by Sax Rohmer
"Not at all."
"Was Mr. Vernon personally acquainted with this sister in Perth?"
"He was not, Inspector. Mrs. Vernon, at the time of her marriage, did not enjoy that social status to which my late client elevated her. For many years she held no open communication with any member of her family, but latterly, as I have explained, she acquired the habit of recuperating—recuperating from the effects of her febrile pleasures—at this obscure place in Scotland. And Mr. Vernon, his interest in her movements having considerably—shall I say abated?—offered no objection: even suffered it gladly, counting the cost but little against"…
"Freedom?" suggested Dunbar, scribbling in his notebook.
"Rather crudely expressed, perhaps," said the solicitor, peering over the top of his glasses, "but you have the idea. I come now to my client's awakening. Four days ago, he learned the truth; he learned that he was being deceived!"
"Deceived!"
"Mrs. Vernon, thoroughly exhausted with irregular living, announced that she was about to resort once more to the healing breezes of the heather-land"—Mr. Debnam was thoroughly warming to his discourse and thoroughly enjoying his own dusty phrases.
"Interrupting you for a moment," said the inspector, "at what intervals did these visits take place?"
"At remarkably regular intervals, Inspector: something like six times a year."
"For how long had Mrs. Vernon made a custom of these visits?"
"Roughly, for two years."
"Thank you. Will you go on, sir?"
"She requested Mr. Vernon, then, on the last occasion to give her a check for eighty pounds; and this he did, unquestioningly. On Thursday, the second of September, she left for Scotland"…
"Did she take her maid?"
"Her maid always received a holiday on these occasions; Mrs. Vernon wired her respecting the date of her return."
"Did any one actually see her off?"
"No, not that I am aware of, Inspector."
"To put the whole thing quite bluntly, Mr. Debnam," said Dunbar, fixing his tawny eyes upon the solicitor, "Mr. Vernon was thoroughly glad to get rid of her for a week?"
Mr. Debnam shifted uneasily in his chair; the truculent directness of the detective was unpleasing to his tortuous mind. However:—
"I fear you have hit upon the truth," he confessed, "and I must admit that we have no legal evidence of her leaving for Scotland on this, or on any other occasion. Letters were received from Perth, and letters sent to Auchterander from London were answered. But the truth, the painful truth came to light, unexpectedly, dramatically, on Monday last"…
"Four days ago?"
"Exactly; three days before the death of my client." Mr. Debnam wagged his finger at the inspector again. "I maintain," he said, "that this painful discovery, which I am about to mention, precipitated my client's end; although it is a fact that there was—hereditary heart trouble. But I admit that his neglect of his wife (to give it no harsher name) contributed to the catastrophe."
He paused to give dramatic point to the revelation.
"Walking homeward at a late hour on Monday evening from a flat in Victoria Street—the flat of—shall I employ the term a particular friend?—Mr. Vernon was horrified—horrified beyond measure, to perceive, in a large and well-appointed car—a limousine—his wife!"…
"The inside lights of the car were on, then?"
"No; but the light from a street lamp shone directly into the car. A temporary block in the traffic compelled the driver of the car, whom my client described to me as an Asiatic—to pull up for a moment. There, within a few yards of her husband, Mrs. Vernon reclined in the car—or rather in the arms of a male companion!"
"What!"
"Positively!" Mr. Debnam was sedately enjoying himself. "Positively, my dear Inspector, in the arms of a man of extremely dark complexion. Mr. Vernon was unable to perceive more than this, for the man had his back toward him. But the light shone fully upon the face of Mrs. Vernon, who appeared pale and exhausted. She wore a conspicuous motor-coat of civet fur, and it was this which first attracted Mr. Vernon's attention. The blow was a very severe one to a man in my client's state of health; and although I cannot claim that his own conscience was clear, this open violation of the marriage vows outraged the husband—outraged him. In fact he was so perturbed, that he stood there shaking, quivering, unable to speak or act, and the car drove away before he had recovered sufficient presence of mind to note the number."
"In which direction did the car proceed?"
"Toward Victoria Station."
"Any other particulars?"
