“One other thing, Mr. Bendigo,” Ellery was saying into the phone, his eyes on Judah. “Please meet us at the outdoor pool immediately.”
Again Abel was silent. Then his Yankee voice said, “I’ll be right over.”
Karla was looking frightened again, and King black at the sight of his brother Judah. Max’l swooped through the water and was out of the pool like a seal.
Ellery stepped before Judah. “It’s all right, Max,” he said, smiling.
“Max.” At his master’s tone the almost naked beast came to heel. He kept glowering over Ellery’s shoulder at the thin little man with the green bottle. “So you’re back,” King Bendigo said grimly. “You’re an annoying customer, Queen. How did you persuade the guards to turn my brother over to you?”
“Abel gave the order at my request.”
The big man sat very still in the deck-chair. “Where is Abel?”
“He’ll be here in a minute... Here he comes now.”
The slightly tubby figure of the Prime Minister appeared, hurrying through the gardens toward them. The group at the pool waited in silence. Karla had sat up. Now she reached for a robe and threw it about her, as if she were suddenly cold. Her red hair kept glittering in the sun nervously. Judah took another pull from his bottle.
“I got here fast as I could—” panted Abel.
“Abel, I don’t understand.” His brother’s voice was arctic. “You knew my order. What has this fellow done, hypnotized you?”
Abel stooped over his brother’s chair, saying something in an earnest whisper. But King’s cold face did not soften. He kept looking at Ellery as he listened.
“I still don’t understand, Abel.”
Abel straightened. And a curious thing occurred. As he straightened he seemed to grow tall, and as he grew tall his bland bankerish face seemed to thin, until it looked almost gaunt. It was now as rigid as the face of his brother.
The brothers stared at each other for some time.
Suddenly King Bendigo sprang from his chair. He was trembling. “I’ll clear this up later,” he exclaimed. “Right now I want to know what you’re up to, Queen. You went away, now you’re back. What did you find out?”
“Everything.”
“Everything about what?”
“About what matters, Mr. Bendigo.”
“I’m not impressed. What about the bullet I stopped? That’s what I’m interested in, Queen, and I want it without frills — in business English. If you can’t tell me how the trick was done, pack your bag, take your father, and get the hell off my island. I’m sick of seeing your faces around here.”
“I’ll be happy to tell you about the murder attempt, Mr. Bendigo.” Ellery walked over to the edge of the pool. He stood there, his right hand in his jacket pocket, looking down at the water. Karla was staring up at him; once she glanced at her husband. Abel was no longer looking at his brother; he watched Ellery closely.
Judah clutched his bottle and surveyed them all with unusual warmth.
The Inspector edged back. He felt a certain joy. He stopped very near Max.
Ellery turned to King, bringing his hand from his pocket as he did so. The little Walther nestled in his palm.
“This is the weapon, Mr. Bendigo,” Ellery said, “which your brother Judah aimed at you through two walls. The problem is curious. I testify myself that when Judah raised the gun it contained no cartridges. When he squeezed the trigger, there was no shot. Still, the ballistics tests proved that the bullet Dr. Storm dug out of your chest had been fired from this gun and no other. Would you mind examining it, please?”
The big man had been listening stonily, but with attention. Now he strode to the edge of the pool and put out his hand for the automatic.
Ellery’s right hand moved to meet it. King Bendigo stepped closer, and with a sweep of the left arm Ellery struck him a heavy blow at the side of the neck and toppled him over the edge into the pool. The King landed with a cry that was smothered in a great splash.
Ellery immediately wheeled. The Walther in his hand was now gripped at the stock and his finger was curled about the trigger.
“You’re not to help him,” he said. “I loaded this gun fifteen minutes ago.”
Behind Max, the Inspector said, “One move and I blow a hole clear through to your gut.”
Max stood still. His brutal face was convulsed.
Abel was making stiff little gestures toward the pool, Judah kept looking at Ellery. And Karla swayed on her knees, reaching.
“Mrs. Bendigo, I must ask you,” said Ellery, looking at the men, “to get away from the edge.”
“Son.” The Inspector sounded urgent.
“Cover them, Dad.”
His father stepped back; there was a Police Positive in his hand.
Ellery turned to the pool again. Bendigo was flailing the water with his arms, bellowing and strangling. He went under, immediately reappeared, and immediately began to sink again.
Ellery flung himself on the pool’s edge and reached far out. He caught the sinking man’s hair, but somehow his quarry got away. He grabbed at a clutching hand. This time he held on, and a moment later he had pulled the big man out of the pool on to the shore.
King lay on his stomach, gagging.
Ellery stood over him. The Walther dangled. He made no attempt to touch Bendigo again.
After a while the big man pushed himself to an all-fours position. He was breathing awkwardly. He struggled to his feet, turned around.
He was unrecognizable. The hair that had given way in Ellery’s hand was floating in the pool; all that was left on the magnate’s head was a dank black fringe. And something had happened to his face. The vigorous cheeks had become hollow, and the strong mouth had changed its shape and outline. Little wrinkles radiated from their corners. The flesh of his neck was suddenly pouchy.
But the change was more than a matter of a lost toupee and dentures. Something far more vital had gone out of him. The black fires in his eyes-had been quenched; the proud confidence that had kept his belly in and his shoulders square had been soaked and rotted out of him. Now he was a sagging and drooping as well as a bald and lined old man.
A beaten and a broken old man.
He did not look at them. His wife made an involuntary movement toward him, full of pity, but then she checked herself.
He stumbled off the camouflaged apron of the pool and made his way through them in a ploddy shuffle, difficult to watch. His long arms bobbed and swayed with his shambling progress, mere appendages. He left a thin trail of water which under the hot sun began at once to dry.
They watched him move through the gardens to the rear entrance of the Residence. He did not once look up or back.
Finally he disappeared.
Max’l cried out and plunged away and through the garden, trampling flowers and making frantic gestures to the Residence.
Karla got to her feet. She seemed strangely calm. And she went to Abel Bendigo and stood close by him.
And Judah Bendigo went to both of them.
After a moment, as if one of them had spoken, the three turned and went side by side at a good pace around the garden and one of the five arms of the Residence and so out of the Queens’ sight.
“Will you tell me,” said Inspector Queen, “will you tell me what any of this means?”
Ellery was eying the toupee, floating like a black crab in the pool. “You know, Dad, I had no idea he wore a toupee. Or false teeth. He looked a thousand years old.”
The Inspector hefted his Police Positive. “If you don’t open up,” he said, “so help me Hannah—”
Ellery laughed, “Not here,” he said. “Suppose I take you for a ride.”