The Dutch Shoe Mystery
- Автор: Куин (Квин) Эллери
- Серия: Ellery Queen #3
- Год: 1931
- Язык: английский
- Год: Frederick A. Stokes
- Жанр: Классические детективы
Электронная книга - «The Dutch Shoe Mystery». Краткое содержание книги:
Then he buttoned his overcoat tightly up to his chin and ran down the steps. He brushed by the detectives with a muttered apology and hurried toward the gate. They stared after him.
Morehouse reached the pavement, hesitated, then struck out with long strides to the left, in the downtown direction. He did not look back.
The three detectives parted at the portico. One doubled on his tracks and slouched after Morehouse. The second disappeared into a patch of shrubbery near the main house. The third clambered up the steps and knocked thunderously on the front door.
Chapter Sixteen
Alienation
District attorney Sampson urged speed; he was overdue at his office. Harper was dropped off on the West Side to dash for a telephone. The police car screamed on its way through the dense midafternoon traffic.
In the lurching vehicle Inspector Queen glumly counted off on his fingers the details which he must supervise when he reached the big stone building on Centre Street... The search for Janney’s mysterious visitor; the investigation of the impostor’s clothes in an endeavor to trace their real ownership; the hunt for the hardware or department store which had sold the strangling picture-wire; the gathering into a smoother fabric of the dark dangling threads.
“Most of ’em hopeless,” shouted the old man above the roar of the motor and the shriek of the siren.
The car stopped briefly at the curb outside the Dutch Memorial Hospital to deposit Ellery on the sidewalk; it immediately picked up speed and disappeared in the downtown traffic.
For the second time that day Ellery Queen found himself mounting the steps of the Hospital, and for the second time alone.
Isaac Cobb was on duty in the vestibule, talking with a policeman. Opposite the main elevator Ellery found Dr. Minchen.
He glanced up the corridors. At the entrance to the Anæsthesia Room stood the detective who had been left there an hour before. Bluecoats sat chatting in the main Waiting Room. Three men lugging bulky photographic equipment tramped in his direction from a corridor to the right.
Ellery and Dr. Minchen strolled to the left and turned into the East Corridor. They passed the telephone booth in which the discarded clothing had been found. The booth was sealed with tape. Several feet farther up the corridor, to the left as they proceeded toward the North Corridor, there was a closed door.
Ellery halted. “This is the outer door to that Anteroom lift, isn’t it, John?”
“Yes. There’s a double door here,” replied Minchen drearily. “The lift can be entered either through the corridor here or through the Anteroom. The corridor door is used when the patient to be operated comes from a ward on this floor. Eliminates having to cart ’em all the way round into the South Corridor.”
“Smart,” commented Ellery. “Like everything else around here. And I see our good Sergeant has had the door taped up.”
A moment later, in Minchen’s office, Ellery said abruptly, “Tell me a little about Janney’s relations with the rest of the staff. I’m anxious to discover how people here regard him.”
“Janney? He’s not an easy man to get along with, of course. But then he’s given healthy respect because of his position and reputation in surgery. It makes a difference, Ellery.”
“You would say,” demanded Ellery, “that Janney has no enemies in the Hospital?”
“Enemies? Hardly. Unless there’s a personal undercurrent outside my ken.” Minchen pursed his lips thoughtfully. “Come to think of it, there’s one individual in the place who’s been rather at dagger-points with the old man...”
“Really! Who?”
“Dr. Pennini. Head — or rather former Head of the Obstetrical Department.”
“Why ‘former’? Is Pennini leaving — resigned?”
“Oh, no. There was a change in administration recently and Dr. Pennini was demoted to Assistant Head. Janney was, nominally at least, put in charge of the Obstetrical Department.”
“But why?”
Minchen grimaced. “No fault of Dr. Pennini’s. Just another manifestation of the deceased’s affection for Janney.”
A shadow crossed Ellery’s face. “I see. Dagger-points, eh? Just a case of petty professional jealousy. Well...”
“Not petty, Ellery. You don’t know Dr. Pennini, or you wouldn’t say that. Latin blood, fiery, the vengeful type, she’s certainly far from—”
“What’s that?”
Minchen seemed surprised. “I said she was the vengeful type. Why?”
Ellery lit a cigarette with elaborate ceremony. “Naturally. Stupid of me. You didn’t mention... I’d like to see this Dr. Pennini of yours, John.”
“Of course.” Minchen telephoned. “Dr. Pennini? John Minchen speaking. Glad I found you so easily. You usually gad about so... Can you come to my office for just a moment, Doctor?... No, nothing, nothing important. An introduction, a few questions Yes. Please.”
Ellery regarded his fingernails until there was a knock on the door. Both men rose and Minchen said clearly, “Come!” The door opened to admit a stocky, white-garbed woman of nervous movements.
“Dr. Pennini, allow me to present Mr. Ellery Queen. Mr. Queen is helping with the investigation of Mrs. Doorn’s murder, you know.”
“Indeed.” Her voice was rich, throaty, almost masculine. Motioning imperiously toward their chairs, she sat down.
She was a striking woman. Her skin was olivaceous; the faintest smudge of hair appeared above her upper lip. Keen black eyes flashed in a regular-featured face. Her jet hair, set off at one side by a thick white streak, was parted severely in the center of her scalp. Her age was elusive; she might have been thirty-five or fifty.
“I understand, Doctor,” began Ellery in his mildest voice, “that you have been with the Dutch Memorial Hospital for a good many years.”
“Very true. Let me have a cigarette.” She looked amused. Ellery offered his gold-chased case, gravely held a match to the tip of the cigarette. She puffed deeply and relaxed, eying him with open curiosity. “You know,” he said, “we’re up against a stone wall in this investigation of Mrs. Doorn’s murder. The thing seems utterly inexplicable. I’m just asking questions of anybody and everybody... How well did you know Mrs. Doorn?”
“Why?” Dr. Pennini’s black eyes twinkled. “Do you suspect me of her murder?”
“My dear Doctor...”
“You listen to me, Mr. Ellery Queen.” She set her full red lips firmly. “I didn’t know Mrs. Doorn well. I know nothing of her murder. You’re wasting your time if you think I do. Now does that satisfy you?”
“How could it?” murmured Ellery ruefully. Nevertheless his eyes narrowed. “And I shouldn’t jump at conclusions so. The reason I asked you how well you knew Mrs. Doorn is this — if you did know her well you might be in a position to name possible enemies. Can you?”
“I’m sorry. I cannot.”
“Dr. Pennini, let’s stop fencing. I am going to be very frank.” He closed his eyes and rested his neck on the back of his chair. “Did you or did you not” — he snapped bolt upright and fixed her with his eyes — “utter threats at Mrs. Doorn in the presence of witnesses?”
She stared at him too amazed, from her look of astonishment, to be angry. Minchen put up a protesting hand and muttered something apologetic; he was regarding Ellery with the utmost consternation.
“Did you?” Ellery’s tone was flat, stern. “In this very building?”
“Utterly preposterous.” She laughed without amusement, throwing her head back defiantly. “Who told you that cock-and-bull story? I couldn’t possibly have threatened the old lady. I hardly knew her. I never made remarks about her or any one. That is, I—” She stopped suddenly in confusion, flashed a look at Dr. Minchen.