“This?” The European voice was surprised. “But certainly, Monsieur Bendigo. How could it interest you?”
“I’m a collector of stickpins. Yours struck my eye at once... Beautiful!”
“It is merely a reproduction in gold and enamel of our national emblem. I am happy that it strikes your fancy.”
“Mr. Minister, you know what collectors are — perfect idiots. I must have this pin for my collection.”
“I shall send you one this week. They are obtainable at numerous shops in the capital.”
“No, no, I want this one — yours, Monsieur.”
“I gladly present it to you.”
“I make it a rule never to accept gifts. Permit me to buy it from you.”
“Really, Monsieur, it is no more than a trifle—”
“Would you accept two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for it?”
“Two hun—” The voice choked.
“Deposited in a New York bank under any name you designate?”
The Queens gaped at each other.
After a very long time, in a voice so low as almost to be inaudible, the Defence Minister said, “Yes... I will sell it.”
“Take care of it, Abel. Thank you for coming, Mr. Minister. I’m sure, on re-examining the situation, you’ll find some means of persuading your distinguished compatriots that no sacrifice is too great for a nation to make in this crisis in world history.”
“Monsieur has given new strength to my persuasive powers,” said the foreign voice in a tone compounded of bitterness, irony, and self-loathing; and the Queens heard it no more.
When the door opened and Abel Bendigo reappeared, Inspector Queen was in the armchair with his head thrown back and Ellery was smoking a cigarette at the glass outer wall, staring as if he could see through it, which he could not.
The Inspector rose immediately.
“Sorry to have kept you waiting, gentlemen. My brother can see you now.” Abel stood aside.
The Inspector went in first, Ellery followed, and Abel shut the door.
The hemispherical architecture of King Bendigo’s office had been cleverly utilized to impress. The door from the reception room was near the end of the straight wall, so that the visitor on entering the office faced, first of all, the curved glass wall at its narrowest. He naturally made a half-turn toward space, and the long diameter of the room struck him like a blow. And near the other end, behind a desk, sat King Bendigo. The approach to him looked eternal.
There was little furniture in the office. A few heavy pieces designed to fit the curve of the outer wall, several uncompromising chairs and occasional tables, and that was all. As in the reception room, there were no paintings, no sculptures, no ornamentation of any kind. Nothing distracted the eye from that big desk, or the big chair that stood behind it, or the big man who sat in the chair.
The desk was of ebony, and there was nothing on its glittering surface.
The chair was of some golden material.
It was only later that Ellery was able to notice what was set into the straight wall near the desk. It was a room-high safe door. The door, a foot thick, was partly open. On its inner surface, behind glass, was the mechanism of a time-lock.
And just inside the safe leaned a troglodyte. His powerful jaws chewed away at something — chewing gum, or candy. He was so broad that he seemed squat; yet he was taller than Ellery. His face was gorilla-like and he stared as a gorilla might stare. His stare never left the visitors’ faces. He was dressed in a gaudy black and gold uniform and he wore a beret of black leather with a gilt pompom. He looked ridiculous and deadly.
But that came later. During the endless approach to the eminence of that ebony desk, they could see nothing but the man enthroned behind it.
King Bendigo did not rise. Even seated, he was formidable. He was one of the handsomest men Ellery had ever seen, with pure dark features of an imperious cast, bold black eyes, and thick black hair with a Byronic lock. His ringless hands, resting on the desk, were finely proportioned; they looked capable of breaking a man’s back or threading a needle. He wore a business suit of exquisite cut and workmanship which draped itself impeccably at every movement of his torso.
There were deep lines in his face, but he looked no more than forty.
Ellery had the most curious sense of unreality. Every Inch a King, starring...
There were no introductions.
They were not offered chairs.
They were left standing before the desk, being inspected by those remarkable black eyes, while Abel went around the desk to murmur into his brother’s ear.
Abel’s attitude was interesting. It was all deference, but without an obsequious slant. Abel, with his lack of stature or grandeur, with his eyeglasses shining earnestly, with his body slightly inclined as he reported to his brother, was a picture of dedication.
Ellery tingled with the annoyance of something not quite grasped.
“Detectives?” They instinctively tightened before the black flash in those eyes. “So that’s where you’ve been! Abel, I’ve told you those letters are the work of a crank—”
“They’re not the work of a crank, King.” There was a quiet stubbornness in Abel’s voice that aroused Ellery’s respect. “On that point Mr. Queen agreed immediately.”
“Mister who?” The eyes made another survey.
“Queen. This gentleman is Inspector Richard Queen of the New York police department, and this is his son Ellery.”
“Ellery Queen.” The eyes became interested. “You have quite a reputation.”
Ellery said, “Thank you, Mr. Bendigo.”
“And you’re his father, eh?” The eyes turned on Inspector Queen and at once turned back to Ellery.
And that takes care of me, thought the Inspector.
“So you think there’s something in this, too, Queen.”
“I do, Mr. Bendigo, and I’d like to discuss—”
“Not with me, Queen, not with me. I think it’s a lot of damned foolishness. Play detectives all you want to, but don’t annoy me with it.” King Bendigo turned in his chair. “Who’s next, Abel?”
Abel began murmuring in the royal ear, and the royal eyes were immediately abstracted.
Ellery said: “Are you through with us, Mr. Bendigo?”
The handsome man looked up. “Yes!” he said sharply.
“Well, I’m not through with you.”
The King leaned back, frowning. Abel straightened up and his prominent eyes began to shuttle between them. The Inspector rested against a chair, folding his arms expectantly.
“Well?” said King Bendigo.
“Nothing has been said about a fee.”
The stare was degrading. “I didn’t hire you. My brother did. Talk it over with him.”
Abel said, “We’ll discuss your fee this evening, Mr. Queen—”
“I’d rather discuss it now.”
The King looked up at his Prime Minister. His Prime Minister shrugged ever so slightly. The stare went back to Ellery.
“Really?” drawled the man in the gold chair, and Ellery could have hurdled the desk and throttled him. “And what is this fee of yours, Queen?”
“My services come pretty high, Mr. Bendigo.”
“What is the fee?”
It was at this point that Ellery, to conceal the blood in his eye, glanced away, and that was when he first saw the uniformed gorilla standing inside the doorway of the safe, animal eyes fixed on him, jaws grinding away. The King’s Jester... He felt himself tighten all over, and in the next moment all the pressure of hostility and outraged pride that had been building up came to a head.