“I have sworn it, indeed. In common parlance, sir, you can bet your boots and put your shirt on it”
“Well now, Mr. Singleton, I’m going to ask you to help me in a little experiment. Will you do this?”
“Impart! Proceed!”
“I want you to stand here by the stage-door and treat me as though I was Mr. Ackroyd, Dr. Te Pokiha, or Mr. Mason. As soon as I have gone, I want you to wait for five minutes and then walk along to the office. Will you do this?”
“Certainly.”
“Watch the office door,” said Alleyn, “and Mr. Wade will keep the time.” He glanced at Packer and Cass who had listened to the entire conversation with the liveliest interest. “You look steadily down the alley, you two. Are you keen on conjuring tricks?”
“I remember—” began Mr. Singleton; but Alleyn interrupted him.
“Will any gentleman in the audience provide me with a handkerchief? Sergeant Packer? Thank you. You are perfectly certain this is your handkerchief? You see me place it in the right-hand pocket of my jacket? I thank you. Now, Mr. Singleton, I am one of those three gentlemen aforesaid. You see me here in the yard. You are standing by the stage-door. I walk along the yard into the office. Got your watch out, Wade? Off we go.”
Singleton and the three officers stood in a group at the stage-door. Alleyn walked briskly down the yard and into the office, leaving the door open.
“What’s the idea, Mr. Wade?” asked Cass. “He’s a bit of a hard case, isn’t he?”
“He’ll do me,” said Packer. “He’s a corker.”
“Watch that door into the office,” snapped Wade. “And the yard.”
The door remained open on the yard. Nobody spoke. The sound of traffic in the street, and footsteps on the pavement outside, broke the silence. One or two people walked past at the end of the yard.
“He hasn’t come out, anyway,” said Cass.
“Time,” said Wade. “Come on, Singleton. Come on, you two.”
They all walked down the yard and into the office. Alleyn was sitting at the desk.
“Well!” said Alleyn brightly. “Still here, you see.”
“I thought, Superintendent,” said Mr. Singleton, “that you said we were to receive a surprise.”
“And you are disappointed?” He looked from one dubious face to the other. Wade was staring expectantly at him.
“I expect you’d like to know where the laugh and round of applause comes in,” said Alleyn. “If Sergeant Packer will look at the bottom rung of the back-stage ladder into the grid he will learn something to his advantage.”
“Go on, Packer,” said Wade.
Packer hurried off through the stage-door. There was a short pause and then he came thundering back.
“By cripey, Mr. Wade, it’s a corker! By gosh, Mr. Wade, it’s a humdinger!”
He was waving the handkerchief. Cass’s eyes opened very wide. Mr. Singleton moistened his lips once or twice but, for a marvel, he had nothing to say.
“Tied to the bottom rung it was,” declared Packer. “Tied to the bottom rung. By gum, it’s a beaut!”
“You see it can be done, Wade,” said Alleyn.
“It’s good enough,” said Wade delightedly, “it’s good enough.”
“Ah — um — very neat,” said Mr. Singleton. He drew the palm of his hand across his mouth. “I recollect seeing the Great Houdini—”
“Mr. Singleton,” said Alleyn, I’m afraid I’ve taken up far too much of your time. We mustn’t keep you any longer. Will you allow me to quote your favourite author? — ‘Spend this for me.’ ”
Mr. Singleton broke into a loud laugh as his fingers closed on the tip.
“Ah ha, sir, I can have at you again. ‘I’ll be your purse-bearer and leave you for an hour’.” He removed his hat, bowed, said “Good morning, gentlemen,” and hurried away.
“What a fabulous bit of wreckage,” said Alleyn. “Poor old devil, I wonder if he— Oh, well! I suppose you’d like an explanation of all this.” He turned to Cass and Packer.
“Too right, sir,“ said Packer. ”You’ve got us beat.”
“What I did was this. I came into this office, as you saw. I came out again as you apparently didn’t see, and I went round to the back by what I feel should be called Cass’s Alley.”
“But look here, sir, we were watching the yard.”
“I know. I left the door open and I sidled along to the street end keeping against the wall. I was hidden so far by the open door. If you go along to the stage-door you will see what I mean. I was just able to keep out of sight.”
“But the entrance, at the end! You had to cross there, and I swear I never took my eyes off it,” burst out Cass.
“You saw me walk across, Cass.”
“I never! Pardon me, sir.”
“You didn’t recognise your own overcoat and hat? You left them in here.”
Alleyn pointed to where they lay across the desk. “I ventured to borrow them. As soon as I got in here I slipped them on, and, as I have said, sidled out under cover of the door, turned off to the right when I got out to the pavement, and then walked briskly back across the open end of the yard. You did not recognise me. Now, as soon as I got across the entrance to the yard I was hidden by the projecting bicycle shed. I repeated the sidling game on the other side and came back to Cass’s Alley. Once in there, I bolted round to the back door, having borrowed the key. All this took less than two minutes. Another half-minute going up the ladder. I allowed a minute to unhook the weight and came down in less than half. I put the key back in the door and returned by Cass’s Alley, reversing the process. I just had time to get your hat and coat off, before you came along. D’you see?”
“I don’t know that I do, sir, altogether,” confessed Cass, “but you did it, I reckon it’s right.”
“Come and look at the plan here, and you’ll see how it fits in.”
Wade, Packer and Cass all stared solemnly at the plan.
“It’s a funny thing,” said Wade, “how easy it is to miss the obvious thing. That alleyway now. You’d have thought we’d have picked it for something straight away.”
“You’d have thought I would,” grunted Cass, “seeing I’m still sore from where I stuck.”
“It widens out as soon as you’re round the corner,” said Alleyn.
“It’d need to,” said Cass.
Wade looked at his watch.
“It’s time,” he said to Alleyn.
“Ah, yes,” said Alleyn.
They all stood listening. From the street outside came the irregular sound of mid-morning traffic, the whining clamour of trams, the roar of cars in low gear, punctured by intermittent horn notes, and behind it all the patter of feet on asphalt One pair of feet seemed to separate and come closer.
Someone had turned into the yard.
Chapter XXIV
DR. TE POKIHA PLAYS TO TYPE. WARN CURTAIN
But it was only Mr. St. John Ackroyd. Cass, who had moved into the yard, stopped him. The others could see him through the half open door. Beside the gigantic Cass, Ackroyd looked a pygmy of a man. He stood there in his rather loud check overcoat and jaunty hat, staring cockily up at Cass.
“Excuse me, sir,” said Cass, “but were you wanting to go into the theatre?”
“Yes, I was. I want to get to my wardrobe. Haven’t a clean shirt to my back.”
“I’m afraid I can’t let you in this morning, sir.”
“Oh, God! Why the devil not? Look here, you can come in with me and see I don’t muck up the half-chewed cigar at the point marked X. Come on now, old boy, be a sport.”