Read Online The Madman Theory by Ellery Queen - Free Book Online Page A

layout, fascinated. As a small boy he had owned an oval track, a transformer, an engine and four cars; he had built cardboard tunnels and mountains out of pillows.
    â€œYoshiro—he’s our gardener—loves the layout as much as Earl did,” said Mrs. Genneman. “I don’t know what will become of it now. Maybe Yoshiro will want to keep it up. He’s spent years on the rock-work and those little trees.”
    Of course! thought Collins. The landscaping was Japanese. He looked the layout over with new comprehension. The mountain was Fujiyama, the waterways arms of the sea. There were three villages and a roundhouse on the layout, all of Japanese architecture. Opal Genneman called Collins’ attention to a track on a trestle that led to the wall and disappeared in an aperture. “That leads to the bar. Earl would bring friends out here, send a train into the bar, and it would come back with a load of drinks. Earl was just an overgrown boy.” She nodded slowly. “One would never have known it, meeting him casually. He seemed so hard-driving, practical. Yet when you got to know him, he was the soul of modesty and generosity.”
    They returned to the living room. She asked diffidently, “Perhaps you’d like a cup of tea? Or a cocktail? I think I’ll have one. What about you, Inspector?”
    â€œThank you, yes,” said Collins. “Just between us, it’s strictly against regulations.”
    â€œI won’t snitch. What would you like?”
    â€œScotch and soda.”
    Mrs. Genneman touched a button; the houseboy appeared and received instructions.
    â€œThere’s a question I have to ask,” said Collins. “It’s a prying sort of question, and I’ll apologise in advance—”
    â€œDid Earl have any girlfriends?” Mrs. Genneman shook her head. “I suppose it’s not impossible that he overstepped the bounds once or twice. If he did, and I rather doubt it, it was meaningless. He was really the most affectionate of husbands.”
    â€œThe children got on well with him?”
    â€œThey’re hardly children any more. Little Earl—Earl Junior—is a senior at high school; Jean is just about to graduate from Stanford. She wasn’t Earl’s daughter, you know, but she might just as well have been. They were extremely fond of each other. Little Earl—well, he has a great deal of Earl’s stubbornness and I’m sorry to say there’s been friction. The usual things: automobiles, spending money, late hours. The two weren’t really the pals they might have been. It’s too bad, because of course they were basically fond of each other.”
    â€œWhere are your son and daughter now?”
    â€œIt seems heartless,” said Mrs. Genneman, “but Jean is taking a final examination. I assure you it’s not from lack of feeling. Final examinations are elemental forces, and everything else has to give way.”
    â€œMore power to her,” said Collins, “if she’s able to concentrate.”
    â€œI think it’s her way of taking her mind off things. Little Earl is somewhere around. Do you want to talk to him?”
    â€œLater, perhaps. I’m mainly interested in learning who could profit from your husband’s death.”
    â€œI can’t think of anyone. I inherit the estate, of course. But I had everything I wanted, and my husband, too …”
    She looked away. Collins said, “There’s been a suggestion that certain ex-employees might have held a grudge against him.”
    â€œYou’re thinking of poor Langwill, in the penitentiary. I don’t see how even he could hate Earl. It wasn’t Earl’s fault that he stole codeine and barbiturates and amphetamines.”
    â€œWhat of your brother? How does he fit into the scheme of things?”
    â€œRedwall?” Opal was clearly surprised at the question. “You mean into the