There was a long silence. Then Charles sat down weakly. "Let no one speak to me," he said. "I shall no doubt recover in time."
"But Ackerley!" Peter stammered. "Draycott, how the devil did you arrive at it?"
"Well, you heard some of my reasons," Michael said. "But the first clue I had was Time. You see these forgeries have been going on for five years, and it seemed probable that they were from the beginning carried out from this place. That ruled out Titmarsh: he only came here three years ago. Roote has been here an even shorter time; various other inhabitants round about have been here too long a time. It was only Ackerley who came to live at the White House five years ago, and I thought it significant that his arrival was shortly followed by the arrival not only of Duval, but of Wilkes also to take over the Bell Inn. Now Wilkes paid a very large sum for the Bell: too large a sum for an inn so little frequented. And by lying up in odd corners I found that a pretty close intimacy seemed to exist between the two men. Wilkes was the only one who knew who the Monk was; you might call him the Monk's chief of staff. That set me on to Ackerley, and that's where Fripp came in handy. After the murder of Duval I let Fripp break into the Colonel's house one night when the servants had gone to bed. You know that they slept over the garage. And of course the Colonel was out on his secret business. I told you Fripp was clever with locks. And he's not burdened with any scruples. He found a bottle of chloroform, which is now in my possession…"
"But didn't the Colonel miss it?" Charles demanded.
"No; for the very good reason that Fripp exchanged it for one almost identical. He also found the missing book. I'll let you have that when the trial's over; those two pages cut from the copy at the British Museum are most interesting."
"House-breaking!" Charles said, casting up his eyes. "Our incorruptible police!"
"Oh no!" Michael grinned. Jimmy's not a policeman. He would be insulted to hear you say so."
Peter struck in: "But an officer in the army - I suppose he wasn't, though?"
"On the contrary, he was. But he left the army under rather odd circumstances. It was hushed up, but I discovered on inquiry that his reputation was not exactly savoury. I wondered when he seemed loth to tell me where exactly he had been stationed."
"I can't get over it!" Celia burst out. "That cheery, sporting Colonel! He must be a monster!" She got up. "I'm going to bed. My head's in a positive whirl. And Charles! All these horrible secret passages have got to be blocked up.
"Leave it to Draycott," said Charles. "I'm going away for a rest-cure. And I suppose he's going to be as much an owner as I am. Not that I approve, but there! when are my wishes ever considered?" He rose and prepared to follow his wife out. Over his shoulder he said: "And don't be more than half an hour saying good night, you two."
But they were almost as long as that over it. Safe in Michael's arms Margaret said: "But why did you say I'cl never look at anyone in your "line of business"?"
"Well, I was afraid you wouldn't," he explained. "After all, I'm only what Jimmy calls a "beastly busy." How could I dream you'd ever even think of marrying me?"
She buried her face in his shoulder. "I said I shouldn't care as long as it was honest," she said, muffled.
He laughed softly as he bent to kiss her, "Or a butcher's shop!" he reminded her.
FB2 document info
Document ID: 65a93d9f-788c-466e-b4b9-97f3550cfd4d
Document version: 1
Document creation date: 03 April 2011
Created using: FictionBook Editor Release 2.6 software
Document authors :
frenky_m
Document history:
1.0 — создание файла
About
This file was generated by Lord KiRon's FB2EPUB converter version 1.1.5.0.
(This book might contain copyrighted material, author of the converter bears no responsibility for it's usage)
Этот файл создан при помощи конвертера FB2EPUB версии 1.1.5.0 написанного Lord KiRon.
(Эта книга может содержать материал который защищен авторским правом, автор конвертера не несет ответственности за его использование)
http://www.fb2epub.net
https://code.google.com/p/fb2epub/
Footsteps in the Dark Page 27
