Read Death of an Elgin Marble for Free Online Page B

British Museum.
    ‘Thought it might be a good idea,’ the Inspector said, ‘if we went in together. Move about in pairs like Father Christmases in the East End where the natives are liable to regard them as airborne burglars and treat them accordingly. Have you seen the actual letter yet?’
    ‘Not so far,’ said Powerscourt cheerfully and led the way inside.
    Deputy Director Ragg handed the letter over at once. Sitting side by side on the museum sofa, the detective and the policeman read it together.
    ‘Thank you for showing this to us so promptly,’ said Powerscourt.
    ‘I presume it came in the morning post?’ The Inspector was copying the letter into his notebook as he spoke.
    ‘That’s right,’ said Ragg. ‘It’s a bloody outrage, that’s what it is. Ridiculous blackmailing person, threatening me and my family, asking for hundreds of thousands of pounds. How are we to know he has got the Caryatid anyway? He could be a fraud and a chancer in some back room, making it all up.’
    ‘How right you are, Mr Ragg.’ Inspector Kingsley was still scribbling as he spoke. ‘What would you like us to do about it?’
    ‘I do not intend to take this lying down. This museum has an international reputation. It is respected the world over for the breadth of its collections and the depth of its scholarship. Whatever steps are necessary for the apprehension and incarceration of this blackmailing criminal should be taken. I and my family will cooperate in whatever way you suggest. I am more than happy to take a crash course in firearms and carry a pistol at all times. If I should meet the miscreant, believe me, I should not hesitate to shoot on sight.’
    It was at this point that Powerscourt realized that he had underestimated Theophilus Ragg. Beached in the dusty backwaters of academe he may have been, but he had courage. He was like an earlier Queen before the coming of the Armada, who knew she had the body but of a weak and feeble woman; but she had the heart and stomach of a king.
    ‘Let me tell you, Mr Deputy Director, what the Metropolitan Police can offer you at this time,’ said Inspector Kingsley. ‘We shall maintain a discreet twenty-four-hour watch over the post room at the Ritz Hotel, though I fear the villain, if he is genuine, may already have private arrangements in place to intercept any communication addressed to the Friends of the British Museum. We shall keep watch over your house at all hours of the day and night. Your wife and children will not be able to take a step outside your front door without being watched by one of our plain clothes officers. I propose to send the letter – if you would allow us to borrow it for a day or so – to a couple of graphologists the Yard has used in the past. We do not like to advertise our connections with these people, but they have sometimes been useful in earlier cases.’
    ‘That all sounds very efficient, Inspector. I am more than grateful. But tell me, what do you gentlemen think I should do about the blackmail? Should I reply to this letter? Should I offer to make an appointment to meet with this person? Are the British Museum and its Deputy Director to be turned into a human honeypot to tempt a passing blackmailer? I do hope not. Lord Powerscourt?’
    ‘I have to confess I have little experience of this sort of blackmail. If it were me, I should be happy to place myself in the hands of the police.’
    ‘I too, Mr Deputy Director,’ Inspector Kingsley added, ‘have little experience of these negotiations, nor of sums as large as these. But I do know that the Commissioner believes it is always a mistake for those directly involved to negotiate with blackmailers.’
    ‘I see. Thank you for that, both of you.’ Theophilus Ragg smiled a wintry smile as if two undergraduate essays had just found favour with their tutor.
    ‘And what, pray, do you make of the choice of the Ritz Hotel as headquarters?’
    ‘Good choice, I believe,’ Powerscourt replied.