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THE ’PHONE BOOTH MYSTERY
THE ’PHONE BOOTH MYSTERY
THE ’PHONE BOOTH MYSTERY BY JOHN IRONSIDE AUTHOR OF “THE RED SYMBOL,” “FORGED IN STRONG FIRES,” ETC. NEW YORK HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 1924 AUTHORIZED EDITION First Printing, August, 1924 Second Printing, October, 1924 PRINTED IN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE ’PHONE BOOTH MYSTERY...
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CHAPTER I LADY RAWSON
CHAPTER I LADY RAWSON
“I’m extremely sorry, Carling. It’s too bad to keep you to-night, but——” “That’s all right, sir. Lucky they came in to-night and not to-morrow. I shall soon be through with them.” “It’s most awfully good of you,” rejoined Sir Robert Rawson heartily. “I would deal with them myself, but we are dining with Lord Warrington, as you know.” “Yes, sir; but it’s of no consequence really. I can spare the time perfectly well.” Already Carling’s sleek head was bent over the special dispatches which had just
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CHAPTER II “MURDER MOST FOUL!”
CHAPTER II “MURDER MOST FOUL!”
“I want to telephone.” “Yes, madam. What number?” “I—— Can’t I ring up for myself?” The momentary hesitation in speech caused the busy little postmistress to glance up at her customer—a lady of medium height and slender figure, well but quietly dressed. She wore a motor hat with a dark-blue veil which fell loosely over her face, shrouding her features; but Mrs. Cave judged her to be handsome, and guessed her elderly, for she saw the gleam of white hair. A nervous old lady, probably unused to tel
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CHAPTER III THE TAXICAB
CHAPTER III THE TAXICAB
A curious hush brooded over the shop, closed by order of the inspector. Even the post office business must be suspended for the present. On the floor between the counters was a long object covered by a coloured tablecloth—the corpse of the murdered woman, with limbs decently straightened now. Beside it, on a shop chair, sat the doctor, grave and silent, awaiting the arrival of the ambulance which would convey the body to the mortuary, there to await identification. Outside the glass doors two co
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CHAPTER IV A BELATED BRIDEGROOM
CHAPTER IV A BELATED BRIDEGROOM
While the tragic commotion in the High Road was at its height a very different scene was being enacted at the fine old riverside church three-quarters of a mile away. A smart wedding is a rare event in the suburbs, and, despite the gloomy weather conditions—for a thick fog hung over the river and was now rapidly extending inland—an interested crowd assembled outside, watching the arrival of the many guests, dimly seen through the thickening murk, while along the Mall was a line of carriages and
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CHAPTER V RETURNED!
CHAPTER V RETURNED!
“You are certain no one but yourself and Mr. Carling possesses a key to the safe, Sir Robert?” “Absolutely.” “And you think it impossible that anyone may have obtained either of the keys and had a duplicate made.” “No copy has been made,” Sir Robert answered. “The pattern is unique, it could not be reproduced except by the makers, and I telephoned to them this morning. In any case they would not have made another key except from my personal instructions.” “H’m.” Snell, the detective, who had bee
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CHAPTER VI “NO. 5339”
CHAPTER VI “NO. 5339”
“Thank goodness for some peace and quietness at last! What a day it has been, with everything going wrong from beginning to end; and then this awful affair about poor Lady Rawson coming on the top of all the other happenings. I shall hate the very thought of a wedding in future!” Winnie Winston shivered and spread her hands to the cheerful blaze in the cosy drawing-room of the flat in Chelsea which she shared with her brother George, who sprawled luxuriously in the easy chair opposite her, while
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CHAPTER VII THE CIGARETTE CASE
CHAPTER VII THE CIGARETTE CASE
From Chelsea, Austin Starr went direct to Rivercourt Mansions, a quadrangular block of flats, standing back from the high road and fronting a square of grass and trees. He dismissed his cab at the entrance to the square, which he noted was nearly opposite to the post office where Lady Rawson had been done to death a few hours before. He stood for a minute, regardless of the drizzling rain, staring across the thoroughfare, almost deserted on this dreary night. He imagined the illfated woman cross
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CHAPTER VIII AT CACCIOLA’S
CHAPTER VIII AT CACCIOLA’S
Snell greeted Austin with a smile and a significant cock of his left eyebrow. “You haven’t lost any time, Mr. Starr. But there’s nothing fresh here. Sadler’s just the same, and the doctor says it will be impossible for him to attend the inquest to-morrow, so we shall ask for a week’s adjournment. And he won’t be allowed to be ‘interviewed’ by anyone,” he added pointedly. “I guessed that, of course. I only meant to inquire how he was. I take it he’s practically under arrest?” “Not at all. Under s
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CHAPTER IX BRIDE AND BRIDEGROOM
CHAPTER IX BRIDE AND BRIDEGROOM
Even a short railway journey often has the effect of creating an interval that means far longer than the actual lapse of time—a honeymoon journey perhaps most of all, marking, as it does, the turning point, the beginning of a new epoch in two young lives. Therefore, by the time Roger and his bride arrived at Dover he had not only recovered his equanimity, but the extraordinary events of the morning, and even the grim and startling news he had learned at the moment of departure had receded far aw
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CHAPTER X GRACE LEARNS THE NEWS
CHAPTER X GRACE LEARNS THE NEWS
“To think that it should have been on our wedding day—almost at the very moment! Oh, the poor, poor soul! Who can have done the awful thing?” Grace Carling’s sweet face was pale and tear-stained. At last she had learned the grim news that Roger had successfully suppressed until now, just after breakfast in their sitting-room at the hotel. It would have been impossible to keep the secret from her longer; all the morning papers were full of the murder, though the mystery appeared deeper than ever.
