WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:04.960 Chapter twenty five of The Double by Edgar Wallace. This 2 00:00:05.120 --> 00:00:10.839 LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by Atolsharma, Winnipeg, Canada, 3 00:00:11.160 --> 00:00:16.359 Chapter twenty five. He fell back in his chair, staring 4 00:00:16.440 --> 00:00:21.559 at the printed page. Interruption came from a totally unexpected source. 5 00:00:22.239 --> 00:00:25.800 The door was pushed open violently, and Tommy wheeled flung in. 6 00:00:26.440 --> 00:00:30.640 His hair was disheveled, his face splashed with mud, and 7 00:00:30.719 --> 00:00:33.280 the state of his leather coat and his sodden gloves 8 00:00:33.320 --> 00:00:36.520 suggested he had come by road and in some hurry 9 00:00:37.560 --> 00:00:41.240 seen Mary. His voice was shrill with anxiety, and then, 10 00:00:41.920 --> 00:00:45.320 without waiting for a reply, he went on, popped off 11 00:00:45.320 --> 00:00:50.079 this afternoon, old boy, the whole blooming shoot Mary Cornfort 12 00:00:50.359 --> 00:00:55.479 supposed to be dying, old boy, Henry, everybody, no, not everybody. 13 00:00:55.679 --> 00:00:59.079 The bath chairs left behind. They didn't even take that 14 00:00:59.719 --> 00:01:03.719 most extraordinary thing. Old boy, not left a word, just 15 00:01:03.840 --> 00:01:07.920 popped off. Must have gone this morning, and me walking 16 00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:10.519 up and down the front of the house composing poetry, 17 00:01:10.519 --> 00:01:14.159 Old boy, I tell you it's too ghastly for words. 18 00:01:14.920 --> 00:01:18.359 He paused only to take breath, evidently not to listen, 19 00:01:18.879 --> 00:01:22.400 because before Dick could open his mouth to speak, the 20 00:01:22.439 --> 00:01:26.200 flow of words continued. I'm rattled, old boy, he said. 21 00:01:26.680 --> 00:01:29.480 Suppose this beastly fellow who threw the whiz bang has 22 00:01:29.480 --> 00:01:33.120 got some fearful grudge against Mary. I stopped and strea 23 00:01:33.200 --> 00:01:35.359 them to get a newspaper, and got pinched by a 24 00:01:35.400 --> 00:01:38.519 copper for having no lights. But I simply had to 25 00:01:38.599 --> 00:01:42.159 read it. I saw a bill with local women found 26 00:01:42.239 --> 00:01:45.079 murdered in west End. Might have been her, Old boy, 27 00:01:45.640 --> 00:01:49.840 can't you do anything, Dickie, he demanded wildly. You're the police, 28 00:01:50.239 --> 00:01:53.319 you're a pal. I'd searched the town for her. They 29 00:01:53.439 --> 00:01:57.159 left in a motor car at twelve o'clock. Henry, Mary, 30 00:01:57.640 --> 00:02:01.319 the night nurse, and the poor old invalid. He's practically finished, 31 00:02:01.359 --> 00:02:03.959 so it doesn't matter about him, and not so much 32 00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:07.040 as a sign of her. Old boy, all went off together, 33 00:02:07.519 --> 00:02:10.919 left the bath chair. If you'll only shut up, said dick, 34 00:02:11.280 --> 00:02:15.439 I'll tell you I've seen Mary. Tommy's eyes bulged here 35 00:02:15.919 --> 00:02:20.039 in London, he screeched, Here in London, and Henry, if 36 00:02:20.080 --> 00:02:24.280 that's any comfort to you, phew. Tommy mopped his steaming 37 00:02:24.319 --> 00:02:27.879 brow and sat down, heavily ring for min's, old boy. 38 00:02:28.199 --> 00:02:31.759 We'll have a bottle on that she's a naughty, naughty girl. 39 00:02:31.919 --> 00:02:35.479 I'm terribly vexed with her. Where are they staying, Dickie? 