Midnight Masquerade Read Online Free PDF

had tripped over his own feet and scraped it on a sharp dresser edge.
    With a last admiring look in the mirror, he turned back to his friend. “So what’s to do about this mess, Dick?”
    “I’ve been working out my plan,” Belami answered, and sat down with his feet on Snippe’s desk, the glass in his hand, the chair tipped at a perilous angle, to explain his line of attack.
    There was a sharp rap at the door, and without waiting for an answer, Deirdre stepped in. “My aunt is resting. Do you mind if I join you?” she asked.
    “They’re serving dinner,” Pronto told her, hoping to be rid of her.
    Belami had lowered his chair and arisen to his feet. She glared at him and said. “I’m involved too. I want to know what you’re doing.”
    “But of course you do,” Belami agreed, offering her his chair and removing Pronto’s glass from his fingers. He filled it and handed it to Deirdre.
    “That’s my glass!” Pronto told him.
    “Call Snippe for another. I won’t let him hurt you.” With mutinous mutterings, Pronto waddled to the door and shouted to Snippe to bring a tray of glasses and a couple of bottles, as it seemed the party was transferring here. It struck him this was also an opportunity to order food, but Snippe’s countenance made him change his mind.
    Belami’s impassive countenance gave no notion of the thought going on in his head, and his eagerness to get busy. He would give the two a little talk on criminal investigation and find a harmless job for them to do while he went on with the real work. Pronto he could have used, but Deirdre was definitely de trop.
     

Chapter 3
     
    While the guests ate and drank and discussed the startling theft, Belami introduced his colleagues into the intricacies of criminal investigation. He rather enjoyed giving this particular lecture. Motive, method, and opportunity were the three magical keys. Deduction was the power that fitted the keys to the proper locks. In a case of theft, one assumed the motive was financial gain. The method they had already learned, and it was the opportunity they must discover. He impressed upon them that no detail was too small to bring to his attention, in the unlikely case that he overlooked anything.
    While he spoke, Pronto sat regretting the dinner he was missing, and Deirdre admired his vocabulary, the delivery of the speech, and general physical appearance. At the lecture’s end, they dispersed to begin searching for clues. Belami went abovestairs to go inch by inch over the guests’ rooms, while their servants were busy below celebrating the New Year in the kitchen.
    Various clues were collected and put into blue envelopes for further perusal. This done, he darted to the stable to seek the help of Pierre. There he learned that no one had made any secret trip to his carriage, which loomed as a possible hiding place for the necklace. The grays had been rubbed down and blanketed for the night. At about two o’clock, Pierre decided he would just take a walk around the grounds on his snowshoes, to calm himself for a night’s sleep. He enjoyed these balmy nights, with the wind howling and the. snow swirling around his head.
    “Pity the pond is frozen over, or you could have a swim,” Belami told him.
    “We often took an ax to the river at home, for a short swim,” Pierre told him, his steely gaze daring a contradiction.
    “Go to bed, you fool. You’re shivering worse than I am.”
    Deirdre and Pronto examined the unoccupied rooms downstairs, not quite sure what they were looking for, but knowing that anything “unusual” was suspect. As they had no real idea what might be usual in another man’s house, however, they were not hopeful of great success. But at least they realized that one window had been opened, as it had markings in the snow on the ledge outside.
    More than an hour elapsed before dinner was over. Belami went to his mother’s room. “You must brace yourself to see the guests out, Mama. I have decided