Partners in Crime

  The girl shook her head.

  "I don't remember it. And we don't get many letters through here either-so I probably should if I'd seen it on a letter. Apart from the Grange, there isn't many big houses round about."

  "What is the Grange?" asked Tuppence. "Who does it belong to?"

  "Doctor Horriston has it. It's turned into a Nursing Home now. Nerve cases mostly, I believe. Ladies that come down for rest cures, and all that sort of thing. Well, it's quiet enough down here, Heaven knows." She giggled.

  Tuppence hastily selected a few cards and paid for them.

  "That's Doctor Horriston's car coming along now," exclaimed the girl.

  Tuppence hurried to the shop door. A small two seater was passing. At the wheel was a tall dark man with a neat black beard and a powerful, unpleasant face. The car went straight on down the street. Tuppence saw Tommy crossing the road towards her.

  "Tommy, I believe I've got it. Doctor Horriston's Nursing Home."

  "I heard about it at the King's Head, and I thought there might be something in it. But if she's had a nervous breakdown or anything of that sort, her aunt and her friends would know about it surely."

  "Ye-es. I didn't mean that. Tommy, did you see that man in the two seater?"

  "Unpleasant looking brute, yes."

  "That was Doctor Horriston."

  Tommy whistled.

  "Shifty looking beggar. What do you say about it, Tuppence? Shall we go and have a look at the Grange?"

  They found the place at last, a big rambling house, surrounded by deserted grounds, with a swift mill stream running behind the house.

  "Dismal sort of abode," said Tommy. "It gives me the creeps, Tuppence. You know, I've a feeling this is going to turn out a far more serious matter than we thought at first."

  "Oh! don't. If only we are in time. That woman's in some awful danger, I feel it in my bones."

  "Don't let your imagination run away with you."

  "I can't help it. I mistrust that man. What shall we do? I think it would be a good plan if I went and rang the bell alone first, and asked boldly for Mrs. Leigh Gordon just to see what answer I get. Because, after all, it may be perfectly fair and above board."

  Tuppence carried out her plan. The door was opened almost immediately by a man servant with an impassive face.

  "I want to see Mrs. Leigh Gordon if she is well enough to see me."

  She fancied that there was a momentary flicker of the man's eyelashes, but he answered readily enough.

  "There is no one of that name here, Madam."

  "Oh! surely. This is Doctor Horriston's place, The Grange, is it not?"

  "Yes, Madam, but there is nobody of the name of Mrs. Leigh Gordon here."

  Baffled, Tuppence was forced to withdraw and hold a further consultation with Tommy outside the gate.

  "Perhaps he was speaking the truth. After all, we don't know."

  "He wasn't. He was lying. I'm sure of it."

  "Wait until the doctor comes back," said Tommy. "Then I'll pass myself off as a journalist anxious to discuss his new system of rest cure with him. That will give me a chance of getting inside and studying the geography of the place."

  The doctor returned about half an hour later. Tommy gave him about five minutes then he in turn marched up to the front door. But he too returned baffled.

  "The doctor was engaged and couldn't be disturbed. And he never sees journalists. Tuppence, you're right. There's something fishy about this place. It's ideally situated-miles from anywhere. Any mortal thing could go on here, and no one would ever know."

  "Come on," said Tuppence with determination.

  "What are you going to do?"

  "I'm going to climb over the wall and see if I can't get up to the house quietly without being seen."

  "Right. I'm with you."

  The garden was somewhat overgrown, and afforded a multitude of cover. Tommy and Tuppence managed to reach the back of the house unobserved.

  Here there was a wide terrace, with some crumbling steps leading down from it. In the middle some French windows opened onto the terrace, but they dared not step out into the open, and the windows where they were crouching were too high for them to be able to look in. It did not seem as though their reconnaissance would be much use when suddenly Tuppence tightened her grasp of Tommy's arm.

  Someone was speaking in the room close to them. The window was open and the fragment of conversation came clearly to their ears.

  "Come in, come in, and shut the door," said a man's voice irritably "A lady came about an hour ago, you said, and asked for Mrs. Leigh Gordon?"

  Tuppence recognised the answering voice as that of the impassive man servant.

