Remember to Ring Twice by E. C. R. Lorac

Author:E. C. R. Lorac [Lorac, E.C.R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: fiction, mystery, short story
Publisher: Alien Ebooks
Published: 2023-06-08T22:17:32+00:00

‘They’re all the same all the old folks. Plain obstinate,’ said Mrs. Lane. ‘She do look bad, Clarrie. Got any brandy? Can we get her upstairs?’

‘Better not move her until the doctor comes,’ said Brandon. ‘I’ll whistle for my mate, he’s not far away.’

Standing at the front door, he blew his whistle and when another constable came running up, Brandon said tersely, ‘Surgeon and ambulance. Ring C.O.’

Mrs. Lane let out a sudden yell. ‘Who’s that upstairs? Gawd? There’s someone up there, a thief most likely. Pushed her down. Here, you—.’

But Brandon needed no urging. He wanted to go up those stairs to see if there were a concealed booby trap, a string tied across, a faulty stair, a slit in the linoleum.

But there was no string, no faulty stair, and the linoleum was intact, almost new.

He went into the room whence the sound came out—it was obviously the cat which had made the noise, jumping at the door handle, as cats do. It was evidently the old lady’s bedroom, and Brandon had a quick look round. She seemed to have been writing a letter, for a writing block lay on the bed.

As he picked it up, Brandon saw some scribbles on the blotting paper. At some time she had been trying to get a word spelled right ‘Sertain.’ ‘Certin’: and then a sentence ‘Be certain you ring twice.’

Putting the block in his tunic pocket, Brandon quickly inspected the upstairs windows—all fastened and secure. ‘Ring twice’ he thought. He was remembering how Clarrie Copland had leant against the door post when the wind blew her hat, and she had leaned against the bell push.

The surgeon and the ambulance had come and gone. Clarrie Copland, weeping noisily, had gone with the body to the mortuary. Chief Inspector Macdonald had arrived from Scotland Yard. He said: ‘Well, constable?’

Tom Brandon gave his evidence tersely, every bit of it from the Jolly Sailor onwards, but he ended up. ‘I don’t see how we can get her, sir. She was outside. She only rang the bell.’

‘If you suspect a booby trap, constable, it’s up to you to look for it,’ replied Macdonald. ‘You say she fumbled about on the doorstep, by those railings. Let’s have a look. Yes, there’s a small hook here, and a good half-inch clearance under the front door.

‘Pick that mat up . . . I thought so. A neat little hole in the floor boards. They could have run a cord under the boards, with a spring inserted in it so that it would recoil when unhooked—an expanding curtain wire would do that.

‘Is there a cupboard under the stairs? Screwed up? It would be. You’ll have to take the linoleum up.’

It was the third step from the top which showed peculiarities. It was quite steady, but the riser had been sawn through across top, bottom and sides: so was the tread of the stair. Macdonald gave the riser a sharp blow: it fell flat on concealed hinges, and the tread of the stair, also hinged, fell in.

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