“Come! three thousand francs. Will that be enough?”
The detective, after a moment’s reflection, said:
“Very well. But I must warn you that you are throwing your money out of the window.”
“I do not care.”
“In that case...but, after all, what do we know about this devil Buchanan! He may have quite a numerous band of robbers with him. Are you sure of your servants?”
“My faith---”
“Better not count on them. I will telegraph for two of my men to help me. And now, go! It is better for us not to be seen together. Tomorrow evening about nine o’clock.”
The following day--the date fixed by Maximilian Buchanan--Baron Von Royston arranged all his panoply of war, furbished his weapons, and, like a sentinel, paced to and fro in front of the castle. He saw nothing, heard nothing. At half-past eight o’clock in the evening, he dismissed his servants. They occupied rooms in a wing of the building, in a retired spot, well removed from the main portion of the castle. Shortly thereafter, the baron heard the sound of approaching footsteps. It was Simenon and his two assistants--great, powerful fellows with immense hands, and necks like bulls. After asking a few questions relating to the location of the various entrances and rooms, Simenon carefully closed and barricaded all the doors and windows through which one could gain access to the threatened rooms. He inspected the walls, raised the tapestries, and finally installed his assistants in the central gallery which was located between the two salons.
“No nonsense! We are not here to sleep. At the slightest sound, open the windows of the court and call me. Pay attention also to the water-side. Ten metres of perpendicular rock is no obstacle to those devils.”
Simenon locked his assistants in the gallery, carried away the keys, and said to the baron:
“And now, to our post.”
He had chosen for himself a small room located in the thick outer wall, between the two principal doors, and which, in former years, had been the watchman’s quarters. A peep-hole opened upon the bridge; another on the court. In one corner, there was an opening to a tunnel.
“I believe you told me, Monsieur le Baron, that this tunnel is the only subterranean entrance to the castle and that it has been closed up for time immemorial?”
“Yes.”
“Then, unless there is some other entrance, known only to Maximilian Buchanan, we are quite safe.”
He placed three chairs together, stretched himself upon them, lighted his pipe and sighed:
“Really, Monsieur le Baron, I feel ashamed to accept your money for such a sinecure as this. I will tell the story to my friend Buchanan. He will enjoy it immensely.”
The baron did not laugh. He was anxiously listening, but heard nothing save the beating of his own heart. From time to time, he leaned over the tunnel and cast a fearful eye into its depths. He heard the clock strike eleven, twelve, one.
Suddenly, he seized Simenon’s arm. The latter leaped up, awakened from his sleep.
“Do you hear?” asked the baron, in a whisper.
“Yes.”
“What is it?”
“I was snoring, I suppose.”
“No, no, listen.”
“Ah! yes, it is the horn of an automobile.”
“Well?”
“Well! it is very improbable that Buchanan would use an automobile like a battering-ram to demolish your castle. Come, Monsieur le Baron, return to your post. I am going to sleep. Good-night.”
That was the only alarm. Simenon resumed his interrupted slumbers, and the baron heard nothing except the regular snoring of his companion. At break of day, they left the room. The castle was enveloped in a profound calm; it was a peaceful dawn on the bosom of a tranquil river. They mounted the stairs, Von Royston radiant with joy, Simenon calm as usual. They heard no sound; they saw nothing to arouse suspicion.
“What did I tell you, Monsieur le Baron? Really, I should not have accepted your offer. I am ashamed.”
He unlocked the door and entered the gallery. Upon two chairs, with drooping heads and pendent arms, the detective’s two assistants were asleep.
“Tonnerre de nom d’un chien!” exclaimed Simenon. At the same moment, the baron cried out:
“The pictures! The credence!”
He stammered, choked, with arms outstretched toward the empty places, toward the denuded walls where naught remained but the useless nails and cords. The Watteau, disappeared! The Rubens, carried away! The tapestries taken down! The cabinets, despoiled of their jewels!
