CHAPTER XIX
"I MUST say that I feel very grateful to you, Mr. Crewe," saidDetective Gillett after a pause. "You have certainly got hold ofsome facts of which I was not aware. And your deductions are mostinteresting. What do you say, Westaway?"
"Most interesting," said the sergeant. "I had heard a lot of Mr. Crewebefore I met him, but I'd like to say that it's a great privilege tolisten to his deductions."
"Oh, I don't go so far as to accept his theory and abandon my own,"interposed Gillett hurriedly. "To my mind there is truth in bothof them, and the whole truth will probably be found in a judiciouscombination of both."
Crewe could scarcely hide his impatience at Gillett's obstinacy, andhis determination to claim at least an equal share in solving themystery.
"My dear Gillett," he said, "let us abandon theories and keep to facts.The great danger in our work is in fitting facts to theories insteadof letting the facts speak for themselves. If you still think youhave a case against Marsland, let us go into it. It is no part of mywork to prove Marsland innocent if he is guilty; I have no object inproving Brett guilty if he is innocent. But as the guest of Sir GeorgeGranville, I want to save him and his nephew unnecessary distress andanxiety. By a full and frank discussion we can decide as man to manwhether there is any real case for Marsland to answer. I admit that youhave justification for some suspicions in regard to him, but let us seeif the fog of suspicion cannot be cleared away by a discussion of thefacts."
"It will take a great deal to convince me that he doesn't know moreabout this tragedy than he has told us," said Gillett doggedly.
"But are we to find him guilty merely because he chooses to keepsilence on certain points?"
"What is his object in keeping silence? What was his object in making afalse statement? What is his object in putting obstacles in our way? Isthat the conduct of an innocent man?"
"It is not the conduct of a man anxious to help the police to theutmost of his power without regard to consequences," said Crewe. "Butthere is a wide gulf between being guilty of keeping something back andbeing guilty of murder."
"When the thing kept back suggests a motive for getting the man who wasmurdered out of the way, it is natural to see a connection between thetwo," returned Gillett.
"And what was the thing that Marsland kept back?"
"He kept back that he was an officer in the army--Captain in the LondonRifle Brigade. He kept back that this man Lumsden was a private in hiscompany."
"But the discovery of these things did not present any great difficultyto a police official of your resources, Gillett."
"No, they did not," the detective admitted. "But we should have beentold of them in the first place."
"True. But listen to the explanation why you were not told. Marslandhas been an invalid for some months. He was invalided out of the armybecause of wounds and nervous shock. He broke down as many others havebroken down, under a long experience of the awful horrors of the front.In order to assist in his recovery the doctors ordered that as far aspossible his mind should be kept from dwelling on the war. For thisreason the war is never mentioned in his presence by those who knowof his nervous condition. He is never addressed by them as an armyofficer, but as a civilian."
"All that is very interesting, Mr. Crewe, but it does not dispose ofthe information in our possession. You see, the circumstances in whichCaptain Marsland came into this affair were so very extraordinary,that he might well have told Westaway the truth about the militaryconnection between himself and Lumsden. It was an occasion when thewhole truth should have been told. We could not have been long inlearning from his relatives that he was suffering from nervous shock,and we would have shown him every consideration."
"That is an excellent piece of special pleading," said Crewe. "But youdo not take into consideration the fact that the evasion of everythingthat dealt with the Army, and particularly with his old regiment, hasbecome a habit with Marsland."
"Our information," said Gillett slowly and impressively, "is that hebelieved Lumsden was dead--that he had been killed in France. That inhis capacity as an officer he sent Lumsden and another man to theirdeath. He had a grudge against this other man. Lumsden's companion waskilled but Lumsden was taken prisoner and subsequently escaped. If thatis correct, it supplies a strong motive for getting Lumsden out of theway when he discovered that Lumsden was alive and in England."
"When did Marsland make this discovery?"
"That I don't know. But he could easily have made it and obtainedLumsden's address from the headquarters of the London Rifle Brigade."
"Did he make such inquiries there?"
"I have not obtained positive proof that he did. But as a retiredofficer of the Brigade, who knows his way about their headquarters, hecould do it for himself in a way that would leave no proof."
