AN ATTEMPTED ESCAPE
(_Friday, July 13; 3.45 p.m._)
It was Hani who broke the silence after Bliss’s departure.
“You wish me to go away, _effendi_?” he asked Vance, with a respect
that struck me as overdone.
“Yes, yes.” Vance had become _distrait_ and introspective. I knew
something was preying on his mind. He stood near the table, his hands
in his pockets, regarding the samovar intently. “Go up-stairs, Hani.
Take some sodium bicarbonate--and meditate. Divinely bend yourself, so
to speak; indulge in a bit of ‘holy exercise,’ as Shakespeare calls it
in--is it _Richard III_?”
“Yes, _effendi_--in Act III. Catesby uses the phrase to the Duke of
Buckingham.”
“Astonishin’!” Vance studied the Egyptian critically. “I had no idea
the fellahîn were so well versed in the classics.”
“For hours at a time I read to Meryt-Amen when she was young----”
“Ah, yes.” Vance dropped the matter. “We’ll send for you when we need
you. In the meantime wait in your room.”
Hani bowed and moved toward the hall.
“Do not be deceived by appearances, _effendi_,” he said solemnly,
turning at the door. “I do not fully understand the things that have
happened in this house to-day; but do not forget----”
“Thanks awfully.” Vance waved his hand in dismissal. “I at least shall
not forget that your name is Anûpu.”
With a black look the man went out.
Markham was growing more and more impatient.
“Everything in this case seems to peter out,” he complained. “Any one
in the household could have put the opium in the coffee--which leaves
us just where we were before we came here to the breakfast-room.… By
the way, where do you think Hani found the can of opium?”
“Oh, that? Why, in Salveter’s room, of course.… Rather obvious, don’t
y’ know.”
“I’m damned if I see anything obvious about it. Why should Salveter
have left it there?”
“But he didn’t leave it there, old dear.… My word! Don’t you see that
some one in the house had ideas? There’s a _deus ex machina_ in our
midst, and he’s troublin’ himself horribly about the situation. The
plot has been far too clever; and there’s a tutelary genius who’s
attempting to simplify matters for us.”
Heath made a throaty noise of violent disgust.
“Well, I’m here to tell you he’s making a hell of a job of it.”
Vance smiled sympathetically.
“A hellish job, let us say, Sergeant.”
Markham regarded him with a quizzical frown.
“Do you believe, Vance, that Hani was in this room after Mrs. Bliss
and Salveter had gone up-stairs?”
“It’s possible. In fact, it seems more likely that it was Hani than
either Mrs. Bliss or Salveter.”
“If the front door had been unlatched,” Markham offered, “it might
conceivably have been some one from the outside.”
“Your hypothetical thug?” asked Vance dryly. “Dropped in here,
perhaps, for a bit of caffein stimulant before tackling his victim in
the museum.” He did not give Markham time to reply, but went to the
door. “Come. Let’s chivy the occupants of the drawing-room. We need
more data--oh, many more data.”
He led the way up-stairs. As we walked along the heavily carpeted
upper hall toward the drawing-room door, the sound of an angry
high-pitched voice came to us. Mrs. Bliss was speaking; and I caught
the final words of a sentence.
“… should have waited.”
Then Salveter answered in a hoarse, tense tone:
“Meryt! You’re insane.…”
Vance cleared his throat, and there was silence.
Before we entered the room, however, Hennessey beckoned mysteriously
to Heath from the front of the hall. The Sergeant stepped forward past
the drawing-room door, and the rest of us, sensing some revelation,
followed him.
“You know that bird Scarlett who you told me to let go,” Hennessey
reported in a stage whisper; “well, just as he was going out he turned
suddenly and ran up-stairs. I was going to chase him, but since you
O.K.’d him, I thought it was all right. A coupla minutes later he came
down and went away without a word. Then I got to thinking that maybe
I shoulda followed him up-stairs.…”
“You acted correctly, Hennessey.” Vance spoke before the Sergeant
could reply. “No reason why he shouldn’t have gone up-stairs--probably
went there to speak to Doctor Bliss.”
Hennessey appeared relieved and looked hopefully toward Heath, who
merely grunted disdainfully.
