The Clue of the Twisted Candle

  CHAPTER XIV

  It was Mansus who found the second candle, a stouter affair. It layunderneath the bed. The telephone, which stood on a fairly large-sizedtable by the side of the bed, was overturned and the receiver was on thefloor. By its side were two books, one being the "Balkan Question,"by Villari, and the other "Travels and Politics in the Near East," byMiller. With them was a long, ivory paper-knife.

  There was nothing else on the bedside-table save a silver cigarettebox. T. X. drew on a pair of gloves and examined the bright surface forfinger-prints, but a superficial view revealed no such clue.

  "Open the window," said T. X., "the heat here is intolerable. Be verycareful, Mansus. By the way, is the window fastened?"

  "Very well fastened," said the superintendent after a careful scrutiny.

  He pushed back the fastenings, lifted the window and as he did, a harshbell rang in the basement.

  "That is the burglar alarm, I suppose," said T. X.; "go down and stopthat bell."

  He addressed Fisher, who stood with a troubled face at the door. Whenhe had disappeared T. X. gave a significant glance to one of the waitingofficers and the man sauntered after the valet.

  Fisher stopped the bell and came back to the hall and stood before thehall fire, a very troubled man. Near the fire was a big, oaken writingtable and on this there lay a small envelope which he did not rememberhaving seen before, though it might have been there for some time, forhe had spent a greater portion of the evening in the kitchen with thecook.

  He picked up the envelope, and, with a start, recognised that it wasaddressed to himself. He opened it and took out a card. There were onlya few words written upon it, but they were sufficient to banish all thecolour from his face and set his hands shaking. He took the envelope andcard and flung them into the fire.

  It so happened that, at that moment, Mansus had called from upstairs,and the officer, who had been told off to keep the valet underobservation, ran up in answer to the summons. For a moment Fisherhesitated, then hatless and coatless as he was, he crept to the door,opened it, leaving it ajar behind him and darting down the steps, ranlike a hare from the house.

  The doctor, who came a little later, was cautious as to the hour ofdeath.

  "If you got your telephone message at 10.25, as you say, that wasprobably the hour he was killed," he said. "I could not tell within halfan hour. Obviously the man who killed him gripped his throat with hisleft hand--there are the bruises on his neck--and stabbed him with theright."

  It was at this time that the disappearance of Fisher was noticed, butthe cross-examination of the terrified Mrs. Beale removed any doubt thatT. X. had as to the man's guilt.

  "You had better send out an 'All Stations' message and pull him in,"said T. X. "He was with the cook from the moment the visitor left untila few minutes before we rang. Besides which it is obviously impossiblefor anybody to have got into this room or out again. Have you searchedthe dead man?"

  Mansus produced a tray on which Kara's belongings had been disposed.The ordinary keys Mrs. Beale was able to identify. There were one or twowhich were beyond her. T. X. recognised one of these as the key of thesafe, but two smaller keys baffled him not a little, and Mrs. Beale wasat first unable to assist him.

  "The only thing I can think of, sir," she said, "is the wine cellar."

  "The wine cellar?" said T. X. slowly. "That must be--" he stopped.

  The greater tragedy of the evening, with all its mystifying aspects hadnot banished from his mind the thought of the girl--that Belinda Mary,who had called upon him in her hour of danger as he divined. Perhaps--hedescended into the kitchen and was brought face to face with theunpainted door.

  "It looks more like a prison than a wine cellar," he said.

  "That's what I've always thought, sir," said Mrs. Beale, "and sometimesI've had a horrible feeling of fear."

  He cut short her loquacity by inserting one of the keys in the lock--itdid not turn, but he had more success with the second. The lock snappedback easily and he pulled the door back. He found the inner door boltedtop and bottom. The bolts slipped back in their well-oiled socketswithout any effort. Evidently Kara used this place pretty frequently,thought T. X.

  He pushed the door open and stopped with an exclamation of surprise. Thecellar apartment was brilliantly lit--but it was unoccupied.

  "This beats the band," said T. X.

  He saw something on the table and lifted it up. It was a pair oflong-bladed scissors and about the handle was wound a handkerchief. Itwas not this fact which startled him, but that the scissors' blades weredappled with blood and blood, too, was on the handkerchief. He unwoundthe flimsy piece of cambric and stared at the monogram "B. M. B."

  He looked around. Nobody had seen the weapon and he dropped it in hisovercoat pocket, and walked from the cellar to the kitchen where Mrs.Beale and Mansus awaited him.

  "There is a lower cellar, is there not!" he asked in a strained voice.

  "That was bricked up when Mr. Kara took the house," explained the woman.

  "There is nothing more to look for here," he said.

  He walked slowly up the stairs to the library, his mind in a whirl. Thathe, an accredited officer of police, sworn to the business of criminaldetection, should attempt to screen one who was conceivably a criminalwas inexplicable. But if the girl had committed this crime, how had shereached Kara's room and why had she returned to the locked cellar!

  He sent for Mrs. Beale to interrogate her. She had heard nothing andshe had been in the kitchen all the evening. One fact she did reveal,however, that Fisher had gone from the kitchen and had been absent aquarter of an hour and had returned a little agitated.

  "Stay here," said T. X., and went down again to the cellar to make afurther search.

  "Probably there is some way out of this subterranean jail," he thoughtand a diligent search of the room soon revealed it.

  He found the iron trap, pulled it open, and slipped down the stairs. He,too, was puzzled by the luxurious character of the vault. He passed fromroom to room and finally came to the inner chamber where a light wasburning.

  The light, as he discovered, proceeded from a small reading lamp whichstood by the side of a small brass bedstead. The bed had recently beenslept in, but there was no sign of any occupant. T. X. conducted a verycareful search and had no difficulty in finding the bricked up door.Other exits there were none.

  The floor was of wood block laid on concrete, the ventilation wasexcellent and in one of the recesses which had evidently held at sotime or other, a large wine bin, there was a prefect electrical cookingplant. In a small larder were a number of baskets, bearing the name ofa well-known caterer, one of them containing an excellent assortment ofcold and potted meats, preserves, etc.

  T. X. went back to the bedroom and took the little lamp from the tableby the side of the bed and began a more careful examination. Presentlyhe found traces of blood, and followed an irregular trail to the outerroom. He lost it suddenly at the foot of stairs leading down from theupper cellar. Then he struck it again. He had reached the end of hiselectric cord and was now depending upon an electric torch he had takenfrom his pocket.

  There were indications of something heavy having been dragged across theroom and he saw that it led to a small bathroom. He had made a cursoryexamination of this well-appointed apartment, and now he proceeded tomake a close investigation and was well rewarded.

  The bathroom was the only apartment which possess anything resembling adoor--a two-fold screen and--as he pressed this back, he felt something which prevented its wider extension. He slipped into the room andflashed his lamp in the space behind the screen. There stiff in deathwith glazed eyes and lolling tongue lay a great gaunt dog, his yellowfangs exposed in a last grimace.

  About the neck was a collar and attached to that, a few links of brokenchain. T. X. mounted the steps thoughtfully and passed out to thekitchen.

  Did Belinda Mary stab Kara or kill the dog? That she killed one hound orthe other was certain. That
she killed both was possible.