The eyes of Richard and Simon met. Without words, those of each told the other how fully they realised the desperateness of their situation. It was Richard who spoke first. Turning to Fidel Cunliffe, he said:
‘It’s useless to deny that we have not told you the truth—at least, not the whole of it. The devil of it is that if we did I greatly doubt if you, or anyone else, would believe us. The police are right about Nella—that was the woman’s name—Nella Nathan’s having been an American. They are right, too, that it was because we knew of her death and feared that we would become involved in it, that we attempted to leave the country. The reason we have given for bringing her to the Hilton in the middle of the night is a complete fabrication. None the less, neither of us was in any way responsible for her murder. Upon that I give you my solemn word.’
Simon nodded. ‘That’s the truth. Ready to swear to that on the Torah.’
The lawyer looked from one to the other. His expression had softened, and no longer held a veiled dislike. After a moment he said in a more gentle voice, ‘Señors, I find your earnestness convincing. I will now admit that only my obligations to the British Embassy would have overcome my reluctance to defend men I believed guilty of such a heinous crime. But, if you are truly innocent, I will do my utmost for you. For your part, though, however improbable-sounding it may be, you must withhold nothing from me.’
During the next quarter of an hour, the two friends gave him a full account of all that had occurred on the night of the previous Tuesday, withholding only Rex’s name as that of the friend they had hoped to trace through the Satanists.
When they had done, Cunliffe said, ‘No one is ever going to believe that, by the use of spells, these Satanists had the power to conjure up an evil force capable of committing a physical act such as this murder. But that a clairvoyant could have overlooked the woman and located her at the Hilton would be regarded as plausible. Given that, one or more people could have been despatched to the hotel to kill her. There cannot have been many arrivals at the hotel in the middle hours of the night; so it should be possible to trace those who did, and an investigation into their backgrounds might provide us with valuable material for the defence.’
‘Ner,’ Simon murmured unhappily. ‘ ’Fraid we’ll get nowhere along those lines. Hotel people have been got at. Just a chance that cleaning woman did spot us as we were about to come round the corner into the main corridor. But I doubt it. Anyhow, she definitely could not have seen us come out of Nella’s room. It’s clear now that those clever swine had a double motive for killing Nella. First, to silence her. Second, to pin her murder on Eatoh and me, to get us out of the way. They must have either terrified or bribed the cleaning woman into saying she saw us; and I think you’ll find the night clerk very unhelpful. Besides, Nella’s killers may not have actually booked in at the hotel, but got in through one of the service entrances.’
‘I fear you are right, Mr Aron. However, there is the house at which the “barbecue” was held. If we can produce evidence that it was actually a Sabbat, we shall have gone a long way to shake the prosecution.’
It was now Richard who struck a pessimistic note. ‘It will surprise me if you succeed in that. Of course, the owner of the place, the American Negro lawyer Lincoln B. Glasshill, will not deny that he gave a party there last Tuesday night. We could produce the caterers who delivered the food, and there was so much noise that some of the nearest neighbours must have heard it. But that was four nights ago. They have had more than enough time to remove every trace that Satanic rites are practised out there.’
‘That still leaves us Philo McTavish.’
‘You may find him a little difficult. After we had rescued Nella, he showed great reluctance to becoming involved further in the affair. And we deliberately refrained from letting him in on the fact that the “barbecue” was actually a witches’ Sabbat.’
‘As things have turned out, that was a pity,’ Cunliffe commented. ‘But, no matter. We shall, of course, subpoena him, and he will have no option other than to give an account of what occurred during the time he was acting as your driver. That, at least, will establish the fact that you did go out to Glasshill’s estate and brought back Nella Nathan from there, wearing the costume of a cat and in a state bordering on collapse. Besides, there are the bullet holes in the boot of his car. Your having been fired on will provide ample proof that those people were, even then, prepared to murder the woman and yourselves, who were protecting her. That will make it illogical for the prosecution to maintain that it was you who killed her an hour or so later. Provided we can shake the cleaning woman and other false witnesses they may produce, I feel there is a very good chance of my securing your acquittal.’
The prisoners were greatly cheered by this, and Richard asked, ‘When are we to be brought before a magistrate?’
‘As the police completed their investigation today, you would normally be charged tomorrow. But, as tomorrow is Sunday, you will not appear in court until Monday. That is just as well. It gives me an additional day in which to work. I will instruct the detective agency to find out all they can about Glasshill and his house, and I will see McTavish myself.’
