The Broken Vase

Chapter 11

Despite his prudence, what happened startled him because it was totally unexpected. As the door swung open there was a clatter, a spattering of liquid, another clatter as something hit the floor. Fox was six feet from the door — a good sidewise leap. As a pungent penetrating odor reached his nostrils he backed away another six feet, and stood there glaring incredulously at a little enameled metal pan that had rolled into the hall when a voice came from his rear:

“Hello, sorry I’m a little late.” It was Diego’s bass rumble. “I’ve been— Hey, the door’s open? What—”

Fox grabbed his arm. “Take it easy. We’d better back off a little.”

“What the hell—”

Fox held him back. “You’d never believe it. I wouldn’t if I hadn’t seen it. I suppose it’s been five thousand years since a kid first fixed a bowl of water to fall on grandpa’s head when he opened a door. Only that’s not water. It’s either hydrocyanic or nitrobenzene, and if it’s the latter the less we breathe the better we’ll feel. I got here four minutes ago. The door had been pried open and was standing ajar. After ringing and yelling and getting no answer, I cautiously gave a push and that pan tumbled down, spilling enough to kill a horse if it landed on him.”

Diego stared. “Kill?”

“Yes. If it’s nitrobenzene. That stuff is as toxic as a volley from a machine gun and penetrates about as fast.”

Diego stared down at the pan on the floor, at damp spots on either side of the threshold, and growled in his throat. “I’m going in and see—”

“Okay, if you’ve got good soles on your shoes and don’t step in a puddle and keep moving. The fumes can get you. Don’t touch that pan. Don’t touch anything near the door.”

Diego obeyed. He avoided the damp spots and halted only when he was in the middle of the living room. Fox went farther, to the windows opposite, and threw them both wide open. When he turned Diego was glowering around.

“Someone’s been in here.”

“Under the circumstances,” Fox observed dryly, “that isn’t much of a surprise.”

“No, but look at those bookshelves.”

Fox had already seen them on his trip across the room. Half the books were lying on the floor. Other things were disarranged. Two drawers of a chest were standing open, and Diego was striding over to them. Fox went to the bathroom, opened the closet door and inspected the shelves there, returned to the living room, and saw that Diego had dropped into a chair, his face a black cloud, his white teeth gripping his lower lip.

“That vase,” Fox said. “It’s not where it was. Did you put it somewhere else?”

Diego made no reply.

“Don’t be a sap.” Fox sounded exasperated. “I know it’s the Wan Li that was stolen from Pomfret. I knew it as soon as I saw it.”

Diego goggled at him. “How could you? You’d never seen it.”

“I’d seen a picture of it, and I know something about pottery. Did you put it somewhere else?”

“Yes. I put it—” Diego stopped. In a moment he went on: “What the hell. It’s gone. I put it in that top drawer and locked it and it’s been jimmied open and it’s gone.”

“Well.” Fox crossed to a chair near a window and sat down. “I see.” He started to hum, in an undertone, “The Parade of the Wooden Soldiers.”

Diego barked, “Shut up!”

Fox looked startled and apologetic. “Was I doing that again? Excuse me. Well, it’s gone. The vase. If you had arrived here before I did, and shoved the door open in the usual way, you would be gone too. Or going. So I saved your life. Does that appeal to you? By the way, do you want me to call the police or will you?”

“What are you talking about? Why should I call the police?”

“My lord,” Fox said mildly. “Burglary? Grand larceny? Attempted murder?”

Diego’s head fell till his chin touched his chest. His hands between his knees, he rubbed the palms together, up and down. Fox waited. Diego shook his head, without lifting it:

“I don’t believe that. That stuff wouldn’t kill a man.

“That’s a question for the police, Diego.”

“They wouldn’t — I don’t want the police.” Diego raised his head. “This is my place, isn’t it? That was broken into? And it was me who was expected to open that door, wasn’t it?”

“Presumably.” Fox’s tone sharpened. “But not to a certainty. You knew I was coming here at six o’clock. You knew it at a quarter to five. That gave you plenty of time to get over here and make arrangements. In case my discovery of the vase had made you fear I might become a serious annoyance.”

Diego was gazing at him, speechless. He found speech only to pronounce, in disbelief and withering scorn, a completely unprintable word.

