Free Inspector Queen’s Own Case by Ellery Queen Page A

right hand.
    â€œHow do you know it was a right hand?”
    â€œBecause the thumb part of the print was on the left side.”
    Someone laughed, a masculine sound halfway between a chuckle and a snort. Jessie found herself not caring at all.
    â€œEither she was seeing things, or it’s been burned or cut to pieces and flushed down a toilet.”
    â€œWhat do they have on the Island, septic tanks?”
    â€œNo, regular city sewage installations. Emptying into the Sound, like in Taugus.”
    â€œThen we’ll never know.”
    â€œLooks like it.”
    They were just voices. But the next one had that precious quality of nearness. Strange how every time he made a sound, even an ordinary sound, she felt safer.
    â€œIt’s the big point, Abe,” Richard Queen was saying mildly. “If you don’t mind my horning in——”
    â€œDon’t be a jackass, Dick.”
    â€œIt’s the difference between murder and accident. I wouldn’t give up on that pillowcase if I were you.”
    â€œWe aren’t even sure it exists!”
    â€œMiss Sherwood is.”
    â€œHell, Dick, she could be——”
    â€œI don’t think so, Abe.”
    The voices drifted off and became a mumble. Jessie was tickled. He’s defending me, she thought gleefully. How kind of him. No one’s ever done that before. Or not for a long, long time. Then she thought: How silly can you get. He knows I’m telling the truth and he’s merely sticking to his point.
    The joy went out of Jessie’s thoughts and she sat blankly, dozing.
    The voices swept up suddenly, startling her. Chief Pearl sounded harassed.
    â€œWell, what about the ladder, Dick!”
    â€œIt confirms the murder theory.”
    â€œIt does not. Mr. Humffrey put it there himself. Mr. Humffrey, would you mind telling Inspector Queen how the ladder came to be there?”
    The millionaire’s exhausted voice said, “I heard a banging sound from the nursery about ten o’clock. A wind had come up from sea and pulled one of the shutters loose outside the driveway window. I was afraid the noise would wake the baby. I removed the screen, tried to secure the shutter from the nursery, and found I couldn’t reach it. Stallings and Cullum were out—they have Thursday evenings off—so I had no choice but to get the ladder out of the shed, climb up, and fix it myself. Then the baby did wake up, my wife became very nervous, and by the time we got him back to sleep I’d completely forgotten about the ladder. I can’t see that any of this has any relevance.”
    â€œMr. Humffrey’s right, Dick. The ladder doesn’t mean a thing.”
    â€œIt certainly doesn’t disprove murder, Abe. If this was murder, the killer simply came along and used the ladder he found standing here. And Miss Sherwood is so positive about that pillowslip——”
    â€œDick, for God’s sake, what do you want me to do?”
    â€œKeep looking for the slip till you find it.”
    â€œMr. Humffrey, did you see a pillowslip with a handprint on it?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œDid you, Dr. Wicks?”
    The doctor’s voice said shortly, “I’d have reported it if I had.”
    â€œAnd about the only thing Mrs. Humffrey said that made sense was that she didn’t see it, either. And she was in the same room, Dick.”
    â€œShe was in the doorway,” the familiar voice said. “The footboard of the crib might have limited her range of vision. How about the servants, Abe?”
    The big man made a disgusted sound. “The gardener and the chauffeur didn’t pull in till almost 1 A . M . The women know from nothing.”
    â€œJessie Sherwood against everybody.”
    And that was her own voice. What a funny thing to have said. Jessie heard herself laugh, a shrill hoppy sort of laugh that wasn’t like her laugh at all.
    Immediately the noises swooped