The Mammoth Book of Perfect Crimes and Impossible Mysteries Part 19

On the plane en route to Central America my uncle and I paused for a moment, then lowering our voices we resumed our conversation.

"But, Uncle Edward," I asked, "what can this Dr Marlin hope to gain from all this? He must know he can't do what he claims."

"He sounds like a monomaniac with delusions of grandeur, who may become violent when his demonstration fails," my uncle replied. "That's one reason I asked you to come with me."

"One reason?"

"Yes, Jimmy, the other is I need someone I can trust-absolutely."

Filled with curiosity at the summons from my uncle, Mr Edward Dobbs, Chairman of Western University's Board of Trustees, I had joined him at the airport, but we had no time for conversation until we were in the plane and on our way.

Then at last I asked my uncle what it was all about. In reply he handed me a newspaper clipping, and I read: "CAN DO INDIAN ROPE TRICK," SAYS SAVANT LAYS CLAIM TO $500,000.

REWARD.

San Francisco, July 6 It was announced at Western University today that an attempt to claim the $500,000 reward offered by the late Richard Welton to anyone who can perform the Indian Rope Trick will be made in the Republic of Del Rio. The claimant is a Dr Clive Marlin, self-styled student of the occult, who has resided in Central America for a number of years.

Richard Welton, who died three years ago, provided in his will that the reward could be claimed outside the United States in some country which had no income tax.

Mr Welton, a life-long student of spiritualism, considered that a successful performance of the Indian Rope Trick under test conditions would be an absolute proof of the genuineness of psychic phenomena, as even Houdini-exposer of many fraudulent mediums-never attempted it.

As often described, but never by an eye witness, the "Indian Rope Trick" is supposed to be a demonstration of mind over matter. The yogi causes a rope to rise in the air by supra-normal means; then a boy climbs to the top of the rope and vanishes, to be rematerialized a mile or more away.

Harry Price, the English expert, once offered a similar reward for anyone who could perform the trick, but no one ever tried to claim it. But Mr Welton thought that a much larger reward might be more effective.

I put the clipping down. "Welton must have been crazy," I said.

"The courts said not, Jimmy. . . . He was eccentric-no doubt of that but still legally sane."

"But how does this concern us?"

"Directly, Jimmy. Mr Welton left two million dollars to Western University, but on the condition that we administer this $500,000 fund. I, myself, as Chairman of the Board of Trustees, have the sole discretion to grant or withold the reward to any claimant."

"So that's why we're going to Del Rio?" I said.

"Yes. It's all nonsense, of course, but under the terms of the trust I have to make this trip. Crazy or not, Dr Marlin has the right to attempt his demonstration."

A thought came to me. "This Dr Marlin may be sane but crooked," I said. "Not knowing you, he may try to bribe you with part of the reward to give a false report on the test."

"No, Jimmy, if he had that in mind, he would have tried it before he put up the thousand-dollar forfeit. The will requires one to keep the University from being bothered by cranks."

I smiled to myself at the idea of anyone trying to offer my uncle a bribe. A slight man in early middle-age, partly bald with a fringe of dark curly hair, he had keen blue eyes that usually managed to see everything going on. By profession he was a geologist, who might have made a fortune in mining but who preferred to retire on a moderate income to devote himself to scientific studies and to his duties at Western University as Chairman of the Board of Trustees.

"No doubt you're right," I said; "but why has Dr Marlin stipulated that only two persons watch his demonstration?"

"He says that more might set up too many conflicting thought waves and make his success more difficult."

"I wonder," I said. "He may be an expert magician who thinks he can deceive two persons easier than a crowd."

"I doubt it, Jimmy, If even Houdini couldn't work the rope trick, I don't think this Dr Marlin can."

The next morning my uncle and I left the American Consulate in Del Rio City, and in a hired car drove for half an hour along a desolate coast to Dr Marlin's coffee finca (plantation). The house was on a slight rise near a secluded bay with a small island about two miles off-sh.o.r.e. At hand was a wharf with a motor-boat moored to it. Dr Marlin's house, to my surprise, was a white two-storied mansion suggesting the Southern United States rather than Central America.