When they had thanked him, Simon said, ‘Be grateful if you’d do me a favour. This case is certain to make an awful stink in the papers. To learn of it that way would be a terrible shock to a friend of mine’ She’s staying at the Hilton. I’d like to let her know in advance that Eaton and I are being charged with murder, and beg her not to worry too much. If I wrote a note, would you drop it in at the hotel for me?’
‘By all means. I pass the Hilton on my way home. I’ll get the warder to bring you a pen and paper.’
When these had been produced, Simon wrote a brief letter to Miranda. He told her only that he and Richard had fallen foul of a group of Satanists who were attempting to fix a murder on them; but that the British Embassy had sent them an excellent lawyer, whom they hoped would secure their release on Monday.
The following morning, shortly before midday, a warder again beckoned them out of the cell, and took them to the interviewing room. They naturally expected to find Cunliffe there, having come back either to ask more questions or to bring them some piece of special news. But their visitor was Miranda, accompanied by Miss Pinney.
As soon as Miranda realised that Simon was in the room, she cried, ‘I had to come! I simply had to come. I couldn’t bear not knowing everything about this terrible trouble you are in.’
Simon beamed at her, ‘But it’s lovely to see you. Sweet of you to think of coming here to cheer us up. ‘Fraid we’re in a muddle, a really nasty muddle. But I think our lawyer chap will get us out of it.’
‘Oh, I pray to God he does.’ Sitting down at the table, Miranda added quickly, ‘Now please tell me what has been happening to you. Right from the beginning, when you left the Hilton, after letting me know that you had learned something that might lead us to Uncle Rex.’
Between them Simon and Richard put her fully in the picture; then, with Pinney a silent listener, they discussed with her the pros and cons of their case. Miranda showed a very clear grasp of the situation, and suggested that the only certain way out for them was to produce an alibi, but there seemed no way in which they could do that. A warder then looked in to say that, in another two minutes, the visitors’ time would be up.
For a moment Miranda was silent; then she caught her breath and said quickly, ‘There’s something … something I must tell you. I had to play a trick to be allowed to come here. When I telephoned the authorities, at first they refused me permission to visit you. They were quite adamant about it, and I felt absolutely desperate. So … so I went to the British Embassy. A nice young man named Phillips fixed it for me.’
Simon looked puzzled. ‘Good idea. But I don’t see where playing a trick comes in by your having done that.’
‘No … no.’ Below Miranda’s mask, her cheeks had become pink with blushing. Suddenly she burst out, ‘But I lied to him. I told him I was your fiancée.’
At her confession, Simon’s mouth dropped open. Quickly grasping her hand, he gulped, ‘I only wish … oh, I wish you were.’
Taking off her blindfold mask, she peered up into his face. ‘Do you mean that, Simon? Do you really mean that?’
‘My dear, of course I do. I’ve loved you since that first day in Buenos Aires.’
‘But … but loving’s one thing, and marrying is another. I’m so useless. I’d be a terrible handicap to you as a wife.’
‘Nonsense!’ He cast a glance at the other two, gave a little giggle, and put his hand up to his mouth. ‘Extraordinary place to propose to a girl in, isn’t it? Before other people, too. Still…’
Easing off the antique gold ring he always wore on his left finger, he put it on the third finger of her left hand, laughed again and said, ‘Now you’re committed. You’re mine, and I’ll never let you go.’
She came to her feet and kissed him. At that moment the warder returned. Good-byes had to be said. Dazed with happiness, Simon accompanied Richard back to their cell.
On Monday morning, a most unpleasant surprise awaited them. They had only just finished breakfast when they were taken to the interviewing room. Cunliffe was standing there. As soon as the door was shut, he glowered at them and snapped, ‘I accepted the story you told me on Saturday night; but you lied to me again.’
‘We did nothing of the kind,’ Richard retorted hotly. ‘Every word we told you was the truth.’
‘Up to a point, perhaps,’ the lawyer said angrily. ‘But not the whole truth. You said that between approximately three a.m. and six a.m. on the day of the crime you were both in your own beds, asleep.’
‘That is perfectly true.’
