Part 20 (1/2)

”Madam,” Touffet said and his voice was deadly quiet. ”I did not come to Marwaite Manor to play at games. I came in response to your request to solve a mystery. I wish to know what it is.”

Either Lady Charlotte was tired of thinking up things, or she sensed the deadliness in Touffet's voice.

”You're quite right,” she said. ”It is time. What Inspector Touffet said is true. I asked him here to solve a mystery, a mystery so baffling only the greatest detective in the world could solve it.”

She stood up, as if to make a speech. ”The research my Inst.i.tute has done has proved that primates are capable of higher-thinking skills and complex planning, that they can think and understand and speak and even write.”

”Madam,” Touffet said, half-rising.

She waved him back to sitting. ”The mystery that I wish Inspector Touffet to solve is this: Since it has been proved that primates have thoughts and ideas equivalent to those of humans, that they are by every standard human, why are they not treated as human? Why do they not have legal standing in the courts? Why are they not allowed to vote and own property? Why have they not been given their civil rights? Inspector Touffet, only you can solve this mystery. Only you can give us the answer! Why are apes not given equal standing with humans?”

”You've been taken in, Touffet,” I said, I must admit with some pleasure. ”Lady Charlotte only invited you here as a publicity stunt. She wanted you to be a pitchman for her Inst.i.tute.” I laughed. ”This time it's you who's the cat's paw. She's using you to get chimpanzees the vote.”

”A cat's paw,” he said, offended. ”I do not allow myself to be used as a cat's paw.” He pulled his bag off the top of the bureau. ”What time is the next train to your sister's?”

”You're leaving?” I said.

”We are leaving,” he said. ”Telephone your sister and tell her we will arrive tonight. Inspector Touffet does not allow himself to be used by anyone.”

Well, at any rate my sister would be happy, I thought, going downstairs to telephone her. I pulled the train schedule out of my pocket. If we were able to catch the 9:30 train, we could be there before midnight.

I wondered whether Lady Charlotte would arrange for us to be driven to the station, and whether the driver would be D'Artagnan. I decided under the circ.u.mstances I'd better phone for a taxi as well. D'Artagnan was devoted to her. He might not like the idea of our leaving.

I started to open the door of the study and then stopped at the sound of a woman's voice. ”No, it's going fine,” she said. ”You should have seen me. I was great. I even ate roast beef.” There was a pause. ”Tomorrow, while they're touring the compound. Listen, I've gotta go.”

I backed hastily away, not wis.h.i.+ng to be caught eavesdropping, and into the solarium. For a moment I thought there were two people standing by the window, and then I realized it was Heidi and D'Artagnan. Heidi was signing animatedly to the gorilla, and he was nodding.

They stopped as soon as they saw me, and D'Artagnan started toward me. ”Help you, sir?”

”I'm looking for a telephone,” I said, and he led me out into the corridor and over to the study.

I phoned my sister. ”Oh, good,” she said. ”I'll meet you at the station. Have you had dinner?”

”Only a bite.”

”I'll bring you a sandwich.”When I got back upstairs, Touffet was already waiting by the lift with our bags. ”Have you telephoned for a taxi?” he asked, pus.h.i.+ng the lift b.u.t.ton.

”Yes,” I'd started to say, when the air was split by a shrill, terrified scream from somewhere above us.

”Good Lord, Touffet!” I said. ”It sounds like someone's being murdered.”

”No doubt Lady Charlotte has discovered I am leaving,” he said dryly, and pushed the b.u.t.ton again.

Rutgers came tumbling out of his room, and Leda's blonde head appeared. ”What was that? It sounded like an animal being tortured.”

”I think we should take the stairs,” I said, but before I could turn, the lift opened, and Nurse Parchtry fell into my arms.

”It's Lord Alastair!” she sobbed. ”He's dead!”

”Dead?” Touffet said.

”Yes!” she said. ”You must come!” She stepped back into the lift. ”I think he's been murdered!”

We followed her into the lift. ”Murdered?” Mick Rutgers said from down the hall, but the door was already shutting.

”See if Sergeant Eustis has gone,” Touffet called through the closing door. ”Now,” he said to Nurse Parchtry as the lift started. ”Tell me exactly what happened. Everything. After the games did you return to the nursery?”

”Yes. No, I went to my room to finish wrapping my Christmas presents,” she said guiltily. ”I had the baby monitor with me.”

”And you heard nothing?” Touffet asked.

”No. I thought he was sleeping. He wasn't making any noise at all.” She started to sob again. ”I didn't know the monitor was broken.”

The lift doors parted, and we stepped out. The door to the anteroom stood ajar. ”Was this door open when you arrived?”

”Yes,” she said, leading the way into the anteroom. ”And this one, too.” She pointed at the door to the nursery. ”I thought he'd gotten out. But then I saw . . . him. . . .” She buried her head in my jacket.

”Come, madam,” Touffet said sternly. ”You must pull yourself together. You said you had always wished to see me solve a mystery. Now you shall, but you must help me.”

”You're right, I did. I will,” she said, but when we went into the nursery, she hung back reluctantly and then grabbed on to my arm for support.

The place was a shambles. Lord Alastair's bed had been overturned and the bedclothes dragged off it. The pillows had been torn up, the stuffing flung in handfuls about the room. The rocking chair, bowls, toys, tire-all looked as if they had been thrown about the room in a violent rage. Lord Alastair lay on his back in the middle of the floor, half on a rumpled blanket, his face swollen and purple.

”Did you touch anything?” Touffet asked, looking around the room.

”No,” Nurse Parchtry said. ”I knew from your cases not to.” She clapped her hand to her mouth. ”I did touch him. I took his pulse and listened to his heart. I thought perhaps he wasn't dead.”

He looked dead to me. His face was a horrible purplish-blue color, his tongue pus.h.i.+ng out of his mouth, his eyes bulging, his neck bruised. And she was a nurse. She should have known at a glance there was no hope of resuscitation.

”Did you touch anything else?” Touffet said, squatting down and holding out his monocle to look closely at Lord Alastair's neck.

”No,” she said, ”I screamed, and then I ran to find you.”

”Where did you scream?”

”Where?” she said blankly. ”Right here. By the body.”

He stood up and looked at the gla.s.s part.i.tion and then walked over to the wall. The baby monitor lay against it, its back off and the front of the case broken in two pieces.

”That's why there was no sound from the monitor,” I said. ”That means he could have been killed any time after dinner.”

”And no one has an alibi,” Nurse Parchtry said. ”We were all out in the corridor by ourselves for several minutes.”Touffet had picked up the baby monitor and was examining the switch. ”Should you be doing that?” I asked. ”Won't it smudge the fingerprints?”

”There are no fingerprints,” he said, putting the monitor back down, ”and none on the neck either.”

”I warned you!” James said, appearing in the doorway. ”I told you that ape was dangerous, and now he's killed my father!” He strode over to the body.

”I need to secure this crime scene,” Sergeant Eustis said, coming into the room, unreeling yards and yards of yellow ”Do Not Cross” tape. ”I'll have to ask all of you to leave. Don't touch anything,” he said sharply to James, who was putting his hand to his father's neck. ”This is a murder investigation. I'll want to question everyone downstairs.”

”Murder investigation!” James said. ”There's no need for any investigation! I'll tell you who murdered my father. It was that ape!”