The Philo Vance Megapack

by S. S. Van Dine

  Vance thanked her with a slight bow.

  “I can understand just how you felt, and how you feel now,” he said in a kindly tone. “But I hardly think that either of these two objectionable visitors are in any way connected with your husband’s disappearance. If they had really contemplated anything, I seriously doubt that they would have come here to their proposed victim’s home and run the risk of being identified later. The second man—whom you describe as short, dark, and dapper—was probably a gambling-house keeper who had an account against your husband for overenthusiastic wagering. I can easily understand how he might be acquainted with the book-making gentleman who makes his livelihood through the cupidity of persons who persist in the belief that past-performance figures are an indication of how any horse will run at a given time.”

  As Vance spoke he rose from his chair and turned to Fleel, who had been listening intently to Vance’s brief interchange with Mrs. Kenting.

  “Before we go, sir,” Vance said, “we wish to speak with you for a moment in the den. There are one or two points with which I feel you may be able to help us.… Do you mind?”

  The lawyer rose with alacrity.

  “I’ll be very glad to do whatever I can to be of assistance,” he said. “But I’m of the opinion I can tell you nothing more than you already know.”

  CHAPTER VII

  THE BLACK OPALS

  (Wednesday, July 20; 1:15 P.M.)

  In the den Fleel seated himself with an easy, confident air and waited for Vance or Markham to speak. His manner was businesslike and competent, despite a certain lack of energy. I had a feeling he could, if he wished, supply us with more accurate and reasoned information than any of the members of the family. But Vance did not question him to any great extent. He seemed uninterested in any phase of the case on which the lawyer might have had information or suggestions to offer.

  “Mr. Kenting tells us,” Vance began, “that his brother demanded a large sum of money recently, to meet his debts, and that, when the demand was refused, Kaspar went to you as one of the executors of the estate.”

  “That is quite correct,” Fleel responded, taking the cigar from his mouth and smoothing the wrapper with a moistened forefinger. “I, too, refused the demand; for, to begin with, I did not entirely believe the story Mr. Kaspar Kenting told me. He has cried ‘wolf’ so often that I have become skeptical, and did nothing about it. Moreover, Mr. Kenyon Kenting and I had consented to give him a large sum of money—ten thousand dollars, to be exact—only a few weeks ago. There were similar difficulties in which he said he had become involved at the time. We did it then, of course, for his wife’s sake more than for his own—as, indeed, we had often done it before; but, unfortunately, no benefit ever accrued to her from these advances on her husband’s patrimony.”

  “Did Mr. Kaspar see you personally?” asked Vance.

  “No, he did not. He called me on the telephone,” Fleel replied. “Frankly, I didn’t ask him for any details other than those he volunteered, and I was rather brusque with him.… I might say that Kaspar has been a trying problem to the executors of the estate.”

  “Despite which,” continued Vance, “I imagine his brother, as well as you yourself, will do everything possible to get him back, even to meeting the terms of the ransom note. Am I right?”

  “I see nothing else to be done,” the lawyer said without enthusiasm. “Unless, of course, the situation can be satisfactorily adjusted without payment of the ransom money. Of course we don’t know for certain whether or not this is a bona fide kidnapping. Kidnapping is a damnable crime.…”

  “Quite,” agreed Vance with a sigh. “It places every one in a most irksome predicament. But, of course, there is nothing to be done until we have some further word from the supposed abductors.…”

  Vance looked up and added quickly:

  “By the by, Mrs. Kenting has informed us that Kaspar spoke to some one on the telephone when he came home in the early hours of this morning, and that he became angry. I wonder if it could have been you he called again?”

  “Yes, damn it!” the lawyer returned with stern bitterness. “It was I. He woke me up some time after three, and became very vituperative when I refused to alter my previous decision. In fact, he said that both Kenyon and I would regret our penuriousness in refusing to help him, as he was certain it would result in some mischief, but did not say just what guise it might take. As a matter of fact, he sounded very much upset, and flew off the handle. But, I frankly admit, I didn’t take him too seriously, for I had been through the same sort of thing with him before.… It seems now,” the lawyer added a little uncomfortably, “that he was telling the truth for once—that it wasn’t just an idle conjecture; and I am wondering if Kenyon and I shouldn’t have investigated the situation before taking a definite stand.”

