Cannes, a Polish countess living here in Nice, and one or two others who may be worth investigating. I was going to suggest that this afternoon we should see if we could pick up a lead from one of them.'
`What about the de Grasses?' John demanded. `They are up to their ears in this.'
The ex inspector gave him a pitying look. `Is it likely that we should have neglected them, Monsieur; or that they are such fools as to have exposed themselves? M. le Marquis is still laid up with his wound and Count Jules has an alibi covering him from seven o'clock till past midnight.'
`But they must know the whole story. Upson is their man and the Canon travelled by his seaplane.'
`There is no proof whatever, Monsieur, that the seaplane that landed on the reservoir was Upson's.'
`Who can doubt it; or that the de Grasses did all the spade work for getting Christina out of prison?'
`Let us accept that,' agreed Malouet. `The police are endeavouring to trace the lorry which presumably drove away the Canon and the homunculus, and the taxi in which Mademoiselle Christina was carried off. But in both cases they have very little to go on, and nothing at all that links either up with the de Grasses.'
`They know the truth! We must get it out of them!' exclaimed John impatiently.
Molly laid a hand on his arm. `Johnny dear, don't be unreasonable. Since there is nothing with which they can be charged, the police have no excuse for questioning them; and they certainly won't give anything away to us.'
`But, Mumsie, we've got to make them, somehow,' he protested. `It is our only chance to find out what has been done with Christina.'
`There is still a chance that we may get a line through one of these occultists whom Monsieur Malouet suggests that we should investigate this afternoon,' C. B. put in quietly.
`Perhaps ! But we have only this afternoon left to work in,' John argued desperately. `So we can't possibly afford to ignore the only people we are all convinced could give us the facts if they liked. I am going to ring up Jules and make him give me an appointment.'
`Just as you like.' C. B. gave a little shrug. `But I'm afraid you will be knocking your head up against a brick wall.'
John jumped up and left the table to telephone. When he returned a few minutes later he said, `I got on to Jules at the Capricorn, and he has agreed to see me at four o'clock. Mumsie, you'll drive me over, won't you? And I'd like Mr. Beddows to come with us. He has certain arguments which I think might induce Jules to talk.'
Beddows had taken very little part in the conversation, but he now gave a quick nod and said, `I get the idea it's O.K. by me.'
C. B. had also got it, and turned a serious glance on John. `It's worth trying, though I doubt if Jules will prove willing to make any admissions, whatever you offer. Still, I can guess how you must be feeling; so good luck.'
As they left the table Malouet said, `Colonel Verney and I will maintain contact with the police in case they pick up any information about the lorry or the cab, and will spend the afternoon ourselves making enquiries in other quarters. If you wish to get in touch with us, ring up Inspector Drouet at the Prefecture in Nice. I will see to it that he knows from time to time where to get hold of us.'
Outside the airport they separated, C. B. and Malouet taking a taxi into the city, while Molly took the road to St. Tropez with John and Beddows as her passengers. At her villa they made a brief halt to drop their suitcases, but out of his Beddows took the bulk of his bank notes and stuffed them in his pockets. They reached the Capricorn soon after four, and as they drove up to the hotel Molly said to John
`I don't think I'll come in with you, Johnny. I'll just wait in the car and say a little prayer that things may go the way you want them to.'
`Thanks, Mumsie.' He leaned over and gave her a quick kiss. `Keep on praying till we come out, please. This means an awful lot to me.'
On giving his name he was shown up at once to the de Grasses' suite. Jules let them in and John introduced Beddows to him. The young Frenchman gave Christina's father a swift, appraising look, then led them into the sitting room. When they were settled there John said:
`I'd like to come straight to the point. A few days ago you offered to double cross Canon Copely Syle if I would make it worth your while to do so. Is that offer still open?'
Jules' eyebrows rose in evident amusement. `A lot has happened since then; and things are rather different now, aren't they?'
`You mean that I caused you a lot of trouble, and that it was largely owing to my having taken a hand in the game that your father was wounded?'
To John's surprise, Jules replied, `No; I wasn't thinking of that. You made yourself a nuisance, of course, but even if you hadn't been with us at the chateau that hell cat might have got hold of Upson's pistol and run amok as she did; so I reckon that what we lost on the swings owing to your intervention we more than made up on the roundabouts. I saw you knock the gun up when she was about to shoot my father through the heart. I am very fond of my father, and it was your having saved his life that decided me to hear anything you had to say this afternoon.'
John smiled a little awkwardly. `I'm afraid I can't take any great credit for that, as it's a natural instinct not to want to see murder done. But of what were you thinking, when you said things are different now?'
`Simply that as we have already handed over the goods I don't think there is much that we can do.'
`You could put us on to the men who met the Canon, and those who later kidnapped Christina.'
`Perhaps; but that would mean laying certain friends of mine open to criminal proceedings; and that I am naturally not prepared to do.'
`I'm ready to ante up handsome, Count,' Beddows put in. `I've quite a tidy sum on me, and if more is needed I don't doubt I could fix passing it through the Tangier International Zone.'
`Thank you, sir,' said Jules, with a frigid little bow. `But it is not in the tradition of my family to sell our servants.'
John was tempted to make a swift retort to the effect that it was even more shameful to traffic in dope, arms and women; but he checked himself in time, and said, `May I ask you a question?'
`By all means.' Jules snapped a gold, pocket gas lighter to the Gitane cigarette that was hanging from his lips. `Do you know where Christina is now?'
`I haven't an idea.'
`Then do you know where the Canon plans to hold this abominable ceremony to night?'
With a genuinely puzzled look Jules asked, `What ceremony?'
`Surely you are aware of the reason why he has been trying to get hold of Christina?'
`No. I thought he just had a yen for her. Old boys do get that sort of thing for young girls, you know; and are often willing to part with a lot of money for a chance to gratify it.'
`This is something very different. He wants to use her
in what, for lack of a better name, we will call a Black Mass.'
`Really!' Jules' plump face showed only cynical interest. `That sounds very intriguing. Ellen, or Christina, or whatever you like to call her, would look pretty good stretched out naked on an altar. I think I must try to muscle in on that.'
John fought down an impulse to hit him, and said, `If you did, as the culminating point of the ritual consists in cutting her throat, you might find yourself later being charged as an accessory to murder.'
Letting out a low whistle, Jules stood up. `So it's not just fun and games, eh? Well, I don't wish her any harm, even if she is half off her nut; but I'm afraid there is not much I can do about it.'
`You said that you might muscle in on the ceremony. Could you do that? Or, at all events, find out where it is to take place?'
`I might, but it would not be easy. We did all that was required of us last night and were paid well for our trouble; but, to be honest, I don't think my own people could help much. What you have just told me explains a lot. You must already have a pretty shrewd idea how the two jobs were done; so there's no point in my concealing from you what happened afterwards. The Canon and the big crate he brought with him were taken to a villa on the outskirts of the town. Some three hours later Christina, doped and concealed in a large trunk, was delivered at what I imagine to have been the same place; but of that I can't be certain. You see, when the men who did these jobs reported to me this morning, none of them had anything but the vaguest idea where they had been. They couldn't even recall the district in which the villa lay.'
`Oh hell!' John groaned, at the thought that his last hope was slipping away. `Then that swine of a Canon
