Complete works of peter.., p.517
Complete Works of Peter Cheyney. Illustrated, page 517
She looked at him in surprise. "So you meant him to tell Detective-Inspector Ricket that?" he asked.
Gaunt nodded. "Yes. I knew that once Ricket believed that my evidence about the blank ammunition in the pistol was fake, he'd send a police officer round here to pick you up. I wanted you picked up. You see, I thought the time had come for this job to be brought to a head."
She looked, at him in amazement.
"Mr Gaunt," she said, her cigarette hanging limply in her fingers, "are you trying to tell me that I didn't kill Zona?"
"Definitely," said Gaunt. "I'll go even farther. I know it is quite impossible for you to have killed Zona."
Her blue eyes were big with astonishment. "Why do you say that?" she asked.
"I want to ask questions, not answer them. Now listen carefully. Yesterday evening you telephoned through to my office and told me that you had shot Zona. That was at ten past seven. How long was it since you'd left Zona's flat?"
She thought for a moment. "My telephone call to you would be within fifteen minutes of my leaving there," she said.
Gaunt nodded. "That's what I thought," he said cheerfully. "Now I want you to promise not to go out of this flat, not to telephone anybody, and not to see anybody until I give you permission. Are you going to be good?"
She smiled pathetically. "I can't be anything else," she said. "I have got to trust somebody, and strangely enough—and I don't know the reason—I'm inclined to trust you, Mr. Gaunt."
Gaunt grinned. "That's fine. Now answer one more question. Did you know that Zona had left you most of his money?"
She paused for a moment. Then she said: "He hinted once of twice that he was leaving me some money. He said he was going to look after his old friend's daughter, or some such remark. I have worried about it very much."
"Would you be surprised to hear that Zona had left you £25,000?"
"Yes, I would," she said.
"Well, that's what he's done," said Gaunt. "Lanel told me about the will. There's just one other thing before I go. I shall probably ring tonight, and I'll ask you a question. I shall want you to tell me if you receive any telephone messages here and what they are. Will you do that?"
"I'll do anything you say," she said. "I've told you that I trust you."
"Good girl. Now don't worry. I'll ring you some time tonight. Au revoir."
He closed the door behind him.
OUTSIDE in the street Gaunt looked at his watch. It was six thirty. He stood for a moment, lighting a cigarette and working out his plan of campaign. Then he hailed a cab and drove to the Silver Ring Club.
The place was almost deserted. The girl in the cloakroom was dusting the empty shelves and one or two tired-looking waiters were sweeping the dance-floor and arranging tables for dinner.
Gaunt walked round the balcony and through the pass-door and stood silently in front of the office door. Then, without knocking, he opened it and stepped into the room.
Lanel was sitting in his usual position behind the desk. Pacing him, smoking a cigarette, was Geraldine.
"Good evening," said Gaunt cheerfully.
He took out his cigarette case and selected a cigarette. Lanel watched him coolly.
"I wanted to have a word with you, Lanel," said Gaunt. "And it's just as well that Geraldine's here."
Lanel shrugged. "There's nothing you can say to me that anybody couldn't hear. Although I should have imagined that you'd have had enough of this case by this time. I can imagine that Ricket isn't too pleased with you."
Gaunt grinned. "Don't be a fool, Lanel. I suppose you think that because you informed him that I'd told you I slipped the blank ammunition into Meralda Grey's gun after Zona was killed, I'd get frightened."
He pulled up a chair and sat down.
"I made a deal with you," said Lanel. "The bargain was that you weren't going to say anything about Geraldine's having gone to Zona's flat. I, on my part, was going to support you in the story that Lorimer had told me some time ago that his automatic—the one he gave Meralda Grey— was loaded only with blank ammunition. Well, I consider you walked out on that deal. You went straight from this office and bluffed Geraldine into telling you what happened when she and I went to Zona's place. That made me distrust you. So I told Ricket that your story about the blank ammunition was false."
Gaunt nodded cheerfully. "But you didn't tell him about your Geraldine's visit to Zona's flat. You didn't think that mattered, I suppose?"