  “No, no; I think not,” murmured Vance. “I doubt that it would have done any good. I have an idea the situation was not a new development—although there are, to be sure, few enough facts in hand at present on which to base an opinion. I don’t like the outlook at all. It has too many conflictin’ elements.… By the by, Mr. Fleel,”—Vance looked frankly at the man—“just how large a sum did Kaspar Kenting ask you for?”

  “Too large an amount even to have been considered,” returned the lawyer. “He asked for thirty thousand dollars.”

  “Thirty thousand,” Vance repeated. “That’s very interestin’.” He rose lazily to his feet and straightened his clothes. “That will be all, I think, for the moment, Mr. Fleel,” he said. “And many thanks for the trouble you’ve taken. There’s little left to be done at the moment, aside from the usual routine. We will, of course, guard the matter as best we can. And we will get in touch with you if there is any new development.”

  Fleel stood up and bowed stiffly.

  “You can always reach me through my office during the day, or through my home in the evening.” He took an engraved card from his pocket and handed it to Vance. “There are my phone numbers, sir.… I think I shall remain a while with Mrs. Kenting and Kenyon.” And he went from the den.

  Markham, looking serious and puzzled, held Vance back.

  “What do you make of that discrepancy in the amount, Vance?” he asked in a gruff, lowered tone.

  “My dear Markham!” Vance shook his head solemnly. “There are many things we cannot make anything of at the present moment. One never knows—does one?—at this stage of the game. Perhaps young Kaspar, having failed with his brother, reduced the ante, as it were, in approaching Fleel, thinking he might get better results at the lower figure. Curious though; the amount demanded in the ransom note corresponds to what he told Kenyon he needed. On the other hand—I wonder.… However, let’s commune with the butler before we toddle on.”

  Vance went to the door and opened it. Just outside stood Weem, bending slightly forward, as if he had been eavesdropping. Instead of showing any signs of embarrassment, the man looked up truculently and turned away.

  “See here, Weem,” Vance halted him. “Step inside a moment,” he said with an amused smile. “You can hear better; and, anyway, there are one or two questions we’d like to put to you.”

  The man turned back without a word and entered the den with an air of sulkiness. He looked past us all with his watery eyes and waited.

  “Weem, how long have you been the Kenting butler?” asked Vance.

  “Going on three years,” was the surly response.

  “Three years,” repeated Vance thoughtfully. “Good.… Have you any ideas, Weem, as to what happened here last night?” Vance reached in his pocket for his cigarette case.

  “No, sir; none whatever,” the butler returned, without looking at any of us. “But nothing would surprise me in this house. There are too many people who’d like to get rid of Mr. Kaspar.”

  “Are you, by any chance, one of them?” asked Vance lightly, watching the other with faint amusement.

  “I’d just as soon never see him again.” The answer came
readily, in a disgruntled, morose tone.

  “And who else do you think feels the same way about Mr. Kaspar Kenting?” Vance went on.

  “Mrs. Falloway and young Mr. Falloway have no love for him, sir.” There was no change in the man’s tone. “And even Mrs. Kenting herself has had more than enough of him, I think. She and Mr. Kenyon are very good friends—and there was never any great love between the two brothers.… Mr. Kaspar is a very difficult man to get along with—he is very unreasonable. Other people have some rights, sir; but he doesn’t think so. He’s the kind of man that strikes his wife when he has too much to drink—”

  “I think that will be all,” Vance broke in sharply. “You’re an unspeakable gossip, Weem.” He turned away with a look of keen distaste, and the butler shuffled from the room without any sign of displeasure or offense.

  “Come, Markham,” said Vance. “Let’s get out into the air. I don’t like it in this house—I don’t at all like it.”

  “But it strikes me—” began Markham.