“And, by the by, Hennessey,” Vance continued; “when the Egyptian came
up-stairs the first time, did he go directly to the floor above, or
did he tarry in the drawing-room _en route_?”
“He went in and spoke to the missus.…”
“Did you hear anything he said?”
“Naw. It sounded to me like they was parleying in one of those foreign
languages.”
Vance turned to Markham and said in a low voice: “That’s why I sent
Hani up-stairs alone. I had an idea he’d grasp the opportunity to
commune with Mrs. Bliss.” He again spoke to Hennessey. “How long was
Hani in the drawing-room?”
“A minute or two maybe--not long.” The detective was growing
apprehensive. “Shouldn’t I have let him go in?”
“Oh, certainly.… And then what happened?”
“The guy comes outa the room, looking worried, and goes up-stairs.
Pretty soon he comes down again carrying a tin can in his hand. ‘What
you got there, Abdullah?’ I asks. ‘Something Mr. Vance sent me to get.
Any objection?’ he says. ‘Not if you’re on the level; but I don’t like
your looks,’ I answers. And then he gives me the high hat and goes
down-stairs.”
“Perfect, Hennessey.” Vance nodded encouragingly and, taking Markham
by the arm, walked back toward the drawing-room. “I think we’d better
question Mrs. Bliss.”
As we entered the woman rose to greet us. She had been sitting by the
front window, and Salveter was leaning against the folding doors
leading to the dining-room. They had obviously taken these positions
when they heard us in the hall, for as we came up-stairs they had been
speaking at very close quarters.
“We are sorry to have to annoy you, Mrs. Bliss,” Vance began,
courteously. “But it’s necess’ry that we question you at this time.”
She waited without the slightest movement or change of expression, and
I distinctly received the impression that she was resentful of our
intrusion.
“And you, Mr. Salveter,” Vance went on, shifting his gaze to the man,
“will please go to your room. We’ll confer with you later.”
Salveter seemed disconcerted and worried.
“May I not be present----?” he began.
“You may not,” Vance cut in with unwonted severity; and I noticed that
even Markham was somewhat surprised at his manner. “Hennessey!” Vance
called toward the door, and the detective appeared almost
simultaneously. “Escort this gentleman to his room, and see that he
communicates with no one until we send for him.”
Salveter, with an appealing look toward Mrs. Bliss, walked out of the
room, the detective at his side.
“Pray be seated, madam.” Vance approached the woman and, after she had
sat down, took a chair facing her. “We are going to ask you several
intimate questions, and if you really want the murderer of Mr. Kyle
brought to justice you will not resent those questions but will answer
them frankly.”
“The murderer of Mr. Kyle is a despicable and unworthy creature,” she
answered in a hard, strained voice; “and I will gladly do anything I
can to help you.” She did not look at Vance, but concentrated her gaze
on an enormous honey-colored carnelian ring of intaglio design which
she wore on the forefinger of her right hand.
Vance’s eyebrows went up slightly.
“You think, then, we did right in releasing your husband?”
I could not understand the purport of Vance’s question; and the
woman’s answer confused me still further. She raised her head slowly
and regarded each one of us in turn. Finally she said:
“Doctor Bliss is a very patient man. Many people have wronged him. I
am not even sure that Hani is altogether loyal to him. But my husband
is not a fool--he is even too clever at times. I do not put murder
beyond him--or beyond any one, for that matter. Murder may sometimes
be the highest form of courage. However, if my husband had killed Mr.
Kyle he would not have been stupid about it--certainly he would not
have left evidence pointing to himself.…” She glanced again at her
folded hands. “But if he had been contemplating murder, Mr. Kyle would
not have been the object of his crime. There are others whom he had
more reason for wanting out of the way.”
“Hani, for instance?”
“Perhaps.”
“Or Mr. Salveter?”
“Almost any one but Mr. Kyle,” the woman answered, without a
perceptible modulation of voice.
“Anger could have dictated the murder.” Vance spoke like a man
discussing a purely academic topic. “If Mr. Kyle had refused to
continue financing the excavations----”
“You do not know my husband. He has the most equable temper I have
ever seen. Passion is alien to his nature. He makes no move without
long deliberation.”