"No, I didn't," said Lanel "And neither does it. Geraldine here can support anything I have to say about that visit."
Gaunt grinned. "Can she?" he asked sardonically. "Or do you mean that Geraldine can support what you told her. Geraldine's evidence is useless. She saw you coming down the fire-escape from Zona's flat when she entered the alley. She saw you turn and go down the alley towards the Berkeley Square end, but she's only got your word for what you saw in Zona's flat when you were up there, and she's only got your word for what you did."
Lanel stiffened. "What do you mean by that?" he asked.
"I mean that what you told Geraldine was just a packet of damned lies," said Gaunt, still grinning. "I know what you saw when you went up the fire-escape before Geraldine arrived. You didn't see her when you were coming down, otherwise you'd have stopped her. As it was you hurried towards the Berkeley Square end of the alley, hoping to meet her and stop her. When you came back you saw her on the fire-escape. You dashed up and met her on her way down. When she told you what she had seen you said: 'My God, let's get out Of this!' Well... why did you say that? If you were ignorant of what had happened in the flat why didn't you go up and look for yourself? Why didn't you telephone the police?".
"Why should I?" said Lanel. "What had it go to do with me? I didn't want either of us to get mixed up in a scandal."
"And you expect me to believe that?" asked Gaunt. "Why, I can see by the look on Geraldine's face at this moment that she thinks I'm right. And there's another thing, Lanel. Geraldine had an appointment to see Zona earlier that afternoon. She came to you and told you about it. She told you she didn't want to go to Zona's place because she was afraid of him. I believe that to be true. Well, what did you do? You told her to keep the appointment and that you would go with her. But you didn't go with her. You kept her hanging about while you did some business or other. You made her so late for her original appointment that Zona had to telephone through here and tell her to hurry—that was at six-thirty. And then what did you do? After being so keen on her not going alone, you deliberately sent her round by herself, saying you would meet her there. When you got there she hadn't arrived. You went up to the flat and saw something that surprised you. You came dashing down and ran to the Berkeley Square end of the alley to stop her, but you were too late. She'd come by the other end.
"But even then it was all right because she'd only seen Zona's arm and shoulder. She'd only seen his hand holding the pistol with the string attached to it. She believed that he'd committed suicide. If you'd telephoned the police and told them they'd have wanted to know what you were doing there. They'd have wanted to ask all sorts of inconvenient questions, wouldn't they, Lanel? So you said: 'My God, let's get out of this,' and hoped that no one had seen either of you going up the fire-escape. And you were lucky. Nobody did."
Lanel lit a cigarette. His air of nonchalance had departed. Gaunt could see that the hand that held the cigarette lighter was not very steady.
"Well... if nobody saw us, that's that," said Lanel. "There's only your word that Geraldine told you what had happened. And our word's as good as yours."
Gaunt laughed. "That's true enough, Lanel. But you've forgotten something else. You've forgotten your telephone call to Manchester yesterday at mid-day. Why did you telephone through to Manchester to speak to Michael Lorimer? How did you know he was in Manchester? Meralda Grey only persuaded him to go there early yesterday morning. She saw him off in the train. Yet you knew he was there. You telephoned through to the Pirates Club and you spoke to Lorimer."
Gaunt stopped speaking and looked at Lanel sharply. He saw little beads of sweat on the secretary's forehead. He looked at Geraldine. She was looking at Lanel. Her eyes were wide with astonishment.
Gaunt began to grin again.
"You're surprised, aren't you. Geraldine?" he said. "Even you are beginning to wonder just what your boy friend here has been playing at."
He stubbed out his cigarette and lit another.
"Perhaps you'd like me to tell you why you telephoned through to Manchester. All right, I will."
He leaned back in his chair. His voice was level.
"When you learned that Zona had called me in the night before last to do a little investigating, you weren't so happy. Possibly you had good reason for that. Maybe you were responsible for some of the defalcations Zona was worrying about. Anyhow, you got into Zona's office here early the next morning and you had a look through his private papers. You found what you wanted to find. You found that will. Something happened during the morning that made it necessary for you to telephone to Manchester, didn't it, Lanel? And I know what that something was, You see, I'm a good guesser!"