Fox met his gaze and said calmly. “That’s the way it is, Diego. That’s exactly the way it is. There are eight of you, and one of you is a sneak and a snake and a murderer. And damn dangerous. And damn cunning. And a person of imagination. That varnish in Tusar’s violin is about tops in my experience. Or bottom. I doubt if it’s you, but if it is, I’m after you and I’ll get you. A matter of business — I’m working for Mrs. Pomfret. And if it isn’t, here are some questions I want answers to. One, are you in love with Garda Tusar? Two, what do you know of her relations with any man or men, including Perry Dunham? Three, where did you get that vase? Four, who is it that wants to kill you, and why? We’ll start with the simplest one. Where did you get the vase?”

Diego blurted harshly, “No one wants to kill me!”

“Then take the alternative. Why did you try to kill me?”

Diego opened his mouth, and shut it without speaking. He gazed in silence at Fox, at the drawer still standing open, at the door still swung wide with its splintered edge plainly visible. He took a deep spasmodic breath that shook his torso, and when that convulsion had passed fastened his eyes on Fox again.

“All right,” he said, “get the police. I knew you knew that was Pomfret’s vase. I knew that was why you wanted to see me today, to ask me to explain. The only explanation I could give was to admit that I stole it, which I didn’t care to do. So I... as you say, I made arrangements. I might have known you wouldn’t be caught in a booby trap like that.”

“Then a few minutes after I had entered you ran up to make sure it had worked.”

“Yes, I... to see if you... to see what—”

“You certainly are a champion goof, Diego.”

“I know I am. Why I ever stole it in the first place—”

“Yeah. That was ill-advised. And now you are up against it, or will be when the cops get at you. Where did you get the nitrobenzene? You’ll have to prove that, of course. And the pan? Weren’t you at your office from the time I phoned until you left to come here? Why did you burglarize the door, why didn’t you just use your key? The same with the drawer. And what did you do with the vase? I could go on for an hour. The dumbest cop in the world would give you the horse laugh.”

“Let them,” Diego said doggedly.

“My God,” Fox protested in a tone of disgust, “you don’t mean to say that you actually expect anyone to swallow that!”

“I mean,” said Diego, meeting his gaze unwaveringly, “that if you call the police on this that’s all they’ll get from me.” His face twisted with an involuntary grimace, showing his white teeth and his gums. “And anyone else. Including you. If you want to investigate a murder, that’s all right, I want that as much as you do, but not here. I’m not a murderer. Damn you! What have my feelings for Garda got to do with murder? Or that goddam vase?”

Diego stopped; his jaw worked; he lifted a hand and let it drop again. “I’m sorry, Fox,” he said with an odd and clumsy courtesy. “You think you saved my life. Thank you. That’s all I’m going to say. To anyone.” He pointed. “There’s the phone over there.”

Fox looked at him, at the crooked set to his mouth, at his narrowed eyes, half closed to conceal the mortal hurt to pride or hope or self-respect that had desperately moved him even to the ignominy of falsely declaring himself a thief. It was manifestly useless to badger him or wheedle him or reason with him; another time, another day, perhaps; not now. His hands were moving, and Fox, glancing there, saw that the tips of the index and middle fingers of his right hand were making little circles on the ends of the two stubs on the other hand. Fox had never seen him do that before; in fact, no one had; Diego had never permitted himself to indulge in that little gesture except in solitude.

Fox got up and went to the table and tore a piece from a newspaper, went to the hall and used the scrap of paper to pick up the pan, returned and put the pan on the table, and got his hat from the top of the chest of drawers. As he stopped in front of Diego, Diego looked up at him and then down again.

“Don’t touch that pan with your bare fingers,” Fox said. “That stuff is oily. Even one drop of it is dangerous. On your skin. It wouldn’t kill you, but it might make you pretty sick. Get rubber gloves and wet a cloth with cleaning alcohol and wipe the floor and the door and the woodwork. Clean the pan with alcohol before you throw it away — unless you want to keep it for a souvenir. You can’t lock the door, the lock’s ruined. Some one tried to kill you and may try again. Don’t be a damn fool.”

“The police,” Diego said. “I don’t expect — I’m not asking any favors. I’m perfectly willing—”

“The police are busy on a stabbing up in Harlem,” Fox said roughly, and strode out, down the stairs, and to the street.