VI
The Man from DevilтАЩs Island
After some delayтБатАФI had to ring twiceтБатАФthe LeggettsтАЩ door was opened by Owen Fitzstephan. There was no sleepiness in his eyes: they were hot and bright, as they were when he found life interesting. Knowing the sort of things that interested him, I wondered what had happened.
тАЬWhat have you been doing?тАЭ he asked, looking at our clothes, at CollinsonтАЩs bloody face, at the girlтАЩs scratched cheek.
тАЬAutomobile accident,тАЭ I said. тАЬNothing serious. WhereтАЩs everybody?тАЭ
тАЬEverybody,тАЭ he said, with peculiar emphasis on the word, тАЬis up in the laboratory;тАЭ and then to me: тАЬCome here.тАЭ
I followed him across the reception hall to the foot of the stairs, leaving Collinson and the girl standing just inside the street door. Fitzstephan put his mouth close to my ear and whispered:
тАЬLeggettтАЩs committed suicide.тАЭ
I was more annoyed than surprised. I asked: тАЬWhere is he?тАЭ
тАЬIn the laboratory. Mrs.┬аLeggett and the police are up there. It happened only half an hour ago.тАЭ
тАЬWeтАЩll all go up,тАЭ I said.
тАЬIsnтАЩt it rather unnecessary,тАЭ he asked, тАЬtaking Gabrielle up there?тАЭ
тАЬMight be tough on her,тАЭ I said irritably, тАЬbut itтАЩs necessary enough. Anyway, sheтАЩs coked-up and better able to stand the shock than she will be later, when the stuffтАЩs dying out in her.тАЭ I turned to Collinson. тАЬCome on, weтАЩll go up to the laboratory.тАЭ
I went ahead, letting Fitzstephan help Collinson with the girl. There were six people in the laboratory: a uniformed copperтБатАФa big man with a red mustacheтБатАФstanding beside the door; Mrs.┬аLeggett, sitting on a wooden chair in the far end of the room, her body bent forward, her hands holding a handkerchief to her face, sobbing quietly; OтАЩGar and Reddy, standing by one of the windows, close together, their heads rubbing over a sheaf of papers that the detective-sergeant held in his thick fists; a gray-faced, dandified man in dark clothes, standing beside the zinc table, twiddling eyeglasses on a black ribbon in his hand; and Edgar Leggett, seated on a chair at the table, his head and upper body resting on the table, his arms sprawled out.
OтАЩGar and Reddy looked up from their reading as I came in. Passing the table on my way to join them at the window, I saw blood, a small black automatic pistol lying close to one of LeggettтАЩs hands, and seven unset diamonds grouped by his head.
OтАЩGar said, тАЬTake a look,тАЭ and handed me part of his sheaf of paperтБатАФfour stiff white sheets covered with very small, precise, and regular handwriting in black ink. I was getting interested in what was written there when Fitzstephan and Collinson came in with Gabrielle Leggett.
Collinson looked at the dead man at the table. CollinsonтАЩs face went white. He put his big body between the girl and her father.
тАЬCome in,тАЭ I said.
тАЬThis is no place for Miss Leggett now,тАЭ he said hotly, turning to take her away.
тАЬWe ought to have everybody in here,тАЭ I told OтАЩGar. He nodded his bullet-head at the policeman. The policeman put a hand on CollinsonтАЩs shoulder and said: тАЬYouтАЩll have to come in, the both of you.тАЭ
Fitzstephan placed a chair by one of the end windows for the girl. She sat down and looked around the roomтБатАФat the dead man, at Mrs.┬аLeggett, at all of usтБатАФwith eyes that were dull but no longer completely blank. Collinson stood beside her, glaring at me. Mrs.┬аLeggett hadnтАЩt looked up from her handkerchief.
I spoke to OтАЩGar, clearly enough for the others to hear: тАЬLetтАЩs read the letter out loud.тАЭ
He screwed up his eyes, hesitated, then thrust the rest of his sheaf at me, saying: тАЬFair enough. You read it.тАЭ
I read:
тАЬTo the police:тБатАФ
тАЬMy name is Maurice Pierre de Mayenne. I was born in F├йcamp, department of Seine-Inf├йrieure, France, on March 6, 1883, but was chiefly educated in England. In 1903 I went to Paris to study painting, and there, four years later, I made the acquaintance of Alice and Lily Dain, orphan daughters of a British naval officer. I married Lily the following year, and in 1909 our daughter Gabrielle was born.
тАЬShortly after my marriage I had discovered that I had made a most horrible mistake, that it was Alice, and not my wife Lily, whom I really loved. I kept this discovery to myself until the child was past the most difficult baby years; that is, until she was nearly five, and then told my wife, asking that she divorce me so I could marry Alice. She refused.