  “Oh, don’t let your conscience bother you,” interrupted Vance. “The only course we can possibly take is to wait for the next step on the part of our dire plotters.” Although Vance spoke in a bantering tone, it was obvious from the deliberate way he lighted a cigarette that he was deeply troubled. “Something will happen soon, Markham. The next move will be expertly engineered, I’ll wager. The case is by no means ended with this concocted kidnappin’. Too many loose ends—oh, far too many.” He moved across the room. “Patience, my dear chap.” He threw the admonition lightly over his shoulder to Markham. “We’re supposed to be bustlin’ with various anticipated activities. Some one is hopin’ we’ll take just the route indicated for us and thus be led entirely off the track. But, I say, let’s not be gullible. Patience is our watchword. Patience and placidity. Nonchalance. Let the other johnnies make the next move. Live patiently and learn. Imitate the mountain—Mohammed is trudgin’ your way.”

  Markham stood still in the centre of the room, looking down at the worn early-American art square. He seemed to be pondering something that bothered him.

  “See here, Vance,” he said after a brief silence, lifting his head and looking squarely at the other. “You speak of ‘plotters’ and ‘johnnies’—both plural. You really think, then, that this damnable situation is the doing of more than one person?”

  “Oh, yes—undoubtedly,” Vance returned readily. “Far too many diverse activities for just one. A certain co-ordination was needed—and one person cannot be in two different places at the same time, don’t y’ know. Oh, undoubtedly more than one person. One lured the gentleman away from the house; another—possibly two—took care of the chappie at the place appointed by the first; and I rather think it more than likely there was at least another who arranged the elaborate setting in Kaspar’s room—but this is not necess’rily correct, as any one of the three might have returned for the stage setting and been the person that Mrs. Kenting heard in the bedroom.”

  “I see what you mean.” Markham nodded laboriously. “You’re thinking of the two men whom McLaughlin saw in the car in the street here this morning.”

  “Oh, yes. Quite.” Vance’s response was spoken casually. “They fit into the picture nicely. But neither of them was a small man, and I doubt if either of them was the ladder-climber in the smallish Chinese sandals. Considerable evidence against that conclusion. That is why I say I’m inclined to think that there may have been still another helper who attended to the details of the boudoir setting—makin’ four in all.”

  “But, good heavens!” argued Markham; “if there were several persons involved in the affair, it may be just another gang kidnapping, after all.”

  “It’s always possible, of course, despite the contr’ry indications,” Vance returned. “However, Markham, although I have said that there were undoubtedly several persons taking part in the execution of the plot, I am thoroughly convinced there is only a single mind at work on the case—the main organizing culprit, so to speak—some one who merely secured the necess’ry help—what the newspapers amusingly designate as a master-mind. And the person who planned and manipulated this whole distressin’ affair is some one who is quite intimately au courant with the conditions in the Kenting house here. The various episodes have dovetailed together far too neatly to have been managed by an outsider. And really, y’ know, I hardly think that the Purple House harbors, or is in any way related to, a professional kidnapper.”

  Markham shook his head skeptically.

  “Granting,” he said, “for the sake of hypothesis, that you are correct so far, what could have been the motive for such a dastardly act by any one who was close to Kaspar?”

  “Money—unquestionably money,” Vance ventured. “The exact amount named in the pretty little kindergarten paste-and-paper note attached to the window-sill.… Oh, yes; that was a very significant item. Some one wishes the money immediately. It is urgently needed. I rather think a genuine kidnapper—and especially a gang of kidnappers operating for themselves—would not have been so hasty in stating the exact sum, but would have let that little detail wait until a satisfact’ry contact was established and negotiations were definitely under way. And of course, if it had really been Kaspar who had abducted himself for the sake of the gain, the note could be easily understood; but once we eliminate Kaspar as the author of this crime, then we are confronted with the necessity of evolving an entirely new interpretation of the facts. The crime then becomes one of desperation and immediacy, with the money as an imperative desideratum.”

  “I am not so sure you are right this time, Vance,” said Markham seriously.

