by Annie Haynes
“Perhaps not,” the detective said slowly. “And yet my stay here has distinctly forwarded me in my investigation into one of the most mysterious of modern tragedies.”
“Really?” Stephen looked up a trifle incredulous. “I must confess at times, inspector, that I have been inclined to attribute it to Célestine’s bright eyes.”
Mr. Lennox waved his hand as if to brush the very suggestion aside. “Pish! Célestine,” he said lightly. “Célestine has her uses, sir, but,” looking Crasster full in the face with his keen frosty blue eyes, “I came here in connection with the Abbey Court murder, sir. You must have guessed that, knowing what you do.”
“Impossible!” Stephen stared at him. “You don’t mean that you placed any reliance— what in the world could Carew have to do with the Abbey Court murder?”
“Not much at first sight,” the detective returned amicably. “As a matter of fact it wasn’t so much what I expected to discover at Carew village, but that it was a sort of centre. Still I may say that my stay has not been unproductive. I am glad I came to the Carew Arms.”
“You don’t say so!” Stephen sat back in his chair and looked at him.
It was essentially a peaceful and pleasant scene they looked upon through the open window, one that seemed far removed from that horrible, sordid crime in the Abbey Court flats. Yet, as he looked at the inspector’s face, a terrible prevision of evil took possession of Stephen, a certainty that the shadow of some frightful calamity overhung the quiet village.
“What do you mean?” he said at last curtly.
The inspector did not answer for a moment, his eyes strayed to a wooden box that stood on the sideboard at the end of the room. At last, he said slowly:
“You may remember that nothing was ever discovered with regard to the identity of the man who called himself C. Warden—I mean no hint as to his past, no knowledge of his friends or where he came from.”
“I remember,” said Stephen slowly. “That was one of the most baffling features of the case. Not a single paper of his was to be found. It looked as if he had deliberately destroyed everything that could give any clue to his identity.”
“Yes! either he had or his murderer had,” Mr. Lennox finished significantly. “Well, sir, I don’t say I have found out who it was, or where he came from; but it was because I thought the answer to those two questions might be found in this neighbourhood that I came down to the Carew Arms.”
“The last place in the world where I would have thought you would be likely to obtain any help,” Stephen said energetically; yet the inspector saw plainly enough that a shade passed over his face as he heard the words. “Why, man alive, haven’t you discovered that in a country place like this everybody knows everybody else and everybody else’s business? There is no room for mysteries or unknown personages down at Carew.”
The inspector nodded. “I know what you mean, sir. But now let me tell you. I believe Lord Chesterham is a great friend of yours, isn’t he, Mr. Crasster?”
The suddenness of the question, of the extraordinary change of topic, almost took Crasster’s breath away.
“I know him of course. Yes, he is a friend,” he answered, loyal to Peggy’s trust in him: “But what possible connexion do you imagine he could have had with the—”
The inspector laughed a little. “Oh, I don’t go so far as to imagine that he had any connexion with the tragedy, sir. But my stay here is indirectly connected with him all the same. You may not have noticed the paragraphs that appeared in the papers when he succeeded to the title?”
“I don’t think I did,” Stephen said uncertainly. He was watching the inspector’s face. What in the world had all this to do with the Abbey Court murder? He could not make it out.
“I am sure I did not,” he added more positively.
“I always look through the papers pretty carefully myself,” said the inspector, “and note anything special that strikes me. It often comes in useful. Well, sir, I had two reasons for coming to Carew. The first one—well, that I may tell you later; the other I found in those paragraphs relating to the succession to the Chesterham peerage. Several of them spoke of a blue star which was supposed to be the peculiar birth-mark of the Chesterham family, and which, of course, distinguishes the present peer. Perhaps you didn’t notice it, sir?”
