Free The Master of the Day of Judgment by Leo Perutz

conclusions do you draw from that?" asked Felix, disconcerted and not quite so sure of his case.
    "Above all, that Baron von Yosch is completely innocent. Isn't that clear to you at last?"
    "And whom do you suspect, Waldemar?"
    The engineer took a long look at the body that lay covered on the floor, and for some strange reason he dropped his voice. Softly, almost in a whisper, he said:
    "When he told us about his friend's fate he may have been only a step away from the solution of the mystery. He suspected it when he left the room, that's why he was so agitated, he was quite beside himself, don't you remember?"
    "Well? Go on."
    "That young naval officer went to his death after he hit on the reason for his brother's suicide. Eugen guessed the reason too. Perhaps that was why he too had to die ..."
    The quiet was broken by the ringing of the garden doorbell. Dr Gorski opened the door and looked out. We heard voices.
    Felix raised his head. His expression had changed. He had recovered his composure.
    "The police commission," he said in an entirely altered tone. "Waldemar," he said, "you obviously don't realise into what realms of fantasy you have soared. No, your theories don't hold water. You must excuse me now, I want to talk to these gentlemen alone."
    He went over to Dr Gorski and shook his hand warmly.
    "Good night, doctor," he said. "I shall never forget what you did today for Dina and me. What would we have done without you? You thought of everything. You kept your head, doctor."
    Then he turned to me.
    "I must again assure you, captain," he said casually, "that nothing has changed in this affair. Our agreement stands, doesn't it?"
    I bowed silently.

NINE
    The rest of what happened at Eugen Bischoff's villa that evening can be quickly told.
    As we walked through the garden we met the police commission, which consisted of three gentlemen in civilian clothes, one of whom had a big brown leather briefcase under his arm. The deaf gardener led the way with his lantern. We stood aside to let them pass, and one of them, an elderly gentleman with a full face and a grey moustache — he was the district medical officer, as it turned out — stopped and exchanged a few words with Dr Gorski.
    "Good evening, my dear colleague," he said, holding his briefcase in front of his face. "Rather cold for the time of year, isn't it? Were you called in?"
    "No, I happened to be here."
    "What's it all about? We know nothing yet."
    "I don't want to anticipate your findings," Dr Gorski replied evasively, and as I walked on I didn't hear the rest of the conversation.
    No-one seemed to have entered the music room since I had left it. The chair that had been knocked over was still in the doorway, my score sheets were scattered all over the floor, and Dina's shawl still hung over the back of a chair.
    A cold, damp night wind came in through the open window, and I shivered as I buttoned up my jacket. As I bent to pick up the music my eyes fell on a sheet that bore the title "Trio in B major, Op. 8", and I felt as if we had only just finished the scherzo, and the final chords on the piano and the long- drawn-out final passage on the cello rang in my ear. An agreeable vision enabled me to imagine we were still sitting round the tea table, that nothing had happened, that the engineer was blowing blue smoke rings into the air, that Dina's even breathing was coming from the piano, and that Eugen Bischoff was pacing slowly up and down accompanied by his shadow gliding noiselessly across the carpet.
    I started suddenly when a door slammed. I heard loud voices in the ante-room, my name was mentioned, the engineer and the doctor were talking about me, they seemed to think I had long since gone home.
    "I could credit him with anything," I heard the doctor say emphatically, "there's no act of violence or wickedness I think him incapable of — good gracious, it's half past ten already — I even think him capable of murder, it wouldn't be his first. But lying on