“The scholar’s mind,” Vance murmured. “Yes, I have always had that
impression of him.” He took out his cigarette-case. “Do you mind if I
smoke?”
“Do you mind if _I_ do?”
Vance leapt to his feet and extended his case.
“Ah--_Régies_!” She selected a cigarette. “You are very fortunate,
Mr. Vance. There were none left in Turkey when I applied for a
shipment.”
“I am doubly fortunate that I am able to offer you one.” Vance lighted
her cigarette and resumed his seat. “Who, do you think, Mrs. Bliss,
was most benefited by Mr. Kyle’s death?” He put the question
carelessly, but I could see he was watching her closely.
“I couldn’t say.” The woman was clearly on her guard.
“But surely,” pursued Vance, “some one benefited by his death.
Otherwise he would not have been murdered.”
“That point is one the police should ascertain. I can give you no
assistance along that line.”
“It may be that the police have satisfied themselves, and that I
merely asked you for corroboration.” Vance, while courteous, spoke
with somewhat pointed significance. “Lookin’ at the matter coldly, the
police might argue that the sudden demise of Mr. Kyle would remove a
thorn from Hani’s side and end the so-called desecration of his
ancestors’ tombs. Then again, the police might hold that Mr. Kyle’s
death would enrich both you and Mr. Salveter.”
I expected the woman to resent this remark of Vance’s, but she only
glanced up with a frigid smile and said in a dispassionate tone:
“Yes, I do believe there was a will naming Mr. Salveter and myself as
the principal beneficiaries.”
“Mr. Scarlett informed us to that effect,” Vance returned. “Quite
understandable, don’t y’ know.… And by the by, would you be willing to
use your inheritance to perpetuate Doctor Bliss’s work in Egypt?”
“Certainly,” she replied with unmistakable emphasis. “If he asked me
to help him, the money would be his to do with as he desired.…
Especially now,” she added.
Vance’s face had grown cold and stern, and after a quick upward glance
he dropped his eyes and contemplated his cigarette.
Markham rose at this moment.
“Who, Mrs. Bliss,” he asked, with what I regarded as unnecessary
aggression, “would have had an object in attempting to saddle your
husband with this crime?”
The woman’s gaze faltered, but only momentarily.
“I’m sure I don’t know,” she returned. “Did some one really try to do
that?”
“You suggested as much yourself, madam, when the scarab pin was called
to your attention. You said quite positively that some one had placed
it beside Mr. Kyle’s body.”
“What if I did?” She became suddenly defiant. “My initial instinct was
naturally to defend my husband.”
“Against whom?”
“Against you and the police.”
“Do you regret that ‘initial instinct’?” Markham put the question
brusquely.
“Certainly not!” The woman stiffened in her chair and glanced
surreptitiously toward the door.
Vance noted her action and drawled:
“It is only one of the detectives in the hall. Mr. Salveter is
sojourning in his boudoir--quite out of hearing.”
Quickly she covered her face with her hands, and a shudder ran over
her body.
“You are torturing me,” she moaned.
“And you are watching me through your fingers,” said Vance with a mild
grin.
She rose swiftly and glared ferociously at him.
“Please don’t say ‘How dare you?’” Vance spoke banteringly. “The
phrase is so trite. And do sit down again.… Hani informed you, I
believe--in your native language--that Doctor Bliss was supposed to
have been given opium in his coffee this morning. What else did he
tell you?”
“That was all he said.” The woman resumed her seat: she appeared
exhausted.
“Did you know that opium was kept in the cabinet up-stairs?”
“I wasn’t aware of it,” she replied listlessly; “though I’m not
surprised.”
“Did Mr. Salveter know of it?”
“Oh, undoubtedly--if it was actually there. He and Mr. Scarlett had
charge of the medical supplies.”
Vance shot her a quick look.
“Although Hani would not admit it,” he said, “I am pretty sure that
the tin of opium was found in Mr. Salveter’s room.”
“Yes?” (I could not help feeling that she rather expected this news.
Certainly, it was no surprise to her.)
“On the other hand,” pursued Vance, “it might have been found by Hani
in _your_ room.”