"Not regarding the car, its driver, or its occupants; but early on the following morning, Mr. Vernon, very much shaken, called upon me and instructed me to despatch an agent to Perth immediately. My agent's report reached me at practically the same time as the news of my client's death"…
"And his report was?"…
"His report, Inspector, telegraphic, of course, was this: that no sister of Mrs. Vernon resided at the address; that the place was a cottage occupied by a certain Mrs. Fry and her husband; that the husband was of no occupation, and had no visible means of support"—he ticked off the points on the long forefinger—"that the Frys lived better than any of their neighbors; and—most important of all—that Mrs. Fry's maiden name, which my agent discovered by recourse to the parish register of marriages—was Ann Fairchild."
"What of that?"
"Ann Fairchild was a former maid of Mrs. Vernon!"
"In short, it amounts to this, then: Mrs. Vernon, during these various absences, never went to Scotland at all? It was a conspiracy?"
"Exactly—exactly, Inspector! I wired instructing my agent to extort from the woman, Fry, the address to which she forwarded letters received by her for Mrs. Vernon. The lady's death, news of which will now have reached him, will no doubt be a lever, enabling my representative to obtain the desired information."
"When do you expect to hear from him?"
"At any moment. Failing a full confession by the Frys, you will of course know how to act, Inspector?"
"Damme!" cried Dunbar, "can your man be relied upon to watch them? They mustn't slip away! Shall I instruct Perth to arrest the couple?"
"I wired my agent this morning, Inspector, to communicate with the local police respecting the Frys."
Inspector Dunbar tapped his small, widely-separated teeth with the end of his fountain-pen.
"I have had one priceless witness slip through my fingers," he muttered. "I'll hand in my resignation if the Frys go!"
"To whom do you refer?"
Inspector Dunbar rose.
"It is a point with which I need not trouble you, sir," he said. "It was not included in the extract of report sent to you. This is going to be the biggest case of my professional career, or my name is not Robert Dunbar!"
Closing his notebook, he thrust it into his pocket, and replaced his fountain-pen in the little leather wallet.
"Of course," said the solicitor, rising in turn, and adjusting the troublesome pince-nez, "there was some intrigue with Leroux? So much is evident."
"You will be thinking that, eh?"
"My dear Inspector"—Mr. Debnam, the wily, was seeking information—"my dear Inspector, Leroux's own wife was absent in Paris—quite a safe distance; and Mrs. Vernon (now proven to be a woman conducting a love intrigue) is found dead under most compromising circumstances—MOST compromising circumstances—in his flat! His servants, even, are got safely out of the way for the evening"…
"Quite so," said Dunbar, shortly, "quite so, Mr. Debnam." He opened the door. "Might I see the late Mrs. Vernon's maid?"
"She is at her home. As I told you, Mrs. Vernon habitually released her for the period of these absences."
The notebook reappeared.
"The young woman's address?"
"You can get it from the housekeeper. Is there anything else you wish to know?"
"Nothing beyond that, thank you."
Three minutes later, Ins
pector Dunbar had written in his book:—Clarice Goodstone, c/o Mrs. Herne, 134a Robert Street, Hampstead Road, N. W.
He departed from the house whereat Death the Gleaner had twice knocked with his Scythe.
Chapter 8 CABMAN TWO
Returning to Scotland Yard, Inspector Dunbar walked straight up to his own room. There he found Sowerby, very red faced and humid, and a taximan who sat stolidly surveying the Embankment from the window.
"Hullo!" cried Dunbar; "he's turned up, then?"
"No, he hasn't," replied Sowerby with a mild irritation. "But we know where to find him, and he ought to lose his license."
The taximan turned hurriedly. He wore a muffler so tightly packed between his neck and the collar of his uniform jacket, that it appeared materially to impair his respiration. His face possessed a bluish tinge, suggestive of asphyxia, and his watery eyes protruded remarkably; his breathing was noisily audible.
"No, chuck it, mister!" he exclaimed. "I'm only tellin' you 'cause it ain't my line to play tricks on the police. You'll find my name in the books downstairs more'n any other driver in London! I reckon I've brought enough umbrellas, cameras, walkin' sticks, hopera cloaks, watches and sicklike in 'ere, to set up a blarsted pawnbroker's!"
"That's all right, my lad!" said Dunbar, holding up his hand to silence the voluble speaker. "There's going to be no license-losing. You did not hear that you were wanted before?"
The watery eyes of the cabman protruded painfully; he respired like a horse.