“Certainly I didn’t!” Stephen answered, a gleam of sudden comprehension lighting up his eyes. “I don’t even remember hearing of his succession at the time. But you don’t mean that—”
“Just that.” The inspector nodded. “I made inquiries and the Chesterham Star is a blue mark, on the arm, just above the wrist, identical in every respect with the mark you will remember seeing on the arm of the man who died in the Abbey Court flats.”
“I remember,” Stephen said slowly. “But it is inconceivable that—”
“It is almost certain to my mind that he was a member of the Chesterham family—either with the bar sinister or otherwise,” the inspector went on, “though I haven’t traced him yet. But, when I have, half the mystery surrounding the Abbey Court murder will be cleared up, sir.”
“But how—” Stephen began.
He was interrupted by a familiar ting-ting, from the other end of the room.
“The telephone,” said the inspector. “If you will excuse me one moment, sir, I am expecting an important message!”
CHAPTER XX
Crasster waited while the inspector went over to the writing-table that stood at the other end of the room, and took down the receiver.
“As I expected—exactly. The man is certain—there can be no mistake. I must see him before we do any more—tell him to be at my office at Scotland Yard at six o’clock to-morrow.” He rang off and restored the receiver to its hook.
As he came back to Stephen at the window his face was very grave. Stephen, glancing up, caught the questioning look and wondered.
“I am lost in amazement at finding a telephone at the Carew Arms, inspector,” he said lightly. “Who would have thought of anything so modern in this old-fashioned house?”
Lennox laughed. “It is a bit out of the ordinary, isn’t it, sir? Mrs. Curtis explained to me when I came about the rooms, that, as Sir Anthony was having the telephone put in at Heron’s Carew, it was not a matter of much difficulty to get it here, and I gratified her greatly when I told her that it was my crowning attraction to the Carew Arms. But for its being here I should probably have gone to private rooms somewhere in the neighbourhood. As a rule I prefer them; folks get to know less of your business.”
“I don’t fancy anyone gets to know much of your business here,” Crasster said, laughing in spite of himself. “I think the length of your stay is put down entirely to Célestine’s account. But about what you were telling me, inspector: The mark on that poor fellow’s arm; I can’t believe it is identical with the Chesterham blue star.”
“Can’t you, sir?” The detective went back to his table, and, opening a case, came back with a paper in his hand. “There is a painting I had done on the spot, an exact copy of the mark on C. Warden’s arm.”
Stephen took the paper in his hand and looked at it closely. “Yes! Well, it certainly is like the description I have heard of the Chesterham star.”
Lennox handed him another sheet. “This is a likeness of the Chesterham star, done from memory, by the nurse who attended the late Lord Chesterham in his fatal illness.”
Crasster studied the two in silence for a minute, then he handed them back.
“Certainly they do look identical. But it seems to me inconceivable that C. Warden should be a member of the Chesterham family. Possibly it is only a coincidence.”
“Hardly probable,” the inspector said dryly. “I have seen Lord Chesterham, sir, and I have been round the hall and looked at the old family portraits, and I have come to the conclusion that the murdered man bore a certain resemblance to the Chesterham family. Not a striking one by any means, but still sufficient to be noticeable. Oh, I think there’s
no doubt the clue to C. Warden’s identity is to be found in this neighbourhood, Mr. Crasster.”
Stephen handed him back the two drawings.
“Well, have it your own way, inspector. Only granted that C. Warden was a left-handed connexion of the Chesterhams, I doubt whether you will find anything about him here.”
“Well, I may or I may not,” the inspector remarked oracularly. “In any case my stay here hasn’t been entirely unproductive. I told you I had another reason for coming down, sir.”
“Connected with the Abbey Court murder?” Crasster questioned, shading his eyes with his hand.
The inspector nodded. “You will remember the porter told us who he thought the lady he had taken up in the lift resembled.”
“I remember,” Crasster said shortly. “Absolutely absurd, as I said at the time.” His hand went to his chin and pulled it forward restlessly.
The inspector watched him closely, his keen little eyes marking every movement. He did not speak for some minutes; it was evident he was weighing some course of action. At last he looked up.