“Impossible! It couldn’t have been in my room!” She flared up, but on
meeting Vance’s steady gaze, subsided. “That is, I don’t see how it
could be possible,” she ended weakly.
“I’m probably wrong,” Vance murmured. “But tell me, Mrs. Bliss: did
you return to the breakfast-room this morning for another cup of
coffee, after you and Mr. Salveter had gone up-stairs?”
“I--I.…” She took a deep breath. “Yes!… Was there any crime in that?”
“Did you meet Hani there?”
After a brief hesitation she answered:
“No. He was in his room--ill.… I sent him his coffee.”
Heath grunted disgustedly.
“A lot we’re finding out,” he growled.
“Quite right, Sergeant,” Vance agreed pleasantly. “An amazin’ amount.
Mrs. Bliss is helpin’ us no end.” He turned to the woman again. “You
know, of course, who killed Mr. Kyle?” he asked blandly.
“Yes… I know!” The words were spoken with impulsive venom.
“And you also know why he was killed?”
“I know that, too.” A sudden change had come over her. A strange
combination of fear and animus possessed her; and the tragic
bitterness of her attitude stunned me.
Heath let forth a queer, inarticulate ejaculation.
“You tell us who it was,” he blurted vindictively, shaking his cigar
in her face, “or I’ll arrest you as an accessory, or as a material
witness.…”
“Tut, tut, Sergeant!” Vance rose and placed his hand pacifyingly on
the other’s shoulder. “Why be so precipitate? It wouldn’t do you the
slightest good to incarcerate Mrs. Bliss at this time.… And, d’ ye
see, she may be wholly wrong in her diagnosis of the case.”
Markham projected himself into the scene.
“Have you any definite reasons for your opinion, Mrs. Bliss?” he
asked. “Have you any specific evidence against the murderer?”
“Not legal evidence,” she answered quietly. “But--but.…” Her voice
faltered, and her head fell forward.
“You left the house about nine o’clock this morning, I believe.”
Vance’s calm voice seemed to steady her.
“Yes--shortly after breakfast.”
“Shopping?”
“I took a taxi at Fourth Avenue to Altman’s. I didn’t see what I
wanted there, and walked to the subway. I went to Wanamaker’s, and
later returned to Lord and Taylor’s. Then I went to Saks’s, and
finally dropped in at a little shop on Madison Avenue.…”
“The usual routine,” sighed Vance. “You of course bought nothing?”
“I ordered a hat on Madison Avenue.…”
“Remarkable!” Vance caught Markham’s eye and nodded significantly. “I
think that will be all for the present, Mrs. Bliss,” he said. “You
will kindly go to your room and wait there.”
The woman pressed a small handkerchief to her eyes, and left us
without a word.
Vance walked to the window and gazed out into the street. He was, I
could see, deeply troubled as a result of the interview. He opened the
window, and the droning summer noises of the street drifted in to us.
He stood for several minutes in silence, and neither Markham nor Heath
interrupted his meditations. At length he turned and, without looking
at us, said in a quiet, introspective tone:
“There are too many cross-currents in this house--too many motives,
too many objects to be gained, too many emotional complications. A
plausible case could be made out against almost any one.…”
“But who could have benefited by Bliss’s entanglement in the crime?”
Markham asked.
“Oh, my word!” Vance leaned against the centre-table and gazed at a
large oil portrait of the doctor which hung on the east wall. “Every
one apparently. Hani doesn’t like his employer and writhes in psychic
agony at each basketful of sand that is excavated from Intef’s tomb.
Salveter is infatuated with Mrs. Bliss, and naturally her husband is
an obstacle to his suit. As for the lady herself: I do not wish to
wrong her, but I’m inclined to believe she returns the young
gentleman’s affection. If so, the elimination of Bliss would not drive
her to suicidal grief.”
Markham’s face clouded.
“I got the impression, too, that Scarlett was not entirely impervious
to her charms and that there was a chilliness between him and
Salveter.”
