Richardson Scores Again Read Free Page B

the shock.”
    â€œThis must be cleared up at once, Mr. MacDougal. We’ll go upstairs and see whether the money is in the place where you hid it. You lead the way.”
    They passed through the hall where Porter was standing on guard over the body, and went upstairs to a bedroom on the first floor. MacDougal recoiled with an exclamation when he opened the door. The room was in confusion. The drawers in the chest had been pulled out and were lying on the floor, which was littered with clothing. MacDougal began a feverish search among the litter, kneeling on the floor, the better to assure himself that the precious bag was not lying under the pile of clothes. He rose and faced Symington. “It’s no use digging any further at that pile. It’s gone.”
    â€œYou mean the money you hid in one of those drawers? Are you quite sure?”
    â€œYes,” he said in a hopeless tone. “It’s gone.”
    â€œWas it enclosed in a box?”
    â€œNo, it was in a dirty calico bag, just as the farmer brought it to me. I counted it over with him and gave him a receipt. I tied up the bag with the same string and hid it under my clothes in the bottom drawer and locked the drawer.”
    â€œThen let us get the drawers back and you can show me exactly where you hid it. Quick, or the doctor may be here before we’ve finished.”
    It was the best treatment for frayed nerves. The old man fell to work. When the drawers were back in their places MacDougal pointed to the centre of the bottom drawer at the back.
    â€œThis drawer was packed with clothes, inspector. It was a tight fit to get the drawer shut.” He lugged a bunch of keys from his trouser pocket. “I locked every drawer with this key, but you see what the man did—forced the locks of all three drawers! “
    It was true. The chest, which purported to be solid mahogany, was a sham; the mahogany was thinly veneered on deal; the locks were cheap and were secured to the wood by inadequate little screws; a sharp jerk on the handles had sufficed to tear out the topmost screws, and the locks were hanging useless by their bottom screws. Symington cast an eye round the room and went to a cupboard. It was locked: nothing else in the room appeared to have been touched.
    â€œListen to me, Mr. MacDougal. How many people knew that the money was in that drawer? Did your servant know?”
    â€œCertainly not. If I had given her a hint that there was so much money in the house, she would have refused to stay the night here. She was very independent, poor thing. She would have gone off to spend the night with her married sister in Hammersmith.”
    â€œDid the farmer, Jackson, know?”
    â€œNo, I told him nothing. All he wanted was for me to count the money in his presence, get a receipt and be off.”
    â€œBut you told your nephew?”
    â€œYes, because I had to give him a good reason for coming up a day earlier.”
    â€œTell me exactly what you said in your letter.”
    â€œI can’t say that I remember the exact words I used. I told him that Jackson had called after banking hours on Monday and had paid over the money; I told him the amount and said that I should have to leave for the funeral in Redford before the bank opened on Tuesday, and that it wouldn’t do to leave my maidservant alone in the house with such a sum lying in a drawer; that I had no safe in the house to put it in. I begged him to come up one day earlier so as to sleep in the house.”
    â€œYou didn’t tell him the exact hiding-place?”
    â€œNo, I’m certain of that.”
    â€œAnd you are quite certain that you didn’t tell anyone else. Think before you answer.”
    â€œI’m quite certain.”
    A bell rang faintly in the basement. The inspector pricked up his ears. “What bell was that?”
    â€œThe front-door bell, I think.”
    Symington went to the door to listen. He heard Porter go to