"But if Davis knew Manning hated him..." interrupted Cy.
"Shut up," H.M. said sternly. "Because now we come to the explanation of the swimming pool."
His stogy had gone out but he put it in his mouth and chewed it
"Y'see, Fred Manning made his scheme foolproof for the disappearance. However the cards fell, however people behaved, he was ready for it On Monday night"—H.M. nodded towards Byles—"Gil phoned and said he was coming for Manning next morning, with sirens.
"But I'll just bet you," continued H.M., "if you hadn't rung him, he'd have rung you. Would you have gone after him?"
Byles tapped the glass of a window beside him.
"Yes," Byles admitted. "He had me almost as sore as you usually get"
H.M. ignored the insult
"Even if that hadn't happened," he went on, "it wouldn't have made any difference. Any kind of message would do to bring cops swoopin' down; Byles's suspicions about embezzlement would do the rest. It didn't even matter if the cops didn't arrive when Manning expected them, or much later.
"Because why? Because he'd have two unimpeachable witnesses—Cy Norton and yr-obt-servant—to swear he'd done a complete disappearance and a solid-gold miracle!
"Sure, we were the witnesses! He even put us in the same bedroom. A message from Jean, in the morning, said to get down to the pool, and Manning would have seen to it that one of us got there. It didn't matter whether we jumped straight into the water, or whether we didn't Because Manning could always get us out again, by beckoning and whispering of mysterious secret messages. He could get us to stand just where he wanted us—which later he did.
"So there we were, six of us, both in and out of the pool. Davis, Jean, and Betterton were definitely in the pool. Cy and I were sittin' in an orange swing on the long side. And up strolled Manning himself, with his suntan and dyed hair and red swimming trunks hidden under loose white clothes.
"But, before Manning could dive in, there was one thing he ruddy well had to do! He had to be sure that Davis got out of that pool unseen."
Crystal held up her hand.
"Wait!" she protested. "Davie had to get out of the pool—unseen? Why?"
H.M. regarded her dismally.
"Oh, my wench! When Manning was ready to dive in, Davis couldn't be there. There had to be only two persons in the pool, Jean and Betterton. Manning would make the third. But, after Manning dived, we were supposed to think there were four, or the trick wouldn't work.
"Lemme show you!
"Manning, to make Cy and me turn our backs to the pool, used the simplest kind of misdirection. Cor, to think I was off-guard! I used exactly the same trick on Officer O'Casey in the subway.
"If you remember, Cy, Manning pointed to the back of the house and said, 'Great Scott! Look there!' We got out of the swing and crowded after him, with our backs to the pool. He had to be pointin' at something that was dead certain to keep our backs turned and our faces the other way.
"He was pointing, in fact, to you," H.M. told Crystal venomously. "You were outside the sun-porch door, coming towards us."
"But I didn't have anything to do with it" Crystal protested.
"Sure. I know now you didn't But—lord love a duck! That was the second half of the problem, after I'd solved the first And it nearly drove me scatty until midnight last night"
"Why should it?" Crystal insisted.
"Why should it?" echoed H.M. in a hollow voice and with an expression like a dying duck. "Ill tell you, my wench!
"Cy here knows about your father's phenomenal acuteness of hearing. So, as I was stuck away in a wine cellar workin' out the first half of the problem, I knew one thing. He heard those motorcycle sirens a-whooping, and he heard 'em long before anybody else heard a whisper. Now was his time, if he wanted a spectacular show, to hit for a smasher.
"And he did. Without first takin' a glance or givin' any kind of signal, he turns round and says, 'Great Scott! Look there!' And you're already outside the back door. But it's dead quiet yet; only Manning could have heard the sirens. You couldn't have heard 'em. If you're an accomplice— the vital accomplice to keep our eyes away while Davis slipped out of the pool—how in blazes did he communicate with you?
Actually, he didn't You weren't an accomplice; you were there by accident What your father originally meant to indicate was that dummy electric chair.
"It's been there half the night, where he put it, on the south terrace. Nobody noticed it because several have testified there was a cloth over it When he walked down to us, all Manning had to do was slip off the cover and throw it under the chair.
"That was a dead cert. If you see what looks like a fully loaded electric chair sittin' on the lawn, it'll hold your attention, all right
"Manning's words, 'Great Scott! Look there!' were really the signal to Davis in the pool. Davis glanced round to make sure we weren't looking, puffed out some words so his voice would come from the pool, and slid like an eel over the coping on the other side. He hared down that short grass path between the bushes, bent low, towards the bathing cabins; he turned left at the end of the bushes, and was out of sight
"Crystal couldn't see him, because we three witnesses stood in the. way blockin' the view. But she was a new element she might dish the plan. So Manning, to make certain she wouldn't notice Davis, pointed straight at her instead of the chair, which meant she'd look at him when he spoke.
"As for Betterton, in the pool, he couldn't see anything. You noticed his twisted up and (literally) blinkin' eyes. A man with very poor sight, in water, is nearly blind. The first thing he did later, when he heard the D.A. had arrived, was to rush off for his pince-nez. As he said, he couldn't see without 'em.
"But lef s go back to the spectacular moment!
"The police sirens came screamin' up the road. They stopped. Manning backed towards the coping of the pool. Still speakin' with the usual hocus-pocus, he said he hadn't expected 'em so early. He handed me the shears, and took a header.
"Now follow it!
"For the life of me, my fatheads, I can't tell you how long I stood gogglin' at that pool. But it wasn't for long. Then Betterton's head appeared up out of water nearly under Cy's feet as Cy stood on the coping.
"On the opposite of the pool—forty feet away from us, with their backs turned—Jean and apparently Davis shot up out of the water, holdin' themselves rigidly by the handrail, knocking their heads together happily.
"That's the beauty of it! Who'd suspect this happy couple weren't really Jean and Davis at all? Who'd suspect they were Jean and her old man?
"If you recall, the fake 'Davis' never turned round or said anything. Jean turned and called, 'Time to get out, Mr. Betterton!' Then Jean and her companion trotted up the little path between the bushes towards the bathing cabins.
"What they did was beautifully effective, and easy to work. Remember: the real Davis, with his real tan, is waiting unseen round the left-hand end of the bushes. When they get to the end, Jean turns right towards Ladies. The fake Davis turns left towards Gents.
"Instantly—lemme stress instantly—Jean whips round and trots out again facin' the pool, as though she'd been called. On the other side, the real Davis merely passes the fake Davis and he runs out facin' the pool.
"They're both hidden for only the part of a split second. Both Jean and Davis returning makes it doubly secure. It's so fast, yet so easily done, that a person could be lookin' straight at it without noticing the switch. Miracle!"
He paused, because Cy Norton was making dissenting noises.