Truly Devious (Truly Devious #1) - Maureen Johnson Page 0,87
the ink, the old but well-preserved paper. This must have been Ellingham’s last riddle, something he was working on the day he died. A little bit of nonsense, a return to his old way of being. And then fate interrupted. Had anyone noticed this before, this little bit of detritus from his desk? Or did no one care about his little games in the wake of his death, when the great empire had to be managed? Who cares about a little riddle when one of the richest men in the world dies?
Stevie carefully put the slip of paper back in the box, like she was setting a flower on his grave. Her eyes teared up a bit and her throat grew rough.
She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and went over to one of the windows and looked out over the expanse of the campus and the view beyond. Death had come to Ellingham again. Death loved this place. But if Stevie was going to cope with being here, cope with the job she wanted to do, she had to look death in the eye. She could not be afraid, or cry whenever she saw a sad memento. She had to be tough. That’s what the dead deserved.
But, Stevie wondered, what was the solution to the riddle? What was always on a staircase but never on a stair?
* * *
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
INTERVIEW BETWEEN AGENT SAMUEL ARNOLD AND GEORGE MARSH
APRIL 17, 1936, 5:45 P.M.
LOCATION: ELLINGHAM PROPERTY
SA:Thank you for taking the time to speak to me again.
GM: Whatever you need me for.
SA:This has been a difficult few days.
GM: I haven’t slept in two nights. Doesn’t matter. Iris and Alice are still out there. Can I have one of your cigarettes?
SA:Of course. Can I just go over your relationship to Albert Ellingham and the safety concerns in the past? You were with the New York police department when you met?
GM: That’s right. I was a detective. We’d been working an anarchist gang that was causing trouble. We found out that they were planning to bomb an important industrialist. We found out it was Albert Ellingham, and luckily I got there in time.
SA:You personally saved his life moments before the car exploded.
GM: I did my job. After that, Mr. Ellingham was kind enough to recommend me for the FBI. I worked out of the New York office. You ever work out of New York?
SA:No. Only Washington. Director Hoover sent me up here to work this case.
GM: Mr. Ellingham asked me to come up to Vermont when he built this place. I do field work for the bureau and I consult for him.
SA:But you don’t live here in the house.
GM: No. I live in Burlington. I come here whenever Mr. Ellingham needs me. I usually come up when important guests are here. I was here for the party that weekend, mostly because Maxine Melville, the film star, was here. He wants to sign her for his studio, so he had her come up for a visit. The weekend party was mostly to entertain her. I watch the place, watch for press, make sure the staff don’t get too nosy. They’re pretty good, but people get strange around famous people.
SA:What’s your thought on the missing student?
GM: Wrong place, wrong time, most likely. I’ve looked through her school files. Good kid. Real smart. One of the brightest here. But she liked to find places to hide and read. I heard you found a book of hers in the observatory?
SA:That’s right. We did.
GM: Damn. Poor kid.
SA:What was your assessment of the letter that came in on April eighth? The one that we’ve been calling the Truly Devious letter.
GM: Mackenzie handles all the correspondence. He shows me the ones he thinks are trouble.
SA:But he didn’t show you this letter until after the kidnapping?
GM: It was a busy weekend. I think there wasn’t time. By the time I saw that letter, the thing was under way. Mackenzie’s always on top of things. It’s just too bad he didn’t tell me. Not that it would have changed anything.
SA:What do you mean?
GM: I mean that it’s hard to get Albert Ellingham to change his plans. Like this place, for example. You see exactly what I see. The advantage and disadvantage of this place is its location. On one hand, it’s hard to get to, so it’s not going to be the target of spontaneous crime. You have to really make an effort to come here, and then you