Partners in Crime_ A Tommy & Tuppence Adventure - Agatha Christie [36]
He felt the start the other gave.
‘That tells you something,’ he laughed. ‘My dear young man, you have been incredibly foolish. I’m afraid–I’m very much afraid that your activities will be curtailed in future.’
He spoke the last words with a sinister relish.
Tommy sat motionless. He did not reply to the other’s taunts.
Presently the car slackened its pace and drew up.
‘Just a minute,’ said the pseudo Duke. He twisted a handkerchief deftly into Tommy’s mouth, and drew up his scarf over it.
‘In case you should be foolish enough to think of calling for help,’ he explained suavely.
The door of the car opened and the chauffeur stood ready. He and his master took Tommy between them and propelled him rapidly up some steps and in at the door of a house.
The door closed behind them. There was a rich oriental smell in the air. Tommy’s feet sank deep into velvet pile. He was propelled in the same fashion up a flight of stairs and into a room which he judged to be at the back of the house. Here the two men bound his hands together. The chauffeur went out again, and the other removed the gag.
‘You may speak freely now,’ he announced pleasantly. ‘What have you to say for yourself, young man?’
Tommy cleared his throat and eased the aching corners of his mouth.
‘I hope you haven’t lost my hollow cane,’ he said mildly. ‘It cost me a lot to have that made.’
‘You have nerve,’ said the other, after a minute’s pause. ‘Or else you are just a fool. Don’t you understand that I have got you–got you in the hollow of my hand? That you’re absolutely in my power? That no one who knows you is ever likely to see you again.’
‘Can’t you cut out the melodrama?’ asked Tommy plaintively. ‘Have I got to say, “You villain, I’ll foil you yet”? That sort of thing is so very much out of date.’
‘What about the girl?’ said the other, watching him. ‘Doesn’t that move you?’
‘Putting two and two together during my enforced silence just now,’ said Tommy. ‘I have come to the inevitable conclusion that that chatty lad Harker is another of the doers of desperate deeds, and that therefore my unfortunate secretary will shortly join this little tea party.’
‘Right as to one point, but wrong on the other. Mrs Beresford–you see, I know all about you–Mrs Beresford will not be brought here. That is a little precaution I took. It occurred to me that just probably your friends in high places might be keeping you shadowed. In that case, by dividing the pursuit, you could not both be trailed. I should still keep one in my hands. I am waiting now –’
He broke off as the door opened. The chauffeur spoke.
‘We’ve not been followed, sir. It’s all clear.’
‘Good. You can go, Gregory.’
The door closed again.
‘So far, so good,’ said the ‘Duke.’ ‘And now what are we to do with you, Mr Beresford Blunt?’
‘I wish you’d take this confounded eyeshade off me,’ said Tommy.
‘I think not. With it on, you are truly blind–without it you would see as well as I do–and that would not suit my little plan. For I have a plan. You are fond of sensational fiction, Mr Blunt. This little game that you and your wife were playing today proves that. Now I, too, have arranged a little game–something rather ingenious, as I am sure you will admit when I explain it to you.
‘You see, this floor on which you are standing is made of metal, and here and there on its surface are little projections. I touch a switch–so.’ A sharp click sounded. ‘Now the electric current is switched on. To tread on one of those little knobs now means–death! You understand? If you could see…but you cannot see. You are in the dark. That is the game–Blindman’s Buff with death. If you can