As our car pulled up, we saw three figures awaiting us on the veranda. One, slightly in the lead, a European wearing a white linen suit, stepped forward and introduced himself as the claimant, Dr Clive Marlin. I looked at him with interest mixed with apprehension, but his manner was perfectly normal. He was a tall, distinguished-looking man of about fifty with thick iron-grey hair and a clipped moustache. A monocle was in his right eye, and his speech was apparently that of a cultured Englishman. But I thought I noticed just a trace of some foreign accent.

After a few words to us, Dr Marlin beckoned the other two forward and presented them as his a.s.sistants, Mustapha and his son Ali. My uncle and I spoke to them in Spanish, but the two only bowed and Dr Marlin explained that they only understood Hindustani.

Except that the two both seemed Hindus, I found it hard to believe that they were father and son. Mustapha was a big man, as tall as Dr Marlin but thicker. He wore a white Oriental costume with a turban, and most of his brown face was covered by a dark beard. His son Ali (seemingly about twenty) was shorter and very thin. I could see the ribs under his dark skin, for, unlike his father, he wore only a loin-cloth. He had no hair on his face, wore no turban, and his entire head was shaved so that his scalp glistened like rubber in the sun.

"I suppose," my uncle said, "Ali is the lad who will climb the rope?"

"That is correct," said Dr Marlin. "But not today. First you must witness the pouring of the concrete."

"Concrete?"

"Yes, Mr Dobbs, we don't want to leave any room for doubt. Today I am laying a concrete pavement over the testing-ground so that no one can claim later that Ali vanished into a trap-door under the rope."

We had been following Dr Marlin as he spoke, and a short distance from the house we came to a level field of about an acre, surrounded, except for two gaps, by a thick, six-foot hedge.

In the centre were four iron poles, six feet high, set in the ground so as to form a twenty-foot square. The poles were connected at the tops by four wires designed to hold curtains.

About a dozen native workmen surrounded a bin filled with a freshly mixed concrete. At Dr Marlin's command they poured it on the ground, and smoothed it until the entire square between the poles was covered to a depth of two or three inches.

"Now," said Dr Marlin, "just as a check, will you gentlemen write your names in the concrete? It is very rapid setting, and will be hard to-morrow."

We did so. Before we left, my uncle managed to get a few words in private with Juan, the overseer; but Juan declared that he and all the rest of the workmen had only been there two weeks, and they knew nothing of Dr Marlin. We had already heard from the American Consul that Dr Marlin had bought his finca three years ago; he seemed to be an Englishman with plenty of money; but, aside from that, nothing was known of him.

My uncle and I were up early the next morning, and drove to Dr Marlin's after breakfast. I took my pistol and had a small but excellent camera hidden in my pocket. My uncle had accepted the offer of a loan of another camera from Dr Marlin the day before. But this was only misdirection. Secretly I was to take the pictures.

We found everything ready for us. Dr Marlin escorted us to the field, after offering us cigarettes. We each took one, but when his back was turned we exchanged them for two of our own brand.

The concrete was hard and we verified our signatures. At the sides of the poles were curtains ready to enclose the pavement. Now, however, they were open. On the pavement was Ali, clad only in a white loin-cloth.

"Where's the rope?" I asked.

"Mustapha will bring it shortly," Dr Marlin replied. "Here he comes now."

Through the gap in the hedge appeared a motor-tricycle. On it was Mustapha clad in his white robe and turban. He drove up on the pavement, dismounted, and from an open wire basket on the handlebars (the machine did not have a rear compartment of any kind) produced a coiled rope about twenty feet long, with a large knot on one end and a snaphook on the other. He uncoiled it and fastened the hook to an iron ring set in the centre of the concrete.

"All ready?" asked Dr Marlin. "Oh, I forgot one thing. After the demonstration is over this morning, you may think that perhaps Ali had a twin brother who tricks you in some manner. So, Mr Dobbs, will you please take Ali's finger-prints? As you know, even with identical twins the finger-prints are different."

