Maggie MacKeever Read Online Free PDF Page B

learning anything useful from this man. “Not at all. It’s plain as the nose on your face that entrance lock wasn’t forced. Nor were any of the windows tampered with. Therefore, if thieves entered this house, they either were admitted by someone already within, or they had access to a key.” He radiated goodwill. “Do you have a key?”
    Mr. Throckmorton gasped like a dying carp. “What are you suggesting, man? You can’t think that anyone here would admit robbers to the premises!”
    “Can I not?” inquired Crump. “Despite the Banbury tale you’ve spun me, no one else noted any strangers near this building at any time approaching the robbery, and there’s no evidence of forced entry. Since you dislike the notion that the thieves were admitted into the house, perhaps you would prefer to think the robbery was performed from inside.”
    “No, no!” Mr. Throckmorton wrung his hands. “Think of the scandal was suspicion to fall on one of our members! Raggett would be forced to close his doors!”
    Crump, who’d never entertained such a notion, nearly choked on his tobacco smoke. “And you,” he said, when he’d recovered, “would lose your most profitable business. I begin to understand your concern.” The gentleman looked ready to weep. “Never mind! With your cooperation—which I might say I’ve so far seen precious little of!—we may be able to forestall that particular disaster.”
    “I fling myself on your mercy,” Mr. Throckmorton said.
    “I thought you might. Go on, then. What happened after the butler discovered the theft?”
    “Chaos, sir, chaos!” Mr. Throckmorton sighed. “The idiot informed the housekeeper and the rest of the staff. They immediately began accusing each other of the misdeed and speculating upon how it might have been done. By the time Raggett learned of the theft, the house was in an uproar. He, of course, immediately notified me, then apparently called in Bow Street.”
    By which time, mused Crump, any clue that pointed to the thief’s identity had been destroyed. “It is my opinion,” he said aloud, “that the guilty party entered through the front hallway and departed the same way, which argues that he was not an uncommon enough caller to excite either comment or interest.”
    “My conclusions exactly.” Mr. Throckmorton was so preoccupied with gloom that he didn’t even flinch when Crump emptied his pipe against the windowsill. “Although, in a household of so many people, a stranger might conceivably go unobserved.”
    “I’ve spoken to the butler.” Crump tucked his pipe away. “He recalls admitting no one except club members to the house. Nor did anyone appear at the tradesmen’s entrance other than people who may be logically accounted for. The hall porter verifies his account, and swears that no one could enter or leave the club during the hours it was closed without his knowledge, since he locked and bolted the door and placed the key in his pocket.”
    “True.” Mr. Throckmorton looked glum. “Except for the chimney sweeps, who by rights should have gone to the back door.”
    “Chimney sweeps!” In his excitement, Crump rose on his tiptoes. “What chimney sweeps, guv’nor?”
    “Why, the usual chimney sweeps, I suppose!” Mr. Throckmorton was greatly astonished at the Runner’s tone. “How should I know? The butler admitted them early this morning—as I said, they came to the front door—and they left some time later with a bag half full of soot. Why are you suddenly interested in chimney sweeps?”
    “A bag of soot,” mused Crump, eyes half closed. “Damned clever, if I say so as shouldn’t. Fetch the butler, if you will. I’d like to learn more of those lads. I’ll lay a monkey, guv’nor, that in that bag they carried out not soot but silver plate.”
    Mr. Throckmorton was not convinced, having never encountered a particularly clever chimney sweep, but he was happy to accept any explanation that did not implicate the