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CHAPTER XI HALCYON DAYS
CHAPTER XI HALCYON DAYS
It was the prettiest white cottage imaginable, approached from the road by a flight of irregular steps and a steep little garden, now gay with chrysanthemums. “It’s like one of those toy ‘weather houses,’” said Roger as they mounted the steps. “Does a little lady come out on fine days and a little man on wet ones?” “I don’t know anything about a little man, but you’ll see the little lady directly—at least, I hope so. She’s just like the cottage; you couldn’t imagine anyone else owning it! Oh! di
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CHAPTER XII ALONE
CHAPTER XII ALONE
“Roger has been arrested for the murder of Lady Rawson.” The words repeated themselves over and over in Grace Carling’s brain with maddening persistence, as she sat perfectly still and silent, her hands grasping the arms of the chair, her lips firmly set, her eyes gazing straight in front of her. But for those wide, tragic eyes she might have been a stone figure. She could never afterwards clearly remember what happened in that brief half-hour—possibly less—before Roger was taken away, and she w
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CHAPTER XIII AUSTIN’S THEORY
CHAPTER XIII AUSTIN’S THEORY
“If I hadn’t turned up just at that very moment, I believe Grace would have died on the doorstep. I hope there’s not another woman in the world would have behaved so abominably as Mrs. Armitage; but it is just like her. I never could imagine how she came to have such a daughter as Grace! But of course she takes after her father—the professor’s a dear. But what a life the pair of them have had with that horrid little creature!” Winnie Winston spoke in an emphatic undertone, for the walls of the C
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CHAPTER XIV THE GIRL AT THE GRAVE
CHAPTER XIV THE GIRL AT THE GRAVE
The beautiful little Russian church was filled to the very doors for the solemn and stately ceremonial of Paula Rawson’s funeral service. Many representatives of royalty were there, Lord Warrington and several of his staff, cabinet ministers, ambassadors, peers—everyone who was “anyone” in the innermost circle of London society seemed to be present, except Sir Robert Rawson himself. And yet to Austin Starr’s acutely sympathetic and impressionable mind it seemed that there were no mourners there;
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CHAPTER XV AUSTIN’S SILENCE
CHAPTER XV AUSTIN’S SILENCE
“I can’t understand it, Winnie. It seems almost as if every one—like mother—had already made up their minds that—that Roger——” Grace broke off. She could not bring herself to utter the words “that Roger is guilty.” But Winnie understood. “Nonsense, dear. There are you and I and George and your father and Austin on his side to begin with, and Mr. Spedding of course——” “I don’t know about Mr. Spedding,” said Grace slowly, her hands clasped round her knees, her troubled eyes fixed on the fire. “I w
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CHAPTER XVI MADDELENA
CHAPTER XVI MADDELENA
“Giulia, thou art a foolish old cow! I tell thee no harm will come to thee. It is but to make oath and tell the truth; that the young signor came here inquiring for Donna Paula, and went away, and that Withers brought thee later the little silver case, and thou gave it to the police. What is there in all that?” In the beautifully appointed kitchen where usually Giulia reigned supreme Maddelena, attired in a morning wrapper of brilliant hues, was dividing her attention between preparing the break
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CHAPTER XVII THE PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEM
CHAPTER XVII THE PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEM
It was fairly late that evening when Austin Starr arrived at Cacciola’s, having had a hasty meal at a restaurant when he was through with his day’s work. He had been obliged to decline the maestro’s hospitable invitation to dinner, and had been assured by the old man that it did not matter how late he turned up: “I am not what the English call an early bird!” Cacciola himself, arrayed in dressing-gown and slippers and carrying a big curved meerschaum pipe in his hand, admitted and welcomed him c
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CHAPTER XVIII HARMONY—AND DISCORD
CHAPTER XVIII HARMONY—AND DISCORD
“Is that all, Mr. Starr?” “It’s something to go on, isn’t it?” Austin countered. He had decided to take counsel with Snell upon that problem he was endeavouring to solve, and the detective had listened in silence to his account of the interview with Cacciola and Maddelena, and the curious incident that had terminated it. “Well, if you want my opinion,” said Snell dryly, “it is that you’ve discovered—or created—quite a nice little mare’s nest.” “Now see here, Snell, you’re simply prejudiced!” “No
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CHAPTER XIX DARK HOURS
CHAPTER XIX DARK HOURS