40 00:02:36.240 --> 00:02:39.360 Dick could offer no information on this subject, but he 41 00:02:39.439 --> 00:02:41.879 decided that he had better tell Tommy that the girl 42 00:02:41.960 --> 00:02:45.159 was coming there that night. It might be very embarrassing 43 00:02:45.199 --> 00:02:49.400 if he did not, especially as Tommy evidently intended sleeping there. 44 00:02:49.960 --> 00:02:53.000 But before he could tell him, Tommy relieved him in 45 00:02:53.080 --> 00:02:56.159 his dilemma. Are you likely to hear from her? Will 46 00:02:56.199 --> 00:02:58.919 you ring me up? If you do? Where are you going? 47 00:02:59.039 --> 00:03:02.319 Asked Dick. I was going nowhere. I was simply going 48 00:03:02.360 --> 00:03:04.919 to stay here, old boy, and cry myself to sleep. 49 00:03:05.360 --> 00:03:07.840 But if she's alive, that's all I want to know. 50 00:03:08.319 --> 00:03:10.919 I'm toddling down to a dear little place in Surrey. 51 00:03:11.280 --> 00:03:14.639 You know. He tapped his nose with a forefinger, slyly. 52 00:03:15.240 --> 00:03:18.960 I don't know, said Dick wearily, unless that gesture means 53 00:03:18.960 --> 00:03:22.439 that you're going to have your nose reshaped. Honeymoon, old boy. 54 00:03:22.960 --> 00:03:27.680 Everything arranged for next week. Next week. Dick almost shouted 55 00:03:27.680 --> 00:03:30.599 the words you're mad. I mean you said it was 56 00:03:30.639 --> 00:03:34.680 September next week, said Tommy, with great calmness. We fixed 57 00:03:34.719 --> 00:03:38.840 it up the night before last, Dick quaked inwardly. He 58 00:03:39.000 --> 00:03:41.800 was like a man who was being carried across Niagara 59 00:03:41.840 --> 00:03:45.120 on a tight rope by an expert walker. The position 60 00:03:45.280 --> 00:03:49.080 might be entirely without peril to himself. On the other hand, 61 00:03:49.759 --> 00:03:53.240 give me your telephone number, he said, with extraordinary sang foa. 62 00:03:53.439 --> 00:03:57.759 In the circumstances, Tommy took off his wet glove, poised 63 00:03:57.759 --> 00:04:01.280 a pencil over the tablecloth, but wrote nothing. You know 64 00:04:01.360 --> 00:04:03.759 what your news is meant to me, old boy. I've 65 00:04:03.759 --> 00:04:08.840 been like a raving lunatic suicide, going abroad, shooting lions. 66 00:04:08.840 --> 00:04:12.280 I thought of everything. He disappeared as rapidly as he 67 00:04:12.319 --> 00:04:14.919 had arrived, and Dick had a vision of a motor 68 00:04:14.960 --> 00:04:18.160 car moving at an unlawful rate down the crowded streets. 69 00:04:18.639 --> 00:04:20.800 Not until too late did he realize that he had 70 00:04:20.839 --> 00:04:25.120 left no address. As soon as it got dark, Dick 71 00:04:25.199 --> 00:04:28.040 went up to his room, and one foot was thrown 72 00:04:28.040 --> 00:04:31.000 across the balcony's edge when he remembered his promise to 73 00:04:31.079 --> 00:04:33.959 the girl. Yet, never since he had come into the 74 00:04:34.000 --> 00:04:37.279 case did he have such an overpowering desire to inspect 75 00:04:37.279 --> 00:04:42.040 mister Deryck's empty house. He contented himself by examining with 76 00:04:42.120 --> 00:04:46.879 some curiosity the unlovely facade. Unlovely it was, with its 77 00:04:46.879 --> 00:04:51.480 glazed brick, an eyesore to the neighborhood. The stone balconies 78 00:04:51.519 --> 00:04:55.920 which jutted out looked ugly and incongruous. The windows, as 79 00:04:55.920 --> 00:04:58.720 he saw for the first time, were out of proportion, 80 00:04:59.399 --> 00:05:03.120 long and narrow, and badly placed. It was curious that 81 00:05:03.160 --> 00:05:06.800 he had never noticed that fact before he looked down 82 00:05:07.519 --> 00:05:11.560 below on the drawing room floor. The balcony was wider 83 00:05:11.600 --> 00:05:14.480 than that which was on his own level. Even the 84 00:05:14.600 --> 00:05:17.360 dusk and the kindly lights of the streets did little 85 00:05:17.399 --> 00:05:21.480 deveil the distressing ugliness of the house. No great harm 86 00:05:21.480 --> 00:05:24.240 would come if Derec carried out his threat and rased 87 00:05:24.240 --> 00:05:27.959 this monstrosity to the ground. At least he would employ 88 00:05:28.000 --> 00:05:31.920 a modern architect, and from this drab and dowdy phoenix 89 00:05:32.000 --> 00:05:35.720 might well rise a building creditable to the aristocratic neighborhood. 