The Middle of Things

by J. S. Fletcher

  CHAPTER IV

  THE RING AND THE KNIFE

  Viner was hoping that the police had got hold of the wrong man as hereluctantly walked into Drillford's office, but one glance at theinspector's confident face, alert and smiling, showed him that Drillfordhimself had no doubts on that point.

  "Well, Mr. Viner," he said with a triumphant laugh, "we haven't been solong about it, you see! Much quicker work than I'd anticipated, too."

  "Are you sure you've got the right man?" asked Viner. "I mean--have yougot the man I saw running away from the passage?"

  "You shall settle that yourself," answered Drillford. "Come this way."

  He led Viner down a corridor, through one or two locked doors, andmotioning him to tread softly, drew back a sliding panel in the door of acell and silently pointed. Viner, with a worse sickness than before,stole up and looked through the barred opening. One glance at the mansitting inside the cell, white-faced, staring at the drab, bare wall, wasenough; he turned to Drillford and nodded. Drillford nodded too, and ledhim back to the office.

  "That's the man I saw," said Viner.

  "Of course!" assented Drillford. "I'd no doubt of it. Well, it's beena far simpler thing than I'd dared to hope. I'll tell you how we gothim. This morning, about ten o'clock, this chap, who won't give hisname, went into the pawnbroker's shop in Edgware Road, and asked for aloan on a diamond ring which he produced. Now, Pelver, who happened toattend to him himself, is a good deal of an expert in diamonds--he's ajeweller as well as a pawnbroker, and he saw at once that the diamondin this ring was well worth all of a thousand pounds--a gem of thefirst water! He was therefore considerably astonished when his customerasked for a loan of ten pounds on it--still more so when the fellowsuggested that Pelver should buy it outright for twenty-five. Pelverasked him some questions as to his property in the ring--he made someexcuses about its having been in his family for some time, and that hewould be glad to realize on it. Under pretence of examining it, Pelvertook the ring to another part of his shop and quietly sent for apoliceman. And the end was, this officer brought the man here, andPelver with him, and the ring. Here it is!"

  He opened a safe and produced a diamond ring at which Viner stared withfeelings for which he could scarcely account.

  "How do you know that's one of Mr. Ashton's rings?" he asked.

  "Oh, I soon solved that!" laughed Drillford. "I hurried round toMarkendale Square with it at once. Both the ladies recognized it--Mr.Ashton had often shown it to them, and told them its value, and there's aprivate mark of his inside it. And so we arrested him, and there he is!Clear case!"

  "What did he say?" asked Viner.

  "He's a curious customer," replied Drillford. "I should say that whateverhe is now, he has been a gentleman. He was extremely nervous and so onwhile we were questioning him about the ring, but when it came to thecrucial point, and I charged him and warned him, he turned strangelycool. I'll tell you what he said, in his exact words. 'I'm absolutelyinnocent of that!' he said. 'But I can see that I've placed myself in avery strange position.' And after that he would say no more--he hasn'teven asked to see a solicitor."

  "What will be done next?" asked Viner.

  "He'll be brought before the magistrate in an hour or two," saidDrillford. "Formal proceedings--for a remand, you know. I shall want youthere, Mr. Viner; it won't take long. I wish the fellow would tell uswho he is."

  "And I wish I could remember where and when I have seen him before!"exclaimed Viner.

  "Ah, that's still your impression?" remarked Drillford. "You're stillconvinced of it?"

  "More than ever--since seeing him just now," affirmed Viner. "I know hisface, but that's all I can say. I suppose," he continued, lookingdiffidently at the inspector, as if he half-expected to be laughed at forthe suggestion he was about to make, "I suppose you don't believe thatthis unfortunate fellow may have some explanation of his possession ofMr. Ashton's ring?"

  Drillford, who had been replacing the ring in a safe, locked thedoor upon it with a snap, and turned on his questioner with a lookwhich became more and more businesslike and official with eachsucceeding word.