"Who was the man that Marsland sent out on a mission of death withLumsden?"
"I haven't got the name."
"Can't you get it?"
"I am afraid not. It is not a thing one could get from the regimentalrecords."
"But cannot you get it from your informant--from the person who is yourauthority for the story?"
"Not very well."
"What does that mean?"
"Our informant is anonymous. He sent me a letter."
"And since when have you begun to place implicit faith in anonymousletters, my dear Gillett?"
The detective flushed under this gentle irony. "I don't place implicitfaith in it. But it fits in with other information in our possession.And you ought to know better than to despise anonymous information,Mr. Crewe. It is not difficult to conceive circumstances in which a manis willing to give the police very valuable information, but will notcome into the open to do it."
"But it is even less difficult," replied Crewe, "to conceivecircumstances in which a man tries to divert suspicion from himself bydirecting the attentions of the police to some one else by means of ananonymous letter."
"I haven't overlooked that," said Gillett confidently.
"And this anonymous communication fits in with other information inyour possession--other information that you have received from MissMaynard?" Crewe looked steadily at Gillett, and then turned his gaze onWestaway.
"So, you know about her?" was Gillett's comment.
"She did me the honour of asking my advice when I met her two days agoat Cliff Farm."
"What was she doing there?"
"Didn't she tell you?"
"She did not."
"I understood from her that it was her firm determination to tell youeverything--to take you fully into her confidence, and throw all thelight she could on the tragedy."
"She told us that she was at the farm the night Captain Marsland wasthere," said Gillett. "She sought shelter there from the storm and wentupstairs with Captain Marsland when the body was discovered. He saidnothing whatever about this in his statement to Westaway."
"Nothing whatever," said Westaway. "He led me to believe he wasentirely and absolutely alone."
"But why didn't she come to the police station that night and make herown statement?" asked Crewe. "Why all this delay?"
"Her first impulse was to keep her name out of it because of the waypeople would talk," said Sergeant Westaway, who, as an old resident ofAshlingsea, felt better qualified than Detective Gillett to interpretthe mental process of one of the inhabitants of the little town.
"And so she asked Marsland to say nothing about her presence at thefarm?" asked Crewe.
"She admits that," was Westaway's reply.
"Of course she had to admit it in order to clear the way for astatement implicating Marsland in the crime," said Crewe.
"That was not her motive. After thinking over all that happened, shedecided that by shielding herself from idle gossip she might be helpingunconsciously to shield the murderer."
"And she told you everything," said Crewe.
"Everything," said Sergeant Westaway emphatically.
"She told you why s
he was waiting at the farm on the night thatLumsden's dead body was brought there?"
"She went there for shelter from the storm," explained the confidentsergeant. "That would be after the body was brought there--if yourtheory is correct, Mr. Crewe; and after he was shot in the house--ifour theory is correct. Our theory is that Captain Marsland, aftercommitting the crime, went outside the house to hide the traces ofit--probably to get rid of these boots and revolver, which he threwdown the well."
"It hasn't occurred to you, sergeant, that these things may have beenplaced in the well within the last few days in order that you mightfind them there?" said Crewe.
"Who would place them there?" asked Gillett coming to the rescue of thesergeant with a poser.
"I think you asked me just now what Miss Maynard was doing at the farmtwo days ago," said Crewe.
"And you think that there may be some connection between her visitthere and these things?"
"With all due deference to the sergeant as a judge of character, andparticularly of the feminine character, I am quite convinced that shehas not told you everything."
"Can you tell us anything she is keeping back?"
"She is keeping back the real reason why she went to Cliff Farm on thenight the body was taken there."
"You do not think she went there to shelter from the storm?"
"She had an appointment there," said Crewe.
"With whom?" asked Gillett breathlessly.
"With Brett--the man to whom she is engaged."
"What!" exclaimed Gillett.
"Surely she explained to you the nature of her relations with Brett?"said Crewe maliciously. "Except in regard to Marsland she does not seemto have taken you into her confidence at all."
"She may be playing a deep game," said Gillett, in a tone whichindicated that although an attempt might be made to hoodwink them, itwas not likely to prove successful.
