Methylated Murder

by Methylated Murder (retail) (epub)

  “Ever tried it, Henry?”

  “As a drink, sir?”

  “Of course.”

  “I can’t say I have, sir.”

  “I did, Henry, last night.”

  “Pretty filthy taste, isn’t it, sir?”

  “Not necessarily,” answered Harrison. “There are ways of modifying it. But it’s pretty powerful. I didn’t drink much, but it seemed to go right through my body.”

  “They say one pretty soon gets a taste for it, sir,” said Henry.

  “That’s the trouble, Henry,” answered Harrison. “The craving comes before you know where you are. And you increase the amount you take and your behaviour under its influence degenerates in proportion. There’s the logic of it, staring me in the face. Clem only frightened people to start with. Then he knocked Fennel on the head. The next step had to be murder, or something very near to it.”

  “I’m afraid that sounds right, sir,” said Henry.

  “At any rate, there mustn’t be any more steps,” said Harrison, grimly.

  They were interrupted by the appearance of Eric.

  “What is it, Eric?” asked Harrison, “Mr. Peary getting impatient?”

  “No, sir, he’s all right,” answered Eric. “It’s a young woman, sir, says she must see you.”

  “It can’t be done, Eric,” said Harrison, “I haven’t the time. Find out what she wants.”

  “She says you’ll see her, sir, she’s sure of it,” said Eric. “Her name’s Locket.”

  “The girl in the flat, Henry,” said Harrison, “Dorice Locket. I told her to come to me. Show her in, Eric, I certainly will see her.”

  Eric departed while Harrison turned to Henry and said, “You’d better get a message through to the policeman at Hested that I’ll be there as soon as I can. I expect the Yard have been on to him already about suspicious-looking strangers. Tell him to collect every man he can find and keep his eye on the war memorial. And he mustn’t talk to Mrs. Tarrack. You might pacify Mr. Peary, too.”

  As Henry went out, he made way for the young woman Eric was ushering in and lifted his eyebrows with surprise as he recognised her.

  “Come in, Miss Locket,” said Harrison, searching among some letters on his desk without raising his eyes, “I am glad you accepted my invitation.”

  “I haven’t,” came the sharp reply.

  Harrison looked up, and to his surprise saw Rose Locket standing in front of him.

  ‘‘I’m sorry,” he said, “I expected your sister.”

  “Oh, you knew we were sisters, then?” asked Rose, with surprise.

  “It was pretty obvious,” answered Harrison. “Won’t you sit down?”

  The girl sat down, all the time keeping a suspicious eye on Harrison.

  “What’s your name?” he asked.

  “Rose.”

  “And what have you come here for?”

  “Because I don’t want to go to the police.”

  “That’s honest enough,” said Harrison. “Why don’t you want to?”

  “That’s my affair,” snapped the girl.

  “Now listen to me, Miss Rose Locket,” said Harrison, solemnly, “I must either have the whole truth or I don’t want to hear anything at all. Please understand that at once. You may not realise how serious this business is. A murder was committed last night and your sister’s friend had something to do with it.”

  “You can’t fool me,” answered the girl.

  “I’m not trying to,” went on Harrison. “The police at this moment are looking for him.”

  “For Mr. Manners?”

  ‘‘That’s his name, is it?”

  “Very clever to trick me into telling you, wasn’t it?” asked the girl, with a sneer.

  “I am not trying to trick you,” said Harrison, patiently. “You came here to see me. I didn’t ask you to come. Now then, here’s a straight question. What’s his full name?”

  The girl thought a moment and then answered, half defiantly, “Frances Manners.”

  “Francis?”

  “Yes, Frances.”

  “Spell it.”

  “F-r-a-n-c-e-s.”

  “But that’s a woman’s name.”

  “I can’t help that,” said Rose. “That’s how he spelt it, because he said so.”

  “Very well,” said Harrison; “he’s entitled to his own way. And you’ve come to see me about your sister?”

  “I have.”