Cunliffe swung round on Simon. ‘Of course, I understand your wish to protect the good name of your fiancée; but one can’t afford to make such chivalrous gestures when one is being tried for murder. Yesterday afternoon Miss Van Ryn got my address through the British Embassy, and came to see me with her companion. She made a statement. After you had got rid of the Nathan woman, you went up to Miss Van Ryn’s suite and went to bed with her.’
Simon’s eyes flickered wildly, while Richard asked, ‘And what was I supposed to be doing?’
‘You know well enough. You were down in your own suite, playing six-pack bezique with Miss Pinney. She, of course, is entirely dependent on Miss Van Ryn, so reluctantly had to submit to her wishes. Apparently this party was arranged before the two of you went out. It was not expected that it would be so late before you returned. But Miss Van Ryn refused to forgo the—er—pleasure that she expected to enjoy in Mr Aron’s company. It seems that Miss Pinney had proved squeamish about remaining in the suite while her young mistress was conducting herself in a manner of which she highly disapproved; so you had stepped into the breach and offered to keep her mind occupied with a game of cards down in your suite, while Mr Aron entertained his fiancée in hers.’
Richard and Simon exchanged a glance. They both realised that this alibi that Miranda had provided for them at the expense of her reputation would enormously strengthen their chances of obtaining a favourable verdict. Philo McTavish’s evidence would show that, far from wanting to murder Nella, they had protected her. That of Miranda would show that they had not even had the opportunity. To deny it would only confuse the issue, and seriously jeopardise the credibility of such other statements as they made.
Simon swallowed hard, and muttered, ‘All right. I’m sorry I didn’t come clean with you about my having been with Miss Van Ryn, but my reason sticks out a mile. Everything else we told you was the truth.’
The lawyer accepted their apology somewhat coldly, then he said, ‘It’s just as well that Miss Van Ryn has had the courage to come to your assistance in this way, because I’m far from happy about the evidence McTavish will give.’
‘I feared he might prove a bit sticky,’ Richard remarked.
Cunliffe scratched his red nose. ‘He is prepared to say only that he drove you out to Glasshill’s, where you remained for some time; that you then emerged from the trees with a woman, upon which he drove the three of you back to the Hilton. You see, although you told him that the “barbecue” was only an ordinary wild party, from what he heard going on there, the woman you rescued being clad like a cat, then learning about her murder and mutilation, he has tumbled to it that she was the victim of Satanists.’
‘Do you think that they have warned him not to talk?’
‘They may have. I think it more likely that he is concerned to keep his job. He feels that if, in any way, he allowed Don Caesar Albert’s name to be connected with this scandal, he would be out on his ear. He told me that, perjury or no perjury, he’ll deny taking you to Don Caesar’s house and that it was Don Caesar’s wife who supplied the Nathan woman with clothes. He stubbornly refuses to confirm that, when he first saw her, she was dressed as a cat. He will say that the clothes that were found with her are, to the best of his belief, those she was wearing when you bundled her into the car.’
‘We could prove that, on the way back, we went to Don Caesar’s house. The servant who opened the door to me could be called.’
‘He could, but would that get us anywhere, unless he actually saw the girl in her cat get-up, and his mistress’ clothes being brought out for her?’
‘No; unfortunately he saw neither. It is even more unfortunate that McTavish has dug in his toes. If he would give a full account of the cries and weird sounds he must have heard while the Sabbat was in progress, that would have helped a lot. Anyhow, he can’t deny that we were shot at and the boot of his car riddled with holes.’
‘Yes, he can. The car cannot be found. He says that it has been stolen. That may be true, or it may be that he has hidden it somewhere, owing to his anxiety to make everyone believe that nothing much out of the ordinary occurred during this trip on which he acted as your driver.’
‘I can’t understand why he should be so unhelpful.’
The lawyer shrugged. ‘I can. Firstly, as I’ve told you, he believes that he’ll get good marks if he can prevent his boss from being connected in any way with black magic, and very bad ones if he fails to do so. Secondly and more important, he can have very little doubt that Nella Nathan was killed by Satanists to keep her from giving them away; and he is scared that if he opens his mouth too wide they will have a crack at him.’
‘If we could get Don Caesar back, I feel sure he would give evidence in our favour. He is not the sort of man to stand by and see two friends condemned unjustly, just because a few stupid people might get the wrong end of the stick and think he had some connection with Satanists. After all, he helped us when we were getting the girl away from them.’
‘Do you know where he is?’
‘No. He was going first to London I think; then on to Switzerland to get some ski-ing. But his office must know.’
