Free The Player on the Other Side by Ellery Queen Page A

underneath —?’
    â€˜That’s the beauty part. This Robert York “happened” to be directly underneath on every mild evening from May fifteenth to October first at half-past seven, give or take ten seconds — you heard me, ten seconds — and there he’d stay until half-past eight on the dot. Rainy or chilly evenings he’d lie down on the settee in his study. But he always napped exactly one hour after dinner.’
    â€˜Which of course, everyone in the place knew?’
    â€˜And more people outside it than I care to think about trying to track down. He liked to brag about the to-the-second regularity of his habits. And how he could fall asleep on a dime and wake himself up the same way.’
    â€˜Built-in alarm clock.’ Ellery nodded. ‘Who had access to the tower, Dad?’
    â€˜Everybody,’ grunted the old man. ‘There’s an outside door that opens directly to the tower stairs, also an inside door in the downstairs hall that runs between the front rooms and the kitchen.’
    â€˜Doors kept locked?’
    â€˜Only the outside door, but the lock is an old relic you could undo with your front teeth without leaving a mark.’
    â€˜Who was in the house at the time the granite block fell?’
    â€˜Nobody. The handyman was in the garage, changing the oil in one of the cars.’
    â€˜Didn’t he hear or see anything?’
    â€˜He says no. Could be, too. The garage is pretty far from the terrace, and the block was — well — cushioned some when it landed.’
    Ellery made a face. ‘Who cooked York’s dinner?’
    â€˜Housekeeper, a sleep-out name of Mrs. Schriver. She always had his meal ready at a quarter of seven, he was always finished at five after. Then she’d carry the dishes out to the kitchen and go home.’
    â€˜Didn’t wash them before leaving? Oh, of course. Don’t disturb the master at his nap.’
    â€˜Right.’
    Ellery pulled at his lower lip until it stretched like a Ubangi’s. ‘Think of asking anyone how sound a sleeper he was?’
    â€˜Didn’t I. Consensus is that you couldn’t have waked York with a fire hose till he chose to wake himself.’
    Ellery frowned. ‘Then what’s this nonsense about the housekeeper’s not doing the dishes because it would disturb His Majesty’s nap?’
    â€˜I asked her. She says it’s a habit she got into when she went to work there three years ago and first found out about Robert York’s after-dinner snooze. She just never bothered to change her routine.’
    â€˜Big strong woman, is she?’
    The Inspector showed his dentures in what might have been laughter. ‘ Little strong woman.’
    Ellery communed with some invisible entity in midair. Suddenly he said, ‘What about this handyman?’
    â€˜Walt? Oh, he’s a dandy little suspect. Up on the tower that day, too, trimming the ivy. Says even if the mortar under the block had been loosened by that time he’d likely not have noticed. I can believe that, by the way. The cracks are thin and deep-set; you can hardly see the mortar on or under the other blocks. Sure, Walt could have done the whole job, then skinned on down and out to the garage. But so could everybody else. Everybody.’
    â€˜Ugh,’ Ellery said mildly. ‘All right — who found the headless paragon?’
    â€˜His secretary. Young guy named Thomas Archer. Archer is remounting York’s stamp collections or something — been putting in a lot of night work.’
    â€˜Did Archer have dinner with York?’
    â€˜No. He used to all the time, but Mrs. Schriver tells me he’s eaten most of his meals out lately.’
    â€˜Out where?’
    â€˜That night? At Myra York’s house — the one in the south-east corner of the Square.’
    â€˜How come?’
    â€˜Myra has a paid companion, a girl named Ann Drew, who’s