My uncle agreed and Dr Marlin beckoned Ali forward and reached in his pocket. An expression of annoyance crossed his face. "I'm sorry," he said, "but I forgot to bring an inkpad. But never mind, I have one in my laboratory over this way. It will take only a few minutes."

We three, accompanied by Ali, started off towards the other gap in the hedge, away from the house. Mustapha, seated cross-legged on the pavement, started to arise to follow, but Dr Marlin motioned him to stay where he was.

The laboratory turned out to be a hut filled with chemical apparatus. It took some time for Dr Marlin to find an ink-pad among the odds and ends that cluttered up the place, but finally one was located. My uncle inked Ali's fingers; secured his prints on a sheet of paper, made a private mark below them; and, after drying, folded the paper and put it in an inside pocket.

We four then returned to the field, where Dr Marlin and Ali rejoined Mustapha on the pavement. Suddenly, in spite of myself, I gave a tremendous sneeze. At the sound Dr Marlin barely started, and Mustapha, like a true yogi, never moved; but Ali jumped as if he had been stung. "He seems to be under a genuine nervous strain," I thought. My uncle and I compared watches, both showed exactly 10.10 a.m.

As directed, my uncle and I took separate stations. I was about twenty feet from the post at the eastern corner of the square, while my uncle had a similar position at the western corner. Dr Marlin then closed the curtains on all four sides, leaving the three demonstrators inside but shut off from view. My uncle and I could each see two sides of the square, and thus covered all four sides between us.

Dr Marlin seemed so confident that in spite of myself I could not help a wondering excitement. But there was to be another interruption. A petrol motor started up behind the curtains, and Mustapha emerged and drove away on the cycle towards the house. I noticed that the rope was back on the handlebars. Dr Marlin called out from behind the curtains that the rope had proved defective and that Mustapha would soon be back with another one. But it was quite a while before Mustapha reappeared, on foot this time, with a coil of rope over his shoulder. Parting the curtains just enough to squeeze through, he rejoined Dr Marlin and Ali inside. All was ready.

Mustapha's voice was heard, shrill and eerie, in a loud chant or wailing. From behind the curtain came the sound of a blank cartridge. I gave a gasp of incredulity and my uncle shouted with amazement. As if by magic, the rope shot high into the air twenty feet or more above the curtains. I forgot to breathe, but still the rope was up there like a snake twisting and writhing in the air above us. It was like a trick on a movie screen, but there was no screen there-only the rope and the blue sky. A fantastic thought of mirrors came over me. I picked up a stone and threw it at the rope, and it went right past it and fell to the ground on the other side. My scalp contracted, my spine tingled as I kicked myself to make sure I was awake.

Another shot from behind the curtains. Simultaneously all four curtains burst into flame, giving off a thick, black smoke. Through the smoke I could dimly see something ascending the rope. The fire died down an instant later and soon the air cleared. The curtains were gone. Dr Marlin and Mustapha were seen alone, at the base of the rope, staring up at Ali. With his white loin-cloth, shaved head, and brown skin clearly visible in the air, Ali was clinging to the top of the rope twenty feet above us.

Raising my camera, I took picture after picture.

Then Dr Marlin raised his pistol and fired again. Instantly Ali vanished like a soap-bubble. All that was left was his white loincloth, which dropped to the pavement below. The rope still twisted and writhed above our heads for a few seconds more. Then it suddenly collapsed and fell to the concrete. Mustapha picked up the loin-cloth, turned and gave it to Dr Marlin, who handed it to my uncle. It was empty, and nowhere in the enclosed field was there any sign of the vanished Ali!

My mind was in a turmoil; I wondered if I could be crazy. I turned to my uncle for rea.s.surance, but did not get it. He was as flabbergasted as I.

Dr Marlin suggested that we return to the house, and led the way, while my uncle and I followed with Mustapha. With an effort my uncle seemed to rouse himself as from a trance.