“And my Louis XVI candelabra! And the Regent chandelier!...And my twelfth-century Virgin!”
He ran from one spot to another in wildest despair. He recalled the purchase price of each article, added up the figures, counted his losses, pell-mell, in confused words and unfinished phrases. He stamped with rage; he groaned with grief. He acted like a ruined man whose only hope is suicide.
If anything could have consoled him, it would have been the stupefaction displayed by Simenon. The famous detective did not move. He appeared to be petrified; he examined the room in a listless manner. The windows?....closed. The locks on the doors?....intact. Not a break in the ceiling; not a hole in the floor. Everything was in perfect order. The theft had been carried out methodically, according to a logical and inexorable plan.
“Maximilian Buchanan....Maximilian Buchanan,” he muttered.
Suddenly, as if moved by anger, he rushed upon his two assistants and shook them violently. They did not awaken.
“The devil!” he cried. “Can it be possible?”
He leaned over them and, in turn, examined them closely. They were asleep; but their response was unnatural.
“They have been drugged,” he said to the baron.
“By whom?”
“By him, of course, or his men under his discretion. That work bears his stamp.”
“In that case, I am lost--nothing can be done.”
“Nothing,” assented Simenon.
“It is dreadful; it is monstrous.”
“Lodge a complaint.”
“What good will that do?”
“Oh; it is well to try it. The law has some resources.”
“The law! Bah! it is useless. You represent the law, and, at this moment, when you should be looking for a clue and trying to discover something, you do not even stir.”
“Discover something with Maximilian Buchanan! Why, my dear monsieur, Maximilian Buchanan never leaves any clue behind him. He leaves nothing to chance. Sometimes I think he put himself in my way and simply allowed me to arrest him in America.”
“Then, I must renounce my pictures! He has taken the gems of my collection. I would give a fortune to recover them. If there is no other way, let him name his own price.”
Simenon regarded the baron attentively, as he said:
“Now, that is sensible. Will you stick to it?”
“Yes, yes. But why?”
“An idea that I have.”
“What is it?”
“We will discuss it later--if the official examination does not succeed. But, not one word about me, if you wish my assistance.”
He added, between his teeth:
“It is true I have nothing to boast of in this affair.”
The assistants were gradually regaining consciousness with the bewildered air of people who come out of an hypnotic sleep. They opened their eyes and looked about them in astonishment. Simenon questioned them; they remembered nothing.
“But you must have seen some one?”
“No.”
“Can’t you remember?”
“No, no.”
“Did you drink anything?”
They considered a moment, and then one of them replied:
“Yes, I drank a little water.”
“Out of that carafe?”
“Yes.”
“So did I,” declared the other.
Simenon smelled and tasted it. It had no particular taste and no odor.
“Com
e,” he said, “we are wasting our time here. One can’t decide an Maximilian Buchanan problem in five minutes. But, morbleau! I swear I will catch him again.”
The same day, a charge of burglary was duly performed by Baron Von Royston against Maximilian Buchanan, a prisoner in the Prison de la Sante.
The baron afterwards regretted making the charge against Buchanan when he saw his castle delivered over to the gendarmes, the procureur, the judge d’instruction, the newspaper reporters and photographers, and a throng of idle curiosity-seekers.
The affair soon became a topic of general discussion, and the name of Maximilian Buchanan excited the public imagination to such an extent that the newspapers filled their columns with the most fantastic stories of his exploits which found ready credence amongst their readers.
But the letter of Maximilian Buchanan that was published in the `Echo de France’ (no once ever knew how the newspaper obtained it), that letter in which Baron Von Royston was impudently warned of the coming theft, caused considerable excitement. The most fabulous theories were advanced. Some recalled the existence of the famous subterranean tunnels, and that was the line of research pursued by the officers of the law, who searched the house from top to bottom, questioned every stone, studied the wainscoting and the chimneys, the window-frames and the girders in the ceilings. By the light of torches, they examined the immense cellars where the lords of Malaquis were wont to store their munitions and provisions. They sounded the rocky foundation to its very centre. But it was all in vain. They discovered no trace of a subterranean tunnel. No secret passage existed.
