Chapter 6 Chapter 6 The Man From Devil's Island

After some delay—I had to ring twice—the Leggett door was opened by Owen Fitzstephan.The sleepiness in his eyes was gone, and his eyes were glowing with fire, just the way he would look when he discovered the joys of life.I knew exactly what kind of things would interest him, so I started to figure out what was going on. "What the hell are you doing?" he asked, looking at our clothes, Collinson's bloodied face, and the girl's bruised cheek. "Car accident," I said, "no big deal. Where is everyone?" "Guys," he emphasized the word eerily, "are up in the lab," and said to me, "Come with me."

I followed him through the reception hall to the landing, leaving Collinson and the girl standing in the front hall.Fitzstephan put his mouth to my ear and said in a low voice, "Leggett killed himself." I'm more troubled than surprised. "What about the others?" I asked. "In the laboratory. Mrs. Leggett and the police are up there. It happened half an hour ago." "Let's all go up," I said. "Is it necessary," he asked, "to take Gabrielle up there?" "It might be hard for her," I said impatiently, "but it's necessary. Anyway, she's out of her mind now, and she'll be able to bear the blow better than after the drug wears off." I turned to Collinson and said, " Come on, let's go to the lab."

I went ahead and let Fitzstephan help Collinson hold the girl.There were six people in the laboratory: a uniformed police officer—a big man with a red mustache—standing by the door; Mrs Leggett, sitting in a wooden chair across the room, leaning forward, clutching a handkerchief in both hands Wiping face, weeping silently; Olga and Reddy stood close to each other by a window, Olga held a stack of papers in his big hand, and when they looked at the stack of papers together, their heads touched; one face A gray-haired, black-clad, stylishly dressed man stands at a galvanized table, toying with a pair of spectacles tied with black ribbons; and there is Edgar Leggett, seated at the table In a chair, the upper body is lying on the table, with the arms spread out.

As we entered, Olga and Reddy looked away from the paper and toward me.I went to the window where they were, and as I passed the table, I saw blood.Leggett had a jet-black miniauto in one hand and seven loose diamonds piled up near his head. "Look at it," Olga said, and handed me a few sheets from the stack of papers—four sheets of white, stiff paper covered with words written in black ink, in extremely small, neat and orderly characters.I was just getting interested in those words when Fitzstephan and Collinson walked in with Gabrielle Leggett. Collinson looked at the dead man at the table, his face paled, and he immediately put his burly body between the girl and her father.

"Come in." I said. "Miss Leggett can't be in a place like this now," he said angrily, turning to take her away. "All personnel should be present," I said to Olga.His bullet-like head was aimed at the police officer.The officer put his hand on Collinson's shoulder and said, "Both come in, you two." Fitzstephan drew a chair for the girl and set it up by a window.She sat down and looked around, at the dead man, at Mrs. Leggett, and at all of us, still glazed, but no longer quite empty.Collinson stood beside her, glaring at me.Mrs. Leggett did not lift her eyes from her handkerchief.

I spoke to Olga, loud enough for the others to hear, "Let's read the letter aloud." He narrowed his eyes, hesitated for a moment, then threw the remaining few sheets of paper to me, and said, "No need, just read it." I read: Served a life sentence.Alice was not my accomplice, she only found out after it happened, and she followed me to London only because she loved Gabrielle.She, too, was tried, and fortunately, in the clearest of laws, she was acquitted.These things are recorded in Paris.

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