90 00:05:36.759 --> 00:05:40.079 Derec was a queer sort of fellow, he mused. Suddenly 91 00:05:40.279 --> 00:05:43.959 he stiffened. The French windows of the office room were open, 92 00:05:44.480 --> 00:05:46.439 and from where he stood he had caught in the 93 00:05:46.480 --> 00:05:50.839 glass the momentary reflection of a lamp flash. Derec had 94 00:05:50.879 --> 00:05:54.519 not had time to finish his dinner. Besides, he would 95 00:05:54.560 --> 00:05:56.839 have called on his way back, as he had promised. 96 00:05:57.600 --> 00:06:00.480 He had his foot raised to the parapet, and again 97 00:06:00.519 --> 00:06:04.040 he remembered the urgent warning of Mary Dane, who could 98 00:06:04.040 --> 00:06:07.040 have got into the house, and how not up those 99 00:06:07.040 --> 00:06:11.079 well hidden stairs. The window was moving, and he stepped 100 00:06:11.120 --> 00:06:14.800 back to the shelter of his room, watching along the edge. 101 00:06:15.199 --> 00:06:17.439 And then he saw a gloved hand come round the 102 00:06:17.480 --> 00:06:21.160 frame of the half window, and the head followed. In 103 00:06:21.199 --> 00:06:24.759 the dark, the face would have been indistinguishable, but there 104 00:06:24.839 --> 00:06:27.360 was sufficient light from the street below to show the 105 00:06:27.439 --> 00:06:30.199 mask that envelope not only the face but the head 106 00:06:30.199 --> 00:06:33.720 of the stranger, and to reveal the awkwardly cut holes 107 00:06:33.759 --> 00:06:37.000 through which two eyes were glaring. He waited a second 108 00:06:37.000 --> 00:06:41.079 and then stepped out. I want you, he said. He 109 00:06:41.120 --> 00:06:43.839 saw a hand snap up, and he dropped like a 110 00:06:43.879 --> 00:06:47.399 stone to the inadequate cover of the balcony. As he 111 00:06:47.439 --> 00:06:51.399 did so, something whizzed through his hair. He saw the flash, 112 00:06:51.519 --> 00:06:53.879 but heard no other sound than the stunning thud of 113 00:06:53.920 --> 00:06:58.040 the explosive. The unknown had him at his mercy, did 114 00:06:58.040 --> 00:07:00.959 he but realize, and had he the courage for the 115 00:07:01.040 --> 00:07:05.000 narrow stone pillars behind which the detective was crouching afforded 116 00:07:05.040 --> 00:07:08.959 no vital cover. But after the first shot, the masked 117 00:07:08.959 --> 00:07:12.839 man spun round and vanished through the open window. Again. 118 00:07:13.279 --> 00:07:17.519 Dick's leg was flung across the parapet. Again, the memory 119 00:07:17.519 --> 00:07:20.560 of Mary Dane called him back. He went back to 120 00:07:20.600 --> 00:07:23.439 his room, took the first flight of stairs at a leap, 121 00:07:23.959 --> 00:07:26.560 would have taken the second, but mins was in his way. 122 00:07:27.199 --> 00:07:30.759 The butler. He pushed aside, dashed down the remaining stairs 123 00:07:30.800 --> 00:07:34.279 and flung open the door. Mister Derrick was standing on 124 00:07:34.319 --> 00:07:38.079 the doorstep, his hand at the bell, and Dick, in 125 00:07:38.120 --> 00:07:40.959 his hurry, almost sent him flying down the three steps 126 00:07:40.959 --> 00:07:43.920 that led from the sidewalk to the house. For the 127 00:07:43.959 --> 00:07:47.680 love of Heaven, what's wrong, the detective did not reply. 