"I think you will find that she is a very clever young woman," wasCrewe's comment.
"What was the nature of her appointment at Cliff Farm with Brett? Whynot meet him at Ashlingsea or at Staveley?" asked Gillett.
"As to the nature of the appointment, I will refer you for full detailsto Mrs. Grange. You know her, sergeant, of course?" Crewe said, turningto Westaway.
"The dwarf woman at Staveley?" asked the sergeant.
"Yes. If I am not much mistaken Grange and his wife were in thevicinity of Cliff Farm when the dead body of the owner was broughtthere. What part they played in the tragedy I must leave you to findout from them. I am not certain myself of their part, but I have afairly clear idea. You can let me know what admission you get fromthem. Before they admit anything it may be necessary to frighten themwith arrest, Gillett. But I don't suppose you mind doing that?"
"Not in the least," replied Gillett with a smile that was free fromembarrassment. "But what evidence can I produce to show that I knowthey know all about Miss Maynard's presence at the farm? What evidenceis there that this man and his wife were anywhere in the neighbourhoodof the place?"
"They went over in the afternoon of October both in a motor-boat incharge of a boatman at Staveley, who is called Pedro, and wears ascarlet cloak. Murchison told me that Pedro is the father of Mrs.Grange, the dwarf woman--they are Italians. But Grange, the husband,is an Englishman. He keeps a second-hand bookshop in Curzon Street,at Staveley, and lives over the shop with his wife. Is that not so,Westaway?"
"Yes, sir. That is quite correct."
"They reached the landing-place at the foot of the cliffs, near thefarm, before there was any appearance of the storm. The next morning,as I was descending the cliff by the secret path, I found an old felthat on the rocks just before Pedro, who had come over in his boat tolook for it, reached the place. My impression is that the hat belongedto Grange, and was blown off as he was descending the cliff by the pathwhen the storm was abating. If it had been blown off in the afternoon,while he was ascending the cliff in daylight, he could have recoveredit without much difficulty. The fact that he left it behind indicatesthat it was blown off in the dark and that he was too excited and upsetto hunt for it. But on reaching Staveley in Pedro's boat, after thestorm had abated, he began to think that his old hat was a dangerousobject to leave about in the vicinity of a house where there was thebody of a murdered man awaiting discovery by the police, so he sentPedro back to the landing-place to recover the hat."
"But, hang it all, Crewe! Some of your reasoning about the hat ismerely surmise. You say it was blown off while Grange was descendingthe cliff path. How do you arrive at that conclusion? It might havebeen blown off at any time--while he was crossing to the farm, orstanding on the cliffs."
"No," replied Crewe. "The gale was blowing in from the sea, and ifGrange's hat had blown off while he was on the cliffs it would haveblown inward--that is, across the downs."
Detective Gillett nodded.
"I overlooked that point," he said. "Have you possession of the hatnow?"
"Yes. You can have it if you call for it at Sir George Granville's,on your way to interview Grange this afternoon or to-morrow. But theGranges know that I have the hat. I went there with it just to convincemyself that Grange did own it."
"Did he admit that it was his?"
"He denied it. But he is not a good hand at dissimulation. I offered tohand over the hat to him in exchange for a truthful account of all heand his wife knew about the tragedy, but the offer was not entertained.They denied that they were there at all."
"I'll soon get them to alter that tune!" exclaimed the resourcefulGillett. "I will put the screw on this man in the scarlet cloak until Isqueeze something out of him."
"I am afraid you will have a slight difficulty in making Pedro revealanything," said Crewe. "He is deaf and dumb."
Gillett looked somewhat confused at finding that his impetuousconfidence had carried him beyond his resources.
"That is unfortunate," he said.
"It is of no consequence," returned Crewe, "for you have evidence inyour possession that Mrs. Grange was inside the farmhouse. The combyou found in the sitting-room downstairs belongs to her. When I went tosee her she was wearing one exactly similar to it. Apparently she hadtwo of them. And she does not know where she lost the one the policehave, or she would not wear its fellow."
The Mystery of the Downs Page 19