Lanel said nothing. His eyes were frightened.
Gaunt said: "You watch your step. Things aren't going to be too good for you as it is, but if you try any more funny business, if you get in my way again, you're going to be for it. I'm going to see that you're charged as being accessory to murder and that means that Geraldine will be charged as being accessory, too. Do you understand that?"
Gaunt got up. He stood looking down at Lanel.
"You take a tip from me, Lanel. The best thing for you to do is to keep yourself out of even more trouble. My advice to you is to stay here and keep Geraldine here. I've an idea that Ricket will he sending someone round here to talk to you tonight. If he does, remember that there's nothing like the truth. Well, so long, Lanel. Au revoir, Geraldine!"
He flipped his hat over one eye and went out. When he had gone Lanel looked at Geraldine. His fact was grim.
She said: "So you've been kidding me, Wolfe. You'd better tell me the truth."
XII. — THE LETTER
IT was nine o'clock.
Gaunt, sitting at his desk in his office, could hear the patter of the rain on the windows. He stubbed out his cigarette with an air of decision. Then he took off the telephone receiver and rang Ricket at Scotland Yard.
"I think it's about time that you and I put our cards down on the table, Ricket."
"That'll be a nice change as far as you're concerned, Gaunt. But I don't know that I'm interested in your cards."
"All right," said Gaunt. "Well, perhaps you'll tell me something. I suppose you're thinking about arresting Meralda Grey?"
"I am. The Commissioner has all the papers and information before him now. I'm waiting for an instruction from him to arrest her on the murder charge at any moment."
"Well, let me give you a tip. I'd hate to see you make a fool of yourself, Ricket, but I can promise you this much. If you do arrest Meralda Grey, you'll be a laughing stock."
"I see," said Ricket caustically. "Have you got some more funny evidence to produce like that stuff about the blank ammunition?"
"Just listen to this, and listen hard. I told Lanel that I slipped that blank ammunition into Meralda Grey's gun after Zona was killed. Well, that wasn't true. It might interest you to know that I loaded her gun with blank ammunition in my office before she went to Zona's flat. Not only did I do it then, but I did it in the presence of my secretary, Josephine Dark, in the outside office. I've got the original clip of ball cartridges that I took out of that gun here in my office drawer. How do you like that?"
There was a pause. From the other end of the wire came an exclamation.
"I thought that would surprise you," said Gaunt. "Now listen Ricket. I take it you want to arrest somebody for killing Zona. You and I both know he didn't commit suicide. I know that Meralda Grey didn't kill him. I know who did. If you want to arrest the murderer you can do it tonight. But you'll have to do it in my way."
"What an annoying cuss you are, Gaunt. What have you got up your sleeve?"
"Plenty," the detective answered. "Now here's what I want you to do. First of all I suggest that you send somebody round to the Silver Ring Club and pick up Wolfe Lanel and Geraldine. I saw Lanel not long ago. I had a very straight talk with that gentleman, and I left him in a state of mind in which he'll probably be only too glad to make things easy for himself by telling the truth.
"I suggest that you fill in the time by taking a statement from him and Geraldine. If you take the statements separately, you'll find they'll fit in with each other. Then there's something else I want you to do, but I'd rather not talk about it on the telephone. I'll come round and see you."
"All right," said Ricket, "I'll be here. But I hope you can prove what you're saying, Gaunt."
Gaunt grinned. "Don't worry, Ricket. I've got my own methods of working. I'll be with you in a quarter of an hour. Just possess your soul in patience."
He hung up and leant back in his chair, lit another cigarette and amused himself for a few minutes by blowing smoke rings. Then he got up, went into the outer office, found a telephone directory and looked up the number of the Vine Hotel in Aldwych. He went back to his desk, rang through to the hotel and asked for Mr. Lorimer. He was put through at once. Lorimer's voice, tense and expectant, came over the line:
"Is that you, Gaunt? Have you been successful?"
"I don't know," said Gaunt. "But something's happened that can change the whole complexion of this case, something that may easily prove that Meralda is innocent."