“Quite. _Ça crève les yeux._” Vance nodded abstractedly. “Mrs. Bliss
is undeniably fascinatin’.… I say; if only I could find the clew I’m
looking for! Y’ know, Markham, I’ve an idea that something new is
going to happen anon. The plot thus far has gone awry. We’ve been led
into a Moorish maze by the murderer, but the key hasn’t yet been
placed in our hands. When it is, I’ll know which door it’ll
unlock--and it won’t be the door the murderer intends us to use it on.
Our difficulty now is that we have too many clews; and not one of ’em
is the real clew. That’s why we can’t make an arrest. We must wait for
the plot to unfold.”
“It’s unfolding, as you call it, too swift for me,” Heath retorted
impatiently. “And I don’t mind admitting that I think we’re getting
sidetracked. After all’s said and done, weren’t Bliss’s finger-prints
found on the statue, and no one else’s? Wasn’t his stick-pin found
beside the body? And didn’t he have every opportunity to bump Kyle
off?…”
“Sergeant,”--Vance spoke patiently--“would a man of intelligence and
profound scientific training commit a murder and not only overlook his
finger-prints on the weapon, but also be so careless as to drop his
scarf-pin at the scene of the murder, and then calmly wait in the next
room for the police to arrest him, after having made bloody footprints
to guide them?”
“And there’s the opium, too, Sergeant,” added Markham. “It seems
pretty clear to me that the doctor was drugged.”
“Have it your own way, sir.” Heath’s tone bordered on impoliteness.
“But I don’t see that we’re getting anywheres.”
As he spoke Emery came to the door.
“Telephone call for you, Sergeant,” he announced. “Down-stairs.”
Heath hurried eagerly from the room and disappeared down the hall.
Three or four minutes later he returned. His face was wreathed in
smiles, and he swaggered as he walked toward Vance.
“Huh!” He inserted his thumbs in the armholes of his waistcoat. “Your
good friend Bliss has just tried to make a getaway. My man,
Guilfoyle,[*18] who I’d phoned to tail the doctor, picked him up as he
came out of this house for his walk in the park. But he didn’t go to
the park, Mr. Vance. He beat it over to Fourth Avenue and went to the
Corn Exchange Bank at Twenty-ninth Street. It was after hours, but he
knew the manager and didn’t have no trouble getting his money.…”
“Money?”
“Sure! He drew out everything he had in the bank--got it in twenties,
fifties and hundreds--and then took a taxi. Guilfoyle hopped another
taxi and followed him up-town. He got off at Grand Central Station and
hurried to the ticket office. ‘When’s the next train for Montreal?’ he
asked. ‘Four forty-five,’ the guy told him. ‘Gimme a through ticket,’
he said.… It was then four o’clock; and the doc walked to the gate and
stood there, waiting. Guilfoyle came up to him and said: ‘Going for a
jaunt to Canada?’ The doc got haughty and refused to answer. ‘Anyway,’
said Guilfoyle, ‘I don’t think you’ll leave the country to-day.’ And
taking the doc by the arm, he led him to a telephone booth.…
Guilfoyle’s on his way here with your innocent friend.” The Sergeant
rocked back and forth on his feet. “What do you think of that, sir?”
Vance regarded him lugubriously.
“And that is taken as another sign of the doctor’s guilt?” He shook
his head hopelessly. “Is it possible that you regard such a childish
attempt of escape as incriminating?… I say, Sergeant; mightn’t that
come under the head of panic on the part of an impractical scientist?”
“Sure it might.” Heath laughed unpleasantly. “All crooks and killers
get scared and try to make a getaway. But it don’t prove their
lily-white innocence.”
“Still, Sergeant,”--Vance’s voice was discouraged--“a murderer who
accidentally left clews on every hand pointing directly to himself and
then indulged in this final stupid folly of trying to escape would not
be exactly bright. And, I assure you, Doctor Bliss is neither an
imbecile nor a lunatic.”
“Them’s mere words, Mr. Vance,” declared the Sergeant doggedly. “This
bird made a coupla mistakes and, seeing he was caught, tried to get
outa the country. And, I’m here to tell you, that’s running true to
form.”
“Oh, my aunt--my precious, dodderin’ aunt!” Vance sank into a large
chair and let his head fall back wearily against the lace
antimacassar.