Inspector Queen’s Own Case

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Authors: Ellery Queen
away, leaving silence.
    The next thing she knew she was lying on something softly embracing, and Dr. Wicks was forcing her to swallow the bitter contents of a spoon.
    After that everything stopped.
    Inspector Queen was wandering along the water’s edge when Chief Pearl came tramping down to the Humffrey beach. The sky over the sea was all pearl shell and salmon belly as the dawn turned to day.
    â€œI’ve looked all over for you,” the Taugus policeman bellowed. “What the hell are you doing?”
    The old man looked up. “Nothing much, Abe. Just checking to see if a boat mightn’t have beached here last night.”
    Abe Pearl stared. “Why a boat?”
    â€œBecause he’d have been a fool to try his luck twice at getting past that gatehouse in a car.”
    â€œYou mean Frost?” the chief said in an odd tone.
    â€œWho else? But there’s nothing. Tide’s almost all the way in. I should have thought of it when we got here.” He glanced at his friend. “All through at the house?”
    â€œYeah.”
    They went up through the belt of trees side by side in silence, the big man and the small one, an invisible something between them. As they crossed the perfect lawns Chief Pearl spoke to several of his men, who were still searching the grounds.
    â€œKeep looking till I call you off,” he ordered. “Tell the boys in the house ditto.”
    They got into the black-and-white police car, and the big man turned on his ignition.
    â€œTalk to that gateman, Peterson?” the old man asked.
    â€œThe state troopers talked to him. He didn’t see anything.” Abe Pearl grunted. “Dumb as they come, sure. But on the other hand, Dick, a man can’t see what isn’t there.”
    The old man did not reply.
    At the gatehouse Chief Pearl crooked his finger at Peterson. Inspector Queen listened quietly.
    â€œAll right, Peterson, let’s have it all over again,” Abe Pearl said.
    The guard pushed his fleshy lips forward. “I’ll give it to you just once, Chief, then I’m getting the hell off this Island and so help me I’ll never come back! The last car that went through this gate last night before the Humffrey kid was found dead, like I told the troopers, was that Dodge coop belongs to the nurse up there, that Miss Sherwood, who came in around 12:30 A . M . Before Miss Sherwood, there was an incoming car about an hour earlier, some of old Mrs. Dandridge’s servants coming back from the Taugus movies. Before that, around 11 P . M ., the Senator’s chauffeur——”
    â€œDid a car drive through at any time since you came on duty, going in or out,” the chief interrupted, “that you didn’t recognize? Had to check?”
    â€œNo.”
    Richard Queen’s voice startled Peterson. “Did anyone walk through?”
    â€œHuh?”
    â€œSomebody on foot? Going either way?”
    â€œNope.”
    â€œBut somebody could have come through on foot without your seeing him. Isn’t that so?”
    â€œListen, friend,” Peterson snarled, “this gatehouse is a joke. I got to sit down sometimes. I got to step into the bushes once in a while. I got to feed my face. There’s a hundred ways a guy can get onto this Island without being seen. Go look for your patsy some place else. I’m taking no fall but for nobody.”
    â€œYou know, Abe, Peterson’s right,” the old man murmured as they crossed the causeway. “Nair Island is accessible to anyone who wants to go to a little trouble. A rowboat to one of the private beaches at night … a sneak past the gate … a young fellow like Ron Frost could even have swum over from one of the Taugus beaches and got back the same way.”
    His friend glanced at him. “You’re dead set that this is murder, Dick, aren’t you? And that the Frost kid pulled it?”
    â€œI’m not dead set on anything.

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