The New Adventures of Ellery Queen Read Online Free PDF

wonder,” murmured Ellery, “why.”
    Dr. Reinach eyed him. Then he said: “Come downstairs when you’re ready. Mrs. Reinach has an excellent dinner prepared and if you’re as hungry as I am, you’ll appreciate it.” Still smiling, the fat man vanished.
    Ellery stood still for a moment, listening. He heard the fat man pause at the end of the corridor; a moment later the heavy tread was audible again, this time descending the stairs.
    Ellery went swiftly to the door on tiptoe. He had noticed that the instant he had come into the room.
    There was no lock. Where a lock had been there was a splintery hole, and the splinters had a newish look about them. Frowning, he placed a rickety chair against the doorknob and began to prowl.
    He raised the mattress from the heavy wooden bedstead and poked beneath it, searching for he knew not what. He opened closets and drawers; he felt the worn carpet for wires.
    But after ten minutes, angry with himself, he gave up and went to the window. The prospect was so dismal that he scowled in sheer misery. Just brown stripped woods and the leaden sky; the old mansion picturesquely known as the Black House was on the other side, invisible from this window.
    A veiled sun was setting; a bank of storm clouds slipped aside for an instant and the brilliant rim of the sun shone directly into his eyes, making him see colored, dancing balls. Then other clouds, fat with snow, moved up and the sun slipped below the horizon. The room darkened rapidly.
    Lock taken out, eh? Someone had worked fast. They could not have known he was coming, of course. Then someone must have seen him through the window as the car stopped in the drive. The old woman who had peered out for a moment? Ellery wondered where she was. At any rate, a few minutes’ work by a skilled hand at the door … He wondered, too, if Thorne’s door had been similarly mutilated. And Alice Mayhew’s.
    Thorne and Dr. Reinach were already seated before the fire when Ellery came down, and the fat man was rumbling: “Just as well. Give the poor girl a chance to return to normal. With the shock she’s had today, it might be the finisher. I’ve told Mrs. Reinach to break it to Sarah gently.… Ah, Queen. Come over here and join us. We’ll have dinner as soon as Alice comes down.”
    â€œDr. Reinach was just apologizing,” said Thorne casually, “for this Aunt Sarah of Miss Mayhew’s—Mrs. Fell, Sylvester Mayhew’s sister. The excitement of anticipating her niece’s arrival seems to have been a bit too much for her.”
    â€œIndeed,” said Ellery, sitting down and planting his feet on the nearest firedog.
    â€œFact is,” said the fat man,” “my poor half-sister is cracked. The family paranoia. She’s off-balance; not violent, you know, but it’s wise to humor her. She isn’t normal, and for Alice to see her—”
    â€œParanoia,” said Ellery. “An unfortunate family, it seems. Your half-brother Sylvester’s weakness seems to have expressed itself in rubbish and solitude. What’s Mrs. Fell’s delusion?”
    â€œCommon enough—she thinks her daughter is still alive. As a matter of fact, poor Olivia was killed in an automobile accident three years ago. It shocked Sarah’s maternal instinct out of plumb. Sarah’s been looking forward to seeing Alice, her brother’s daughter, and it may prove awkward. Never can tell how a diseased mind will react to an unusual situation.”
    â€œFor that matter,” drawled Ellery, “I should have said the same remark might be made about any mind, diseased or not.”
    Dr. Reinach laughed silently. Thorne, hunched by the fire, said: “This Keith boy.”
    The fat man set his glass down slowly. “Drink, Queen?”
    â€œNo, thank you.”
    â€œThis Keith boy,” said Thorne again.
    â€œEh? Oh, Nick. Yes, Thorne? What about