by Sax Rohmer
IV
A WINDOW IS OPENED
Whilst Henry Leroux collected his thoughts, Dr. Cumberly glanced acrossat the writing-table where lay the fragment of paper which had beenclutched in the dead woman's hand, then turned his head again toward theinspector, staring at him curiously. Since Dunbar had not yet attemptedeven to glance at the strange message, he wondered what had prompted thepresent line of inquiry.
"My wife," began Leroux, "shared a studio in Paris, at the time that Imet her, with an American lady a very talented portrait painter--er--aMiss Denise Ryland. You may know her name?--but of course, you don't,no! Well, my wife is, herself, quite clever with her brush; in fact shehas exhibited more than once at the Paris Salon. We agreed at--er--thetime of our--of our--engagement, that she should be free to visit herold artistic friends in Paris at any time. You understand? There was tobe no let or hindrance.... Is this really necessary, Inspector?"
"Pray go on, Mr. Leroux."
"Well, you understand, it was a give-and-take arrangement; because Iam afraid that I, myself, demand certain--sacrifices from mywife--and--er--I did not feel entitled to--interfere"...
"You see, Inspector," interrupted Dr. Cumberly, "they are a Bohemianpair, and Bohemians, inevitably, bore one another at times! This littlearrangement was intended as a safety-valve. Whenever ennui attacked Mrs.Leroux, she was at liberty to depart for a week to her own friends inParis, leaving Leroux to the bachelor's existence which is really hisproper state; to go unshaven and unshorn, to dine upon bread and cheeseand onions, to work until all hours of the morning, and generally toenjoy himself!"
"Does she usually stay long?" inquired Dunbar.
"Not more than a week, as a rule," answered Leroux.
"You must excuse me," continued the detective, "if I seem to pry intointimate matters; but on these occasions, how does Mrs. Leroux get onfor money?"
"I have opened a credit for her," explained the novelist, wearily, "atthe Credit Lyonnais, in Paris."
Dunbar scribbled busily in his notebook.
"Does she take her maid with her?" he jerked, suddenly.
"She has no maid at the moment," replied Leroux; "she has been withoutone for twelve months or more, now."
"When did you last hear from her?"
"Three days ago."
"Did you answer the letter?"
"Yes; my answer was amongst the mail which Soames took to the post,to-night."
"You said, though, if I remember rightly, that he was out withoutpermission?"
Leroux ran his fingers through his hair.
"I meant that he should only have been absent five minutes or so; whilsthe remained out for more than an hour."
Inspector Dunbar nodded, comprehendingly, tapping his teeth with thehead of the fountain-pen.
"And the other servants?"
"There are only two: a cook and a maid. I released them for theevening--glad to get rid of them--wanted to work."
"They are late?"
"They take liberties, damnable liberties, because I am easy-going."
"I see," said Dunbar. "So that you were quite alone this evening,when"--he nodded in the direction of the writing-table--"your visitorcame?"
"Quite alone."
"Was her arrival the first interruption?"
"No--er--not exactly. Miss Cumberly..."
"My daughter," explained Dr. Cumberly, "knowing that Mr. Leroux, atthese times, was very neglectful in regard to meals, prepared him anomelette, and brought it down in a chafing-dish."
"How long did she remain?" asked the inspector of Leroux.
"I--er--did not exactly open the door. We chatted, through--er--throughthe letter-box, and she left the omelette outside on the landing."
"What time would that be?"
"It was a quarter to twelve," declared Cumberly. "I had been suppingwith some friends, and returned to find Helen, my daughter, engagedin preparing the omelette. I congratulated her upon the happy thought,knowing that Leroux was probably starving himself."
"I see. The omelette, though, seems to be upset here on the floor?" saidthe inspector.
Cumberly briefly explained how it came to be there, Leroux punctuatinghis friend's story with affirmative nods.
"Then the door of the flat was open all the time?" cried Dunbar.
"Yes," replied Cumberly; "but whilst Exel and I searched the otherrooms--and our search was exhaustive--Mr. Leroux remained here in thestudy, and in full view of the lobby--as you see for yourself."
"No living thing," said Leroux, monotonously, "left this flat from thetime that the three of us, Exel, Cumberly, and I, entered, up to thetime that Miss Cumberly came, and, with the doctor, went out again."
"H'm!" said the inspector, making notes; "it appears so, certainly. Iwill ask you then, for your own account, Mr. Leroux, of the arrival ofthe woman in the civet furs. Pay special attention"--he pointed with hisfountain-pen--"to the TIME at which the various incidents occurred."
Leroux, growing calmer as he proceeded with the strange story, compliedwith the inspector's request. He had practically completed his accountwhen the door-bell rang.
"It's the servants," said Dr. Cumberly. "Soames will open the door."
But Soames did not appear.
The ringing being repeated:--
"I told him to remain in his room," said Dunbar, "until I rang for him,I remember--"
"I will open the door," said Cumberly.