"ME, guv'nor!" he exclaimed. "Gor'blime! I ain't the bloke! I was drivin' back from takin' the Honorable 'Erbert 'Arding 'ome—same as I does almost every night, when the 'ouse is a-sittin'—when I see old Tom Brian drawin' away from the door o' Palace Man—"
Again Dunbar held up his hand.
"No doubt you mean well," he said; "but damme! begin at the beginning! Who are you, and what have you come to tell us?"
"'Oo are I?—'Ere's 'oo I ham!" wheezed the cabman, proffering a greasy license. "Richard 'Amper, number 3 Breams Mews, Dulwich Village"…
"That's all right," said Dunbar, thrusting back the proffered document; "and last night you had taken Mr. Harding the member of Parliament, to his residence in?"—
"In Peers' Chambers, Westminister—that's it, guv'nor! Comin' back, I 'ave to pass along the north side o' the Square, an' just a'ead o' me, I see old Tom Brian a-pullin' round the Johnny 'Orner,—'im comin' from Palace Mansions."
"Mr. Exel only mentioned seeing ONE cab," muttered Dunbar, glancing keenly aside at Sowerby.
"Wotcher say, guv'nor?" asked the cabman.
"I say—did you see a gentleman approaching from the corner?" asked Dunbar.
"Yus," declared the man; "I see 'im, but 'e 'adn't got as far as the Johnny 'Orner. As I passed outside old Tom Brian, wot's changin' 'is gear, I see a bloke blowin' along on the pavement—a bloke in a high 'at, an' wearin' a heye-glass."
"At this time, then," pursued Dunbar, "you had actually passed the other cab, and the gentleman on the pavement had not come up with it?"
"'E couldn't see it, guv'nor! I'm tellin' you 'e 'adn't got to the Johnny 'Orner!"
"I see," muttered Sowerby. "It's possible that Mr. Exel took no notice of the first cab—especially as it did not come out of the Square."
"Wotcher say, guv'nor?" queried the cabman again, turning his bleared eyes upon Sergeant Sowerby.
"He said," interrupted Dunbar, "was Brian's cab empty?"
"'Course it was," rapped Mr. Hamper, "'e 'd just dropped 'is fare at Palace Mansions."…
"How do you know?" snapped Dunbar, suddenly, fixing his fierce eyes upon the face of the speaker.
The cabman glared in beery truculence.
"I got me blarsted senses, ain't I?" he inquired. "There's only two lots o' flats on that side o' the Square—Palace Mansions, an' St. Andrew's Mansions."
"Well?"
"St. Andrew's Mansions," continued Hamper, "is all away!"
"All away?"
"All away! I know, 'cause I used to have a reg'lar fare there. 'E's in Egyp'; flat shut up. Top floor's to let. Bottom floor's two old unmarried maiden ladies what always travels by 'bus. So does all their blarsted friends an' relations. Where can old Tom Brian 'ave been comin' from, if it wasn't Palace Mansions?"
"H'm!" said Dunbar, "you are a loss to the detective service, my lad! And how do you account for the fact that Brian has not got to hear of the inquiry?"
Hamper bent to Dunbar and whispered, beerily, in his ear: "P'r'aps 'e don't want to 'ear, guv'nor!"
"Oh! Why not?"
"Well, 'e knows there's something up there!"
"Therefore it's his plain duty to assist the police."
"Same as what I does?" cried Hamper, raising his eyebrows. "Course it is! but 'ow d'you know 'e ain't been got at?"
"Our friend, here, evidently has one up against Mr. Tom Brian!" muttered Dunbar aside to Sowerby.
"Wotcher say, guv'nor?" inquired the cabman, looking from one to the other.
"I say, no doubt you can save us the trouble of looking out Brian's license, and give us his private address?" replied Dunbar.
"Course I can. 'E lives hat num'er 36 Forth Street, Brixton, and 'e's out o' the big Brixton depot."
"Oh!" said Dunbar, dryly. "Does he owe you anything?"
"Wotcher say, guv'nor?"
"I say, it's very good of you to take all this trouble and whatever it has cost you in time, we shall be pleased to put right."
Mr. Hamper spat in his right palm, and rubbed his hands together, appreciatively.
"Make it five bob!" he said.
"Wait downstairs," directed Dunbar, pressing a bell-push beside the door. "I'll get it put through for you."