тАЬOn June 6, 1913, I murdered Lily and fled with Alice and Gabrielle to London, where I was soon arrested and returned to Paris, to be tried, found guilty, and sentenced to life imprisonment on the ├Оles du Salut. Alice, who had had no part in the murder, no knowledge of it until after it was done, and who had accompanied us to London only because of her love for Gabrielle, was also tried, but justly acquitted. All this is a matter of record in Paris.
тАЬIn 1918 I escaped from the islands with a fellow convict named Jacques Labaud, on a flimsy raft. I do not knowтБатАФwe never knewтБатАФhow long we were adrift on the ocean, nor, toward the last, how long we went without food and water. Then Labaud could stand no more, and died. He died of starvation and exposure. I did not kill him. No living creature could have been feeble enough for me to have killed it, no matter what my desire. But when Labaud was dead there was enough food for one, and I lived to be washed ashore in the Golfo Triste.
тАЬCalling myself Walter Martin, I secured employment with a British copper mining company at Aroa, and within a few months had become private secretary to Philip Howart, the resident manager. Shortly after this promotion I was approached by a cockney named John Edge, who outlined to me a plan by which we could defraud the company of a hundred-odd pounds monthly. When I refused to take part in the fraud, Edge revealed his knowledge of my identity, and threatened exposure unless I assisted him. That Venezuela had no extradition treaty with France might save me from being returned to the islands, Edge said; but that was not my chief danger: LabaudтАЩs body had been cast ashore, undecomposed enough to show what had happened to him, and I, an escaped murderer, would be under the necessity of proving to a Venezuelan court that I had not killed Labaud in Venezuelan waters to keep from starving.
тАЬI still refused to join Edge in his fraud, and prepared to go away. But while I was making my preparations he killed Howart and looted the company safe. He urged me to flee with him, arguing that I could not face the police investigation even if he did not expose me. That was true enough: I went with him. Two months later, in Mexico City, I learned why Edge had been so desirous of my company. He had a firm hold on me, through his knowledge of my identity, and a greatтБатАФan unjustifiedтБатАФopinion of my ability; and he intended using me to commit crimes that were beyond his grasp. I was determined, no matter what happened, no matter what became necessary, never to return to the ├Оles du Salut; but neither did I intend becoming a professional criminal. I attempted to desert Edge in Mexico City; he found me; we fought; and I killed him. I killed him in self-defense: he struck me first.
тАЬIn 1920 I came to the United States, to San Francisco, changed my name once moreтБатАФto Edgar LeggettтБатАФand began making a new place for myself in the world, developing experiments with color that I had attempted as a young artist in Paris. In 1923, believing that Edgar Leggett could never now be connected with Maurice de Mayenne, I sent for Alice and Gabrielle, who were then living in New York, and Alice and I were married. But the past was not dead, and there was no unbridgeable chasm between Leggett and Mayenne. Alice, not hearing from me after my escape, not knowing what had happened to me, employed a private detective to find me, a Louis Upton. Upton sent a man named Ruppert to South America, and Ruppert succeeded in tracing me step by step from my landing in the Golfo Triste up to, but no farther than, my departure from Mexico City after EdgeтАЩs death. In doing this, Ruppert of course learned of the deaths of Labaud, Howart and Edge; three deaths of which I was guiltless, but of whichтБатАФor at least of one or more of whichтБатАФI most certainly, my record being what it is, would be convicted if tried.
тАЬI do not know how Upton found me in San Francisco. Possibly he traced Alice and Gabrielle to me. Late last Saturday night he called upon me and demanded money as the price of silence. Having no money available at the time, I put him off until Tuesday, when I gave him the diamonds as part payment. But I was desperate. I knew what being at UptonтАЩs mercy would mean, having experienced the same thing with Edge. I determined to kill him. I decided to pretend the diamonds had been stolen, and to so inform you, the police. Upton, I was confident, would thereupon immediately communicate with me. I would make an appointment with him and shoot him down in cold blood, confident that I would have no difficulty in arranging a story that would make me seem justified in having killed this known burglar, in whose possession, doubtless, the stolen diamonds would be found.
тАЬI think the plan would have been successful. However, RuppertтБатАФpursuing Upton with a grudge of his own to settleтБатАФsaved me from killing Upton by himself killing him. Ruppert, the man who had traced my course from DevilтАЩs Island to Mexico City, had also, either from Upton or by spying on Upton, learned that Mayenne was Leggett, and, with the police after him for UptonтАЩs murder, he came here, demanding that I shelter him, returning the diamonds, claiming money in their stead.
тАЬI killed him. His body is in the cellar. Out front, a detective is watching my house. Other detectives are busy elsewhere inquiring into my affairs. I have not been able satisfactorily to explain certain of my actions, nor to avoid contradictions, and, now that I am actually suspect, there is little chance of the pastтАЩs being kept secret. I have always knownтБатАФhave known it most surely when I would not admit it to myselfтБатАФthat this would one day happen. I am not going back to DevilтАЩs Island. My wife and daughter had neither knowledge of nor part in RuppertтАЩs death.