“Yet, but for that supposed recognition, we should have taken you into our counsel long before this, Mr. Crasster. You must have thought it strange you did not hear from me.”
“I fancied that you did not think much of my talents as a detective,” Stephen answered. “But what do you mean about this porter’s recognition? You cannot surely imagine—”
The inspector got up and closed the open window before he spoke. “I have had the man down here, sir, there is no doubt about it.”
“No doubt about it,” Crasster echoed as he sat back and stared at him. “What in the world do you mean?”
The inspector leaned forward and spoke almost in a whisper, glancing round as if afraid that even the walls themselves should overhear his secret. “When Davis, the porter, told us that the lady he had taken up the lift into C. Warden’s rooms was very like a fashionable beauty whom he had seen once or twice in the park, like you I was inclined to pooh-pooh the whole business. Then later on, when the affair seemed to have grown more inexplicable than ever, my mind went back to it, and I questioned Davis again. As a result I had him down here; he has seen Lady Carew twice, and has no doubt at all as to her identity. He says that he is prepared to swear to it anywhere.”
Crasster drew a long breath with a sharp inaudible exclamation. Then he waited, his keen, clean-shaven face distinctly paler, his eyes watching the inspector’s face closely, his hands clasping the arms of his chair.
Though at the bottom of his heart he had never cared for Lady Carew, though he had always been conscious of a certain latent antagonism towards her, the inspector’s words came to him as a terrible shock. Anthony Carew was his dearest friend. To believe this horrible, this inconceivable thing, was to know that an abyss of horror and humiliation was opening before him. Peggy—ah! Crasster’s heart failed him, he closed his eyes for a minute, as he thought of Peggy—how would she bear it, the shame and the terror and the sorrow? For that Peggy loved her sister-in-law very dearly, he knew well.
“It is impossible,” he exclaimed at last, springing to his feet, and beginning to pace up and down the room. “Impossible, I tell you. Oh, Davis may be wrong, he may be lying; that Lady Carew should have had anything to do with that tragedy at Abbey Court is impossible, an absolute, physical impossibility.”
The inspector did not move. His small blue eyes had a gleam of sympathy as he looked across.
“The fan—you may remember a fan was found in the room, Mr. Crasster.”
“Well?” Stephen questioned hoarsely.
“It has been identified as Lady Carew’s by her maid.”
“My God!” Stephen sat down heavily.
The inspector went over to the sideboard and came back with a tiny glass of liqueur in his hand.
“Drink this, sir. It will pull you together. There is more for you to hear this morning and I want your help.”
Crasster tossed off the absinth; it had the more effect upon him as he was habitually abstemious.
“You I want my help,” he repeated. “But I—good Lord, Lennox, I cannot help you! Don’t you know that the Carews are my dearest friends?”
“You haven’t heard all yet, sir,” the inspector said slowly. “And we shall need wise heads and clear brains before we see the end of the Abbey Court murder, it strikes me.”
Stephen leaned forward, his head on his hands, his elbows on the table.
“Is it possible there is more to hear?” he said with a groan. “Well, let me know the worst, Lennox.”
The inspector coughed. “You don’t need to be told, sir, that we have had one or two little bits of evidence that were not allowed to leak out at the inquest. They would not have enlightened the jury, and, through publicity being given to them, the murderer might have escaped.”
Stephen nodded. “I know what you mean. Go on, inspector.”
“Well, sir”—the detective hesitated, and seemed at a loss to choose his words—“the policeman on point duty at the end of Leinster Avenue that night saw a man loitering about for some time outside the Abbey Court flats—a man who was apparently waiting and watching for some one. Finally, he went inside and stayed some little time, then he came back again, and stood about a while. Of course, on the face of it, there is nothing to connect him with the murder in that. But, wait a minute, sir,” as Stephen uttered a quick exclamation of surprise. “The pistol that was found in the room. You saw it, no doubt.”
“Of course I did. The doctor’s evidence proved that Warden was shot with it.”