  "Now, Mr. Viner," he said, "you look at it from our point of view. Anelderly gentleman is murdered and robbed. A certain man is seen--by you,as it happens--running away as fast as he can from the scene of themurder. Next morning that very man is found trying to get rid of a ringwhich, without doubt, was taken from the murdered man's finger. What doyou think? Or--another question--what could we, police officials, do?"

  "Nothing but what you're doing, I suppose," said Viner. "Still--there maybe a good deal that's--what shall I say?--behind all this."

  "It's for him to speak," observed Drillford, nodding in the direction ofthe cells. "He's got a bell within reach of his fingers; he's only got toring it and to ask for me or any solicitor he likes to name. But--weshall see!"

  Nothing had been seen or heard, in the way hinted at by Drillford, when,an hour later, Viner, waiting in the neighbouring police-court, was awarethat the humdrum, sordid routine was about to be interrupted by somethingunusual. The news of an arrest in connection with the Lonsdale Passagemurder had somehow leaked out, and the court was packed to the doors--Viner himself had gradually been forced into a corner near thewitness-box in which he was to make an unwilling appearance. And fromthat corner he looked with renewed interest at the man who was presentlyplaced in the dock, and for the hundredth time asked himself what it wasin his face that woke some chord of memory in him.

  There was nothing of the criminal in the accused man's appearance.Apparently about thirty years of age, spare of figure, clean-shaven, of adecidedly intellectual type of countenance, he looked like an actor. Hismuch-worn suit of tweed was well cut and had evidently been carefullykept, in spite of its undoubtedly threadbare condition. It, and the wornand haggard look of the man's face, denoted poverty, if not recent actualprivation, and the thought was present in more than one mind there inpossession of certain facts: if this man had really owned the ring whichhe had offered to the pawnbroker, why had he delayed so long in placinghimself in funds through its means? For if his face expressed anything,it was hunger.

  Viner, who was now witnessing police-court proceedings for the first timein his life, felt an almost morbid curiosity in hearing the tale unfoldedagainst the prisoner. For some reason, best known to themselves, thepolice brought forward more evidence than was usual on first proceedingsbefore a magistrate. Viner himself proved the finding of the body; thedivisional surgeon spoke as to the cause of death; the dead man'ssolicitor testified to his identity and swore positively as to the ring;the pawnbroker gave evidence as to the prisoner's attempt to pawn or sellthe ring that morning. Finally, the police proved that on searching theprisoner after his arrest, a knife was found in his hip-pocket which, inthe opinion of the divisional surgeon, would have caused the wound foundin the dead man's body. From a superficial aspect, no case could haveseemed clearer.

  But in Viner's reckoning of things there was mystery. Two episodesoccurred during the comparatively brief proceedings which made himcertain that all was not being brought out. The first was when he himselfwent into the witness-box to prove his discovery of the body and to swearthat the prisoner was the man he had seen running away from the passage.The accused glanced at him with evident curiosity as he came forward; onhearing Viner's name, he looked at him in a strange manner, changedcolour and turned his head away. But when a certain question was put toViner, he looked round again, evidently anxious to hear the answer.

  "I believe you thought, on first seeing him, that the prisoner's face wasfamiliar to you, Mr. Viner?"

  "Yes--I certainly think that I have seen him before, somewhere."

  "You can't recollect more? You don't know when or where you saw him?"

  "I don't. But that I have seen him, perhaps met him, somewhere, Iam certain."

  This induced the magistrate to urge the accused man--who had steadfastlyrefused to give name or address--to reveal his identity. But the p
risoneronly shook his head.

  "I would rather not give my name at present," he answered. "I amabsolutely innocent of this charge of murder, but I quite realize thatthe police are fully justified in bringing it against me. I had nothingwhatever to do with Mr. Ashton's death--nothing! Perhaps the police willfind out the truth; and meanwhile I had rather not give my name."

  "You will be well advised to reconsider that," said the magistrate. "Ifyou are innocent, as you say, it will be far better for you to say whoyou are, and to see a solicitor. As things are, you are in a verydangerous position."

  But the prisoner shook his head.

  "Not yet, at any rate," he answered. "I want to hear more."

  When the proceedings were over and the accused, formally remanded for aweek, had been removed to the cells previous to being taken away, Vinerwent round to Drillford's office.

