The Case of the Unconquered Sisters by Todd Downing

Author:Todd Downing
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: MysteriousPress.com/Open Road Media
Published: 2020-06-14T16:00:00+00:00

15

Owl

Roark tossed his hat on the bed.

“This telegram,” he said, “was waiting for you at the inn.”

Rennert lit the thin wax candle which had been placed on his secretary during his absence and by its weak light read the message through twice, with a deepening frown.

“It’s from my friend at Southwestern University,” he said after a moment. “The same man who sent me the other. ‘Biggerstaff query started something,’ he says. ‘Registrar finds on further examination name on transcript of precious credits from Chicago University changed from Biggers to Biggerstaff. Stop. Making inquiry Chicago.”

Roark’s eyes were speculative. “That same mystery about Biggerstaff’s name keeps cropping up, doesn’t it?”

Rennert nodded as he slipped the paper back into its envelope. He stared at the brim of Roark’s hat on the white coverlet and considered a new puzzle which had presented itself. A detail which in other circumstances would not have been accorded a second thought was invested now with the importance of the unexplained.

Roark, too, evidenced troubled thought. The candlelight aged his face, etching dark lines about the eyes and hollowing the closely shaven flesh on the cheeks and under the slightly sagging lower lip. He seemed to feel the necessity of talking.

“It’d be ironic if Cornell had made a mistake now. Fallen in love with some fellow who’s not what she thinks. I only saw Biggerstaff once before today, but I thought he’d make the right kind of husband for her. More brawn than brain, but clean and honest, without any vices. That’s the kind of man she’s meant for.”

“She asked me to deliver a message to you.”

Roark’s eyes went quickly to his face. “To me?”

“Yes. She came out to the coach house before you returned. She said she would like to see you, that she would be in her apartment if you wanted to come up.”

Roark looked away. His lips were compressed into a thin, hard line.

“Tell Cornell she’s better off not seeing me any more,” he said, staring at the wall. “She has got away from smoky rooms now. She’d better stay away, where the air’s clean.” He broke off and heaved one shoulder in a shrug. “I’ve got to be going. I told the chauffeur to make his report on Echave to you.”

Rennert had bent over the bed and was unfastening the clasps of his gladstone. He felt the need of a normally active person for a task to occupy his hands while his mind was busy.

“I wonder,” he said, “if you could verify something for me? I gathered from Dr. Fogarty’s insinuation that Echave is a frequent nocturnal visitor to the room of Marta, the mulatto maid.”

“So our puritanical professor said.”

“Voice?”

“Yes. He told me about it the night I stayed here. He was in a white heat of indignation that almost made him forget the letters. He had gone to Lucy Faudree and asked her if she knew that Marta was receiving a man in her room. Said that he had seen him go in several nights. It seems Lucy told him politely but firmly to mind his own business.

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