“You sent him to get the girl,” said Michael. “You also bribed Foss to put a mark on the window so that Bhag should know where the girl was sleeping.”
He paused, but the other made no reply.
“The cave man method is fairly beastly, even when the cave man does his own kidnapping. When he sends an anthropoid ape to do his dirty work, it passes into another category.”
The man’s eyes were invisible now; his face had grown a deeper hue.
“So that’s your line, is it?” he said. “I thought you were a pal.”
“I’m not responsible for your illusions,” said Michael. “Only I tell you this”—he tapped the man’s chest with his finger—“if any harm comes to Adele Leamington that is traceable to you or your infernal agent, I shan’t be contented with shooting Mr. Bhag; I will come here and shoot you! Do you understand? And now you can tell me, what is the meaning of that scream I heard from your tower?”
“Who the hell do you imagine you’re cross-questioning?” spluttered Penne, livid with fury. “You dirty, miserable little actor!”
Michael slipped a card from his pocket and put it in the man’s hand.
“You’ll find my title to question you legibly inscribed,” he said.
The man brought the card to the table-lamp and read it. The effect was electrical. His big jaw dropped, and the hand that held the card trembled so violently that it dropped to the floor.