A Mask for the Toff (16 page)

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Authors: John Creasey

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Didn't you get your scoop?”

“The story of a lifetime, I'll die happy after this, butâ
how,
Rolly? Off the record.”

Rollison shrugged.

“Papa Poincet would tell you. We hatched a little plot. I put de Vignon up to the trick of staging the robbery, and promised him all the police would be drugged. When they began to yawn and fall about all over the place, he thought it was easy, so his men just came and lifted the stuff. But the police woke up unexpectedlyâthere must have been something wrong with the drug!âand there were reinforcements waiting. For rough justice, I spread a rumour through the crowd outside. Anyone killed?”

“Only de Vignon, but a lot of others are wrecks. The jails are crowded! I was first to a telephone by five minutes. Didn't I see you with a trio of lovelies, half an hour ago?”

“Lovelies is the word. Including Odette,” Rollison agreed. “Jolly brought her over, and kept her in a safe place until all was well. She is Madame Thysson's daughter, but I shouldn't use that, you've scooped enough for one night.”

“Oh, well, I said off the record,” Latimer conceded.

“Thanks. It was a fight between Madame and de Vignon, and eventually Odette, her daughter, was the deciding factor. Madame loved her better, as they say, than life itself. Odd truths in
clichÃ©s
sometimes. De Vignon planned to kidnap her, and then blackmail his hated enemy into submission. He did not know that Madame Thysson was his wife.”

“Did you?”

“Poincet dropped a hint,” Rollison said. “The plot might have worked but for the refusal of Lady Murren to play. Odette's now talked freely. Lady Murren had had a hand in currency smuggling and other things, and was to take charge of Odette, but she refused, probably getting cold feet. Downing tried to compel her, she threatened to call the police, and Downing killed her.”

“Downing, was it? Which reminds me, he's rather faded out of the picture. Any ideaâ”

“None,” said Rollison firmly. “Wherever he is, he may stay. Downing and Marcel panicked and took the girl to the East End. They decided to kill her, but Odette heard them say so. She knew they'd killed Lady Murren between them, and took a chance to escape. Bert Noddy happened to be coming out of the house, andâyou know the rest.”

“Oh, no,” said Latimer heavily. “Why did Odette pretend to lose her memory? Why didn't she come across?”

“Easy,” said Rollison. “She didn't want to get her mother into trouble. She simply wouldn't say a word to damn her mother, was in a tormented frame of mind, and only wanted to forget. She's young, only lately from a convent, and perhaps not quite of this world. Call it fey. If she ever gives anyone an ominous warning, they'd be wise to take notice. She simply tried to shut the past out of her mind, and thought the less she said, the better. No good could come of talking or remembering. She was terrified, two of the men who'd tried to kill her were still at large. I was a kind of protector, and she was frightened by what might happen if I went away. I think I can understand Odette. She might have had her own way but for a moment of delirium, when she mentioned Madame Thysson. If she hadn't made that slipâ” Rollison shrugged.

“You'd have combed Paris for Sam Downing, and got at it somehow,” Latimer said. “I hand you everything you want, on a gold plate.”

Rollison shuddered.

“Not gold. It reminds me of a certain Devil.”

“I wonder why Odette called her mother Madame Thysson?”

“She was trained and used to thatâit was one of Madame Thysson's precautions to prevent the Count from discovering Odette's identity.”

“And what made you wonder if Madame Thysson was a sheep in wolf's clothing?” Latimer asked.

“I liked the people who worked for her,” Rollison said. “A woman in the true de Vignon tradition wouldn't have dealt so leniently with me on the night that I broke into her
appartement.
And she wouldn't have been so shocked when I first talked of Odette. When I knew that she was connected with the Good Society, I didn't doubt her any longer. Poincet always knew the truth, and thought it better to let the two fight it out for themselves. He knew that one day he'd have a chance to come down heavily on the side of the angels.”

“Angels,” echoed Latimer. “Yes, I see what you mean.”

A week later, in the living-room at Gresham Terrace, Rollison stood on tip-toe, took down the top hat which for years had been at the highest point on the trophy wall, and found another place for it. Then Jolly came in, with a pair of steps, a hammer and two nails.

“My job,” Rollison said. He climbed up, fixed two nails into the picture-rail, then took a tissue-paper packet from inside his coat. He unwrapped it, and looked thoughtfully at Madame Thysson's mask, then placed it in position. When Jolly returned, after taking the steps away, Rollison was smiling up at the mask.

“It is a very beautiful mask,” said Jolly. “Quite our best exhibit, sir, don't you think?”

Series Information

Published or to be published by

House of Stratus

Dates given are those of first publication

Alternative titles in brackets

'The Baron' (47 titles) (writing as Anthony Morton)

'Department 'Z'' (28 titles)

'Dr. Palfrey Novels' (34 titles)

'Gideon of Scotland Yard' (22 titles)

'Inspector West' (43 titles)

'Sexton Blake' (5 titles)

'The Toff' (59 titles)

along with:

The Masters of Bow Street

This epic novel embraces the story of the Bow Street Runners and the Marine Police, forerunners of the modern police force, who were founded by novelist Henry Fielding in 1748. They were the earliest detective force operating from the courts to enforce the decisions of magistrates. John Creasey's account also gives a fascinating insight into family life of the time and the struggle between crime and justice, and ends with the establishment of the Metropolitan Police after the passing of Peel's Act in 1829.

'The Baron' Series