  “Now I want to warn you, Miss Locket,” said Harrison, “there is only one condition on which I shall listen to you.”

  “What’s that.”

  “That when you’ve finished telling me what you have come about, you will answer the questions I put to you. You must promise that or I can’t waste my time with you.”

  “I will,” said the girl.

  “Then you can go ahead.”

  “Frances Manners came to the flat this morning,” said Rose.

  “This morning?” asked Harrison, with some surprise.

  “Yes,” answered the girl. “About half-past five or six. We were both asleep. I scrambled out of bed and let him in. He looked terrible. As if he had been drinking, only worse. His eyes were strange and his face was all red.”

  “He hasn’t much colour usually?”

  “None at all. He pushed past me and dashed into the bedroom. Dorice was hardly awake, and he shouted to her to dress. She was frightened to death and didn’t move, so he dragged her out of bed and told her to get her clothes on. If she didn’t hurry, he’d dress her himself. He meant it, too. She dressed somehow or other. I helped her as best I could. I asked him where she was going, and he said that was none of my business. When she was ready she said she wouldn’t go if he didn’t tell her where he was taking her. Then he answered, ‘On your honeymoon, my love,’ and laughed. Even then I didn’t tumble to it. I had his promise, you see.”

  “I’m afraid I don’t see,” said Harrison.

  “I’m sorry,” said Rose. “I’ll explain it in a minute. Anyhow he told her to get on the move, and as they were going out of the flat I asked him when I should see him again, and he told me to wait there for him. He’d be back all right, I could trust him for that. But now I am certain he never intended to come back.”

  “Why?”

  “It was the way he said it, and the way he looked at me. He has never been like that before. He seemed more like an animal than a man. Something seemed to have changed him completely.”

  “Completely?” asked Harrison.

  “I thought I knew him inside out. And I did,” she said defiantly. “But he seemed a different man altogether.”

  “Then?”

  “I didn’t go back to bed. I dressed and sat down trying to figure things out. It was then I felt more and more certain that he wouldn’t come back, and I began to realise where he had taken Dorice. So I decided to come and see you.”

  “And he had taken Dorice, your sister, to some place where he had promised you he wouldn’t?” asked Harrison.

  “That’s right,” cried the girl. “How did you know?”

  “That doesn’t matter,” answered Harrison. “What exactly was the promise he made you?”

  “Dorice had disobeyed him.”

  “In what way?”

  “He caught her going out to come and see you.”

  “Because she was frightened?”

  “Yes, of Goliath.”

  “Goliath?”

  “A horrible monster of a man who went about with Frances.”

  “Just a minute, Miss Locket, listen to me carefully,” said Harrison, giving her a detailed description of Clem Tarrack. “Is that the monster?”

  “Of course it is. You know him?”

  “I saw him yesterday,” was Harrison’s reply.

  “Then you will understand,” said the girl. “When Dorice had upset him before he brought Goliath to the flat and she had been frightened because the monster had sat quietly all the time looking at her without saying a word. This time F
rances threatened that he would punish her by letting Goliath do what he liked with her, but I made him promise not to.”

  “You made him promise not to? I thought you only acted as maid in the house?”

  “I did.”

  “He liked both of you then?”

  “I suppose so,” answered the girl, guardedly.

  “I see,” said Harrison. “And the result of your reflections is that he has broken his word to you?”

  “He must have done. That’s why he talked about a honeymoon in that way. Mr. Harrison, what am I going to do?”

  Harrison looked at the girl. The question was asked calmly enough. She did not seem emotionally overpowered at the possible fate of her sister, and he had an uneasy feeling that she was much more troubled about the man’s lack of faith to her personally. Her visit to him seemed much more inspired by a desire to “get even with” Manners than by the possibility of help in saving her sister from the treatment she might expect at the hands of the person called “Goliath.”

  “You have no idea where he has taken your sister?” asked Harrison.

  “None.”

  “That’s a pity,” returned Harrison, and then added, “It’s lucky I know myself.”