But the eager public declared that the pictures and furniture could not vanish like so many ghosts. They are substantial, material things and require doors and windows for their exits and their entrances, and so do the people that remove them. Who were those people? How did they gain access to the castle? And how did they leave it?
The police officers of Rouen, convinced of their own impotence, solicited the assistance of the Parisian detective force. Mon. Remos, chief of the Civil police, sent the best sleuths of the iron brigade. He himself spent forty-eight hours at the castle, but met with no success. Then he sent for Simenon, whose past services had proved so useful when all else failed.
Simenon listened, in silence, to the instructions of his superior; then, shaking his head, he said:
“In my opinion, it is useless to ransack the castle. The solution of the problem lies elsewhere.”
“Where, then?”
“With Maximilian Buchanan.”
“With Maximilian Buchanan! To support that theory, we must admit his intervention.”
“I do admit it. In fact, I consider it quite certain.”
“Come, Simenon, that is absurd. Maximilian Buchanan is in prison.”
“I grant you that Maximilian Buchanan is in prison, closely guarded; but he must have fetters on his feet, manacles on his wrists, and gag in his mouth before I change my opinion.”
“Why so obstinate, Simenon?”
“Because Maximilian Buchanan is the only man in France of sufficient calibre to invent and carry out a scheme of that magnitude.”
“Mere words, Simenon.”
“But true ones. Look! What are they doing? Searching for subterranean passages, stones swinging on pivots, and other nonsense of that kind. But Buchanan doesn’t employ such old-fashioned methods. He is a modern cracksman, right up to date.”
“And how would you proceed?”
“I should ask your permission to spend an hour with him.”
“In his cell?”
“Yes. During the return trip from America we became very friendly, and I venture to say that if he can give me any information without compromising himself he will not hesitate to save me from incurring useless trouble.”
It was shortly after noon when Simenon entered the cell of Maximilian Buchanan. The latter, who was lying on his bed, raised his head and uttered a cry of apparent joy.
“Ah! This is a real surprise. My dear Simenon, here!”
“Simenon himself.”
“In my chosen retreat, I have felt a desire for many things, but my fondest wish was to receive you here.”
“Very kind of you, I am sure.”
“Not at all. You know I hold you in the highest regard.”
“I am proud of it.”
“I have always said: Simenon is our best detective. He is almost,--you see how candid I am!--he is almost as clever as Cameron Charles. But I am sorry that I cannot offer you anything better than this hard stool. And no refreshments! Not even a glass of beer! Of course, you will excuse me, as I am here only temporarily.”
Simenon smiled, and accepted the proffered seat. Then the prisoner continued:
“Mon Dieu, how pleased I am to see the face of an honest man. I am so tired of those devils of spies who come here ten times a day to ransack my pockets and my cell to satisfy themselves that I am not preparing to escape. The government is very solicitous on my account.”
“It is quite right.”
“Why so? I should be quite contented if they would allow me to live in my own quiet way.”
“On other people’s money.”
“Quite so. That would be so simple. But here, I am joking, and you are, no doubt, in a hurry. So let us come to business, Simenon. To what do I owe the honour of this visit?
“The Von Royston affair,” declared Simenon, frankly.
“Ah! Wait, one moment. You see I have had so many affairs! First, let me fix in my mind the circumstances of this particular case....Ah! yes, now I have it. The Von Royston affair, Malaquis castle, Seine-Inferieure....Two Rubens, a Watteau, and a few trifling articles.”
“Trifling!”
“Oh! ma foi, all that is of slight importance. But it suffices to know that the affair interests you. How can I serve you, Simenon?”
“Must I explain to you what steps the authorities have taken in the matter?”
