The Queen's Gate Mystery by Herbert Adams

Author:Herbert Adams
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: MysteriousPress.com/Open Road
Published: 2024-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER XVI

THREE OR ONE?

Jimmie took another comprehensive glance round the garage, then he nodded to Furnell and walked out. He strolled up the mews towards the park. He passed the narrow way through which he had entered and noted the various stables, garages and workshops as he went along. He stopped outside a place that boasted a small shop window. It displayed a few alluring specimens of drain pipe and had a large illuminated card: “Rudkin & Co., Builders and Decorators. Our Motto: Civility and Despatch.”

Encouraged by the undoubted bona fides of the drain pipes he stepped inside. As he did so he saw a fat alcoholic man snatch a telephone receiver from a timid-looking girl. He heard him bellow:

“’Ullo! ’Ullo! Who’s that speaking. Can’t hear you. Who d’you say? Oh, Mrs. Somerset”—this in a slightly milder tone—“Gone wrong agen, has it? Three times? Can’t understand that. Do your servants use it properly. Yes—they say so! Must be the maker’s fault. Yes, yes, I’ll send when my man is back. Or to-morrow. But your servants—”

Jimmie slipped out again. If that was a sample of Rudkin & Company’s civility and despatch he would try elsewhere.

He knew quite well that he was guilty of a lack of decision. Had he been really convinced that something valuable was concealed in that noble town mansion, as its woe-begone notice board described it, he would have acted promptly enough, but he could not disguise from himself the very obvious fact that their hopes and ideas rested on very shadowy foundations.

It seemed impossible that all the queer occurrences from Bruden’s murder to Heywood’s accident could arise from strange coincidences and have no connection with one another. Yet, if there was a connection, was it certain that the treasure hunt was the true explanation? He had insisted that Enid Cowley should refuse fifteen hundred pounds for her house, and he had been amply justified when the would-be buyer increased his price to two thousand. And now Madame Fontaine had come along with an offer to pay a rent that was almost fantastic, having regard to the state of the property. What did it all mean?

He turned his steps homeward. If the house had been his he would still have felt inclined to take down the fireplaces and examine the “chimbley,” as Heywood had suggested. He would remove the panelling and any other woodwork that might possibly guard any secrets. But ought Enid Cowley do such things? She had taken a very sporting view of the matter, but what ought he to advise her to do now? They must not let matters drift. Either the house must be disposed of or they must complete the task Heywood had so unluckily begun, and complete it in a thorough and more rapid manner.

When he reached the cottage, Nonna met him with the news that Enid was dining with them that evening. He was glad to hear it, as it would enable a decision to be arrived at.

“Do you think Phil would come too if we telephoned him?” asked his wife.

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