“Suppose we bust in and pinch him?” Beyfield asked. “I don’t like that young woman going in there alone.”
“Nor do I,” I said shortly. “But what else can we do? We must catch him red-handed.”
We had stopped now and we were peering through the hedge that surrounded the garden. The rest of the house except for the lobby was in darkness.
“We’ll try the back. Maybe we can get in that way,” I murmured.
“My men should be around by now,” Beyfield whispered. He looked at his watch. The luminous dial showed eight-fifty. “Mind how you go or they’ll bend a club over your skull.”
I stepped back. “Then you’d better go first,” I said. “Your head looks like it could stand it better than mine.”
He grunted and moved forward. I followed him around the back of the house. We hadn’t gone far before a man rose out of the darkness. I caught a faint gleam of silver buttons and Beyfield called to him.
“Anything happening, Sergeant?” he asked.
The police-sergeant shook his head. “We ain’t been here more than a couple of minutes,” he said. “There’s someone in the house, but we haven’t disturbed them.”
“How many men have you got?”
“Six. They’re spread around the garden. I’ve told ’em that anyone can enter the house, but no one must leave. That okay?”
“Sure.” Beyfield turned to me. “He’d better come with us, hadn’t he?”‘
“Okay, but no noise.”
We crept across the uneven ground to the back of the house. A cement path led up to the back door and as we walked softly forward we heard the taxi coming up the street.
I was nervous and my hands were shaking. I suddenly wanted to stop Audrey from going any further with this. It was only with a tremendous effort that I fought down my panic.
Beyfield was trying the back door.
“Locked,” he said, his lips against my ear.
I pushed him aside and examined the lock. It seemed a simple affair, and taking out my pocketknife I fiddled for a moment and then pushed open the door.
As I did so I heard the taxi stop outside the gate and a moment later a bell rang somewhere in the house.
I stepped into the kitchen and turned on my flashlight.
“She’s at the door now,” I murmured to Beyfield. “Give me a couple of minutes and then come after me. Leave the sergeant to guard the back door.”
He pressed my arm to show he understood and I went forward. I slid my hand inside my coat and eased the .38 police special from its holster.
The bell rang again, and as I opened the kitchen door, turning off my flashlight as I did so, I heard someone moving on the stairs.
I stood in the narrow, dark passage, my gun thrust forward, my heart hammering against my ribs, and waited. A shaded oil-lamp set high on the wall by the foot of the stairs shed a yellow light over the lobby.
A shadow appeared on the wall — a gaunt, crouching figure with long, thin hands and grotesque claw-like fingers. It moved swiftly and silently towards the front door. A moment later I saw it was Elmer Hench. He paused at the door, listened, and then jerked it open.
I heard Audrey catch her breath in a startled scream and then Hench’s bony fingers closed on her arm and pulled her inside. As she twisted away from him he closed the door and stood with his back against it.
“Good evening, Miss Sheridan,” he said, smiling at her.
In the flickering oil-lamp his gaunt, white face looked terrifying. Audrey baled away from him. She was so close to me, I could hear her quick, uneven breathing.
“Don’t be afraid, Miss Sheridan,” Hench said. “Ted’s waiting for you. He’s upstairs. All his friends are up there waiting for you. Go up and join them.”
Audrey stood as if paralysed.
Hench frowned at her and then his face writhed into a terrifying grin. “What are you waiting for?” he said, his bony fingers reaching out towards her and then drawing back. “Go up to Ted. He’s been waiting a long time for you.” He gave a smothered snigger. “He wants you.”
Very slowly, Audrey moved to the staircase. Not once did she take her eyes off Hench, who now stood motionless by the front door.
She put her foot on the first stair and then paused. I felt Beyfield breathing down my neck, but I didn’t look round. I was watching Audrey with intent concentration.
Then it happened. There was a faint swish. Audrey screamed. Her hands went to the rope that had encircled her throat. Then she was drawn slowly upwards. As her feet left the ground, Hench, making a soft, snarling noise like an animal, threw himself at her knees and hung.
Then a gun exploded by my ear end I was half blinded by the flash.
I blundered forward as Hench folded up silently on the floor. I caught Audrey round her waist, lifted her and took her weight off the rope. She was limp, and for a moment I had a horrible fear that we were too late.
Beyfield, who had fired at Hench, whipped the noose from her neck, and I heard her say: “It’s all right, Marc,” and then she began to sob. Reg and the police-sergeant came blundering up.
“Take care of her,” I said to Reg, and putting her into his arms I ran after Beyfield.
He waited for me at the head of the stairs.
“We’ve got him now,” he said, between his teeth. “He can’t get away. I’ve never seen anything to beat that.”
“You’ll see something better than that when I get my hands on the devil,” I said savagely.
We moved down the dark passage, our flashlights throwing two big spots ahead of us. There were doors along one side of the passage and I went into each room as we came to it, while Beyfield stood in the passage, his gun ready in case the killer dashed passed me.
We tackled room after room in that way. It was nervy work and slow. Each empty room brought us nearer to the killer, lurking in the darkness and listening to our steady approach.
Finally there was only one room left.
“We’ve got him,” Beyfield said, pushing me aside. “Come on out!” he shouted savagely. “Do you hear? Come on out with your hands in the air!”
There was a distinct movement inside the room.
“Come on out!” Beyfield roared again.
The police-sergeant and two cops came up and stood watching at the end of the passage. Their powerful flashlights lit up the worm-eaten door.
Steps crossed the room. Slow, light, undecided steps.
We raised our guns.
The door moved inwards and then was suddenly flung wide. Mrs. Esslinger stood looking at us, her lips in a hard line and her eyes like stones.
She wore the same black ill-fitting dress and on her head was a flat black hat covered with jet sequins. She stood staring at us and then suddenly she went into peal after peal of wild laughter.
We sat in the hotel lounge with drinks at our elbows and cigarettes burning. It was our last night in Cranville and we were all a little high.
Beyfield was positively beaming. Things were going well for him. Already he could see himself as Chief of Police. As soon as the story was published the Governor of the State was certain to demand an inquiry. Macey would have to go.
Beyfield raised his glass and, with tipsy dignity, saluted me. “You’re a great guy,” he said. “A guy of sterling worth — even if you are a private dick.”
I thanked him.
Audrey rested her head on my shoulder and smiled secretly at the ceiling. “It was a fluke,” she said softly. “A beautiful fluke. Now I know how to be a successful detective. All I have to do is to pick on an innocent man and hope for a fluke. Come on, darling, admit it, you did think it was Ted.”
I grinned. “Well, for a while I thought it was Ted, but then I changed my mind.” Seeing the look of outraged astonishment on her face, I went on hastily: “Okay, okay, I did think it was Ted, but I took the precaution to check up on Mrs. E. and her brother. Those two puzzled me. Anyway, how was I to know they were crazy? I haven’t lived all my life in this town like you... you can’t criticize.”