“Eh?”
The old gentleman waved his hand. “Never mind. This is one layout that doesn’t call for the services of a police patrol.” And he chuckled rather bitterly.
“I was merely taking a walk,” said the fat man in an offended rumble. “If you think I’m trying to get away—”
“Perish the thought? Though I shouldn’t blame you if you did.”
“By the way,” remarked Ellery, squinting at the tip of his cigarette, “I’m correct, I take it, in assuming that you and Mrs. Carreau, Smith, are, old acquaintances?”
The man sat still. Mrs. Carreau fumbled with the wisp of veil over her mouth. Then he said: “I don’t understand. Why the devil should you assume that, Queen?”
“Oh, an idle fancy. Then I’m wrong?”
Smith fished a fat brown cigar, of which he seemed to have an inexhaustible supply, from the caverns of his clothes and stuck it very deliberately into his mouth. “Why not,” he said, “ask the lady?”
Ann Forrest jumped to her feet. “Oh, this is intolerable!” she cried. “Aren’t we ever to have any rest from this endless questioning? Sherlock, let’s do something. Bridge, or — or anything. I’m sure Mrs. Xavier won’t mind. We’ll go crazy just sitting here tormenting one another this way!”
“Bully idea,” said Dr. Holmes eagerly, rising. “Mrs. Carreau—?”
“I should love to.” Mrs. Carreau rose and hesitated. “Mr. Xavier, you play a stirring game, I’ve noticed.” Her voice was very light. “Will you be my partner?”
“I suppose I may as well.” The lawyer got to his feet tall and uncertain in the dim light. “Anybody else?”
The four waited a moment and then, when no one replied, they shuffled through the French windows into the game-room. The lights flashed on and their voices, pitched a little unnaturally, came to the ears of the Queens on the terrace.
Ellery was still squinting at his cigarette; he had not stirred. Neither had Mr. Smith. Watching him covertly, Ellery could have sworn that there was relief on the man’s lunar face.
Francis and Julian Carreau suddenly appeared in the glow from the foyer. “May we—” began Francis with a quaver. The twins looked frightened.
“May you what?” asked the Inspector kindly.
“May we go in, too, sir?” said Julian. “It’s a little — sort of — dull out here. We’d like to play some billiards, if you don’t mind.”
“Of course. Why should I mind?” smiled the Inspector. “Play billiards, eh? I shouldn’t think—”
“Oh, we can do m-most everything,” stammered Julian. “I usually use my left arm, but tonight I guess I’ll have to squirm about a bit and use my right. We’re rather good, you know, sir.”
“Don’t doubt it for a moment. Go ahead, youngsters. Have a good time. Lord knows there’s little enough for you to do around here.”
The boys grinned gratefully and disappeared through the French windows, moving with their graceful rhythm.
The Queens sat in silence for a long time. From the game-room came the sound of shuffling cards, restrained voices, the click of billiard balls. Mrs. Xavier, shrouded in darkness, might not have existed. Smith, cold cigar stuck between his lips, seemed to be dozing.
“There’s something,” remarked Ellery at last in a low tone, “I really want to see, dad.”
“Hey?” The old gentleman started out of a reverie.
“I’ve been meaning to have a peep at it for some time now. The laboratory.”
“What in time for? We saw it when—”
“Yes, yes. That’s what gave me the notion. I think I saw something... And then Dr. Holmes made a rather significant remark. Coming?” He rose and flicked the cigarette away into the darkness.
The Inspector got to his feet with a groan. “Might as well. Oh, Mrs. Xavier!”
There was a baffling little sound from the murk at the end of the terrace.
“Mrs. Xavier!” repeated the Inspector, alarmed. He went quickly to where the invisible woman was sitting and peered down at her. “Oh, I’m sorry. You really shouldn’t do that, now.”
She was sobbing. “Oh... please. Haven’t you tormented me enough?”
The old gentleman was distressed. He patted her shoulder awkwardly. “I know. It’s all my fault and I apologize for it. Why don’t you join the others?”
“They... they don’t want me. They all think...”
“Nonsense. It’s our nerves. A little chatter will do you good. Come on, now. You don’t want to be out here alone.”
Under his fingers he felt her shiver. “No. God, no.”
“Come along, then.”
He assisted her to her feet and a moment later they drifted into the light. Ellery sighed. The tall woman’s face was wet with tears and her eyes were red. She paused and fumbled for a handkerchief. Then she dabbed at her eyes, smiled, and sailed from the terrace.
“What a woman!” murmured Ellery. “Remarkable. Any female is who cries her eyes out and then neglects to powder the ravaged countenance... Coming?”
“Go on, go on,” said the Inspector irritably. “Less gab and more action. I’ll live to see the end of this business yet!”
“Let us sincerely hope so,” said Ellery, moving toward the foyer. There was no levity in his tone.
Avoiding the game-room, they walked down the main corridor to the cross-hall. Through the open door of the kitchen ahead they caught a glimpse of Mrs. Wheary’s broad back and the motionless figure of Bones, who was standing at one of the two kitchen windows staring out at the Stygian night.
The Queens turned right and stopped before a closed door midway between the crossing of the halls and the door of Dr. Xavier’s study. The Inspector tried the door; it gave. They slipped into the black room.
“Where the devil’s the switch?” grumbled the Inspector. Ellery found it and the laboratory blazed with light. He closed the door and set his back against it, looking around.
Now that he was at leisure to inspect the laboratory, he felt a stronger recurrence of the impression of scientific modernism and mechanical efficiency which had struck him earlier in the day when he had been party to the gruesome business of stowing Dr. Xavier’s body away. The place bristled with awe-inspiring apparatus. To his untrained eye it was the last word in research laboratories. Notoriously unscientific, ignorant of the application of most of this glittery and queerly shaped equipment, he surveyed the array of cathode-ray tubes, electric furnaces, twisted retorts, racks of giant test tubes, bottles of evil-looking broths, microscopes and chemical jars and odd tables and X-ray machines with vast respect. Had he seen an astronomical telescope he should have not felt surprise. The variety and complexity of the equipment meant little more to him than that Dr. Xavier had been conducting chemical and physical, as well as biological, researches.
Both father and son avoided that corner of the room which housed the refrigerator.
“Well?” growled the Inspector after a time. “I don’t see anything for us here. Most likely the murderer never even set foot in this room last night. What’s bothering you?”
“Animals.”
“Animals?”
“I said,” repeated Ellery firmly, “animals. Dr. Holmes earlier today mentioned something about experiments with diverse creatures and their capacity for noise, in connection with the soundproofing of these rooms. Now I’m very curious about experimental animals, have an unscientific horror of vivisection.”
“Noise?” frowned the Inspector. “I don’t hear any.”
“Probably mildly anesthetized. Or sleeping. Let’s see... The partition, of course!”
At the rear of the laboratory there was a boarded-off cubicle which reminded Ellery vaguely of a butcher’s icebox. A heavy door with a chromium latchet provided entrance. He tried the door; it was unlocked. Opening it, he went in, groped for an overhanging bulb, turned on the switch, and blinked, about him. The compartment was shelved; on the shelves stood cages of various sizes. And in the cages was the queerest assortment of creatures he had ever seen.