Read Online QED by Ellery Queen - Free Book Online Page B

Mumford?”
    He faced them with such fierceness that they all shrank back.
    â€œI’ve known since yesterday morning who the murderer is,” Ellery said. “There wasn’t a chance, by the way, that he’d take off—not so long as the pendant was missing. It was the finding of the pendant that was holding me up, too.
    â€œI want you all to look at this letter from the murderer to Ellen. Examine it carefully.”
    He took it from his pocket and handed it to Chief Newby, who looked it over, scowled, and passed it on.
    12/1/65
    Mum’s the word. If you tell what you know I’ll kill you, too .
    When it came back to him from Thorp, the last to read it, Ellery could detect nothing but blankness on any face.
    â€œYou don’t see it?”
    â€œCome on, Ellery,” Newby rasped. “So I’m as blind as the rest and you’ve got the eyes of a chicken hawk. What’s the point?”
    â€œThe point is the date.”
    â€œThe date?”
    â€œThe date at the top. 12/1/65 .”
    â€œWhy, that’s wrong,” said Jo suddenly. “It’s January, not December.”
    â€œCorrect. The letter was left on the salver the morning of January twelfth— 1/12/65 . The writer reversed the numerals for the month and day. Why? In the United States we write the month numeral first, always, then the day numeral. It’s in England that they do it the opposite way .
    â€œWho in this household has been living in England for years? Who uses the Anglicism ‘trunk call’ for ‘long distance’? Who says ‘lift’ for ‘elevator,’ ‘Chief Constable’ for ‘Chief of Police,’ ‘chemist’ instead of ‘druggist’ or ‘pharmacist’?
    â€œEllen, of course. Ellen, who wrote this ‘threatening’ letter to herself.”
    Ellen was glaring at Ellery as if he had turned into a monster from outer space. “No! I didn’t!”
    But Ellery ignored her. “And why should Ellen have written a threatening letter to herself? Well, what was the effect the letter produced? It made her look as though she were next in line to be murdered—by implication, therefore, innocent of killing of Godfrey.
    â€œThis was doubly indicated by the clumsy poisoning attempt on herself—an evident phony. She never meant to drink more than a few sips. The whole hot chocolate episode was designed to make that ‘threat’ look good.”
    Now his eyes found Ellen’s and locked.
    â€œWhy should you want to make yourself look innocent, Ellen? The innocent don’t have to make themselves look innocent. Only the guilty—”
    â€œAre you accusing me ?” Ellen shrieked. “Of stabbing my own father to death?” She looked about wildly. “Chris, Jo—you can’t believe— Mum !”
    But Ellery drove ahead without mercy. “The clue points directly to you, Ellen, and only to you. Of course, if you’ve anything to say that puts a different complexion on all this, I advise you to say it now.”
    Ellery kept her gaze pinned down like a butterfly specimen. She began to tremble. And as she did so, he suddenly said in the kindest of voices, “Don’t be afraid any more, Ellen. You see, I know what you know. All I want you to do is to speak out, to tell us what you know.”
    And she did, her story rushing out. “I was up the night father was murdered—couldn’t sleep for some reason. It was long past midnight. While I was in the upstairs hall, on my way down to the kitchen for a snack … I happened to see somebody sneak out of father’s room. I was sure he saw me. I was afraid to tell …”
    â€œAnd who was it you saw, Ellen?”
    â€œIt was … it was …” And her arm shot out—“… it was Wolcott Thorp!”
    Ellery went early to his room, packed his suitcases, and slipped like the Arab silently away,