It wasn’t any of Jimmy’s lot?” the Inspector asked.
Sanford Quest shook his head.
“French,” he said, “keep mum, but it was the elderly family retainer, Macdougal. I felt restless about him. He has lost the girl—he was married to her, by-the-bye—and the jewels. No fear of his slipping away. I shall have him here at the time I told you.”
“You’ve a way of your own of doing these things, Mr. Quest,” the Inspector admitted grudgingly.
“Mostly luck,” Quest replied. “Take a cigar, and so long, Inspector. They want me to talk to Chicago on another little piece of business.”
It was a few minutes before midnight when Quest parted the curtains of a room on the ground floor of his house in Georgia Square, and looked out into the snow-white street. Then he turned around and addressed the figure lying as though asleep upon the sofa by the fire.
“Lenora,” he said, “I am going out. Stay here, if you please, until I return.”
He left the room. For a few moments there was a profound silence. Then a white face was pressed against the window. There was a crash of glass. A man, covered with snow, sprang into the apartment. He moved swiftly to the sofa, and something black and ugly swayed in his hand.
“So you’ve deceived me, have you?” he panted. “Handed over the jewels, chucked me, and given me the double cross! Anything to say?”
A piece of coal fell on to the grate. Not a sound came from the sofa. Macdougal leaned forward, his white face distorted with passion. The life-preserver bent and quivered behind him, cut the air with a swish and crashed full upon the head.
The man staggered back. The weapon fell from his fingers. For a moment he was paralysed. There was no blood upon his hand, no cry—silence inhuman, unnatural! He looked again. Then the lights flashed out all around him. There were two detectives in the doorway, their revolvers covering him—Sanford Quest, with Lenora in the background. In the sudden illumination, Macdougal’s horror turned almost to hysterical rage. He had wasted his fury upon a dummy! It was sawdust, not blood, which littered the couch!
“Take him, men,” Quest ordered. “Hands up, Macdougal. Your number’s up. Better take it quietly.”
The handcuffs were upon him before he could move. He was trying to speak, but the words somehow choked in his mouth.
“You can send a wireless to Lord Ashleigh,” Quest continued, turning to French. “Tell him that the diamonds have been recovered and that his daughter’s murderer is arrested.”
“What about the young woman?” the Inspector asked.
Lenora stood in an attitude of despair, her head downcast. She had turned a little away from Macdougal. Her hands were outstretched. It was as though she were expecting the handcuffs.
“You can let her alone,” Sanford Quest said quietly. “A wife cannot give evidence against her husband, and besides, I need her. She is going to work for me.”
Macdougal was already at the door, between the two detectives. He swung around. His voice was calm, almost clear—calm with the concentration of hatred.
“You are a wonderful man, Mr. Sanford Quest,” he said. “Make the most of your triumph. Your time is nearly up.”
“Keep him for a moment,” Sanford Quest ordered. “You have friends, then, Macdougal, who will avenge you, eh?”
“I have no friends,” Macdougal replied, “but there is one coming whose wit and cunning, science and skill are all-conquering. He will brush you away, Sanford Quest, like a fly. Wait a few weeks.”
“You interest me,” Quest murmured. “Tell me some more about this great master?”
“I shall tell you nothing,” Macdougal replied. “You will hear nothing, you will know nothing. Suddenly you will find yourself opposed. You will struggle—and then the end. It is certain.”
They led him away. Only Lenora remained, sobbing. Quest went up to her, laid his hand upon her shoulder.
“You’ve had a rough time, Lenora,” he said, with strange gentleness. “Perhaps the brighter days are coming.”