A Blunt Instrument Read Online Free PDF Page B

Helen. "And I walked straight out, the way I'd come."
    "Straight home?"
    Helen hesitated, her eyes on Neville, who was regarding her with an expression of sleepy enjoyment. "No," she said, after a pause. "Not quite. I heard the gate open, and naturally I didn't want to be seen, so I dived behind a bush beside the house."
    "Who was it?" asked Sally quickly.
    "I don't know. I couldn't see. A man, that's all I can tell you."
    Sally looked at her rather searchingly, and then said: "All right, go on!"
    "He went into the study. I think he closed the window behind him; I didn't hear anything except a sort of murmur of voices."
    "Oh! Did you beat it while you had the chance?" Helen nodded. "Yes, of course." "And no one but Ernie saw you?" "No."
    "And you didn't go dropping handkerchiefs about, or anything like that?"
    "Of course I didn't."
    "Then there's nothing except the IOUs to connect you with the murder!" Sally declared. "We've got to get hold of them before the police do."
    Helen said: "Oh, Sally, if only I could! But how? They aren't in his desk -'
    "How do you know?" asked Sally swiftly.
    "Why, I - something Ernie said," faltered Helen.
    "I shouldn't set much store by anything he said. Of course, they may be in a safe, but we'll hope he didn't go in for safes. Neville, this is your job."
    Neville opened his eyes. Having surveyed both sisters in his peculiarly dreamy way, he dragged himself out of his chair, and wandered over to the table where the cigarette-box stood. He selected and lit one, produced his own empty case, and proceeded to fill it. "All this excitement," he said softly, "has gone to your head."
    "Oh no, it hasn't! You're staying in the house; you said you'd help Helen. You can jolly well find those IOUs before Scotland Yard gets on to the case."
    "Scotland Yard!" gasped Helen.
    "Yes, I should think almost certainly," replied Sally. "This is the Metropolitan area, you know. They'll probably send a man down to investigate. Neville, are you willing to take a chance?"
    "No, darling," he replied, fitting the last cigarette into his case.
    "You would fast enough if they were your IOUs!"
    He looked up. "I daresay I should. But they aren't mine. I won't have anything to do with them."
    "If you had a grain of decency, or - or chivalry -'
    "Do stop trying to cast me for this beastly Gunga Din role!" he implored. "Find someone else for the job! You must know lots of whiter men than I am."
    "Very well!" said Sally. "If you haven't the guts to do it, I have, and I will!"
    "I don't want to blight your youthful ardour, sweet one, but I think I ought to tell you that there's a large, resolute policeman parked in the front hall."
    Her face fell. "I never thought of that," she said slowly. An idea occurred to her. "Do you mean he's keeping a watch over the household?"
    "Well, he's certainly not a paying-guest."
    She started up. "You utter, abysmal idiot, what did you come here for if the house was being watched?"
    "To get some cigarettes. We've run out."
    "Oh, don't be a fool! Don't you realise you'll have led them straight to Helen?"
    "Oh no! No, really I haven't," Neville replied, with his apologetic smile. "I climbed out of my window, and over the wall."
    "You - Did you really?" exclaimed Sally, her thunderous frown vanishing. "I must say I should never have thought it of you."
    "Atavism," he explained.
    "Oh, Neville, how on earth did you manage it?" Helen asked, a note of admiration in her voice.
    He looked alarmed. "Please don't get misled! It wasn't a bit heroic, or daring, or even difficult."
    "It must have been. I can't think how you did it! I should never have had the nerve."
    "No nerve. Merely one of the advantages of a University education."
    "Well, I think it was fairly sporting of you," said Sally. "Only it doesn't help us to solve the problem of how to get those IOUs."
    "Don't strain yourself," Neville recommended. "You can't get them. They're probably in Ernie's safe, just like you suggested."
    "There are ways of