‘I will get on to it and find out. Then, if matters go badly, we could cable him. That is, if you really feel we should be justified in asking him to abandon his holiday and return. You see, he could only repeat what you told him about having witnessed a Sabbat, and that is not evidence. His giving you some of his wife’s clothes proves nothing, and I gather he did not even see the woman. In any case, he knows nothing about what happened later at the Hilton; and that is the crux of the matter.’
‘You’re right,’ Richard admitted gloomily. ‘Still, we have our alibis. May God bless Miss Van Ryn.’
An hour later, the two friends were taken into Court. Phillips from the British Embassy was present and with him an interpreter who, for Richard’s benefit, translated every stage of the proceedings into English.
The prosecutor made an opening statement, then called a doctor who had carried out an autopsy on Nella’s body. He deposed the cause of her death, described her mutilation and affirmed that she had been violently raped a short while before her death.
Next came the cleaning woman who had been in the main passage. She was middle-aged, with a workworn face and humble manner. She gave her evidence clearly, but in a singsong tone that suggested she was reciting lines she had been taught. Simon thought it probable that she was being controlled from some distance by a powerful hypnotist, but there was no way of testing that. She stated firmly that it was Richard and Simon whom she had seen come out of Nella’s room at about six a.m., and that she could not be mistaken.
The desk clerk related how Richard and Simon had brought Nella to the hotel, booked a room for her and taken her up in the lift. No one else had come in and booked a room that night after they had done so.
A floor waiter testified that, when taking away the breakfast tray from the sitting room of the accused’s suite, he had also collected three used glasses.
A policeman from Valparaiso described how he had detained the accused as they were about to board a steamer bound for Callao.
A woman clerk from the office of L.A.N. related how Richard had enquired there, within a few minutes of the office opening on Wednesday the 18th, about flights that day to La Paz and Lima.
Finally, the senior police officer who had interrogated them after they had been brought back to Santiago, read a long statement, showing how the replies to the questions he had asked the accused conflicted with evidence already given.
Cunliffe then made a statement on behalf of his clients. At his first mention of Satanism, a rustle of excited interest ran round the Court, and the pencils of the reporters at the Press table began to fly. As this was not a trial, but only a preliminary hearing before a magistrate to determine whether there was a case against the accused, Cunliffe’s statement was no more than a brief résumé of events as described by Richard and Simon, after they had withdrawn the statement they had made to the police.
McTavish was then called. He ran true to the form Cunliffe had predicted he would show. He said that his Chief had ordered him to investigate the house of Señor Lincoln B. Glasshill and the nature of the parties held there. He had done so, but had no reason to suppose that they had any connection with Satanism. On Tuesday, the 17th, his Chief had ordered him to drive Señors Eaton and Aron out to the house late at night. He had done so. They had told him to pull up in a lane behind the house, then had left the car and disappeared into a screen of trees that bordered the estate. They had been absent for the best part of two hours. When they reappeared they were running and, with them, had a young woman. Pushing her into the car, they had ordered him to take them back to the city. When he had asked them what had been going on, they had replied to the effect that a wild party was being held in the garden of the house, and that it had proved too wild for the young lady. They had said nothing about witchcraft or black magic. During the drive the woman had not spoken. He had dropped the three of them at the Hilton Hotel shortly after two o’clock in the morning.
Cunliffe made no attempt to trap McTavish into contradicting himself, neither did the prosecutor cross-examine him. Such questioning to test the veracity of witnesses would be carried out by Counsel if the case was sent to trial.
When Miranda was led to the stand there was a new stir of interest. She gave her evidence in a low, firm voice, frankly stating that Simon was not only her fiancé, but also her lover and that, on the night in question, he had spent the hours between about three o’clock and seven in bed with her. As she stood down, a hush ensued that, in a subtle way, conveyed the sympathy of those present for the blind girl who had publicly declared her frailty to protect the man she loved.
Miss Pinney followed her. Unlike McTavish and Miranda who, although they intended to perjure themselves, had both taken the oath without hesitation, the companion held the Bible by a corner and well away from her, as though she almost expected it to burst into flames. Cunliffe took her through her evidence as quickly as possible; but she faltered several times in her replies, and spoke in such a low voice that twice the magistrate had to ask her, through the interpreter, to speak up.
