The Sign of the Black Dagger Read Online Free Page B

know what you’ve told me, dear. But there’s something funny going on, if you ask me. Either you know where your husband is or you don’t. And if you don’t, we might have to see if there are other ways to find him. He owes us a lot of dosh. So now it seems he’s run off and left you all high and dry.”
    He had his foot planted firmly over the threshold again and the other man had moved up closer.
    “If you don’t leave us alone, I’ll have to call the police.”
    “Do that then. Call them! Save us the bother of doing it ourselves.”
    Suddenly, Will gave Mr Smith a push in the chest and quickly closed and bolted the door.
    “I don’t know if that was wise,” said his mother as the men hammered on the door, cursing them. Fortunately, the door was stout.
    “I don’t care. We had to get rid of them.”
    “They’ll be back, though, I’m afraid.”
    Again, they all passed a restless night.
    In the morning, which was Saturday, they sat round thetable not eating their breakfast and discussing what they should do.
    “Why don’t we go round to the office,” said Will, “and see if there’s anything there that would give us a clue?”
    Their mother had a key and the office was only a few minutes’ walk away. There was some mail in the entrance lobby at the back of the door; not much, mostly trash mail and catalogues. Their mother opened the two white envelopes amongst them. One was from MacAtee, MacPherson and Trimble, demanding immediate payment for fifty thousand pounds.
    “What?” gasped Will. “Fifty
thousand
!”
    Their mother had turned pale. This was much worse than they’d imagined, not that they’d thought of any actual amount their father might owe. The second letter had red headings and was from the telephone company announcing that if the current bill was not settled immediately the telephone would be cut off.
    They went through to the office. The two rooms had an abandoned air but perhaps that was because the computers and photocopier were covered in plastic and everything, including the two telephones, sat on the desk tops looking as if they had not been disturbed for a long time. The desk drawers and the filing cabinets were locked and there was no sign of keys. The wastepaper baskets had not been emptied but apart from that the room was amazingly tidy, which surprised them, considering that their father was basically untidy. They had no sense of his ever having been here.
    “Odd,” said their mother, running her hand along the secretary’s desk top. “I thought the cleaner would have been in.” She regarded the skim of dust lying on her hand.
    In the top drawer of the secretary’s desk, they found a telephone book.
    “Why don’t we phone Pauline?” said Lucy, flipping throughit. “Her home number’s here.”
    She dialled the number and handed over the receiver when Pauline answered. It was an awkward call for their mother to make.
    “I was just wondering, Pauline, if Ranald said anything about having to make a trip somewhere this week?”
    Lucy crossed two fingers and held them in the air. Will gazed out of the window, seeing nothing.
    Their mum was frowning while she listened to what Pauline was saying at the other end of the line. “Oh, I see. I didn’t know. Well, no, he didn’t actually say anything.”
    “What is it, Mum?” asked Lucy, unable to bear the suspense.
    “Shush, love.” Their mother listened again and then said, “I’m very sorry about that, Pauline. Fifteen hundred pounds, did you say? I’ll send you a cheque straight away. I’m really terribly sorry.” She put the receiver down and stared straight ahead.
    “What did she say?” cried Lucy.
    “He paid Pauline off three months ago. Well, he didn’t actually pay her off. He owed her fifteen hundred pounds in wages. He said he’d send it as soon as he could. He hasn’t sent it.”
    “Fifteen hundred pounds,” echoed Will. “Where will you get it?”
    “I’ve still got some of Aunt Mary’s