Greek Coffin Mystery by Ellery Queen

Author:Ellery Queen [Queen, Ellery]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-4532-8940-2
Publisher: MysteriousPress.com/Open Road
Published: 2012-12-25T16:28:00+00:00

18 … TESTAMENT

EVENING FOUND THE INSPECTOR, Ellery and Sergeant Velie standing before the gloomy façade of Number Thirteen.

The empty Knox house was a twin of the Khalkis house next door. Crumbling brownstone streaked with age, large old-fashioned window-spaces blinded with grey boards—a forbidding edifice. There were lights in the Khalkis house at its side, and the restless figures of detectives prowled about it—by comparison the Khalkis house was a cheerful place.

“Have you got the key, Thomas?” Even the Inspector felt the dreary spell, and his voice was subdued.

Velie silently produced a key.

“En avant!” muttered Ellery, and the three men pushed through the creaking gate on the sidewalk.

“Upstairs first?” demanded the sergeant.

“Yes.”

They mounted the chipped stone steps. Velie brought out a large flashlight, tucked it under his arm, and unlocked the front door. They stepped into the crypt of a vestibule; Velie twitched his torch about, located the lock of the inner door, and opened it. The three men marched in in close formation, and found themselves in a black cavern which, on being illuminated by the flickering rays of the sergeant’s flash, revealed itself as an exact replica in shape and size of the Khalkis foyer next door.

“Well, let’s go,” said the Inspector. “This was your idea, Ellery. Lead the way.”

Ellery’s eyes were queerly luminous in the jumping light. He hesitated, looked about, and then made for a dark open doorway up the hall. The Inspector and Velie followed patiently, Velie’s flashlight held high.

The rooms were utterly bare—dismantled, it was clear, by the owner when he had vacated the premises. On the lower floor, at least, there was nothing—literally nothing—to be found. Empty rooms, dust-laden, here and there revealing men’s footprints in the dust where Detective Ritter and his colleagues had tramped in their original search. The walls were yellow, the ceilings cracked, the floors warped and noisy.

“I hope you’re satisfied,” growled the old man, when they had completed a tour of all the rooms on the lower floor. He sneezed violently as he inhaled some dust—choked and gasped and cursed.

“Not yet,” said Ellery. He led the way up the bare wooden stairs. Their footsteps thundered through the empty house.

But—there was nothing to be found on the second floor either. As in the Khalkis house, the second floor contained only bedrooms and bathrooms; but these had neither beds nor carpets to make them habitable, and the old man grew increasingly irritable. Ellery poked about in old wardrobe-closets. It was a labor of love; he found nothing, not so much as a scrap of paper. “Satisfied yet?”

“No.”

They made their way up groaning stairs to the attic.

Nothing.

“Well, that’s that,” said the Inspector as they descended to the foyer floor. “Now that the nonsense is over, we can go home and have something to eat.”

Ellery did not reply; he was twirling his pince-nez thoughtfully. Then he looked at Sergeant Velie. “Wasn’t something said about a broken-down trunk in the basement, Velie?”

“Yep. Ritter reported that, Mr. Queen.”

Ellery made for the rear of the foyer. Beneath the staircase which led to the upper floors there was a door.

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