“Exactly,” the inspector drew in his lips. “Well, the finding of the owner of that pistol has been no end of bother. In fact, I don’t mind telling you, sir, that I look upon its accomplishment as a pretty considerable feather in my cap.”
“You have discovered that?” Stephen exclaimed quickly. “Why then—”
The inspector looked at him. “You heard my summons on the telephone just now? Well, that was to tell me that the affair was finished. We have had some trouble first of all in finding the maker, secondly in tracing the shop at which it was bought, and lastly in identifying the purchaser, but to-day all three have been successfully accomplished. The revolver was one of a pair in a case which was supplied to Sir Anthony Carew in June of last year.”
“To Sir Anthony Carew.” Stephen’s right hand clenched itself.
“To Sir Anthony Carew,” the inspector repeated. “It was what I expected to hear, sir. I had the constable I was telling you of down here last week, and he identified Sir Anthony Carew as the man who stood about in the Leinster Avenue for so long, and, as I said before, entered the Abbey Court flats and stayed some little time.”
If Crasster’s face had been pale before it was absolutely ghastly now. Judith Carew had been up to Warden’s room, Anthony had been loitering about outside, the dead man had been shot with Anthony’s pistol. What did it mean? What could it mean, he asked himself? Not yet could he grasp the full significance of those damning facts.
“What are you going to do?” he asked with stiffening lips.
The inspector drew in his lips and, taking off his pince-nez, apparently studied it carefully for a minute.
“That is where I want your help, sir.”
A hoarse sound broke from Stephen. “Man alive! How can I help you? Haven’t I just told you that the Carews are my dearest friends?”
“That is why I asked you to help me,” the inspector repeated. “Don’t you see, sir, if it were merely a question of arresting Sir Anthony and Lady Carew, I should do that on my own responsibility? When I ask you to help me—”
Crasster lifted his head, a gleam of hope dawning in his eyes.
“You mean—”
The inspector scratched his head. “I don’t exactly know what I do mean, sir, and that is the plain truth of it. I never believed in instinct before, and the facts seem plain enough on the face of them, but I can’t bring myself to believe that either Sir Anthony
or Lady Carew is guilty of the Abbey Court murder. I may tell you that those in authority above me don’t share this view, and any day may bring orders for the arrest of one or both. I am holding back as long as I can, however, for I have the strongest feeling that some even darker mystery is behind the flat tragedy. Now, it came to me yesterday that I would ask your advice. You have helped me to solve many a knotty problem in the past; it seemed to me now that, if you were fighting to save your friends, you would be doubly keen.”
Stephen’s head dropped again on his hands. Despite his lifelong friendship for Sir Anthony Carew, his thought now would fly to Peggy, with her innocent pride in her engagement, in her handsome lover.
“If I could see a loophole,” he groaned.
The detective stepped back, drew up a chair so closely that it touched the arm of Crasster’s, and sat down.
“Suppose I tell you a suspicion—not that—a vague thought that I have had sometimes, I wonder whether you will think me mad, sir?” He bent his head down to Crasster’s and murmured a few words in his ear.
Their effect upon Stephen was magical. He sprang backwards and looked at the inspector.
“Impossible! How could there be any connexion between the two?”
The inspector shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t pretend to explain it, sir, yet. But that is the direction my suspicion takes.”
“But it is madness—absolute madness!” Stephen reiterated, his face still oddly white.
The inspector spread out his hands. “Then, Sir Anthony Carew—”
Stephen dropped back in his chair. “Heaven help me, inspector, I don’t know what to think.”
CHAPTER XXI
“It is no use, I shall go up to town and have it out!” Lady Carew was standing in her dressing-room, her dark brows drawn together in an expression of pain, her handkerchief held to her face.
“O—h! But that would be a pity, when Miladi has such beautiful regular teeth.” Célestine held up her hands. “If miladi would try a little more of the mixture perhaps it would relieve her now.”