When Pfyfe rose to go, Vance turned from his contemplation of the outside world and, bowing affably, let his eyes rest on the other with ingenuous good nature.
“Now that you are in New York, Mr. Pfyfe, and were so unfortunate as to be unable to arrive earlier, I assume that you will remain until after the investigation.”
Pfyfe’s studied and habitual calm gave way to a look of oily astonishment. “I hadn’t contemplated doing so.”
“It would be most desirable if you could arrange it,” urged Markham; though I am sure he had no intention of making the request until Vance suggested it.
Pfyfe hesitated and then made an elegant gesture of resignation. “Certainly I shall remain. When you have further need of my services, you will find me at the Ansonia.”
He spoke with exalted condescension and magnanimously conferred upon Markham a parting smile. But the smile did not spring from within. It appeared to have been adjusted upon his features by the unseen hands of a sculptor; and it affected only the muscles about his mouth.
When he had gone, Vance gave Markham a look of suppressed mirth.
“‘Elegancy, facility, and golden cadence.’… But put not your faith in poesy, old dear. Our Ciceronian friend is an unmitigated fashioner of deceptions.”
“If you’re trying to say that he’s a smooth liar,” remarked Heath, “I don’t agree with you. I think that story about the captain’s threat is straight goods.”
“Oh, that! Of course, it’s true.… And, y’ know, Markham, the knightly Mr. Pfyfe was frightfully disappointed when you didn’t insist on his revealing Miss St. Clair’s name. This Leander, I fear, would never have swum the Hellespont for a lady’s sake.”
“Whether he’s a swimmer or not,” said Heath impatiently, “he’s given us something to go on.”
Markham agreed that Pfyfe’s recital had added materially to the case against Leacock.
“I think I’ll have the captain down to my office tomorrow, and question him,” he said.
A moment later Major Benson entered the room, and Markham invited him to join us.
“I just saw Pfyfe get into a taxi,” he said, when he had sat down. “I suppose you’ve been asking him about Alvin’s affairs.… Did he help you any?”
“I hope so, for all our sakes,” returned Markham kindly. “By the way, Major, what do you know about a Captain Philip Leacock?”
Major Benson lifted his eyes to Markham’s in surprise. “Didn’t you know? Leacock was one of the captains in my regiment—a first-rate man. He knew Alvin pretty well, I think; but my impression is they didn’t hit it off very chummily.… Surely you don’t connect him with this affair?”
Markham ignored the question. “Did you happen to attend a party of Pfyfe’s the night the captain threatened your brother?”
“I went, I remember, to one or two of Pfyfe’s parties,” said the major. “I don’t, as a rule, care for such gatherings, but Alvin convinced me it was a good business policy.”
He lifted his head and frowned fixedly into space, like one searching for an elusive memory.
“However, I don’t recall—By George! Yes, I believe I do.… But if the instance I am thinking of is what you have in mind, you can dismiss it. We were all a little moist that night.”
“Did you see the gun?” pursued Heath.
The major pursed his lips. “Now that you mention it, I think he did make some motion of the kind.”
“Did you see the gun?” pursued Heath.
“No, I can’t say that I did.”
Markham put the next question. “Do you think Captain Leacock capable of the act of murder?”
“Hardly,” Major Benson answered with emphasis. “Leacock isn’t cold-blooded. The woman over whom the tiff occurred is more capable of such an act than he is.”
A short silence followed, broken by Vance.
“What do you know, Major, about this glass of fashion and mold of form, Pfyfe? He appears a rare bird. Has he a history, or is his presence his life’s document?”
“Leander Pfyfe,” said the major, “is a typical specimen of the modern young do-nothing—I say young, though I imagine he’s around forty. He was pampered in his upbringing—had everything he wanted, I believe; but he became restless and followed several different fads till he tired of them. He was two years in South Africa hunting big game and, I think, wrote a book recounting his adventures. Since then he has done nothing that I know of. He married a wealthy shrew some years ago—for her money, I imagine. But the woman’s father controls the purse strings and holds him down to a rigid allowance.… Pfyfe’s a waster and an idler, but Alvin seemed to find some attraction in the man.”
The major’s words had been careless in inflection and undeliberated, like those of a man discussing a neutral matter; but all of us, I think, received the impression that he had a strong personal dislike for Pfyfe.
“Not a ravishing personality, what?” remarked Vance. “And he uses far too much Jicky.”
“Still,” supplied Heath, with a puzzled frown, “a fellow’s got to have a lot of nerve to shoot big game.… And, speaking of nerve, I’ve been thinking that the guy who shot your brother, Major, was a mighty cool-headed proposition. He did it from the front when his man was wide awake and with a servant upstairs. That takes nerve.”
“Sergeant, you’re pos’tively brilliant!” exclaimed Vance.
CHAPTER 12
THE OWNER OF A COLT .45
(Monday, June 17; forenoon.)
Though Vance and I arrived at the district attorney’s office the following morning a little after nine, the captain had been waiting twenty minutes; and Markham directed Swacker to send him in at once.
Captain Philip Leacock was a typical army officer, very tall—fully six feet, two inches—clean-shaven, straight, and slender. His face was grave and immobile; and he stood before the district attorney in the erect, earnest attitude of a soldier awaiting orders from his superior officer.
“Take a seat, Captain,” said Markham, with a formal bow. “I have asked you here, as you probably know, to put a few questions to you concerning Mr. Alvin Benson. There are several points regarding your relationship with him which I want you to explain.”
“Am I suspected of complicity in the crime?” Leacock spoke with a slight southern accent.
“That remains to be seen,” Markham told him coldly. “It is to determine that point that I wish to question you.”
The other sat rigidly in his chair and waited.
Markham fixed him with a direct gaze.
“You recently made a threat on Mr. Alvin Benson’s life, I believe.”
Leacock started, and his fingers tightened over his knees. But before he could answer, Markham continued: “I can tell you the occasion on which the threat was made—it was at a party given by Mr. Leander Pfyfe.”
Leacock hesitated, then thrust forward his jaw. “Very well, sir; I admit I made the threat. Benson was a cad—he deserved shooting.… That night he had become more obnoxious than usual. He’d been drinking too much—and so had I, I reckon.”
He gave a twisted smile and looked nervously past the district attorney out of the window.
“But I didn’t shoot him, sir. I didn’t even know he’d been shot until I read the paper next day.”
“He was shot with an army Colt, the kind you fellows carried in the war,” said Markham,