The Ape Who Guards the Balance - Elizabeth Peters [9]
“I assure you, Father, nothing untoward occurred,” Ramses replied. “Where is the gentleman, Gargery?”
“In the library, sir. That is where you generally receive policemen, I believe.”
Emerson led the way and the rest of us followed.
The man who awaited us was no uniformed constable but a tall, stout individual wearing evening dress. Emerson came to a sudden stop. “Good Gad!” he exclaimed. “It is worse than I thought. What have you done, Amelia, to warrant a visit from the assistant commissioner of Scotland Yard?”
It was indeed Sir Reginald Arbuthnot, with whom we were well acquainted socially as well as professionally. He hastened to reassure my agitated spouse. “It is Mrs. Emerson’s evidence that is wanted, and that of your son, Professor. The matter is of some urgency, or I would not have disturbed you at this hour.”
“Hmph,” said Emerson. “It had damned well better be urgent, Arbuthnot. Nothing less than cold-blooded murder would excuse—”
“Now, Emerson, you are being rude,” I said. “It was good of Sir Reginald to come round himself instead of summoning us to his office. You ought to have deduced from his attire that he was called away from a dinner party or evening social event, which would not have eventuated had not the situation been serious. We were about to have coffee, Sir Reginald; take a chair, if you please, and join us?”
“Thank you, Mrs. Emerson, but I am rather pressed for time. If you could tell me—”
“Nothing is to be gained by haste, Sir Reginald. I expect the thieves have already got clean away with their loot. I trust Mr. Romer was not injured?”
Taking advantage of the thunderstruck silence that followed, I pressed the bell. “But I believe,” I continued, as Gargery entered with the coffee tray, “that you would do better to take a glass of brandy, Sir Reginald. Exhale, I beg. Your face has turned quite an alarming color.”
His breath came out in a miniature explosion. “How?” he gasped. “How did you—”
“I recognized the leader of the gang this afternoon—or thought I did. I concluded I must have been mistaken, since I had no reason to believe the individual in question was in England. However, your presence here suggests that a crime has taken place, and that that crime is connected with the demonstration this afternoon, since it was Ramses and I whom you wanted to interview. It requires no great stretch of the imagination to reach the only possible conclusion.”
“Ah,” said Sir Reginald. “The only possible . . . I think, Mrs. Emerson, that I will take advantage of your kind suggestion. Brandy. Please!”
Emerson, whose eyes had been the widest of all, turned and walked with slow, deliberate strides to the sideboard. Removing the stopper from the decanter, he splashed brandy generously into a glass. Then he drank it.
“Our guest, Emerson,” I reminded him.
“What? Oh. Yes.”
Sir Reginald having been supplied, Emerson poured another brandy for himself and retreated to the sofa, where he sat down next to Nefret and stared at me. Ramses, his countenance as blank as ever I had seen it, politely carried coffee to the others. Then he sat down and stared at me.
They were all staring at me. It was very gratifying. Sir Reginald, having imbibed a sufficient quantity of brandy, cleared his throat.
“Mrs. Emerson, I came to inform you of a startling piece of news which reached me scarcely an hour ago, and you appear to know all about it. May I ask how you knew?”
“I hope you don’t suspect me of being a member of the gang,” I said, laughing.
“Oh—well—no, certainly not. Then how—”
It is better not to commit oneself before one knows all the facts. I said, “I will be happy to explain, Sir Reginald. But first you had better tell the others precisely what happened this afternoon.”
Mr. Romer’s butler was the key witness, from whom the police had heard the story. He had not opened the door; in fact, his master had ordered him to lock it. He did not know how the lock had been forced. Caught off guard, he was