The Egyptian Cross Mystery
- Автор: Куин (Квин) Эллери
- Серия: Ellery Queen #5
- Год: 1932
- Язык: английский
- Год: Frederick A. Stokes Company
- Жанр: Классические детективы
Электронная книга - «The Egyptian Cross Mystery». Краткое содержание книги:
Isham growled: “Mr. Megara.”
The yachtsman turned swiftly, his face set. “Tom was a weakling,” he said curtly. “He won’t get me — that way.”
“Where is Van? How is it he’s alive? What does this note mean? Why—?”
“Just a minute,” drawled Ellery. “Not too fast, Mr. Isham. We’ve much to chew upon before we’re served another portion... It’s apparent now that Brad placed this note in an immediately accessible place — the secretary or the drawer of the round table — intending it to be found at once if he were murdered. But he didn’t reckon with the thoroughness of Krosac, who gains more of my admiration with each passing incident of the investigation.
“Murdering Brad, Krosac didn’t neglect to search the room afterward. Perhaps he had a presentiment that such a note, or warning, existed. At any rate, he found the note and, since he saw that it was in no way dangerous to himself—”
“How do you figure that?” demanded Vaughn. “It seems to me like the last thing any murderer would do — leave his victim’s note to be found!”
“It doesn’t require gigantic ratiocination, Inspector,” said Ellery dryly, “to understand this amazing man’s motive for an apparently foolish act. Had Krosac considered the note dangerous to his safety, certainly he would have destroyed it. Or at the very least, taken it away with him. But not only didn’t he destroy it, he actually — in the face of all seeming reason, as you point out — left it on the scene of the crime, falling in with his victim’s last wishes.”
“Why?” asked Isham.
“Why?” Ellery’s thin nostrils oscillated fiercely. “Because he considered the finding of the note by the police, far from perilous to his safety, actually advantageous to himself! Ah, but here we put our fingers on the crux of the situation. What does the note say?” Megara’s shoulders twitched suddenly, and a sinister determination took possession of his vital features. “The note says that Andrew Van is still alive, and that only Stephen Megara will know where to find him!”
Professor Yardley’s eyes widened. “Devilishly clever. He doesn’t know where Van is!”
“That’s it exactly. Krosac, it’s a certainty now, somehow killed the wrong man in Arroyo. He thought he had murdered Andrew Van; Thomas Brad was next on his list, and when he had found and killed Brad he discovered this note. It told him that Van was still alive. But if he had motive to seek the life of Van six months ago, he surely has motive — and desire — still. If Van is alive — and brushing aside the petty consideration of the poor devil Krosac killed by mistake,” Ellery interpolated grimly, “Van must be sought out once more and exterminated. But where was Van? That he disappeared — took to his heels on learning that Krosac was after him and had actually killed another man through some error — was self-evident.”
Ellery brandished his forefinger. “Now consider the problem our brilliant Krosac faces. The note does not say where Van is. It says that only one man, Megara, knows where Van is...”
“Hold on,” said Isham. “I see what you’re driving at. But why the dickens didn’t Krosac just destroy the note and wait for Megara to return? Then Megara would reveal to us where Van is, and Krosac, as I suppose you’re going to say, would in some way learn from us where Van is, too.”
“An excellent question, on the surface. Actually, unnecessary.” Ellery lighted a cigarette with slightly trembling fingers. “Don’t you see that if no note were left and Megara returned, Megara would have no reason to doubt Van’s death! Would you, Mr. Megara?”
“I would. But Krosac couldn’t know that.” The austerity of Megara’s character, the iron will of the man, dominated even the pitch of his voice.
Ellery was taken aback. “I don’t see... Krosac wouldn’t know? At least that proves my point. By leaving the note here to be found by the police — at once, I mean, with the police knowing immediately on discovering the body that the library was the scene of the crime — the police would institute an immediate search for Van. But Krosac himself wants to look for Van, and a contemporaneous police search would hinder his own investigation — naturally! By delaying the discovery of the note, Krosac accomplishes two ends: One, in the interval between the murder of Brad and Mr. Megara’s arrival, he can himself search for Van unhampered by the police; who, not yet having found the note, would know nothing of Van’s being still alive. Two, if Krosac in that interval doesn’t succeed in finding Van, he has lost nothing; for when Mr. Megara arrived on the scene, he would identify the pipe, the pipe would uncover a new investigation — as it did — leading ultimately to the discovery of the library as the real scene of the crime, the library would be thoroughly combed, the note then found, Megara would learn that Van was not dead, would disclose Van’s whereabouts to the police... and Krosac has merely to follow us in order to discover exactly where Van is hiding!”
Megara muttered savagely: “Maybe it’s all over already!”
Ellery wheeled. “You mean you think that Krosac in the interim did find Van?”
Megara spread his hands and shrugged — a Continental gesture, incongruous in this virile, American-looking man. “It’s possible. With that devil, anything is possible.”
“Listen,” snapped the Inspector. “We’re wasting valuable time gassing when we might be getting real information. Just a minute, Mr. Queen; this isn’t a Kaffeeklatsch; you’ve had the floor long enough... Spill it, Mr. Megara. What the devil is the connection between Van, your partner Brad, and yourself?”
The yachtsman hesitated. “We are... we were—” Instinctively his hand darted into the pocket which bulged.
“Well?” cried the District Attorney.
“Brothers.”
“Brothers!”
Ellery’s eyes were fixed on the tall man’s lips. Isham said with excitement: “Then you were right, Mr. Queen! Those aren’t their real names. Can’t be Brad, Megara, or Van. What are—”
Megara sat down abruptly. “No. None of those. When I tell you—” His eyes clouded; he looked at something far beyond the confines of the library.
“What is it?” asked the Inspector slowly.
“When I tell you, you’ll understand what to this moment has probably been a deep mystery to you. The instant you told me about the T’s — that crazy business of the T’s — the headless bodies and rigid arrangement of the arms and legs, the T’s in blood on the door and the summerhouse floor, the crossroads, the totem pole—”
“Don’t tell me,” said Ellery harshly, “that your real name begins with T!”
Megara nodded as if his head weighed a ton. “Yes,” he said in a low voice. “Our name is Tvar. T-v-a-r... The T, you see.”
They were silent for a moment. Then the Professor remarked: “You were right, Queen, as usual. A literal significance, nothing more. Merely a T — no cross, no Egyptology, no garbled religious implication... Strange. Incredible, really.”
A shade of disappointment tinged Ellery’s face; he watched Megara with unwavering eyes.