Behind That Curtain · Chapter 9 (2/2)

“All right⁠—all right,” cried Flannery. “I leave these missing women to you and Miss Morrow here. I don’t want to hear any more about ’em⁠—I’ll go dippy if I do. I’ll stick to the main facts. Night before last Sir Frederic Bruce was murdered in an office on the twentieth floor of the Kirk Building. Somebody slipped away from that party, or somebody got in from outside, and did for him. There was a book beside him, and there were marks on the fire-escape⁠—I didn’t tell you that, but there were⁠—and the murderer nabbed a pair of velvet shoes off his feet. That’s my case, my job, and by heaven I’m going after it, and if anybody comes to me with any more missing women stories⁠—”

He stopped. The outer door had opened, and Eileen Enderby was coming in. At her heels came her husband, stern and grim. The woman appeared very much upset.

“We⁠—we’ve come back,” she said. She sank into a chair. “My husband thinks⁠—he has made me see⁠—”

“I have insisted,” said Carrick Enderby, “that my wife tell you the entire story. She has omitted a very important point.”

“I’m in a terrible position,” the woman protested. “I do hope I’m doing the right thing. Carry⁠—are you sure⁠—”

“I am sure,” cut in her husband, “that in a serious matter of this sort, truth is the only sane course.”

“But she begged me not to tell,” Eileen Enderby reminded him. “She pleaded so hard. I don’t want to make trouble for her⁠—”

“You gave no promise,” her husband said. “And if the woman’s done nothing wrong, I don’t see⁠—”

“Look here,” broke in Flannery. “You came back to tell us something. What is it?”

“You came back to tell us that you have seen Jennie Jerome?” suggested Miss Morrow.

Mrs. Enderby nodded, and began to speak with obvious reluctance.

“Yes⁠—I did see her⁠—but not before I talked with Sir Frederic. I told him the truth. I hadn’t seen her then⁠—that is, I had seen her, but I didn’t notice⁠—one doesn’t, you know⁠—”

“But you noticed later.”

“Yes⁠—on our way home. Going down in the elevator. I got a good look at her then, and that was when I realized it. The elevator girl in the Kirk Building night before last was Jennie Jerome.”