Read Online And So To Murder by John Dickson Carr - Free Book Online Page B

doctor’s consulting-room. He looked round him. The acid had almost ceased to sizzle, though the reek of it was still hot. He looked at the lump of putty, lying on the floor amid fragments of bottles it had knocked off the shelf. He passed his hand across his forehead. But all he said was:
    ‘It’s a good thing I had that putty.’
    ‘If it hadn’t been for you, I should have been –’
    ‘Steady! And, anyway, I didn’t mean that!’
    ‘S-sorry. I can’t help it.’
    ‘A jolt of brandy would do you good, young lady. Come on: let’s go and see if we can find one.’
    Monica would not be diverted. ‘But how did you know?’ she insisted. ‘I mean, how did you think to throw the putty at me? How did you know what was happening?’
    ‘Because I am responsible for this.’
    ‘Responsible?’
    Cartwright’s manner was full of a sardonic bitterness which at any other time she would have thought ridiculous. He would not meet her eye.
    ‘I invented the device,’ he answered, nodding towards the speaking-tube. ‘That neat little device, which almost caught you, was my idea. We used it in the film about the doctor.’ He paused, moving his neck. ‘In the depths of my prophetic soul, I can swear I was afraid something like this might happen. Do you remember – ten or fifteen minutes ago – when Tom Hackett shouted to Howard Fisk and me, and asked us to come over and join him? We left you with Frances?’
    ‘Yes.’
    Cartwright looked at the speaking-tube.
    ‘It was to report,’ he said, ‘that nearly a quart of sulphuric acid had been stolen from the head electrician’s stock.’
    ‘Yes?’
    ‘Well, only a pint of it had been used to put in that water-bottle on the other set. We naturally wanted to know what had happened to the rest of it. Since somebody seemed to have a fondness for sulphuric acid, it was worth looking into. Even the Jovian-browed Howard was a little disturbed. They decided they wouldn’t do any more shooting that day, and dismissed the technical staff for the afternoon.’
    ‘I remember. I saw them go.’
    ‘Then the rest of us separated, and started out on a hunt to find out what had happened to the rest of the acid. I know what I did: I came over here. When I saw a light in that window I was afflicted with a sudden feeling of the heebie-jeebies. When I saw you standing by that tube, with the side of your face against it –’
    Again Cartwright paused. Monica regarded him with real horror.
    ‘You say you invented the t-trick of pouring acid down a speaking-tube?’
    ‘I did.’
    ‘You know,’ Monica breathed, ‘you’re not safe to have about. You ought to be locked up. You’re dangerous.’
    ‘All right, all right! Peccavi and mea ruddy culpa ,’ said Cartwright. He lifted his hands, crooked the forefingers at the temples, and moved them in the air. ‘Behold the lineaments of Satan. Dirty tricks to order; murderous devices designed, delivered, and guaranteed by William Cartwright Esq. I own the error and will endeavour to starve in the future. Does that satisfy you?’
    ‘And you’ve cut your hand!’
    ‘Be good enough, madam, to let my hand alone.’
    ‘Oh, don’t be so absurd!’
    Drawing a deep breath, Cartwright took up a careful stance like a man about to play a golf-stroke, and folded his hands carefully behind his back.
    ‘And now,’ he said, ‘will you kindly tell me what you are doing here?’
    Monica told him. She was at that state of affairs where she had to burst out with it or die. Cartwright regarded her incredulously.
    ‘Tom Hackett sent you that message?’
    ‘That’s what the page-boy said. I don’t believe it either, but –’
    ‘Did he see Tom?’
    ‘I don’t know. I asked him where Mr Hackett was, and he said he didn’t know. He also said something about a bulletin-board.’
    ‘So that’s it!’
    ‘What is it? What are you talking about?’
    Cartwright stared at vacancy. ‘It’s the blackboard,’ he answered, coming out of his