  "Look here!" he said abruptly, finding the Inspector alone, "I dare sayyou think I'm very foolish, but I don't believe that chap murderedAshton. I don't believe it for one second!"

  Drillford who was filling up some papers, smiled.

  "No?" he said. "Now, why, Mr. Viner?"

  "You can call it intuition if you like," answered Viner. "But I don't!And I shall be surprised if I'm not right. There are certain things thatI should think would strike you."

  "What, for instance?" asked Drillford.

  "Do you think it likely that a man who must have known that a regular hueand cry would be raised about that murder, would be such a fool as to goand offer one of the murdered man's rings within a mile of the spot wherethe murder took place?" asked Viner.

  Drillford turned and looked steadily at his questioner.

  "Well, but that's precisely what he did, Mr. Viner!" he exclaimed."There's no doubt whatever that the ring in question was Ashton's;there's also no doubt that this man did offer it to Pelver this morning.Either the fellow is a fool or singularly ignorant, to do such a madthing! But--he did it! And I know why."

  "Why, then?" demanded Viner.

  "Because he was just starving," answered Drillford. "When he was broughtin here, straight from Pelver's, he hadn't a halfpenny on him, and in thevery thick of my questionings--and just think how important theywere!--he stopped me. 'May I say a word that's just now much moreimportant to me than all this?' he said. 'I'm starving! I haven't touchedfood or drink for nearly three days. Give me something, if it's only acrust of bread!' That's fact, Mr. Viner."

  "What did you do?" inquired Viner.

  "Got the poor chap some breakfast, at once," answered Drillford, "and lethim alone till he'd finished. Have you ever seen a starved dog eat?No--well, I have, and he ate like that--he was ravenous! And when a man'sat that stage, do you think he's going to stop at anything? Not he! Thisfellow, you may be sure, after killing and robbing Ashton, had but onethought--how soon he could convert some of the property into cash, sothat he could eat. If Pelver had made him that advance, or bought thering, he'd have made a bee-line for the nearest coffee-shop. I tell youhe was mad for food!"

  "Another thing," said Viner. "Where is the rest of Mr. Ashton'sproperty--his watch, chain, the other ring, his purse, and--wasn't therea pocketbook? How is it this man wasn't found in possession of them?"

  "Easy enough for him to hide all those things, Mr. Viner," saidDrillford, with an indulgent smile. "What easier? You don't know as muchof these things as I do--he could quite easily plant all those articlessafely during the night. He just stuck to the article which he could mosteasily convert into money."

  "Well, I don't believe he's guilty," repeated Viner. "And I want to dosomething for him. You may think me quixotic, but I'd like to help him.Is there anything to prevent you from going to him, telling him thatI'm convinced of his innocence and that I should like to get himhelp--legal help?"

  "There's nothing to prevent it, to be sure," answered Drillford. "But Mr.Viner, you can't get over the fact that this fellow had Ashton's diamondring in his possession!"

  "How do I--how do you--know how he came into possession of it?"demanded Viner.

  "And then--that knife!" exclaimed Drillford. "Look here! I've got it.What sort of thing is that for an innocent, harmless man to carry abouthim? It's an American bowie-knife!"

  He opened a drawer and exhibited a weapon which, lying on a pile ofpaper, looked singularly suggestive and fearsome.

  "I don't care!" said Viner with a certain amount of stubbornness. "I'mconvinced that the man didn't kill Ashton. And I want to help him. I'm aman of considerable means; and in this case--well, that's how I feelabout it."

  Drillford made no answer. But presently he left the room, after pointingViner to a chair. Viner waited--five, ten minutes. Then the door openedagain, and Drillford came back. Behind him walked the accused man, witha couple of policemen in attendance upon him.

  "There, Mr. Viner!" said Drillford. "You can speak to him yourself!"

  Viner rose from his chair. The prisoner stepped forward, regarding himearnestly.

  "Viner!" he said, in a low, concentrated tone, "don't you know me?I'm Langton Hyde! You and I were at Rugby together. And--we meetagain, here!"