It was clear to Richard and Simon that her Nonconformist conscience was giving her a very bad time. The latter wondered how Miranda had ever succeeded in persuading her to participate in this deception, and it occurred to him that Pinney had perhaps consented only because, being a Van Ryn, Miranda was very rich and had promised to settle a large enough sum of money on her to ensure her a comfortable old age.
But the fact remained that she had made a far from good impression, and the two accused were not surprised when the magistrate ruled that they should be sent for trial.
Greatly depressed, they were taken back to their cell. Shortly afterwards, Cunliffe came to see them. Angrily, he said, ‘After Miss Van Ryn’s evidence, I thought we were going to get away with it; but that sanctimonious companion of hers bitched everything up. When she had faltered through her piece, anyone could see they had both been lying, and it must have been obvious to the magistrate that Mr Aron’s fiancée had courageously hatched this little plot in the hope of clearing you both.’
Neither Simon nor Richard sought to disabuse him of his belief, and he then proceeded to cheer them up by going on, ‘But you must not be despondent. We have plenty of shots in our locker yet. I’ll see to it that the Pinney woman makes a much better showing when she next gives evidence; and Counsel will take McTavish to pieces. Now that Lincoln B. Glasshill has been brought into it, we can subpoena him and the couple who look after his house. He’ll have to give an account of those parties he holds. Plenty of people can be brought to testify that they take place, so something may come out of that. I’ll have that cleaning woman investigated, too. If it is found that she’s spending much more money than she normally would, we’ll insist on knowing where she got it, and may be able to show that she was bribed to give false evidence.’
When Cunliffe had left them, they held an inquest on the morning’s proceedings, and the conclusions they reached were less optimistic than his. Richard summed up the situation by saying:
‘What he fails to realise is that the people we are up against have occult power. I’ll swear that cleaning woman was under hypnotic control from a distance, and they’re much too clever to allow her to be trapped. Counsel won’t shake Philo either. They’ve got him where they want him, and they’ll keep him there. Our side can subpoena Lincoln B. Glasshill, but you can be certain we’ll get nothing out of him; and Pinney is a hopelessly weak reed. Since her mind is in such a state of doubt and distress, it must be open to the Satanists. They will work on her while she is sleeping, and it would not surprise me if, at our trial, she suddenly breaks down and confesses that she has been lying.’
‘Ummm,’ Simon agreed. ‘How I wish we had Greyeyes with us. I don’t mean involved in our muddle, but on hand to help us. By pitting his occult powers against von Thumm and Co., I’m sure he’d turn the tables on them and, somehow, get us off.’
‘Yes. The big mistake we made was not cabling him to come out the moment we realised that Rex had become involved in a black magic set-up.’
‘I did think of it. But we had no chance. We didn’t know for certain that Glasshill’s parties were Sabbats until Tuesday night. Everything happened so quickly after that. Wednesday morning we were on the run.’
‘D’you think it’s too late to send him an S.O.S.?’
‘ ’Fraid so. Cunliffe’s just told us that our trial should come on in a week. Our dear Duke will still be in Corfu, staying with those people whose villa he’s thinking of buying. Could send a cable, but it would take the best part of a day to reach him. Shouldn’t think for a moment that there’s an air service yet to an out-of-the-way place like Corfu. He’d have to go by ship and rail to Rome; and from there it’s a three or four day flight out to Santiago.’
Richard sighed. ‘No, I’m afraid it’s not on. The odds are that even if our trial were not over by the time he got here, at best he’d have very little time to work in.’
During the next few days, both Miranda and Cunliffe paid them several visits. The lawyer reported that he had secured a Court order to search Glasshill’s house; but, when it was executed, nothing incriminating was found there. As McTavish reported earlier, the couple who lived there were either deaf and dumb, or acting the part of deaf-mutes. From the descriptions given to them it now occurred to Simon that they might be Zombies. In any case, they were completely useless to the defence. Still worse, the day after the magistrate’s hearing, Lincoln B. Glasshill, evidently deciding that whatever course the trial might take, it would do his reputation no good to be interrogated as a witness, had left Santiago for an unknown destination.
Miranda brought the prisoners luxuries to eat and drink and spent every walking hour cudgelling her wits for new ways in which to help them. She had Pinney take her to Philo’s lodging, upbraided him furiously for having borne false witness, then offered him a huge bribe to give a true account of what he knew. But he had told her frankly that he believed it to be more than his life was worth to accept it. She had then spent a thousand dollars inserting large advertisements in all the papers, offering ten thousand dollars’ reward to anyone who could give information leading to the whereabouts of Philo’s bullet-riddled car.
