The Player on the Other Side by Ellery Queen Read Free Book Online Page B

‘It’s fixed, miss.’
    â€˜Thank you, Walt.’ Ann’s clear soft voice cut across the moment’s confusion. ‘The kitchen sink,’ she explained. ‘It’s been slow.’
    â€˜I found this in the trap,’ Walt said. He held out a small object. Archer, who was nearest him, took it. ‘A ring.’
    â€˜Walt found your ring, dear,’ said Ann to Myra York. To Emily, who was wearing her how-can-other-people-be-so-careless look, the girl was moved to explain, ‘It isn’t a valuable one at all, just costume jewelry. Here, dear,’ and she took the ring from Archer and gave it to Myra.
    â€˜While you’re here, Walt,’ said Robert York, ‘tell me something. Did you ever get anything like this in the mail?’ He leaned toward Walt with the card. Walt stepped into the room and took the card without expression. Also without response.
    â€˜Well? Well?’ said Robert. ‘Have you or have you not received a card like this in the mail?’
    â€˜With a J on it?’ Walt inquired.
    â€˜With anything on it?’
    â€˜No, Mr. Robert.’
    â€˜Have you any idea what it might mean?’
    â€˜No, Mr. Robert.’ Walt handed the card back.
    â€˜Very well, then,’ said Robert York, and produced one of the imperious motions of the hand so characteristic of him — gestures he himself seemed quite unaware of. Walt apparently took it as a dismissal, for he blinked his round eyes once and backed through the door, closing it after him.
    â€˜Well?’ Emily demanded. ‘What is the “bisect thing”?’
    Robert York twitched his head in irritation, and Tom Archer said, ‘It was just a thought of Mr. York’s. In 1847 the U.S. issued a ten-cent black stamp. In those days, when a post office ran out of — say — its supply of five-centers, it wasn’t unusual for a postmaster to make some out of his supply of ten-cent denominations simply by cutting them in half and selling the halves. Some exist on cover that were bisected vertically, others horizontally and still others diagonally — that is, cut from an upper corner to the lower corner opposite.
    â€˜Well, there’s long been a rumour among philatelists about a supposed error among the 1847 black diagonal bisects. The story goes that some postmaster, instead of cutting diagonally from corner to corner, carelessly snipped a small triangular piece off the top corner of the stamps, so that what was, left was actually five-sided — shaped something like this card. Since one of these, if it were found on cover, would be very rare — in fact, unique as far as we know — it would also be immensely valuable. Mr. York thought that maybe some stamp hunter’s found such a piece and is taking this means of working up Mr. York’s interest in it.’
    â€˜Well,’ said Emily York, ‘that’s just silly enough to explain it.’
    â€˜All but the J,’ said Percival, adding a heh-heh sound.
    Robert was scarlet. He snatched the card and flicked it, a tiny gesture expressing immensities of aggravation. ‘The J could be the fellow’s initial, or — or something like that! Anyway, I said I’d changed my mind!’ He dropped card and envelope into the open attaché case beside his chair. The scarlet remained, and when he spoke his voice held all the wistful anger of a simple-minded, clumsy-fingered man in a world of swift thinkers and capable hands. ‘I don’t understand it. I don’t like things I can’t understand!’
    â€˜Then forget it, Robert,’ said Emily impatiently, ‘I’m late. Can’t we push on? Is there anything important on the agenda?’
    â€˜Yes-by-God-there-is.’ It was an ugly snarl, Percival’s. His glance impaled his cousin Robert. ‘I’m going to say this exactly once, and you’d better take it to heart: You keep messing up my