"That's wonderful," said Lorimer, "What has happened?"
"It appears," said Gaunt, "that yesterday evening, some time after six o'clock, Zona wrote a letter. This letter was addressed to me. He sent it down to the hall porter and told him to take it straight to my office. Now its certain that that letter was important—very important—because Zona knew that I was going to see him at seven-thirty.
"The hall-porter says," Gaunt continued, lying glibly, "that Zona had had a telephone call just before he wrote that letter."
"I see," said Lorimer. "What was in the letter?"
"I don't know," said Gaunt, "because the idiot never delivered it. He put it into his pocket and then some other business turned up and he forgot it. He's off duty now and found the letter about an hour ago. He's just telephoned through here saying that he'll bring it to my office tonight before he goes on duty at ten o'clock."
Gaunt put a note of tense excitement into his voice.
"Supposing for the sake of argument that the telephone call Zona received just before he wrote that letter was from the murderer. Supposing Zona knew he was in danger and sent off a note to me immediately, telling me to come round, telling me the name of the person who'd telephoned him."
Lorimer said: "Have you any idea—any inkling who it would be?"
"Yes. I think the person mentioned in that note is Wolfe Lanel."
Lorimer said: "What do you want me to do?"
"Nothing very much. But I thought you'd be interested to know what's in the letter. The hall-porter says he'll have it round here about ten o'clock. I suggest you come at ten-fifteen. There'll be nobody here except myself. Don't come through the outer office. Walk along the corridor and tap on the door of my private office. I'll leave the street door open for you."
"Right," said Lorimer. "I'll be with you at ten-fifteen."
Gaunt hung up. He was grinning. Then he got up, put on his hat and overcoat, and took a cab to Scotland Yard.
RICKET looked at Gaunt over his desk. He seemed worried.
"I hope you're not making any mistakes this time, Rufus," he said. "I hope this new theory of yours is going to pan out."
Gaunt shrugged.
"I've told you that I loaded the blank ammunition into Meralda Grey's gun before she went to see Zona. That means she didn't kill him, and that in turn means somebody else did. You're going to know who that somebody else is tonight."
Ricket nodded gloomily.
"Well, I hope you're right," he said. "The Commissioner considers that there's a cut-and-dried case against Meralda Grey. He believes we can't fail to secure a conviction on our evidence."
He looked at Gaunt sharply.
"You haven't got anything on that fellow Lanel, by any chance?" he said. "Or Geraldine? I've discovered that there was something between Zona and Geraldine. Have you?"
Gaunt said: "You're not going to make me talk before I want to. Now, first of all I'd like to put a few points up to you, Ricket—odd points which I consider to be definite pointers towards the murderer I want you to remember them. They'll be useful to you a little later tonight.
"First of all let's go back to yesterday afternoon. Let's go back to the time Meralda Grey came into my office. When she came to see me she made no attempt to conceal the fact that she had the automatic pistol in her handbag. That struck me as hardly being the attitude of a potential murderess—of a woman who was on her way to use that pistol. But some instinct prompted me not to take any chances.
"I knew that Meralda Grey was a hot-tempered young woman. I told her I had a pistol of the same make, but with a slight difference in the safety catch. Then I walked into the outer office to get my own pistol, taking hers with me. I had a clip of blank ammunition in a drawer. I took it out, loaded it into her automatic in place of the clip of ball cartridges, which I handed to Josephine Dark, my secretary. That clip is in the office now.
"It is lucky for Meralda Grey that I did that, because she did lose her temper, probably justifiably and she did think she'd killed Zona.
"Very well, what was the next move? A few minutes after six I had a telephone call. It was from Zona. He explained that he was staying in his flat because he had a very bad cold. The voice I heard on the telephone was unlike Zona's. It sounded too harsh, but at the time I put this down to the cold that had kept him at home. I know now that it wasn't Zona telephoning—it was the murderer. He had already begun to work up the case against Meralda by pretending to be Zona, by telling me, as he did, that he had had a threatening telephone call from her that afternoon and that she'd said she would kill him. Have you got that?"