On the morning of Friday the 27th, the prisoners were taken, as so often before, to the interviewing room. They expected to find either Miranda and Pinney or Cunliffe waiting for them there. Instead, to their amazement, it was de Richleau who stood behind the bare table.
With fervour and delight, the three old friends embraced. To the eager questioning of the prisoners about how he came to be in Santiago, the Duke replied:
‘I learned that you were in serious trouble through a dream or, rather, when I was up on the third level of the Astral plane. Naturally, I left Corfu immediately for Rome, and had myself flown out. I arrived yesterday afternoon, got particulars of the trouble you are in and your lawyer’s address from the British Embassy, then went to see him. He gave me all the facts as far as they are known.’
‘What do you think of our chances?’ Richard asked quickly.
De Richleau frowned. ‘Not very good at the moment, I’m afraid. But I may be able to help. I told Cunliffe that I was gifted with clairvoyant powers and that, if he could arrange for me to go into a trance in the room in which this woman was murdered, I might be able to visualise the crime as it took place. If I could succeed in doing that, I would be able to give a description of her murderers, and that could lead to their being traced.’
He broke off for a moment then, a smile lighting up his grey, yellow-flecked eyes, went on, ‘It has been arranged with the hotel people and the police that I should make the attempt this afternoon.’
For half an hour he remained with them, while they told him of their endeavours in Buenos Aires, Punta Arenas and Santiago, to trace Rex. Then he left them, infinitely more cheerful than they had been for many days.
That evening Cunliffe came to see them. He said that the Duke had telephoned to say that his session at the hotel had produced results which would justify another hearing by a magistrate, before the case came up for trial. In view of the sensation the case was causing, consent had been given to this new evidence being heard in court the following morning.
On the Saturday, at ten o’clock, the prisoners were again in the dock. Shortly afterwards de Richleau, a calm, impressive figure, took the witness stand. After the formalities were completed, he gave an account of the arrangements made with the management of the hotel, and continued:
‘I succeeded in establishing contact with the spirit of the dead woman. She described to me how she had been murdered by two men, one of whom was a Negro and the other, she thought, an Arab. I then asked her about her relations with Mr Aron and Mr Eaton. She related how they had helped her to escape from the Sabbat, spoke of her gratitude to them and directed my attention to the Bible in the drawer of the bedside table. Coming out of my trance, I telephoned down to the manager and he came up with two police officers. They are here, and will inform you of what followed.’
A police lieutenant replaced de Richleau on the stand. He testified to having joined the Duke in the bedroom and having taken the Bible from the drawer. Producing it, he opened the book and held it up, to show some writing in pencil on the inside of the cover, then handed it to the interpreter, who translated into Spanish what had been written there. It read:
‘I am terrified. I’ll never forget the horror I went through tonight. I would probably have been killed at that ghastly party if the two Englishmen had not got me away. He has promised to pay for me to get back to the States. But I’ve an awful premonition that I’m fated to die here. Those fiends will come after me, and kill me if they can, to stop me from telling what I know about them. Oh, God help me! Have mercy on me!’
As the interpreter lowered the book there fell a brief, tense silence; then the magistrate dismissed the case.
Half an hour later, Simon, Richard, Miranda and Pinney were with the Duke in the suite he had taken at the Hilton. Unutterably relieved, carefree and laughing, they were toasting one another in champagne. As Simon set down his glass, he grinned at de Richleau and said:
‘Lucky it didn’t occur to anyone that, as you were left alone in Nella’s room, you might have written that piece in the Bible. Don’t see how you could have proved you hadn’t.’
The Duke threw back his head and laughed. ‘With your subtle mind you’d make an excellent detective, Simon. As a matter of fact, you are right. I did succeed in contacting Nella on the Astral; but the poor woman was still hopelessly confused and quite unhelpful. As No one could have produced a specimen of her handwriting; I was able to write that piece in the Bible for her. To risk you and Richard being found guilty was unthinkable.’
His statement was greeted with cries of surprise, admiration and gratitude.
Waving them aside, his face again became grave as he said. ‘But now you two are out of the wood, we have other things to think of. Since it has emerged that we are up against Satanists, it has become more urgent than ever to find our dear friend, Rex.’