  "Yes, sir."

  "You said she wasn't here, of course?"

  "Of course, sir."

  "And now this journalist fellow," fumed the other.

  He came suddenly to the window, throwing up the sash, and the two outside, peering through a screen of bushes, recognised Dr. Horriston.

  "It's the woman I mind most about," continued the doctor. "What did she look like?"

  "Young, good-looking, and very smartly dressed, sir."

  Tommy nudged Tuppence in the ribs.

  "Exactly," said the doctor between his teeth. "As I feared. Some friend of the Leigh Gordon woman's. It's getting very difficult. I shall have to take steps-"

  He left the sentence unfinished. Tommy and Tuppence heard the door close. There was silence.

  Gingerly, Tommy led the retreat. When they had reached a little clearing not far away, but out of earshot from the house, he spoke.

  "Tuppence, old thing, this is getting serious. They mean mischief. I think we ought to get back to town at once and see Stavansson."

  To his surprise Tuppence shook her head.

  "We must stay down here. Didn't you hear him say he was going to take steps? That might mean anything."

  "The worst of it is we've hardly got a case to go to the police on."

  "Listen, Tommy. Why not ring up Stavansson from the village? I'll stay around here."

  "Perhaps that is the best plan," agreed her husband. "But, I say-Tuppence-"

  "Well?"

  "Take care of yourself-won't you?"

  "Of course I shall, you silly old thing. Cut along."

  It was some two hours later that Tommy returned. He found Tuppence awaiting him near the gate.

  "Well?"

  "I couldn't get on to Stavansson. Then I tried Lady Susan.

  She was out too. Then I thought of ringing up old Brady. I asked him to look up Horriston in the Medical Directory or whatever the thing calls itself."

  "Well, what did Dr. Brady say?"

  "Oh! he knew the name at once. Horriston was once a bona fide doctor, but he came a cropper of some kind. Brady called him a most unscrupulous quack, and said he, personally, wouldn't be surprised at anything. The question is, what are we to do now?"

  "We must stay here," said Tuppence instantly. "I've a feeling they mean something to happen tonight. By the way, a gardener has been clipping ivy round the house. Tommy, I saw where he put the ladder."

  "Good for you, Tuppence," said her husband appreciatively. "Then tonight-"

  "As soon as it's dark-"

  "We shall see-"

  "What we shall see."

  Tommy took his turn at watching the house whilst Tuppence went to the village and had some food.

  Then she returned and they took up the vigil together. At nine o'clock, they decided that it was dark enough to commence operations. They were now able to circle round the house in perfect freedom. Suddenly Tuppence clutched Tommy by the arm.

  "Listen."

  The sound she had heard came again, borne faintly on the night air. It was the moan of a woman in pain. Tuppence pointed upward to a window on the first floor.

  "It came from that room," she whispered.

  Again that low moan rent the stillness of the night.

  The two listeners decided to put their orig
inal plan into action. Tuppence led the way to where she had seen the gardener put the ladder. Between them they carried it to the side of the house from which they had heard the moaning. All the blinds of the ground floor rooms were drawn, but this particular window upstairs was unshuttered.

  Tommy put the ladder as noiselessly as possible against the side of the house.

  "I'll go up," whispered Tuppence. "You stay below. I don't mind climbing ladders and you can steady it better than I could. And in case the doctor should come round the corner you'd be able to deal with him and I shouldn't."

  Nimbly Tuppence swarmed up the ladder, and raised her head cautiously to look in at the window. Then she ducked it swiftly, but after a minute or two brought it very slowly up again. She stayed there for about five minutes. Then she descended again.

  "It's her," she said breathlessly and ungrammatically, "But oh! Tommy, it's horrible. She's lying there in bed, moaning and turning to and fro-and just as I got there a woman dressed as a nurse came in. She bent over her and injected something in her arm and then went away again. What shall we do?"

  "Is she conscious?"

  "I think so. I'm almost sure she is. I fancy she may be strapped to the bed. I'm going up again, and if I can, I'm going to get into that room."

  "I say, Tuppence-"

  "If I'm in any sort of danger I'll yell for you. So long."

