The Whisper on the Stair/Chapter 18
Val was awakened by the clatter of plates and eating utensils. The smell of crisp bacon and fried eggs came pleasantly to his nostrils. It was broad daylight, and the sun was streaming into the dingy apartment through the window opposite the couch on which Val lay.
At the table sat Ignace Teck, making a hearty and evidently enjoyable meal, managing his utensils with an awkward cleverness that bespoke many years of doing the same thing. He did it surprisingly well, and Val could see that he ate with almost as little trouble as a man in possession of all his limbs. He held his fork pressed between his two wrists, and was remarkably limber and clever at it.
Val wondered how he went about dressing. One could hold a fork or a knife between his wrists, but how did one button a shirt? That was something that needed fingers and thumbs. How did one put in a collar button—sometimes hard enough for normal persons, even? Val decided that he probably had assistance.
He also decided that, in addition to being abominably thirsty, he was hungry; he knew there was little chance of getting food here. Yet the fine tang of the sizzling bacon was tantalizing to a man who was bound hand and foot and knew he would probably get no breakfast of any kind.
“I say, you do that rather well, you know,” said Val.
The other turned and regarded him pleasantly.
“Oh, you’re awake, are you?” he asked unnecessarily, and smiled. “Isn’t it funny the useless questions people ask? Now, I can see darn well you’re awake—and yet I ask. I guess it’s just to be polite.”
“Be polite, to be sure,” agreed Val. “Let nothing interfere with your good manners. Even when you’re committing a murder—just a slight murder, you know, nothing much—do it in a genteel way; be cultured above all things. Remember Gilbert’s little poem:
When the cut-throat isn’t occupied in crime,
He loves to hear the little brook a-gurgling,
And listen to the merry village chime.
When the coster’s finished jumping on his mother,
He loves to lie a-basking in the sun;
Ah, take one consideration with another,
The policeman’s lot is not a happy one!”
Teck laughed, and went on eating, not able to reply because his mouth was rather full of toast and bacon and egg.
“Though I suppose it’s rather bad form to mention a policeman to you, isn’t it?” he suggested pleasantly. “In the house of the hangman, you know⸺”
“That’s all right, I don’t mind, my friend,” assured Teck. “Have your little minute, if you wish—it won’t be long.”
“Well, that’s about all any of us have on this old earth, isn’t it?” queried Val. “A little minute—and darkness⸺”
“Darkness comes to some quicker than to others,” put in Teck. “Especially to the obstinate.” He took another mouthful.
“Smells good,” suggested Val, hopefully.
“It is good,” Teck assured him. “There are very few better cooks than O’Hara, when he isn’t⸺”
“When he isn’t engaged in the delightful pastime of assassination, I suppose. I say, is he a union murderer, or does he have to put in more than eight hours a day at manslaughter? This is not mere curiosity, you know; I ask because I am interested in the betterment of conditions for the working classes. Does he have to specialize, or is he permitted to vary his duties by a little burglary here and there, or an occasional bit of assault and battery? You know for yourself how boring and monotonous it is, committing nothing but murder all the time, with never a chance⸺”
“Hope you’re enjoying yourself, Mr. Morley,” put in Teck tersely. “It’s your last chance, you know. Still thirsty?”
“Why? Aren’t thinking of giving me food and drink, are you?” Val asked.
The other shook his head. “No,” he said regretfully, “it would not be in strict accord with the most elementary principles of economics. Suppose you promise what I ask—what happens? Why, you go free, and in five minutes are buying your own food at a restaurant. Suppose you don’t—what happens?” he asked this judicially. “Why, in a short time you won’t feel the need of food—it’ll be all the same whether you were hungry or whether you were sated—see! That being the case, why should I waste my substance on you? Do you find any flaw in my reasoning? Speak up if you do—I’m rather proud of that sequence of thought.” “Seems to be O. K.,” admitted Val, “always supposing, of course, that your suppositions come through as scheduled. Now suppose, for instance, that I not only refuse to promise what you wish me to promise, but I also escape. Suppose⸺”
“Nonsense,” Teck shook his head. “You cannot escape. O’Hara is in the next room, and the house is surrounded by—by my friends. You are bound. The slightest noise means that you will be gagged—if necessary, knocked on the head. It hurts me to have to tell you these things, my friend, because I am naturally of a kindly disposition, and I wouldn’t wish to cause pain to the slightest of His creatures, but—of course,” he said with a sigh, “if you make it necessary, why, one must do one’s duty, distasteful as it is.”