"I wouldn't have believed it," he said, "but we both must have been hypnotized. Thank G.o.d, you had your own camera. If your film shows nothing up in the air, we'll know it was only an hallucination."

"But suppose the film does show Ali at the top of the rope?"

"Then," my uncle said grimly, "under the terms of my trust. I'm afraid I will have no choice. I will have to give Dr Marlin a draft on the University for $500,000."

"It may have been a trick of some kind." I suggested.

"How could it be? There couldn't have been any mirrors used, and, anyway, you and I were on opposite sides of the pavement. It's appalling!"

"Well, it isn't your money," I said.

"It's worse than that, Jimmy. Everyone will believe what you mentioned before that I gave Dr Marlin a false certificate that he made the demonstration."

"But he did make it." I said.

"Yes, but no one will believe it. Everybody will think that Dr Marlin bribed me with part of the reward. And why shouldn't they think I was bribed? I'm not a rich man. They'll say that Dr Marlin and I conspired together to 'fake the film and split the cash.' I'll be expelled from my scientific societies, and will have to resign from the Board of Trustees. . . . Still, no doubt, when we develop your film we'll see that the whole thing was only an hallucination but, my G.o.d, what an hallucination!"

Dr Marlin led us past the house and down a steep path to the wharf. He picked up a robe and tossed it into a motor-boat. "Ali will be needing that," he remarked. "As you noticed, I could transport Ali, but he had to leave his loin-cloth behind. The subject has to co-operate to be dematerialized. The power doesn't extend to inanimate objects such as clothes."

"Where is Ali now?" my uncle asked.

Dr Marlin pointed to the island about two miles away. "He has rematerialized over there. I thought it would make the demonstration more dramatic to transport him over water. As you see, the only boat is on this side. Shall we start?"

Mustapha took the wheel and we four set out for the Island. About half-way there, Mustapha gave a cry and pointed. Ahead was a dark figure struggling feebly in the water. As we almost reached it, it sank below the waves. Jerking off my coat and shoes I plunged in. Again and again I dived, but without success. I was almost exhausted when finally by luck. I reached the motionless figure. Grabbing an arm, I brought the body to the surface.

"My G.o.d, it's Ali," exclaimed my uncle as he and Mustapha lifted the nude figure into the boat. My uncle tried artificial respiration as Dr Marlin took the wheel and we headed back to the wharf. On sh.o.r.e, my uncle continued his efforts, but it was useless. Ali was dead.

Mustapha seemed stunned at the death of his son. Dr Marlin himself seemed shaken. "Poor Ali!" he said. "He must have made some error in concentration. He rematerialized too soon, before he reached the island, and fell in the water. I blame myself! But we never had any trouble before. If only he could have kept afloat a little longer . . ."

Then, with an abrupt return to his old manner, Dr Marlin said, "But, Mr Dobbs, this tragic accident doesn't affect the result of my demonstration. Here is an ink-pad and some paper. I suggest that you take the finger-prints of the corpse and compare them with those in your pocket."

My uncle seemed taken aback for a moment, but he complied, while Dr Marlin took me to the house for some dry clothes. On my return my uncle was putting his magnifying-gla.s.s back in his pocket. "There isn't any doubt," he said. "The two sets of prints are identical."

"Yes," said Dr Marlin, "Now, I suggest that you two gentlemen retire to the dark-room in the house to develop your pictures, while I telephone the police about the accident. When you have examined the films, come out on the verandah. We will all have a drink together, and then, Mr Dobbs, I shall be most happy to receive your cheque for $500,000!"

It would have been more decent, I thought to wait at least until Ali's dead body had been taken away, but my uncle disagreed and we retired to the dark-room. My hands were shaking as I put my film in the developer.

As the image appeared, I gave a shudder. In the dim red light we saw the rope extending twenty feet in the air with Ali clinging to the top. We printed enlargements, and when they were fixed my uncle turned on the light and examined them with his gla.s.s. "It's Ali, all right," he said. "What we saw, Jimmy, wasn't any hallucination."

