“That is true,” agreed Miriam. “Another question—When he murdered Paul Abbott did he secure the Paltoff diamond?”
Trenholm had located his tobacco pouch and filled his pipe mechanically, his thoughts elsewhere.
“Frankly,” he said slowly, “I am inclined to think he didn’t.”
CHAPTER XVII
CHERCHEZ LA FEMME
Guy Trenholm helped Miriam into his powerful roadster and then, with a murmured word of apology, slipped back into his bungalow. Miriam waited patiently, unmindful of his prolonged absence and thankful for the opportunity of rest undisturbed. Her ideas were confused—chaotic. The thirteen messages which she and Trenholm had just decoded were ringing in her head, but, try as she would, she could think of no solution to the enigma. The Law of Chance had indeed plunged her into an impenetrable mystery. Trenholm’s voice at her elbow caused her to start slightly.
“I am extremely sorry to have been so long,” he said, taking his place behind the steering wheel. “Pablo,” to the Filipino, who had followed him from the front door and was clinging frantically to the collars of the police dogs in his endeavor to keep them out of the car, “let no one enter the house. If any one calls on the telephone, tell them I am at Abbott’s Lodge.”
The next instant the roadster had glided into the highway, and with Trenholm’s impatient foot on the accelerator, was making record time in its dash for Abbott’s Lodge.
Pablo was busy going about his work, whistling shrilly, when a heavy knock on the side door interrupted him. Answering it, he found a man in chauffeur’s livery just about to implant a heavy kick on the panels by way of emphasis.
“Your mastair, where is he?” demanded Pierre, and Pablo’s back stiffened at his insolent manner.
“None of your business,” he retorted, and slammed the door. The heavy bombardment of knocks which followed was stopped by Alexander Nash’s appearance on the scene. He had waited in the Nash limousine, but the sound of conflict stirred him to action. His voice, raised in anger, caused Pablo to glance through the pantry window, and at sight of the clergyman, he at once opened the side door.