Page:The Viaduct Murder (1926).pdf/137

"Very badly."

"That's exactly what we want."

"How do you mean?"

"Why, if you sit in your rooms playing the piano, the gentleman on the other side of the partition will probably assume that nothing much is happening. If you play it loudly, you will drown any little thumping noises we may happen to make. And if you play it very badly, the gentleman on the other side, if he is at all musical, will probably retreat to the utmost limits of his hiding-place."

"But look here," said Gordon, "we're not certain this man is the murderer. Is it quite humane⁠———"

"Oh, shut up," said Mordaunt Reeves. "You're right, Carmichael, as usual. What's wrong with starting now?"

Reeves, it must be confessed, did his part of the programme admirably. He even sang to his own accompaniment. When he got to "Land of Hope and Glory," Gordon asked if he might not have cotton-wool in his ears. He also expressed a fear that all the other residents would come in asking Reeves to stop. But fortunately it was a time of day at which the residents are either in London on business, or going round the links like sensible men.

Meanwhile, under cover of Reeves' barrage, the search was proceeding busily. "The ceiling," said Carmichael, "is out of the question. Even if there was a concealed trap-door in it, it would be too risky to let down ladders and pull them up again. Now, how about the floor? There's this felt under-