"Right 'o!" rumbled the cabman, and went lurching from the room as a constable in uniform appeared at the door. "Good mornin', guv'nor. Good mornin'!"
The cabman having departed, leaving in his wake a fragrant odor of fourpenny ale:—
"Here you are, Sowerby!" cried Dunbar. "We are moving at last! This is the address of the late Mrs. Vernon's maid. See her; feel your ground, carefully, of course; get to know what clothes Mrs. Vernon took with her on her periodical visits to Scotland."
"What clothes?"
"That's the idea; it is important. I don't think the girl was in her mistress's confidence, but I leave it to you to find out. If circumstances point to my surmise being inaccurate—you know how to act."
"Just let me glance over your notes, bearing on the matter," said Sowerby, "and I'll be off."
Dunbar handed him the bulging notebook, and Sergeant Sowerby lowered his inadequate eyebrows, thoughtfully, whilst he scanned the evidence of Mr. Debnam. Then, returning the book to his superior, and adjusting the peculiar bowler firmly upon his head, he set out.
Dunbar glanced through some papers—apparently reports—which lay upon the table, penciled comments upon two of them, and then, consulting his notebook once more in order to refresh his memory, started off for Forth Street, Brixton.
Forth Street, Brixton, is a depressing thoroughfare. It contains small, cheap flats, and a number of frowsy looking houses which give one the impression of having run to seed. A hostelry of sad aspect occupies a commanding position midway along the street, but inspires the traveler not with cheer, but with lugubrious reflections upon the horrors of inebriety. The odors, unpleasantly mingled, of fried bacon and paraffin oil, are wafted to the wayfarer from the porches of these family residences.
Number 36 proved to be such a villa, and Inspector Dunbar contemplated it from a distance, thoughtfully. As he stood by the door of the public house, gazing across the street, a tired looking woman, lean and anxious-eyed, a poor, dried up bean-pod of a woman, appeared from the door of number 36, carrying a basket. She walked along in the direction of the neighboring highroad, and Dunbar casually followed her.
For some ten minutes he studied her activities, noting that she went from shop to shop until her basket was laden with provisions of all sorts.
When she entered a wine-and-spirit merchant's, the detective entered close behind her, for the place was also a post-office. Whilst he purchased a penny stamp and fumbled in his pocket for an imaginary letter, he observed, with interest, that the woman had purchased, and was loading into the hospitable basket, a bottle of whisky, a bottle of rum, and a bottle of gin.
He left the shop ahead of her, sure, now, of his ground, always provided that the woman proved to be Mrs. Brian. Dunbar walked along Forth Street slowly enough to enable the woman to overtake him. At the door of number 36, he glanced up at the number, questioningly, and turned in the gate as she was about to enter.
He raised his hat.
"Have I the pleasure of addressing Mrs. Brian?"
Momentarily, a hard look came into the tired eyes, but Dunbar's gentleness of manner and voice, together with the kindly expression upon his face, turned the scales favorably.
"I am Mrs. Brian," she said; "yes. Did you want to see me?"
"On a matter of some importance. May I come in?"
She nodded and led the way into the house; the door was not closed.
In a living-room whereon was written a pathetic history—a history of decline from easy circumstance and respectability to poverty and utter disregard of appearances—she confronted him, setting down her basket on a table from which the remains of a fish breakfast were not yet removed.
"Is your husband in?" inquired Dunbar with a subtle change of manner.
"He's lying down."
The hard look was creeping again into the woman's eyes.
"Will you please awake him, and tell him that I have called in regard to his license?"
He thrust a card into her hand:—
DETECTIVE-INSPECTOR DUNBAR,
C. I. D.
NEW SCOTLAND YARD. S. W.
Chapter 9 THE MAN IN BLACK
Mrs. Brian started back, with a wild look, a trapped look, in her eyes.
"What's he done?" she inquired. "What's he done? Tom's not done anything!"
"Be good enough to waken him," persisted the inspector. "I wish to speak to him."
Mrs. Brian walked slowly from the room and could be heard entering one further along the passage. An angry snarling, suggesting that of a wild animal disturbed in its lair, proclaimed the arousing of Taximan Thomas Brian. A thick voice inquired, brutally, why the sanguinary hell he (Mr. Brian) had had his bloodstained slumbers disturbed in this gory manner and who was the vermilion blighter responsible.