"Anything to report?" rapped Kerry.
"The man, Mareno, has gone to bed, and the expert from the Home office
has been--"
Inspector Kerry brought his cane down with a crash upon the table,
whereat Coombes started nervously.
"So that's it!" he shouted furiously, "an 'expert from the Home
office'! So that's the dark horse in the fur coat. Coombes! I'm fed up
to the back teeth with this gun from the Home office! If I'm not to
have entire charge of the case I'll throw it up. I'll stand for no
blasted overseer checking my work! Wait till I see the Assistant
Commissioner! What the devil has the job to do with the Home office!"
"Can't say," murmured Coombes. "But he's evidently a big bug from the
way Whiteleaf treated him. He instructed me to stay in the kitchen and
keep an eye on Mareno while he prowled about in here."
"Instructed you!" cried Kerry, his teeth gleaming and his steel-blue
eyes creating upon Coombes' mind an impression that they were emitting
sparks. "Instructed you! I'll ask you a question, Detective-Sergeant
Coombes: Who is in charge of this case?"
"Well, I thought you were."
"You thought I was?"
"Well, you are."
"I am? Very well--you were saying--?"
"I was saying that I went into the kitchen--"
"Before that! Something about 'instructed.
Pages:
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102