The Rogues' Syndicate
Page 27
He lifted a cup of coffee, took a sip, and replaced it.
‘It is an old truism that every criminal makes mistakes. So, if you come to it, does every detective. We’re all human. But there’s this difference, and it explains why the world is not overrun with crooks. A detective’s mistake is not necessarily disastrous. He can retrieve himself. A crook who is being hunted by the whole resources of civilisation hasn’t often much time to repair an error, even if he knows he’s made one. The shooting of Greye-Stratton was an accident in a sense, and looking back you will see how inevitable it was that at least the main persons in the conspiracy should be brought to justice—and the personality of the man in charge of the search scarcely mattered a button to the ultimate result. It was merely a matter of common sense and organisation. Every step is obvious. Here is Greye-Stratton killed. Obvious first enquiry: Who and what are his relatives and friends? That leads us to Errol and Miss Greye-Stratton, and through them we get on to Ling, and systematic enquiries about him would have certainly resulted in the discovery of his accomplices. It is one of those cases in which it was as certain as sunrise that a corps of disciplined, intelligent men could not be unsuccessful. We’ve had luck—but that only hastened things—the end would have been just the same now as in three months’ time.’
‘It’s perfectly simple how you expound it,’ said Jimmie. ‘But you haven’t told us how you got all the detail which you have told us about the murder. You aren’t going to tell us you had a dictaphone there?’
‘Not much. That is one of my short cuts in which I did the Sherlock Holmes’ act—with the help of several other people. Today for the first time we found out where Dago Sam had been laying up.’
‘The opium joint?’
‘Which will you have—cigar or cocoanut?’ asked Menzies, smilingly. ‘You’re right. Like Ling, he is fond of the pipe, and Sing Loo had found him a room. When that was searched a blood-stained suit was found and I happened to notice a hair when it was shown to me. Now, most of the rest was plain sailing. There was the tailor’s name and date and a reference number on a label sewed in one of the breast pockets. I went to the tailor’s, and took their fitter down with me to Brixton Prison, where we had Sam paraded with a dozen other men, and picked out as the customer who ordered that suit of clothes. Meanwhile I had got a Home Office order for the exhumation of Mr Greye-Stratton’s body. A piece of hair was taken from the corpse, and sent to the Yard, where I had persuaded an expert microscopist to bring an instrument.
‘Already one of the medical experts associated with the Home Office had pronounced the stain on the jacket to be human blood, then when Fynne-Racton declared that the hair of the murdered man corresponded with the hair I had found, I had the first link. I got that result from Mr Foyle over the telephone just now.’
‘I can follow that all right,’ declared Jimmie, ‘but where I go off the rails is how you fixed the respective roles of Dago Sam and Ling? How’d you get at what happened at the house?’
‘That is where the human factor comes in. So long as Sam thought the only case against him was a minor one he was determined not to say a word. The fear of being hanged is a wonderful incentive to secrecy. When he was stood up for identification today it was clear to him that we were close upon the facts, and it didn’t much matter what he said. He was apparently rankling under the idea that his pals had deserted him when he was arrested, and he sent for the governor of the prison, and made a statement pretty well as I’ve told you, except that he asserted Ling fired the fatal shot. He was a little confused about that part of it, and on reflection admitted that he himself snatched the revolver. It doesn’t matter a pin anyway. They’re both murderers. The four of them will be brought up in court together tomorrow morning.’
He emptied his cup and moved towards the door. ‘And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll drop a line to the vicar. He’ll think I’ve been neglecting church affairs lately, and there’s something I want to ask him about the organ fund. Have you got a minute, my dear?’
Husband and wife went out together.
A prolonged fit of coughing heralded their return. Peggy, scarlet faced, was turning over some music on the piano. Jimmie Hallett was lighting a cigarette. He interpreted the twinkle in the chief inspector’s eyes, and met the situation boldly.
‘Menzies,’ he said. ‘Do you know how long it takes to arrange an international marriage in England?’
Menzies produced a yellow covered book from under his arm. ‘I thought you might need Whitaker’s Almanac,’ he chuckled. ‘Pure deduction, without any fake. I told you I was your fairy godfather, didn’t I?’
THE END
THE DETECTIVE STORY CLUB
E. C. BENTLEY • TRENT’S LAST CASE
E. C. BENTLEY • TRENT INTERVENES
E. C. BENTLEY & H. WARNER ALLEN • TRENT’S OWN CASE
ANTHONY BERKELEY • THE WYCHFORD POISONING CASE
ANTHONY BERKELEY • THE SILK STOCKING MURDERS
LYNN BROCK • NIGHTMARE
BERNARD CAPES • THE MYSTERY OF THE SKELETON KEY
AGATHA CHRISTIE • THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD
AGATHA CHRISTIE • THE BIG FOUR
WILKIE COLLINS • THE MOONSTONE
HUGH CONWAY • CALLED BACK
HUGH CONWAY • DARK DAYS
EDMUND CRISPIN • THE CASE OF THE GILDED FLY
FREEMAN WILLS CROFTS • THE CASK
FREEMAN WILLS CROFTS • THE PONSON CASE
FREEMAN WILLS CROFTS • THE PIT-PROP SYNDICATE
FREEMAN WILLS CROFTS • THE GROOTE PARK MURDER
MAURICE DRAKE • THE MYSTERY OF THE MUD FLATS
FRANCIS DURBRIDGE • BEWARE OF JOHNNY WASHINGTON
J. JEFFERSON FARJEON • THE HOUSE OPPOSITE
RUDOLPH FISHER • THE CONJURE-MAN DIES
FRANK FROËST • THE GRELL MYSTERY
FRANK FROËST & GEORGE DILNOT • THE CRIME CLUB
ÉMILE GABORIAU • THE BLACKMAILERS
ANNA K. GREEN • THE LEAVENWORTH CASE
DONALD HENDERSON • MR BOWLING BUYS A NEWSPAPER
VERNON LODER • THE MYSTERY AT STOWE
PHILIP MACDONALD • THE RASP
PHILIP MACDONALD • THE NOOSE
PHILIP MACDONALD • THE RYNOX MYSTERY
PHILIP MACDONALD • MURDER GONE MAD
PHILIP MACDONALD • THE MAZE
NGAIO MARSH • THE NURSING HOME MURDER
G. ROY McRAE • THE PASSING OF MR QUINN
R. A. V. MORRIS • THE LYTTLETON CASE
ARTHUR B. REEVE • THE ADVENTURESS
JOHN RHODE • THE PADDINGTON MYSTERY
FRANK RICHARDSON • THE MAYFAIR MYSTERY
R. L. STEVENSON • DR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE
J. V. TURNER • BELOW THE CLOCK
EDGAR WALLACE • THE TERROR
ISRAEL ZANGWILL • THE PERFECT CRIME
FURTHER TITLES IN PREPARATION
About the Publisher
Australia
HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd.
Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street
Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia
http://www.harpercollins.com.au
Canada
HarperCollins Canada
2 Bloor Street East - 20th Floor
Toronto, ON, M4W, 1A8, Canada
http://www.harpercollins.ca
India
HarperCollins India
A 75, Sector 57
Noida, Uttar Pradesh 201 301, India
http://www.harpercollins.co.in
New Zealand
HarperCollins Publishers (New Zealand) Limited
P.O. Box 1
Auckland, New Zealand
http://www.harpercollins.co.nz
United Kingdom
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
1 London Bridge Street
London,SE1 9GF
http://www.harpercollins.co.uk
United States
HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
195 Broadway
New York, NY 10007
http://www.harpercollins.com