  “You do?” cried the girl, jumping up; “then you must do something at once.”

  “Sit down again, Miss Locket,” was the reply. “You will remember your promise to me about answering my questions?”

  “Yes, I know,” said the girl. “But my sister?”

  “I shall do everything I can for your sister,” said Harrison. “But I propose to finish with you first.”

  “Very well,” answered Rose, sitting down again. “You’re a smart one. I always told Frances he couldn’t be too careful.”

  “By which I infer that Mr. Manners hadn’t a very high opinion of me?”

  “High? You should have heard him. But he’s met his match.”

  “I’m glad you think so, Miss Locket,” said Harrison, quietly. “As we appear to understand each other so well, and as you are so anxious to get your own back on the gentleman.”

  “Who says so?”

  “Aren’t you?”

  “That’s not one of the questions I promised to answer.”

  “Possibly I was a little tactless. I forget myself sometimes and say exactly what I think, Miss Locket. I know it’s rather brutal. I’m sorry. Now tell me first of all, how and when you first came to know Mr. Manners?”

  “I should think it was just over a year ago,” was the answer. “He was attracted by Dorice when we were all in a bar together. We were pretty down on our luck and I expect we were ready to talk for a drink. At any rate, somehow or other, Manners suddenly accused Dorice of stealing some of his money.”

  “Which, of course, she hadn’t taken?”

  “Of course not.”

  “So it wasn’t difficult to prove because you were pretty hard up?”

  Rose laughed and then said inconsequently, “I like you, Mr. Harrison.”

  “Very kind of you,” commented Harrison, drily. “What happened next?”

  “Of course we didn’t want a scene.”

  “Of course not.”

  “He said he wouldn’t tell the police if we would meet him there the next night and so we did. He seemed even more struck on Dorice, and soon we were in the place where you called on us.”

  “Was it always like that?”

  “It was when we got there. He said he had it fitted up like that to make things more enjoyable. He insisted on my acting as the servant. Dorice was a servant, too, for that matter. He expected to be waited on hand and foot. No argument at all. He had to be obeyed, did Frances Manners.”

  “Did he ever come in the evening?”

  “Never. Always in the middle of the day. And he always had to be treated as if he were a great lord or something. But mind you, he was no fool, was Frances, all the time one knew he was watching like a cat ready to jump on a mouse.”

  “And you never got tired of it?”

  “Didn’t we. But he could generally finish us off by talking about the police. And there was always Goliath for Dorice.”

  “You weren’t so frightened?”

  “No, l don’t think I was,” answered the girl, quite frankly. “I stuck by Dorice.”

  “I see,” said Harrison. “He treated her well, of course?”

  “Oh yes, he was pretty decent. He liked making a splash.”

  “And you?”

  “Yes, me too, but he was most interested in Dorice.”

  “And now about Mr. Cant,” said Harrison.

  “I don’t see what that has to do with it,” flashed the girl.

  “It’s not for you to see, Miss Locket,” answered Harrison. “I want to know, that’s all.”

  “Suppose I don’t want to answer?”

  “Mr. Manners threatened you with the police.”

  “You mean you could do the same? I didn’t have anything to do with it. But I don’t want Dorice to get into trouble.”

  “Better leave that to me,” said Harrison.

  “All right,” answered Rose. “One day Manners came to the flat and told Dorice there was something she could do for him, something which would make him eternally grateful. She was to go to an inquest and just give the answers he told her to the questions she might be asked. She was to wear the old clothes she had worn when he first met us. They were shabby enough, in all conscience, but he said they would be the very thing. He said he would be in the court to watch her, so she need not be afraid. Dorice was very worried about it, but she learnt up what he wanted her to say and she must have got through all right, for he seemed very pleased with her the next time he came.”

  “And she never met Mr. Cant at all?”

  “Good heavens, no. Did you know him?”

  “No, but I was interested in him.”

  “I always wondered what he was like. I never could quite get the hang of things from Frances.”

