Page:Chipperfield--Unseen Hands.djvu/310

298 "I hid the tools up in father's room until I got Gene's promise to go through the letters of condolence and persuaded him to use that desk that evening. Then in the afternoon when everyone was out I slipped down, locked myself in the library, and filed through the strands of that cable so that they could not hold more than a few hours at most After that I did the cleverest thing of all! I telephoned to the first carpenter's shop whose number I could find in the book for them to send someone early on the following morning to rehang that picture, before any of the rest of the family were up. I didn't want them to notice those filed cable-ends, and they wouldn't have if only that meddlesome old lawyer there hadn't suggested calling in the police.

"I didn't want that, not just yet with only two gone; for Gene escaped by a miracle. Nobody thought I had had anything to do with the fall of that picture, though; I was too clever for them. I reminded them all that it was I myself who had arranged for Gene to sit there; and even that didn't bring the slightest inkling of the truth to their understanding!

"The police mustn't come, not at least until Gene and one or two more had been removed. I had only that night in which to stop Richard and this idiot Titheredge from interfering with my plans, and I hoped that they would fall downstairs and break their necks in the morning before they could leave the house. That wish brought a new inspiration to my mind, and I got my lovely, bright new saw and crept past the room where they were talking and sawed through the top step of the stairs.

"I never forgot a single detail; that's why no one ever