The Triple Bite: An Anthony Bathurst Mystery by Brian Flynn

Author:Brian Flynn [Flynn, Brian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B07WCHMC3F
Publisher: Dean Street Press
Published: 2019-10-07T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER XVI

“FLAME” LAMPARD AT BAY

There was a sound of heavily-resolute footsteps along the passage that led from the front door. I tried to distinguish the sounds of different feet in order that I might be able to tell the numerical strength of our visitors, but in this effort I failed. The time was too short, the noise too confused, and the atmosphere too tense, and before I could really collect my thoughts to perform a process of intelligent thinking, I heard the handle of the door grasped, and then saw the door itself flung open. The huge man, at the sound of whose voice I had winced and shivered but a moment previously, strode in; his tremendous bulk seemed to blot out almost the remainder of the apartment. He carried a revolver in his right hand, and was followed into the room by two other men who were similarly armed. One was the man who had harangued me for work at the bottom of the garden, and the other was disfigured by a bulbous nose. Up to the moment certainly, Bathurst’s prognostications had been absolutely correct, for the attack had gone exactly as he had predicted. Lampard removed his soft hat with a sweeping bow, and I saw Aunt Elspeth’s eyes travel instantaneously to his flaming crown, as though she were fascinated by the man’s wealth of hair.

He did me the honour of addressing himself to me. “It is my privilege, I believe, to be speaking to Miss Cameron, niece of Colonel Cameron of these parts. In the—er—regrettable absence of so many of the male members of that illustrious family, I must be forgiven if I regard her as the head of the house. The Cameroness of Cameron.” His voice rumbled and shook into laughter in appreciation of his own pleasantry. “These other ladies are, I presume, merely friends of yours, and not authentic members of the ancient line. I may be wrong, of course, but I will assume that the march of the Cameron men has passed them by and left them unmoved.” He laughed again, and his huge shoulders rocked to and fro in the effort. The eyes of Lois flashed in resentment at the sally, and Lampard’s eyes mocked her in malicious response. But he wasted no more time in flippancy, and tossed his revolver on the table where the others had been thrown. “For the lethal weapons that obtruded somewhat upon our entrance, my sincere apologies. Put it down to my early training as a Boy Scout. One never knows what one may encounter, and therefore one must take adequate precautions. Also, I should prefer our proceedings to be as quiet as possible.” He stopped abruptly, and I saw his nostrils twitching as he lifted his head a trifle higher. Suspicion was written in his eyes. Like a flash, inspiration and understanding came to me. He could smell the left-behind aroma of a cigarette that Major Neale had been smoking when he had first entered the room.

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