"And tell the servants to stay in the kitchen," snapped Dunbar.
Dr. Cumberly opened the door, admitting the cook and housemaid.
"There has been an unfortunate accident," he said--"but not to yourmaster; you need not be afraid. But be good enough to remain in thekitchen for the present."
Peeping in furtively as they passed, the two women crossed the lobby andwent to their own quarters.
"Mr. Soames next," muttered Dunbar, and, glancing at Cumberly as hereturned from the lobby:--"Will you ring for him?" he requested.
Dr. Cumberly nodded, and pressed a bell beside the mantelpiece. Aninterval followed, in which the inspector made notes and Cumberly stoodlooking at Leroux, who was beating his palms upon his knees, and staringunseeingly before him.
Cumberly rang again; and in response to the second ring, the housemaidappeared at the door.
"I rang for Soames," said Dr. Cumberly.
"He is not in, sir," answered the girl.
Inspector Dunbar started as though he had been bitten.
"What!" he cried; "not in?"
"No, sir," said the girl, with wide-open, frightened eyes.
Dunbar turned to Cumberly.
"You said there was no other way out!"
"There IS no other way, to my knowledge."
"Where's his room?"
Cumberly led the way to a room at the end of a short corridor, andInspector Dunbar, entering, and turning up the light, glanced aboutthe little apartment. It was a very neat servants' bedroom; withcomfortable, quite simple, furniture; but the chest-of-drawers hadbeen hastily ransacked, and the contents of a trunk--or some of itscontents--lay strewn about the floor.
"He has packed his grip!" came Leroux's voice from the doorway. "It'sgone!"
The window was wide open. Dunbar sprang forward and leaned out over theledge, looking to right and left, above and below.
A sort of square courtyard was beneath, and for the convenience oftradesmen, a hand-lift was constructed outside the kitchens of the threeflats comprising the house; i. e.:--Mr. Exel's, ground floor, HenryLeroux's second floor, and Dr. Cumberly's, top. It worked in a skeletonshaft which passed close to the left of Soames' window.
For an active man, this was a good enough ladder, and the inspectorwithdrew his head shrugging his square shoulders, irritably.
"My fault entirely!" he muttered, biting his wiry mustache. "I shouldhave come and seen for myself if there was another way out."
Leroux, in a new flutter of excitement, now craned from the window.
"It might be possible to cli
mb down the shaft," he cried, after a briefsurvey, "but not if one were carrying a heavy grip, such as that whichhe has taken!"
"H'm!" said Dunbar. "You are a writing gentleman, I understand, and yetit does not occur to you that he could have lowered the bag on a cord,if he wanted to avoid the noise of dropping it!"
"Yes--er--of course!" muttered Leroux. "But really--but really--oh, goodGod! I am bewildered! What in Heaven's name does it all mean!"
"It means trouble," replied Dunbar, grimly; "bad trouble."
They returned to the study, and Inspector Dunbar, for the first timesince his arrival, walked across and examined the fragmentary message,raising his eyebrows when he discovered that it was written upon thesame paper as Leroux's MSS. He glanced, too, at the pen lying on a pageof "Martin Zeda" near the lamp and at the inky splash which told howhastily the pen had been dropped.
Then--his brows drawn together--he stooped to the body of the murderedwoman. Partially raising the fur cloak, he suppressed a gasp ofastonishment.
"Why! she only wears a silk night-dress, and a pair of suede slippers!"
He glanced back over his shoulder.
"I had noted that," said Cumberly. "The whole business is utterlyextraordinary."
"Extraordinary is no word for it!" growled the inspector, pursuing hisexamination.... "Marks of pressure at the throat--yes; and generallyunhealthy appearance."
"Due to the drug habit," interjected Dr. Cumberly.
"What drug?"
"I should not like to say out of hand; possibly morphine."
"No jewelry," continued the detective, musingly; "wedding ring--not anew one. Finger nails well cared for, but recently neglected. Hair dyedto hide gray patches; dye wanted renewing. Shoes, French. Night-robe,silk; good lace; probably French, also. Faint perfume--don't know whatit is--apparently proceeding from civet fur. Furs, magnificent; verycostly."...
He slightly moved the table-lamp in order to direct its light uponthe white face. The bloodless lips were parted and the detective bent,closely peering at the teeth thus revealed.
"Her teeth were oddly discolored, doctor," he said, taking out amagnifying glass and examining them closely. "They had been recentlyscaled, too; so that she was not in the habit of neglecting them."
Dr. Cumberly nodded.
"The drug habit, again," he said guardedly; "a proper examination willestablish the full facts."
The inspector added brief notes to those already made, ere he rose frombeside the body. Then:--
"You are absolutely certain," he said, deliberately, facing Leroux,"that you had never set eyes on this woman prior to her coming here,to-night?"
"I can swear it!" said Leroux.
"Good!" replied the detective, and closed his notebook with a snap."Usual formalities will have to be gone through, but I don't think Ineed trouble you, gentlemen, any further, to-night."