We went out to the veranda. I gave a loud cry and my stomach turned over. There at the top of the cliff in a pool of blood lay Dr Clive Marlin, stabbed to death and with a knife in his heart.

I was nearly overcome with the succession of shocks. For an instant so was my uncle, but he drew himself together. Glancing at his watch, he took out a notebook. "One ten p.m." he said. "I'd better write it down."

I looked at my own watch. "It's 1.15," I said; "your watch must have stopped."

"No, it's still going. Didn't the water affect your watch, Jimmy?"

"No, it's waterproof, and, anyway, water wouldn't make a watch run faster."

Just then a police car, followed by the hea.r.s.e for Ali, drove up. Two police got out, stiffened as they saw the body of Dr Marlin, then turned to stare at us.

An hour later, after the police had been reinforced by their superior officers, my uncle and I were summoned to a room in the house, where a police inspector and his sergeant were questioning Mustapha and Juan, the overseer. As we entered I gasped, for Mustapha, who supposedly spoke only Hindustani, was, in fluent Spanish, pouring out a flood of accusations against my uncle and me.

According to him we were desperate criminals who had not hesitated to murder Dr Marlin when he demanded the reward for demonstrating the Indian rope trick. "They want the five hundred thousand dollars for themselves!" he shouted. "They didn't know I understand English. I heard them talking about it on the way to the wharf!"

With horror I remembered my uncle's conversation. The police looked ominous, and I remembered stories of accused persons in Latin America who had not been held for trial, but who had been shot out-of-hand "while attempting to escape".

But my uncle remained cool, and said in Spanish. "Inspector, before we do anything else, let us find out the correct time." The police, puzzled but courteous, compared watches, and we found that my uncle's and mine were both fast his by seven minutes and mine my twelve. "I thought so," he said to me.

Turning to the police he said, "My nephew and I were developing pictures when Dr Marlin was killed. Unless one of the workmen did it, the only person who could have killed him was this man Mustapha!"

Juan broke in, "But, Senor, I and all my men were working together, by Dr Marlin's orders, at the far side of the house. We saw this man Mustapha the entire time seated in his upstairs room. We could see him through the window."

"I don't doubt it," my uncle said, "but Mustapha could have been in two places at the same time."

"Surely you don't think he left his astral body upstairs for an alibi while he went down to the cliff to kill Dr Marlin?" I asked.

"Something of the sort, Jimmy . . . Inspector, I suggest that we search this man's room at once."

Mustapha objected vehemently, but was overruled. In the room my uncle's eyes fell on a closed door. It was locked, and Mustapha insisted that he had lost the key; but the police soon forced the door open. I gasped, for seated on the floor of a small closet was Mustapha.

My uncle gave a tug, and the figure collapsed like an over-sized doll. "A very fine dummy," my uncle said as he parted the clothes at the back. "See, the figure is entirely hollow. Clever but not quite original. Walter Gibson reports that Houdini designed a similar hollow dummy for one of his illusions shortly before he died."

Turning to the dejected Mustapha, my uncle said with authority, "Your only chance is to tell the truth! Isn't this what happened? You killed Dr Marlin in self-defence when he tried to kill you because you knew that he had murdered Ali!"

Mustapha started and nodded vigorously, "As G.o.d is my witness, that is the truth! . . . But how did you know?"

"I missed it at the time, but Dr Marlin made a slip when we were taking the finger-prints. He said, 'You may think that Ali had a twin brother?' Already, before the demonstration, Dr Marlin was thinking of Ali in the past tense."

"But, Senor Dobbs," the police inspector objected, "how could Dr Marlin have murdered this Ali? Do you believe in magic?"

"There was no magic at all, Inspector. The whole rope trick was only a 'stage illusion,' but quite an elaborate one. But Dr Marlin made one mistake. He forgot about the watches. When I learned that Jimmy's watch and mine had suddenly become erratic, I guessed part of the truth."