Flying Blind by Alice Campbell

Author:Alice Campbell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dean Street Press
Published: 2022-05-09T00:00:00+00:00

“Pazuzu,” said Tommy to Inspector Headcorn half an hour later. “He’s a devil with seven faces, one of them a wolf’s—and one may conclude has the nature of all the menagerie. I rather fancy Gavin at times tends to identify himself with this interesting person. I don’t mean he’s mad in the sense that he can be certified, only that there’s more than a touch of fantasy about him. What really matters is he’s a fanatic of the most dangerous sort. Do you know what he dreams of doing? Finance a whole research-expedition. Make it a one-man affair. Pure megalomania. It goes hand in hand with crime, doesn’t it?”

Headcorn made a sour mouth.

“You seem to have spent several hours in his company. Is that all you’ve got to tell me?”

“Good God! Did you expect a signed confession?” cried the amateur, wounded. “I’ve said his whole manner convinced me he did it. In the beginning he was on pins and needles for fear he’d been spotted in the neighbourhood of that hotel room.”

“He can be easy about that,” growled the inspector. “As to his deliberately mentioning his feud with Mrs. Bellamy-Pryce, he simply seized the chance of discrediting any statements she may have made against him. Wait, though! If the vicar never knew what happened on Saturday . . .”

“I hoped you might notice that slip,” interrupted Tommy dryly. “If it was a slip. Somehow I doubt it. I don’t see Gavin making blunders of that kind. It’s my belief every syllable he utters is calculated beforehand. I rather fancy Mrs. Bellamy-Pryce herself gave him the information, to watch his reactions. Better ask her.”

“Humph!” grunted the detective with eloquent contempt.

“I entirely agree,” said Tommy, nodding. “All you’d get would be another evasion. It’s all very annoying.”

He was thinking once more of the perverse stubbornness with which Boggie, the sane and normal woman, was flirting with death. A word from her would place her brother-in-law behind prison bars. One was tempted to believe she courted assassination; or was it true that like the fabled Lamashtu she brought catastrophe to those about her while she escaped scot free?

His companion’s practical voice routed these fantasies.

“It was shark’s line. It must at one time have had the attachment of wire meant to keep the shark from biting through after he’s hooked. What the blue blazes has become of it?”

“Gavin’s probably thrown it down a drain,” retorted Tommy. “You don’t suppose he’d mention it at all if it was likely to crop up? I’m telling you, this cat-and-mouse game amuses him. I rather wonder he didn’t inform me his brother James owned a Smith and Wesson revolver.”

For several moments Headcorn stared at him with wooden impassivity. Then he turned back to the papers on his desk, and Tommy, taking the hint, departed.

Boggie that evening indignantly denied having spoken to Gavin about the Saturday episode. Indeed, she seemed to think Tommy slightly mad to have assumed it.

“If he does know, there can be only one explanation.” A look of nervous apprehension crept into her eyes.

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