“Not at all. I have read the newspapers and I will frankly state that you have made very little progress.”
“And that is the reason I have come to see you.”
“I am entirely at your service.”
“In the first place, the Von Royston affair was managed by you?”
“From A to Z.”
“The letter of warning? the telegram?”
“All mine. I ought to have the receipts somewhere.”
Maximilian opened the drawer of a small table of plain white wood which, with the bed and stool, constituted all the furniture in his cell, and took therefrom two scraps of paper which he handed to Simenon.
“Ah!” exclaimed the detective, in surprise, “I though you were closely guarded and searched, and I find that you read the newspapers and collect postal receipts.”
“Bah! these people are so stupid! They open the lining of my vest, they examine the soles of my shoes, they sound the walls of my cell, but they never imagine that Maximilian Buchanan would be foolish enough to choose such a simple hiding place.”
Simenon laughed, as he said:
“What a droll fellow you are! Really, you bewilder me. But, come now, tell me about the Von Royston affair.”
“Oh! oh! not quite so fast! You would rob me of all my secrets; expose all my little tricks. That is a very serious matter.”
“Was I wrong to count on your complaisance?”
“No, Simenon, and since you insist---”
Maximilian Buchanan paced his cell two or three times, then, stopping before Simenon, he asked:
“What do you think of my letter to the baron?”
“I think you were amusing yourself by playing to the gallery.”
“Ah! playing to the gallery! Come, Simenon, I thought you knew me better. Do I, Maximilian Buchanan, ever waste my time on such puerilities? Would I have written that letter if I could have robbed the baron without writing to him? I want you to understand that the letter was indispensable; it was the motor that set the whole machine in motion. Now, let us di
scuss together a scheme for the robbery of the Malaquis castle. Are you willing?”
“Yes, proceed.”
“Well, let us suppose a castle carefully closed and barricaded like that of the Baron Von Royston. Am I to abandon my scheme and renounce the treasures that I covet, upon the pretext that the castle which holds them is inaccessible?”
“Evidently not.”
“Should I make an assault upon the castle at the head of a band of adventurers as they did in ancient times?”
“That would be foolish.”
“Can I gain admittance by stealth or cunning?”
“Impossible.”
“Then there is only one way open to me. I must have the owner of the castle invite me to it.”
“That is surely an original method.”
“And how easy! Let us suppose that one day the owner receives a letter warning him that a notorious burglar known as Maximilian Buchanan is plotting to rob him. What will he do?”
“Send a letter to the Procureur.”
“Who will laugh at him, because the said Maximilian Buchanan is actually in prison. Then, in his anxiety and fear, the simple man will ask the assistance of the first-comer, will he not?”
“Very likely.”
“And if he happens to read in a country newspaper that a celebrated detective is spending his vacation in a neighbouring town---”
“He will seek that detective.”
“Of course. But, on the other hand, let us presume that, having foreseen that state of affairs, the said Maximilian Buchanan has requested one of his friends to visit Caudebec, make the acquaintance of the editor of the `Reveil,’ a newspaper to which the baron is a subscriber, and let said editor understand that such person is the celebrated detective--then, what will happen?”
“The editor will announce in the `Reveil’ the presence in Caudebec of said detective.”
“Exactly; and one of two things will happen: either the fish--I mean Von Royston--will not bite, and nothing will happen; or, what is more likely, he will run and greedily swallow the bait. Thus, behold my Baron Von Royston imploring the assistance of one of my friends against me.”
“Original, indeed!”
“Of course, the pseudo-detective at first refuses to give any assistance. On top of that comes the telegram from Maximilian Buchanan. The frightened baron rushes once more to my friend and offers him a definite sum of money for his services. My friend accepts and summons two members of our band, who, during the night, whilst Von Royston is under the watchful eye of his protector, removes certain articles by way of the window and lowers them with ropes into a nice little launch chartered for the occasion. Simple, isn’t it?”
Maximilian The Master Thief Page 3