  “Now I think you have told me everything I want, Miss Locket,” said Harrison.

  “And what are you going to do?”

  “All sorts of things,” said Harrison, cheerfully. “What worries me most is what you are going to do.”

  “You don’t trust me, do you?”

  “I’m afraid I don’t, Miss Locket.”

  “That’s straight, at any rate,” said the girl, with a smile.

  “I can take it.”

  “Better go back to your flat, I think,” answered Harrison, “and wait there. If Manners does come—”

  “Do you think he will?”

  “The police are watching it, so I don’t think he’ll get up the stairs,” said Harrison. “They won’t worry you, I can promise you that.”

  “It won’t be much fun for me.”

  “You can’t expect it. I’ve told you that murder has been done, and you’re lucky to be getting out of things so quietly.”

  “That’s what you say.”

  “I mean it. I only hope your sister is equally lucky. Good-bye, Miss Locket. Now, no monkey tricks.”

  “I can’t think of any,” she replied.

  “Don’t try,” said Harrison.

  The girl reached the door and then turned and said, “I always thought Frances was clever, but now I see he hadn’t a chance. Not an earthly.”

  Immediately she had departed Harrison asked if Peary was still outside. Henry reported that he was as gentle as a lamb, and was told to show him in and himself to be ready to sally forth at once.

  Peary sauntered into the room as if time were his last consideration, and found Harrison preparing to depart.

  “A nice way to treat people who make every effort to be your friends,” said Peary.

  “I’ll explain it all in the car,” answered Harrison.

  “Sorry, old man, I’m overdue at chambers now,” was the reply.

  “That’s a pity,” said Harrison, “for you’re coming to Hested with me.”

  “Am I?” asked Peary
.

  “Eric will ring up your chambers and explain things.”

  “My dear Harrison—”

  “Don’t argue,” said Harrison. “You’ll regret it if you don’t come, that’s all.”

  He was now practically out of the door, and Peary shrugged his shoulders and said, “Very well, but don’t you dare let me down.”

  “No chance of that,” answered Harrison, reaching the outer room and giving some hasty instructions to Eric. These were mainly concerned with ringing up Peary’s chambers and an injunction to keep his eyes well open for any further sign of the youth from Bonnington’s.

  “And who was the charmer with whom Mr. Clay Harrison could spare the time to dally while his friend could be kept waiting?” asked Peary as he dashed down the stairs with Harrison and Henry.

  “I don’t like film slang,” answered Harrison, “although Henry has done his best to train me, but it’s the only possible description, Peary. She was a tough baby.”

  Chapter XX

  Clem And Dorice

  London’s activities were beginning again as Manners came out into the street with Dorice. The stray passers-by, however, would have seen nothing to interest them. In a low tone he ordered her to get into the motor-car standing by the kerb and she obeyed mechanically. Just a pair of people going off rather early, that was all, it may be to the envy of a rheumatic cleaner who saw them as she shambled to her work in a city office.

  Manners drove quickly, and at times aroused the resentment of the drivers of prodigious lorries coming in the opposite direction. He was too intent on his errand to speak, and Dorice was too panic-stricken to want to talk. She had no idea where she was going, but the wild look on the man’s face boded evil, and her heart sank as her instinct told her that he was going to carry out his threat of handing her over to Goliath.

  She was surprised when they reached the country, but gained no comfort therefrom, for it seemed to make the chance of any help more remote. Her heart sank still further when Manners turned from the main road and followed a winding country lane. He stopped where there was an open space between the road and the hedge and told her to get out. Dorice did so, and found herself looking up a slope on the upper part of which gleamed a large white cross in the early morning sun.

  Manners started manoeuvring the motor-car so as to get it behind a clump of bushes at the side of the road. For a moment, Dorice thought her chance of escape had come. Why not run for it? She looked round and saw that the road stretched without a turning a long distance each way and she could see no sign of a house. It was no good. She could never get away from Manners, and things might be only worse for her if she tried. She waited.