  Vance sighed.

  “Neither am I, Markham old dear.” He went to the door and opened it. “Let’s move along.” And he walked up the hall.

  Vance stopped at the drawing-room door, bade the occupants a brief farewell; and a minute later we were descending the outside steps of the house into the noonday sunshine of the street.

  We entered the District Attorney’s car and drove toward Central Park. When we had almost reached the corner of Central Park West, Vance leaned forward suddenly and, tapping the chauffeur on the shoulder, requested him to stop at the entrance to the Nottingham Hotel which we were just passing.

  “Really, y’ know, Markham,” he said as he stepped out of the car, “I think it might be just as well if we paid a little visit to the as-yet-unknown Mr. Quaggy. Queer name—what? He was the last person known to have been with young Kaspar. He’s a gentleman of means and a gentleman of leisure, as well as a gentleman of nocturnal habits. He may be at home, don’t y’ know.… But I think we’d better go directly to his apartment without apprising him of the visit by being announced.” He turned to Heath. “I am sure you can manage that, Sergeant,—unless you forgot to bring your pretty gilt badge with you this morning.”

  Heath snorted.

  “Sure, we’ll go right to his rooms, if that’s what you want, Mr. Vance. Don’t you worry about that. This ain’t the first time I’ve had to handle these babies in a hotel.”

  Heath was as good as his word. We had no difficulty in obtaining the number of Quaggy’s apartment and being taken up in the elevator without an announcement.

  In answer to our ringing, the door was opened by a generously proportioned colored woman, in a Hoover apron and an old stocking tied round her head.

  “We want to see Mr. Quaggy.” Heath’s manner was as intimidating as it was curt.

  The negress looked frightened.

  “I don’t think Mr. Quaggy—” she began in a tremulous voice.

  “Never mind what you think, Aunt Jemima.” Heath cut her short. “Is your boss here, or isn’t he?” He flashed his badge. “We’re from the police.”

  “Yes, sir; yes, sir. He’s here.” The woman was completely cowed by this time. “He’s in the sittin’-room, over yonder.”

  The Sergeant brushed past her to the archway at the end of the foyer, toward which she waved her arm. Markham,
Vance and I followed him.

  The room into which we stepped was comfortably and expensively furnished, differing little from the conventional exclusive hotel-apartment living-room. There was a mahogany cellarette near a built-in modern fireplace, comfortable overstuffed chairs covered with brocaded satin that was almost colorless, a baby grand piano in one corner, two parchment-shaded table-lamps with green pottery bases, and a small glass-doored Tudor bookcase filled with colorful assorted volumes. At the front end of the room were two windows facing on the street, hung with heavy velour drapes and topped with scrolled-metal cornices.

  As we entered, a haggard, dissipated-looking man of about forty rose from a low lounging chair in one corner of the room. He seemed both surprised and resentful at our intrusion. He was an attractive man, with finely chiseled features, but not a man whom one could call handsome. He was unmistakably the gambler type—that is, the type one sees habitually at gaming houses and the race-track. There was weariness and pallor in his face that morning, and his eyelids were œdematous and drawn down at the corners, like those of a man suffering with Bright’s disease. He was still in evening clothes, and his linen was the worse for wear. He wore patent leather pumps which showed distinct traces of dried mud. Before he could speak Vance addressed him courteously.

  “Forgive our unceremonious entry. You’re Mr. Porter Quaggy, I believe?” The man’s eyes became cold.

  “What if I am?” he demanded. “I don’t understand why you—”

  “You will in a moment, sir,” Vance broke in ingratiatingly. And he introduced himself, as well as Markham and Heath and me. “We have just come from the Kentings’ down the street,” he went on. “A calamity took place there early this morning, and we understand from Mrs. Kaspar Kenting that Mr. Kenting was with you last night.”

  Quaggy’s eyes narrowed to mere slits. “Has anything happened to Kaspar?” he asked. He turned to the cellarette and poured himself a generous drink of whiskey. He gulped it down and repeated his question.