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:
“Simply that the chances are overwhelmingly in favor of Krosac’s having worked entirely alone and having told no one of his intended crimes — judging from the individualistic motive, the horrible method, and the trail of a lone man which he made no attempt to conceal up to a certain point. Remember that Krosac practically signed his name to his crimes by plastering T’s over the scenes of both. He must have realized this, insane or not, and it’s unbelievable that an accomplice would ally himself — after that first murder especially — with such a depraved and brazen maniac.”
“And all that gets you exactly nowhere,” snapped the Inspector. “Why worry about a mythical accomplice? We haven’t made an inch of progress toward finding the principal, Mr. Queen!”
Ellery shrugged; evidently to his mind the elimination of a possible accomplice or sharer in Krosac’s secret was a pertinent and prime necessity.
District Attorney Isham paced between the two brothers restlessly. “Look here,” he said at last. “After all we mustn’t be stampeded by this thing. It isn’t sensible that a man will disappear so damned completely he can’t even be traced. We must know more about his appearance. Granted you gentlemen don’t know what Krosac looks like today, can’t you tell us more about him — characteristics that wouldn’t change from childhood to maturity?”
The brothers glanced at each other. “The limp,” said Van, shrugging.
“I told you that,” said Megara. “As a child Krosac contracted a mild hip disease — not disfiguring, but enough to make him limp on his left leg.”
“A permanent limp?” demanded Ellery.
The Tvars looked blank.
“It’s possible that the limp has been cured in the twenty years that have elapsed since then, you know. In which case the testimony of Croker, the Weirton garageman, would indicate another facet of Krosac’s cleverness. Remembering that you people knew he had limped as a child, he might, as Professor Yardley has already suggested, have been pretending a limp... provided, of course, he has been cured in the interim.”
“On the other hand,” snapped the Inspector, “the limp may be authentic. Why on earth you should throw a monkey wrench into every piece of evidence we get, Mr. Queen—”
“Oh, very well,” said Ellery dryly. “Krosac limps. Does that satisfy you, Inspector?” He smiled. “Depend on it, though. Whether he really limps or not, he’ll continue to limp whenever he makes one of his infrequent public appearances.”
“We’ve wasted enough time,” grumbled Vaughn. “One thing is sure. You gentlemen have to get plenty of protection from now on. I think you’d better get right back to Arroyo, Mr. Van, and keep out of sight. I’ll send a half-dozen guards back to West Virginia with you, and leave ’em there.”
“Oh, my dear God,” groaned Ellery. “Inspector, do you realize what you’re saying? You’ll be playing directly into Krosac’s hands! We may assume that our ruse has been successful, that Krosac still doesn’t know where Andreja Tvar is, although he knows he’s alive. Any attention we focus on Andreja Tvar, then, is bound to come to Krosac’s notice if he is on the watch, as he must be.”
“Well, what would you do?” said Vaughn belligerently.
“Mr. Van should be escorted back to his hut in the hills as unostentatiously as possible — by one man, not a half-dozen, Inspector. Why don’t you send an army? And then he must be left alone. As Old Pete he is safe. The less fuss we make, the better off he’ll be.”
“And how about Mr. Megara — er — Mr. Megara?” asked Isham. He seemed to have difficulty in selecting a proper name for the binominal brothers. “Leave him alone, too?”
“Certainly not!” cried Ellery. “Krosac expects him to be guarded, and he must be. Openly, as openly as you please.”
The brothers said nothing as their fate was being argued by these outsiders; surreptitiously they regarded each other, and Megara’s stern face grew sterner, while the schoolmaster blinked and moved restlessly about.
“Is there anything else you gentlemen wish to discuss before you’re separated?” asked Isham. “Quickly, now, please.”
“I’ve been thinking it over,” muttered Van, “and I... I don’t think it would be wise for me to return to West Virginia. I have the feeling that Krosac—” his voice trembled...” I think I’ll go as far away from this cursed country as I can get. As far from Krosac—”
“No,” said Ellery firmly. “If Krosac has any suspicion that you’re Old Pete, your relinquishment of that character and your flight would leave an open trail for him to follow. You must remain Old Pete until we’ve netted our man, or at least until we have proof that Krosac has penetrated your disguise.”
“I thought—” Van wet his lips. “I’m not a very wealthy man, Mr. Queen. You probably think me a coward. But I’ve lived under the shadow of that devil...” His strange eyes burned. “There is money coming to me under the will of my brother Tomislav. I relinquish it I only want to get away...” The inconsistency, the incoherence of his remark made them all uncomfortable.
“No, Andr’,” said Megara heavily. “If you want to run out — well, you know best. But the money... I’ll advance it. You’ll need it wherever you’re going.”
“How much is it?” demanded Vaughn suspiciously.
“Little enough.” Megara’s hard eyes became harder. “Five thousand dollars. Tom could well have afforded... But Andreja is a youngest, and in the old country ideas on the subject of inheritance were rigid. I mys—”
“Your brother Tom was the eldest son?” asked Ellery.
Megara’s face reddened. “No. I am. But I’ll make up for it, Andr’—”
“Well, do what you please about that,” said Vaughn. “But I’ll tell you one thing, Mr. Van; you can’t skip. Mr. Queen is right as far as that’s concerned.”
The schoolmaster’s face was pale. “If you think he doesn’t know—”
“How the devil can he?” said Vaughn irritably. “If it will make you feel any better, Mr. Megara can arrange to give you your money, and you can take it back with you. If you have to beat it without notice, you won’t go penniless. But that’s the best we can do.”
“With my own savings in the hut,” muttered Van, “it makes a tidy sum. More than enough, wherever I go...
Very well. I return to Arroyo. And, Stephen — thank you.”
“Perhaps,” said the yachtsman lamely, “you’ll need more. Suppose I give you ten instead of five...”
“No.” The Schoolmaster squared his shoulders. “I want only what’s due me. I’ve always made my own way, Stephen, as you know.”
Megara winced as he crawled out of bed and went to a desk. He sat down and began to write. Andreja Tvar paced up and down. Now that his immediate fate had been decided for him, he seemed anxious to leave. The yachtsman rose, waving a check.
“You’ll have to wait until tomorrow morning, Andr’,” he said. “I’ll cash it for you myself and then you can pick up the money in the morning on your way back to West Virginia.”
Van looked about quickly. “I must go now. Where can I stay, Inspector?”
“We’ll let the troopers take care of you overnight.”
The two brothers regarded each other. “Take care of yourself, Andr’.”
“And you.” Their eyes held, and the intangible barrier between them trembled and almost fell. But it did not. Megara turned away, and the schoolmaster with sloping shoulders walked to the door.
When they had returned to the mainland and Andreja Tvar had marched off in the midst of a group of troopers, Ellery drawled: “Did anything strike you—? No, something did strike you, and the question is superfluous. Why did you seem disturbed, Mr. Isham, by Stephen Megara’s explanation for the Tvar brothers’ flight from Montenegro?”