Part 12 (1/2)
”John Barnes,” was the reply.
”Barnes? I have heard of you. Well, Mr. Barnes, let me be very frank with you. Above all things it has been my wish that this supposed mystery should not be cleared up. To me it is a matter of no consequence who did this thing, or why it was done. Indeed, what suspicions have crossed my mind make me the more anxious not to know the truth. Feeling thus, I should have done all in my power to hinder the work of the regular police. When you tell me that my sister-in-law has engaged your services, you take me so by surprise that I am compelled to think a bit in order to determine what course to pursue. You can readily understand that my position is a delicate and embarra.s.sing one.”
”I understand that thoroughly, and you have my sympathy, Mr. Quadrant.”
”You may mean that well, but I do not thank you,” said Mr. Quadrant, coldly. ”I want no man's sympathy. This is purely an impersonal interview, and I prefer to have that distinctly prominent in our minds throughout this conversation. Let there be no misunderstanding and no false pretenses. You are a detective bent upon discovering the author of certain singular occurrences. I am a man upon whom suspicion has alighted; and, moreover, guilty or innocent, I desire to prevent you from accomplis.h.i.+ng your purpose. I do not wish the truth to be known. Do we understand one another?”
”Perfectly,” said Mr. Barnes, astonished by the man's manner and admiring his perfect self-control and his bold conduct.
”Then we may proceed,” said Mr. Quadrant. ”Do you wish to ask me questions, or will you reply to one or two from me?”
”I will answer yours first, if you will reply to mine afterwards.”
”I make no bargains. I will answer, but I do not promise to tell you anything unless it pleases me to do so. You have the same privilege.
First, then, tell me how it happened that Mrs. Quadrant engaged you in this case.”
”I called here, attracted merely by the extraordinary features of this case, and Mrs. Quadrant granted me a short interview, at the end of which she offered to place the matter in my hands as her representative.”
”Ah! Then she did not of her own thought send for you?”
”No.”
”You told me that the regular detectives are considering the theory that I instigated this affair. As you used the word instigated, it should follow that some other person, an accomplice, is suspected likewise. Is that the idea?”
”That is one theory.”
”And who, pray, is my alleged accomplice?”
”That I cannot tell you without betraying confidence.”
”Very good. Next you declared that you yourself do not share this view.
Will you tell me on what grounds you exculpate me?”
”With pleasure. The a.s.sumed reason for this act of removing your brother from his coffin was to prevent the cremation. Now it was yourself who wished to have the body incinerated.”
”You are mistaken. I did not wish it. On the contrary, I most earnestly wished that there should be no cremation. You see I incriminate myself.”
He smiled painfully, and a dejected expression crossed his face. For an instant he looked like a man long tired of carrying some burden, then quickly he recovered his composure.
”You astonish me,” said Mr. Barnes. ”I was told by Mr. Mark that you insisted upon carrying out your brother's wish in this matter of disposing of his body.”
”My brother told you that? Well, it is true. He and I quarrelled about it. He wished to have a regular burial, contrary to our brother's oft-repeated injunction. I opposed him, and, being the elder, I a.s.sumed the responsibility, and gave the orders.”
”But you have admitted that you did not wish this?”
”Do we always have our wishes gratified in this world?”
The detective, watching the man's face closely, again noted that expression of weariness cross his features, and an instinctive feeling of pity was aroused. Once more the skein became more entangled. His own suspicion against Mark Quadrant rested upon the supposition that the act was committed with the intent of making capital out of it with the widow, and was based upon the theory that Amos wished to have his brother incinerated. If now it should transpire that after all it was Amos who managed the affair, his motive was a higher one, for, while appearing to carry out the wishes of his deceased brother, he must have aimed to gratify the widow, without admitting her to the knowledge that his hand had gained her purpose. This was a higher, n.o.bler love. Was Amos Quadrant of this n.o.ble mould? The question crossing the detective's mind met a startling answer which prompted Mr. Barnes to ask suddenly:
”Is it true that, speaking of this cremation, you said: 'Let him burn; he'll burn in h.e.l.l anyway'?”