The Mystery of the Flaming Footprints - M. V. Carey [49]
Mrs Dobson got up and went to The Potter. He handed his shotgun to Jupiter and put his arms round her. “I know, I know,” he said. He laughed and held her away from him, so that she could not help but see his hair, his beard, and the robe, now soiled and stained. “Yes, I am a shock to you, eh?” he said. “No one has a father like Alexander Potter.”
Mrs Dobson nodded, then shook her head, then burst into new tears.
General Kaluk said something in that strange, singsong language which Jupiter and Bob had heard at Hilltop House.
“I must ask you to speak English,” said The Potter to him. “It is so many years since I heard my mother tongue that I am no longer proficient in it.”
“Astonishing!” exclaimed the general.
“And who is that?” said The Potter, indicating the unfortunate Mr. Farrier, who still crouched in his chair, holding his injured wrist.
“A person of no importance,” said the general. “A common thief.”
“His name is Mr. Farrier, Grandfather,” said Tom Dobson. “Jupe thinks he’s the one who’s been trying to scare us out of the house.”
“Scare you? How?”
“On three separate occasions,” said Jupiter Jones, “flaming footprints have appeared in the house. You will notice three footprints near the pantry and two near the cellar door. There is a third set on the stairs.”
“Ho-ha!” said The Potter. “Flaming footprints? I see you’ve done your homework, Mr. Farrier, and learned about our family ghost. Jupiter, why is the man bleeding?”
“General Kaluk shot him,” said Jupe.
“I see. And do I understand correctly that this person has been entering the house and trying to frighten my family?”
“You’ll never prove it,” growled Farrier.
“He has your extra set of keys,” said Jupiter.
“I believe we should summon Chief Reynolds,” announced The Potter. “My dear Eloise, I had no idea. I was so concerned lest Kaluk might do you some harm, that I neglected to keep a proper watch on my own house.”
The general looked at The Potter with some awe. “Do I understand correctly, Alexis, that you have been watching me?”
“I have been watching you, and you have been watching my daughter.”
“May I ask, old friend, where you have been these three days?”
“There is a loft in the garage at Hilltop House,” said The Potter simply. “The garage doors are locked, but there is a window on the north side.”
“I see,” said the general. “I fear I am getting careless in my old age.”
“Exceedingly,” said The Potter. “And now, Jupiter, let us call Chief Reynolds and have these people removed from my house.”
“One moment, Alexis,” said the general. “There is the matter of some jewels which were removed from their rightful owners many years ago.”
“The rightful owners are the Azimovs,” countered The Potter. “It is my duty to safeguard those jewels.”
“The rightful owners are the people of Lapathia,” said the general. “The Azimovs are gone!”
“You lie!” flared The Potter. “Nicholas did not die in the palace at Madanhoff. We fled together. We were to meet in America. It was arranged. I had a way to send a message to him. I have been waiting.”
“Poor Alexis,” said the general. “You have waited a lifetime, and for nothing.
Nicholas did not even reach the railroad station. He was recognized.” The general reached into an inside pocket and produced a photograph. He handed it to The Potter.
The Potter looked at the thing for almost a minute. Then, “Murderer!” he said to the Lapathian general.
The general took back the photograph. “It was not my choice,” he told The Potter.
“His Highness was my friend, remember?”
“And so you use your friends?” asked The Potter.
“It could not be helped,” said the general. “There may be a justice in it. We cannot say. The Azimovs began in blood, they ended in blood. But Alexis, they did end. And what of you? You have spent a lifetime waiting. Waiting behind locked doors. Hiding behind a beard, and the robe of an eccentric. Living without your family. You did not see your daughter grow up, I assume?”
The Potter shook his head.
“For a crown,” said the general.