Detectives and Young Adventurers: The Complete Short Stories

‘I’m afraid you’re backing the wrong horse,’ said Tommy. ‘I’ve no intention of being “kept under restraint,” as you call it.’

Mr Ryder smiled genially. From outside a cat uttered a melancholy cry to the moon.

‘Banking on that cross you put on the door, eh, sonny?’ said Mr Ryder. ‘I shouldn’t if I were you. Because I know that story you mentioned. Heard it when I was a little boy. I stepped back into the alleyway to enact the part of the dog with eyes as big as cart-wheels. If you were in that alley now, you would observe that every door in the alley is marked with an identical cross.’

Tommy dropped his head despondently.

‘Thought you were mighty clever, didn’t you?’ said Ryder.

As the words left his lips a sharp rapping sounded on the door.

‘What’s that?’ he cried, starting.

At the same time an assault began on the front of the house. The door at the back was a flimsy affair. The lock gave almost immediately and Inspector Marriot showed in the doorway.

‘Well done, Marriot,’ said Tommy. ‘You were quite right as to the district. I’d like you to make the acquaintance of Mr Hank Ryder who knows all the best fairy tales.

‘You see, Mr Ryder,’ he added gently, ‘I’ve had my suspicions of you. Albert (that important-looking boy with the big ears is Albert) had orders to follow on his motorcycle if you and I went off joy-riding at any time. And whilst I was ostentatiously marking a chalk cross on the door to engage your attention, I also emptied a little bottle of valerian on the ground. Nasty smell, but cats love it. All the cats in the neighbourhood were assembled outside to mark the right house when Albert and the police arrived.’

He looked at the dumbfounded Mr Ryder with a smile, then rose to his feet.

‘I said I would get you Crackler, and I have got you,’ he observed.

‘What the hell are you talking about?’ asked Mr Ryder. ‘What do you mean – Crackler?’

‘You will find it in the glossary of the next criminal dictionary,’ said Tommy. ‘Etymology doubtful.’

He looked round him with a happy smile.

‘And all done without a nose,’ he murmured brightly. ‘Good-night, Marriot. I must go now to where the happy ending of the story awaits me. No reward like the love of a good woman – and the love of a good woman awaits me at home – that is, I hope it does, but one never knows nowadays. This has been a very dangerous job, Marriot. Do you know Captain Jimmy Faulkener? His dancing is simply too marvellous, and as for his taste in cocktails –! Yes, Marriot, it has been a very dangerous job.’

Chapter 9

The Sunningdale Mystery

‘The Sunningdale Mystery’ was first published as ‘The Sunninghall Mystery’ in The Sketch, 19 October 1924. The Old Man in the Corner was created by Baroness Orczy (1865–1947).

‘Do you know where we are going to lunch today, Tuppence?’

Mrs Beresford considered the question.

‘The Ritz?’ she suggested hopefully.

‘Think again.’

‘That nice little place in Soho?’

‘No.’ Tommy’s tone was full of importance. ‘An ABC shop. This one, in fact.’

He drew her deftly inside an establishment of the kind indicated, and steered her to a corner marble-topped table.

‘Excellent,’ said Tommy with satisfaction, as he seated himself. ‘Couldn’t be better.’

‘Why has this craze for the simple life come upon you?’ demanded Tuppence.

‘You see, Watson, but you do not observe. I wonder now whether one of these haughty damsels would condescend to notice us? Splendid, she drifts this way. It is true that she appears to be thinking of something else, but doubtless her sub-conscious mind is functioning busily with such matters as ham and eggs and pots of tea. Chop and fried potatoes, please, miss, and a large coffee, a roll and butter, and a plate of tongue for the lady.’

The waitress repeated the order in a scornful tone, but Tuppence leant forward suddenly and interrupted her.

‘No, not a chop and fried potatoes. This gentleman will have a cheese-cake and a glass of milk.’

‘A cheesecake and a milk,’ said the waitress with even deeper scorn, if that were possible. Still thinking of something else, she drifted away again.

‘That was uncalled for,’ said Tommy coldly.

‘But I’m right, aren’t I? You are the Old Man in the Corner? Where’s your piece of string?’

Tommy drew a long twisted mesh of string from his pocket and proceeded to tie a couple of knots in it.

‘Complete to the smallest detail,’ he murmured.

‘You made a small mistake in ordering your meal, though.’

‘Women are so literal-minded,’ said Tommy. ‘If there’s one thing I hate it’s milk to drink, and cheese-cakes are always so yellow and bilious-looking.’

‘Be an artist,’ said Tuppence. ‘Watch me attack my cold tongue. Jolly good stuff, cold tongue. Now then, I’m all ready to be Miss Polly Burton. Tie a large knot and begin.’

‘First of all,’ said Tommy, ‘speaking in a strictly unofficial capacity, let me point out this. Business is not too brisk lately. If business does not come to us, we must go to business. Apply our minds to one of the great public mysteries of the moment. Which brings me to the point – the Sunningdale Mystery.’

‘Ah!’ said Tuppence, with deep interest. ‘The Sunningdale Mystery!’

Tommy drew a crumpled piece of newspaper from his pocket and laid it on the table.

‘That is the latest portrait of Captain Sessle as it appeared in the Daily Leader.’

‘Just so,’ said Tuppence. ‘I wonder someone doesn’t sue these newspapers sometimes. You can see it’s a man and that’s all.’

‘When I said the Sunningdale Mystery, I should have said the so-called Sunningdale Mystery,’ went on Tommy rapidly.

‘A mystery to the police perhaps, but not to an intelligent mind.’

‘Tie another knot,’ said Tuppence.

‘I don’t know how much of the case you remember,’ continued Tommy quietly.

‘All of it,’ said Tuppence, ‘but don’t let me cramp your style.’

‘It was just over three weeks ago,’ said Tommy, ‘that the gruesome discovery was made on the famous golf links. Two members of the club, who were enjoying an early round, were horrified to find the body of a man lying face downwards on the seventh tee. Even before they turned him over they had guessed him to be Captain Sessle, a well-known figure on the links, and who always wore a golf coat of a peculiarly bright blue colour.