“Sounds all right,” said Val. “But this is a civilized city—New York, you know; one doesn’t commit a murder and get away with it like that. My—er—body, for instance⸺”
“Oh, don’t give yourself the slightest concern about that,” Teck waved the suggestion aside airily. “Don’t worry about it, I beg of you. As for the proper disposition of—er—remains, why, we have our own system, and a very efficient one it is, too, let me tell you. No, you needn’t worry about that.”
“That’s all right, then,” said Val. “Relieves my mind a great deal, you know. One naturally would be concerned about these things, that is, even if one is convinced that you’re a damned bluffer, to say nothing of being a liar who would never have the nerve to carry out the plan you have indicated.”
The other looked at him, pained. “My dear boy, I’m sorry you feel it necessary to use such strong language to me. I haven’t asked much of you—just a promise to withdraw from this affair entirely—an affair that really does not concern you, anyway; surely you can see that in this thing you’re nothing but an outsider who has butted into things that are none of his business. Just promise me to keep away from Miss Pomeroy for good, and to⸺”
“Iggy,” said Val, “will you be good enough to go to hell?”
“Ah, still unregenerate, I see,” Teck shrugged his shoulders. “Some people never learn. You know, I’ve been uncommonly gentle up to now. I could easily have spared myself a lot of trouble by—er—disposing of you at once, as some of my associates suggested at the time. You would never have known what hit you, and there wouldn’t have been all this waste of time and talk—though if it amuses you, I’m satisfied.”
“M-m-m, I suppose I ought to be thankful to you for that,” said Val. “I guess it wasn’t very convenient for you to put me out of the way at the time, or you would have done it.”
“Well, never mind that,” put in Teck. “We’re wasting a lot of time and⸺”
“At present,” said Val, “time is⸺”
“A lot of time, and there are many things I have to do before I leave this evening,” went on Teck placidly.
“Leave this evening—where are you going?” asked Val curiously.
The other looked at him. “Of course, strictly speaking, it is scarcely any of your business,” he said. “My movements do not concern you in any way—but considering the fact that by this evening you will be definitely removed from this matter one way or another, I don’t mind telling you that I am going to join Miss Pomeroy.”
“Join Miss Pomeroy?” queried Val. “Why, isn’t Miss Pomeroy in the city at present⸺”
“That’s as may be,” said Teck. “At any rate, I’m going to join Miss Pomeroy, who, I may say, is await¬ ing me impatiently. I don’t suppose it will interest you to know that we intend to marry this week—perhaps tomorrow, if possible⸺”
“Iggy, why try those clumsy lies on me?” protested Val. “It happens that I saw Miss Pomeroy last night, as undoubtedly you are aware, and she said nothing that would lead me to believe⸺”
“There’s nothing surprising about that, my good man,” said Teck patiently. “You see, she didn’t know it herself at the time. In fact, she doesn’t know it yet; but it’s going to happen just the same.”
“Marry you!” ejaculated Val, looking at him inter¬ estedly.
“Yes, me!” said Teck heatedly, his greenish eyes showing the first trace of anger they had shown during the conversation. “Why not?”
‘Well, if you don’t know why not, Iggy, I guess there’s no use arguing with you. All I have to say is that you’ll marry Miss Pomeroy about the same time the Kaiser takes Chicago—or perhaps a trifle later than that.”
“That remains to be seen,” retorted Teck, angrily. “Not that you’ll be here to see it, either.”
“There’s one thing that puzzles me, Iggy,” said Val. “It’s about those books. What is there about them that makes it so important for you to get posses⸺” “That’s none of your business,” snapped Teck, ugly and out of temper suddenly. “What I want to know is whether you will do as I ask—promise me that you will⸺”
“I will not,” said Val. “Get that idea out of your head. Under no circumstances will I make any such promises.”
“Do you understand that I actually mean to do what I said? That I will⸺”
“I suppose so,” said Val. “I think you’re capable of anything, even that. Why are you so anxious to get rid of me, though? So anxious that you’ll even commit murder⸺”
“Why, you’re in my way, that’s all. Even you ought to be able to see that, it’s so plain. But I’m not going to argue with you any more. I have a great deal to attend to, and I’d better start on it. I’ll be back about noon—you’d better think things over pretty carefully until then, and give me the answer I want.”
“If I’m here by then,” put in Val.
“You’ll be here. Oh, Rat!” he called. A giant of a man showed himself at the door and glared malevolently at Val. “All right,” directed Teck. The guard withdrew. “I just wanted you to know that there is somebody here looking out for you, while O’Hara sleeps. He has orders to prevent your escape at any cost. So don’t try anything queer—take my advice. He’s short tempered, and an occasional bumping-off means nothing in his young life. In fact, between him and O’Hara, I imagine they’d be rather glad of a chance to do you in, to pay you for that rumpus last night. Take it easy while I’m gone, and think it over pretty carefully.”