FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175  
176   177   178   179   180   181   182   183   184   185   186   187   188   189   190   191   192   193   194   195   196   197   198   199   200   >>   >|  
nd had a talk with the chief. He knew me by reputation, and a note that I brought from Pougeot helped, and--well, an hour later that photographer was ready to tell me the innermost secrets of his soul." "Eh, eh, eh!" laughed Tignol. "And what did he tell you?" "He told me he made this picture of Alice and the widow _only six weeks ago_." "Six weeks ago!" stared the other. "But the widow told you it was taken five years ago." "Exactly!" "Besides, Alice wasn't in Brussels six weeks ago, was she?" "Of course not; the picture was a fake, made from a genuine one of Alice and a lady, perhaps her mother. This photographer had blotted out the lady and printed in the widow without changing the pose. It's a simple trick in photography." "You saw the genuine picture?" "Of course--that is, I saw a reproduction of it which the photographer made on his own account. He suspected some crooked work, and he didn't like the man who gave him the order." "You mean the wood carver?" Coquenil shrugged his shoulders. "Call him a wood carver, call him what you like. He didn't go to the photographer in his wood-carver disguise, he went as a gentleman in a great hurry, and willing to pay any price for the work." Tignol twisted the long ends of his black mustache reflectively. "He was covering his tracks in advance?" "Evidently." "And the smooth young widow lied?" "Lied?" snapped the detective savagely. "I should say she did. She lied about this, and lied about the whole affair. So did the men at the shop. It was manufactured testimony, bought and paid for, and a manufactured picture." "Then," cried Tignol excitedly, "then Groener is _not_ a wood carver?" "He may be a wood carver, but he's a great deal more, he--he--" Coquenil hesitated, and then, with eyes blazing and nostrils dilating, he burst out: "If I know anything about my business, he's the man who gave me that left-handed jolt under the heart, he's the man who choked your shrimp photographer, he's the man who killed Martinez!" "Name of a green dog!" muttered Tignol. "Is that true, or--or do you only _know_ it?" "It's true _because_ I know it," answered Coquenil. "See here, I'll bet you a good dinner against a box of those vile cigarettes you smoke that this man who calls himself Alice's cousin has the marks of my teeth on the calf of one of his legs--I forget which leg it is." "Taken!" said Tignol, and then, with sudden gravity: "But if this is
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175  
176   177   178   179   180   181   182   183   184   185   186   187   188   189   190   191   192   193   194   195   196   197   198   199   200   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Tignol

 

carver

 

photographer

 
picture
 

Coquenil

 
genuine
 

manufactured

 
nostrils
 

blazing

 

gravity


hesitated

 

handed

 

business

 

dilating

 
affair
 
testimony
 
bought
 

Groener

 

excitedly

 

choked


dinner
 

answered

 

cousin

 
shrimp
 

killed

 

Martinez

 

cigarettes

 

forget

 
muttered
 
sudden

blotted
 

printed

 
changing
 

mother

 
Pougeot
 

account

 

suspected

 

reproduction

 

brought

 

simple


photography

 

Brussels

 

helped

 

innermost

 

secrets

 

stared

 

Besides

 
Exactly
 

crooked

 

laughed