128 00:07:48.480 --> 00:07:51.600 He went to Derreck's door and tried it. It was locked. 129 00:07:52.279 --> 00:07:56.079 Somebody in there, asked Derrec quickly. The two doors were 130 00:07:56.120 --> 00:07:59.920 side by side. Only a low balustrade separated the st 131 00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:03.639 his own platforms that formed the top step. Come over here, 132 00:08:03.680 --> 00:08:06.680 said Dick, and Derec obeyed with a wondering shake of 133 00:08:06.720 --> 00:08:11.000 his head. Try that door. What is the idea, asked Dereck, 134 00:08:11.040 --> 00:08:13.319 as he pushed, Do you want to get in? I've 135 00:08:13.319 --> 00:08:16.600 got the key. He searched in his pocket and presently 136 00:08:16.639 --> 00:08:19.879 found what he sought. No, I don't want to go in. 137 00:08:20.800 --> 00:08:23.600 Dick was looking at the broad step. It had been 138 00:08:23.680 --> 00:08:26.920 raining and the streets were wet, but the two porticos 139 00:08:26.920 --> 00:08:29.240 in the houses themselves were on the lee side of 140 00:08:29.240 --> 00:08:33.679 the rainstorm, and they were bone dry. Do you notice anything? 141 00:08:34.200 --> 00:08:38.039 Derec shook his head. What has happened, he asked. There 142 00:08:38.080 --> 00:08:40.919 was a note of petulance in his voice. I'm getting 143 00:08:41.000 --> 00:08:44.600 rather tired of all these mysteries. No mystery about it. 144 00:08:44.960 --> 00:08:48.240 A masked gentleman shot at me from your balcony upstairs. 145 00:08:48.600 --> 00:08:52.720 Good God. And then Derec looked round. Two men were 146 00:08:52.759 --> 00:08:56.840 standing on the edge of the pavement, watching curiously. Who 147 00:08:56.840 --> 00:09:00.360 are those fellows? He asked. You needn't bother about those, 148 00:09:00.360 --> 00:09:04.200 said Dick, sharply. They're Scotland yard men. He beckoned one 149 00:09:04.200 --> 00:09:07.720 of them. Did you see anything, No, sir, I thought 150 00:09:07.720 --> 00:09:11.039 I saw a flash from the balcony. Derec had turned 151 00:09:11.039 --> 00:09:14.279 the key and thrown the door open wide. The hall 152 00:09:14.440 --> 00:09:17.399 was in complete darkness, and for this, he admitted he 153 00:09:17.440 --> 00:09:20.720 was responsible. I didn't realize it got dark, so soon 154 00:09:20.960 --> 00:09:24.399 will you come in? Dick signaled the two men. These 155 00:09:24.440 --> 00:09:26.799 officers will go up with you, he said, and heard 156 00:09:26.840 --> 00:09:31.559 Deryck's laugh. Are you afraid? He mantered? Terribly, said the detective. 157 00:09:32.200 --> 00:09:35.200 He waited while the search was conducted, and after a 158 00:09:35.240 --> 00:09:37.639 time one of the men came out with something black 159 00:09:37.639 --> 00:09:41.399 in his hand. Here is the mask, sir. It looks 160 00:09:41.440 --> 00:09:44.000 as if it was cut from a woman's stocking. We 161 00:09:44.120 --> 00:09:48.240 found it on the stairs. Did you find the gun, no, sir, 162 00:09:48.559 --> 00:09:51.159 But we found a silencer that was in what you 163 00:09:51.240 --> 00:09:55.120 call the office room. Dick examined it casually and slipped 164 00:09:55.120 --> 00:09:59.519 it into his pocket. No sign of any man, none, whatever. 165 00:10:00.279 --> 00:10:03.559 Dick's smile was not pleasant. I should have been very 166 00:10:03.639 --> 00:10:07.000 much surprised if there was, he said, for the doorstep 167 00:10:07.039 --> 00:10:10.320 had told him all that he wanted to know. End 168 00:10:10.519 --> 00:10:12.360 of Chapter twenty five.