  Avoiding further argument Tuppence hurried up the ladder again. Tommy saw her try the window, then noiselessly push up the sash. Another second, and she had disappeared inside.

  And now an agonising time came for Tommy. He could hear nothing at first. Tuppence and Mrs. Leigh Gordon must be talking in whispers if they were talking at all. Presently he did hear a low murmur of voices and drew a breath of relief. But suddenly the voices stopped. Dead silence.

  Tommy strained his ears. Nothing. What could they be doing?

  Suddenly a hand fell on his shoulder.

  "Come on," said Tuppence's voice out of the darkness.

  “Tuppence! How did you get here?"

  “Through the front door. Let's get out of this."

  "Get out of this?"

  "That's what I said."

  "But-Mrs. Leigh Gordon?"

  In a tone of indescribable bitterness Tuppence replied.

  "Getting thin!"

  Tommy looked at her, suspecting irony.

  “What do you mean?"

  “What I say. Getting thin. Slinkiness. Reduction of weight. Didn't you hear Stavansson say he hated fat women? In the two years he's been away, his Hermy has put on weight. Got a panic when she knew he was coming back, and rushed off to do this new treatment of Dr. Horriston's. It's injections of some sort, and he makes a deadly secret of it, and charges through the nose. I daresay he is a quack-but he's a damned successful one! Stavansson comes home a fortnight too soon when she's only beginning the treatment. Lady Susan has been sworn to secrecy, and plays up. And we come down here and make blithering idiots of ourselves!"

  Tommy drew a deep breath.

  "I believe, Watson," he said with dignity, "that there is a very good Concert at the Queen's Hall tomorrow. We shall be in plenty of time for it. And you will oblige me by not placing this case upon your records. It has absolutely no distinctive features."

  10. BLINDMAN'S BUFF

  "Right," said Tommy, and replaced the receiver on its hoof`.

  Then he turned to Tuppence.

  "That was the Chief. Seems to have got the wind up about us. It appears that the parties we're after have got wise to the fact that I'm not the genuine Mr. Theodore Blunt. We're to expect excitements at any minute. The Chief begs you as a favor to go home and stay at home, and not mix yourself up in it any more. Apparently the hornet's nest we've stirred up is bigger than anyone imagined."

  "All that about my going home is nonsense," said Tuppence decidedly. "Who is going to look after you if I go home? Besides, I like excitement. Business hasn't been very brisk just lately."

  "Well, one can't have murders and robberies every day," said Tommy. "Be reasonable. Now my idea is this. When business is slack, we ought to do a certain amount of home exercises every day."

  "Lie on our backs and wave our feet in the air? That sort of thing?"

  "Don't be so literal in your interpretation. When I say exercises, I mean exercises in the detective art. Reproductions of the Great Masters. For instance-"

  From the drawer beside him, Tommy took out a formidable dark green eyeshade covering both eyes. This he adjusted with some care. Then he drew a watch from his pocket.

  "I broke the glass this morning," he remarked. "That paved the way for its being the crystalless watch which my sensitive fingers touch so lightly."

  "Be careful," said Tuppence. "You nearly had the short hand off then."

  "Give me your hand," said Tommy. He held it, one finger feeling for the pulse. "Ah! the keyboard of silence. This woman has not got heart disease."

  “I suppose," said Tuppence, "that you are Thornley Colton?"

  "Just so," said Tommy. "The blind Problemist. And you're thingumrnybob, the black-haired apple-cheeked secretary-"

  "The bundle of baby clothes picked up on the banks of the English river," finished Tuppence.

  "And Albert is the Fee, alias Shrimp."

  "We must teach him to say 'Gee,' " said Tuppence. "And his voice isn't shrill. It's dreadfully hoarse."

  "Against the wall by the door,' said Tommy, "you perceive the slim hollow cane which held in my sensitive hand tells me so much."

  He rose and cannoned into a chair.

  "Damn!" said Tommy. "I forgot that chair was there."

  "It must be beastly to be blind," said Tuppence with feeling.

