The Flying Boat Mystery by Franco Vailati

Author:Franco Vailati [Vailati, Franco]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Locked Room International
Published: 2019-09-18T07:00:00+00:00

8-WHILST THE NAPLES POLICE INVESTIGATE….

On the second floor, Renzi and Boldrin found two doors. The door to the right had the brass plate of a mail-order firm selling typewriters, desks and other office material and facilities. They were promptly and ceremoniously met by the very worried managing director, a Signor Suvini, who led them along a long corridor lined with identical doors on both sides. He stopped in front of the last door on the right:

‘The first person to notice something wrong was the doorman. He cleans up the offices every morning before nine o’clock, when we are still closed—.’

Boldrin interrupted him brusquely, as if he were fearing the sudden escape of a very important idea:

‘So, someone let himself into the office during the night, for an unknown reason….’

Suvini stopped him with his large, raised hand:

‘We’re not sure, Commissario. We found traces of his intrusion in two rooms, here, and there.’ He pointed first at the closed door, and then shook the handle of the big wooden door at the end of the corridor. ‘You will notice that we are in the inner part of the office, the part we use as a warehouse. We very rarely come in here. Even the doorman only cleans it up occasionally. The last time was three days ago… or so he says!’

‘I see.’

Boldrin shook the handle of the end door vigorously, but to no avail. ‘Where is the key?’

‘Here it is, the doorman found it on the floor in the other room. We tried to open the door with it, but it’s bolted from the inside.’

Boldrin looked at the reddish light suffusing the sides and bottom of the door:

‘The light is on. What kind of bolt is it?’ he asked briskly.

‘A simple iron bar fitting into a catch. The kind of old-fashioned bolt only used in country farms nowadays.’

‘That’s what I thought,’ smiled Boldrin. ‘Of course, our friends took away their own tools, but with a long-bladed paper-knife, I think....’

Suvini handed him one and Boldrin inserted it adroitly in the crack, just above the lock. Moving the blade up, he found only slight resistance, and with little effort the bar was lifted from its catch. The door swung open to reveal a sort of long cellar with a very low ceiling. The room was filled with old office desks, cases of many shapes and sizes, two unmatched chairs, a big round table in the centre and a big iron bar in a corner. A single lamp hanging from the ceiling barely illuminated the scene. Suvini was the first to enter the room, searching everywhere with his hands and his eyes and finally commenting in astonishment:

‘Just like in the other room! Everything is in disarray but nothing is missing!’

Boldrin was so absorbed in his silent examination that he didn’t notice when his companion sneaked out of the warehouse and directed himself towards a half-open door on the left of the corridor. Suvini tried to stop him:

‘No, sorry, they entered through the other room on the right.

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