The Union Club Mysteries Read Online Free Page B

up the courage to give you your lead."
    Plumb came to see me again about ten days later. He looked as though he could use some sleep badly.
    He said, and his voice was a little hoarse, "We went through about half the prisoners, concentrating on the long-termers and the tough guys, but we deliberately called in some of the older men and the cream puffs. No one would talk. You never saw such a mass of concentrated ignorance in your life, but of course it was only what I expected—and meanwhile conditions are growing more tense. The guards are on the alert, but I have a feeling that this mysterious leader, whoever he may be, who is shrewd enough to remain unknown, is also shrewd enough to counter and beat any defense the warden may put up. And we can't just lock everyone in the cells, remove all clothing, throw fifty men we like the least into solitary, and do it all just on suspicion. The cries of 'prison brutality' that would arise—" He shuddered.
    I said, "Did you find a prisoner of the type I suggested?"
    "Yes, I did," he said. "Exactly. He'll be out in six months; he's a stranger to violence and is in for business fraud. He shouldn't even be in this particular prison. He speaks well, and is well educated. He works in the library, and he is clearly embarrassed and humiliated at being in prison and, even more, at having to associate with the prisoners."
    "And what did he say, Plumb?"
    "Say? Nothing! I don't even think it was a case of being scared. I think he really didn't know. Why should he? He stays away from the prisoners as much as he can. Personally, I think he has built a little world of his own in which he pretends he's alone."
    I said, "Is he intelligent?"
    "Oh, yes," said Plumb. "I should say very intelligent. He spends most of his time in the library, reading."
    "Then it seems to me he's got to know."
    "What am I supposed to do? Beat it out of him? These days we can't touch them."
    "He must know that the last thing he wants is a prison riot with all its dangers. Surely, he would want to do anything to stop it. He must have tried to get something across. Tell me, Plumb, do you remember exactly what he said to you?"
    "Griswold," said Plumb wearily, "we've carefully recorded all the proceedings. As it happens, however, it is very easy to tell you what he said to us. He told us nothing—blank—zero.''
    I said, "Do you mean that he told you he didn't know anything? Or did he say nothing at all and just sit there in silence?"
    Plumb said, "For the most part he just sat there in silence. He was a little fellow, thin, a small prissy mouth, narrow chin, pale eyes, and he just looked at me with his knees together and his hands clasped in his lap and a faraway look in his eyes. Not a word, till just at the end."
    "Ah, what did he say at the end?"
    "I was exasperated. I asked him if he heard me at all, if he understood what I was saying. Then his eyes flickered in my direction. There was a ghost of a smile on his face and he said, 'No, I haven't. It—was—Greek— to—me.' He spaced the words as though in deliberate insolence and I just ached to punch him in the nose. But I let him go. What else could I do?"
    I said, "You recorded all the interviews. Do you suppose the recordings, or their contents, could leak out to the prisoners?"
    "They shouldn't, but—" Plumb shrugged.
    "They probably will. And our man was very clever. If the rest got the records and found out what he had said, they would consider him a regular guy and a hero. They would have no way of knowing that he gave us the answer."
    Plumb looked astonished. "He did!"
    "I think so. I can't be sure at the moment, but I think so. Do you have a roster of the prisoners?"
    I was given one the next day and picked out the one I thought it might be in less than five minutes. He was transferred and there was no riot. Our friend the prison librarian was released six months later and was then quietly pardoned and his prison record erased.
    Griswold freshened his scotch