  "Rather," agreed Tommy heartily. "I'm sorrier for all those poor devils who lost their eyesight in the War than for anyone else. But they say that when you live in the dark you really do develop special senses. That's what I want to try and see if one couldn't do. It would be jolly handy to train oneself to be some good in the dark. Now, Tuppence, be a good Sydney Thames. How many steps to that cane?"

  Tuppence made a desperate guess.

  "Three straight, five left," she hazarded.

  Tommy paced it uncertainly, Tuppence interrupting with a cry of warning as she realised that the fourth step left would take him slap against the wall.

  "There's a lot in this," said Tuppence. "You've no idea how difficult it is to judge how many steps are needed."

  "It's jolly interesting," said Tommy. "Call Albert in. I'm going to shake hands with you both, and see if I know which is which."

  "All right," said Tuppence, "but Albert must wash his hands first. They're sure to be sticky from those beastly acid drops he's always eating."

  Albert, introduced to the game, was full of interest.

  Tommy, the hand shakes completed, smiled complacently.

  “The keyboard of silence cannot lie," he murmured. 'The first was Albert, the second, you, Tuppence."

  "Wrong!" shrieked Tuppence. "Keyboard of silence indeed! You went by my wedding ring. And I put that on Albert's finger."

  Various other experiments were carried out, with indifferent success.

  "But it's coming," declared Tommy. "One can't expect to be infallible straight away. I tell you what. It's just lunch time. You and I will go to the Blitz, Tuppence. Blind man and his keeper. Some jolly useful tips to be picked up there."

  "I say, Tommy, we shall get into trouble."

  "No, we shan't. I shall behave quite like the little gentleman. But I bet you that by the end of luncheon I shall be startling you."

  All protests being thus overborne, a quarter of an hour later saw Tommy and Tuppence comfortably ensconced at a corner table in the Gold Room of the Blitz.

  Tommy ran his fingers lightly over the Menu.

  "Pilaff de Homard and Grilled Chicken for me," he murmured.

  Tuppence also made her selection, and the waiter moved away.

  "So far, so good," said Tommy. "Now for a
more ambitious venture. What beautiful legs that girl in the short skirt has-the one who has just come in."

  "How was that done, Thorn?"

  "Beautiful legs impart a particular vibration to the floor which is received by my hollow cane. Or, to be honest, in a big Restaurant there is nearly always a girl with beautiful legs standing in the doorway looking for her friends, and with short skirts going about, she'd be sure to take advantage of them."

  The meal proceeded.

  "The man two tables from us is a very wealthy profiteer, I fancy," said Tommy carelessly.

  "Pretty good," said Tuppence appreciatively. "I don't follow that one."

  "I shan't tell you how it's done every time. It spoils my show. The head waiter is serving champagne three tables off to thee right. A stout woman in black is about to pass our table."

  “Tommy, how can you-"

  "Aha! You're beginning to see what I can do. That's a nice girl in brown just getting up at the table behind you."

  "Snoo!" said Tuppence. "It's a young man in grey."

  "Oh!" said Tommy, momentarily disconcerted.

  And at that moment two men who had been sitting at a table not far away, and who had been watching the young pair with keen interest, got up and came across to the corner table.

  "Excuse me," said the elder of the two, a tall well dressed man with an eyeglass and a small grey moustache. "But you have been pointed out to me as Mr. Theodore Blunt. May I ask if that is so?"

  Tommy hesitated a minute, feeling somewhat at a disadvantage. Then he bowed his head.

  “That is so. I am Mr. Blunt."

  "What an unexpected piece of good fortune! Mr. Blunt, I was going to call at your offices after lunch. I am in trouble-very grave trouble. But-excuse me-you have had some accident to your eyes?"

  "My dear sir," said Tommy in a melancholy voice. "I am blind-completely blind."

  "What?"

  "You are astonished. But surely you have heard of blind detectives?"

  "In fiction. Never in real life. And I have certainly never heard that you were blind."

  "Many people are not aware of the fact," murmured Tommy. "I am wearing an eyeshade today to save my eyeballs from glare. But without it, quite a host of people have never suspected my infirmity-if you call it that. You see, my eyes cannot mislead me. But enough of all this. Shall we go at once to my office, or will you give me the facts of the case here? The latter would be best, I think."