There are very few, if any, prisoners, be they innocent or guilty, who, accused of murder, or of any other crime considered too serious to admit of release on bail, do not endure agonies of mind during that terrible interval between their committal and trial. Possibly the innocent suffer the most; for to all the restraints and humiliations of prison life—less severe, indeed, than those imposed on convicted criminals, but still irksome and wearing to a degree—are added a bitter sense of injustice
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CHAPTER XX AN OLD ROMANCE
CHAPTER XX AN OLD ROMANCE
“Oh, my dear Mrs. Carling, don’t be vexed with me!” cried Miss Culpepper, rising and fluttering towards Grace. “I’ve been fretting so about you being here all alone, and now I’ve had the good fortune to let the cottage for three months, and all the money paid in advance, I felt I must come straight up, without asking your permission. And—and I’ve brought Dear Brutus too. He’s been so good through the journey.” “You darling!” cried Grace, and just hugged her, kitten and all. “Come in. How cold an
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CHAPTER XXI THE CHINESE ROOM
CHAPTER XXI THE CHINESE ROOM
When he reached the street Thomson discovered that he had left his right-hand glove in Mrs. Carling’s flat. Not worth returning for it, he decided, thrusting his hand into his overcoat pocket. He would go round as he had suggested some evening and renew his acquaintance with Maria Culpepper—little Maria, whose very existence he had forgotten for so many years. The glove would provide an excuse. Strange, indeed, to meet her again in their old age, like a ghost of the past. As he walked slowly alo
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CHAPTER XXII A PEACEMAKER
CHAPTER XXII A PEACEMAKER
On Christmas morning Grace Carling knelt before the altar in Westminster Abbey, where, as usual at this early service, there were but a few worshippers. Through the vast, dim spaces above, beyond the radiance of the lighted chancel, the soft coo of the pigeons outside was distinctly audible above the low tones of the ministrant priest. Of other sounds there were none; the very spirit of peace seemed to brood over the glorious old place, the spiritual heart of England to-day as through so many lo
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CHAPTER XXIII WHAT GIULIA SAW
CHAPTER XXIII WHAT GIULIA SAW
Mr. Iverson’s Christmas party for his poorest, and some of his “blackest,” sheep was in full swing when Grace arrived there that evening. Outside the Parish Hall a taxicab was standing, unattended, and she wondered for whom it might be waiting. She entered and stood for a time, unobserved, among the throng inside the door, for the place was crowded. On the tiny stage was Maddelena Cacciola, a bewitching figure in a gay contadina costume, singing a merry, rollicking song to her own guitar accompa
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CHAPTER XXIV THE SHADOW OF DOOM
CHAPTER XXIV THE SHADOW OF DOOM
The trial of Roger Carling for the murder of Lady Rawson was drawing to an end. No case heard in the Central Criminal Court had ever created greater public interest, by reason of the sensational and unique circumstances of the crime, and the social status of the victim and of several of the persons involved. Also, many of the callous and curious spectators, most of them fashionably dressed women, who waited for hours in the bitter cold of those grey winter mornings to gain admission to the court
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CHAPTER XXV THE LAST HOPE
CHAPTER XXV THE LAST HOPE
In the room that had once been Paula Rawson’s boudoir Sir Robert Rawson lay on his wheeled couch, drawn up near a blazing fire. Of late he had extended his daily visits to this room of poignant memories, spending many hours there, with Thomson or Perkins in attendance on him—usually Perkins, for since the evening of Boris Melikoff’s visit, when Sir Robert had detected and rebuked that “error of judgment” in his trusted old servant, he had not resumed the confidential relations that had existed b
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CHAPTER XXVI THE NINTH HOUR
CHAPTER XXVI THE NINTH HOUR
Silently, and with his accustomed efficiency, Thomson moved about the boudoir rearranging some of the furniture. In the centre he placed the largest of the beautiful ormolu tables, set round it several of the gilt Louis-Seize chairs, leaving a clear space at the side that faced Lady Rawson’s portrait; and finally put pens, ink, and paper before each chair. That done he made up the fire, looked round the room as if to assure himself that all was in order, and departed, going first to his own room
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CHAPTER XXVII INTO THE LIGHT
CHAPTER XXVII INTO THE LIGHT
At Argeles in the Pyrenées—where already the sheltered valleys were glorious with spring blossoms, where the snow mountains shone dazzling under the strong sunshine against the deep blue of the sky, and the air was exhilarating as champagne—Roger and Grace Carling finished and prolonged the honeymoon that had been so tragically interrupted. They left England as soon as possible after Roger’s release, which created even more sensation than his trial and condemnation had done, and here in this idy
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