by Sax Rohmer
XXXIV
M. MAX REPORTS PROGRESS
Detective-Sergeant Sowerby was seated in Dunbar's room at New ScotlandYard. Some days had elapsed since that critical moment when, all unawareof the fact, they had stood within three yards of the much-wantedSoames, in the fauteuils of the east-end music-hall. Every clue thusfar investigated had proved a cul-de-sac. Dunbar, who had literally beenworking night and day, now began to show evidence of his giant toils.The tawny eyes were as keen as ever, and the whole man as forceful as ofold, but in the intervals of conversation, his lids would droop wearily;he would only arouse himself by a perceptible effort.
Sowerby, whose bowler hat lay upon Dunbar's table, was clad in thefamiliar raincoat, and his ruddy cheerfulness had abated not one whit.
"Have you ever read 'The Adventures of Martin Zeda'?" he asked suddenly,breaking a silence of some minutes' duration.
Dunbar looked up with a start, as...
"Never!" he replied; "I'm not wasting my time with magazine trash."
"It's not trash," said Sowerby, assuming that unnatural air ofreflection which sat upon him so ill. "I've looked up the volumes of theLudgate Magazine in our local library, and I've read all the series withmuch interest."
Dunbar leaned forward, watching him frowningly.
"I should have thought," he replied, "that you had enough to do withoutwasting your time in that way!"
"IS it a waste of time?" inquired Sowerby, raising his eyebrows in amanner which lent him a marked resemblance to a famous comedian. "I tellyou that the man who can work out plots like those might be a secondJack-the-Ripper and not a soul the wiser!"...
"Ah!"
"I've never met a more innocent LOOKING man, I'll allow; but if you'llread the 'Adventures of Martin Zeda,' you'll know that"...
"Tosh!" snapped Dunbar, irritably; "your ideas of psychology wouldmake a Manx cat laugh! I suppose, on the same analogy, you think theleader-writers of the dailies could run the Government better than theCabinet does it?"
"I think it very likely"...
"Tosh! Is there anybody in London knows more about the inside workingsof crime than the Commissioner? You will admit there isn't; verygood. Accordingly to your ideas, the Commissioner must be the biggestblackguard in the Metropolis! I have said it twice before, and I'll besaying it again, Sowerby: TOSH!"
"Well," said Sowerby with an offended air, "has anybody ever seen Mr.King?"
"What are you driving at?"
"I am driving at this: somebody known in certain circles as Mr. Kingis at the bottom of this mystery. It is highly probable that Mr. Kinghimself murdered Mrs. Vernon. On the evidence of your own notes, nobodyleft Palace Mansions between the time of the crime and the arrival ofwitnesses. Therefore, ONE of your witnesses must be a liar; and the liaris Mr. King!"
Inspector Dunbar glared at his subordinate. But the latter continuedundaunted:--
"You won't believe it's Leroux; therefore it must be either Mr. Exel,Dr. Cumberly, or Miss Cumberly."...
Inspector Dunbar stood up very suddenly, thrusting his chair from himwith much violence.
"Do you recollect the matter of Soames leaving Palace Mansions?" hesnapped.
Sowerby's air of serio-comic defiance began to leave him. He scratchedhis head reflectively.
"Soames got away like that because no one was expecting him to do it. Inthe same way, neither Leroux, Exel, nor Dr. Cumberly knew that there wasany one else IN the flat at the very time when the murderer was makinghis escape. The cases are identical. They were not looking for afugitive. He had gone before the search commenced. A clever man couldhave slipped out in a hundred different ways unobserved. Sowerby, youare..."
What Sowerby was, did not come to light at the moment; for, the doorquietly opened and in walked M. Gaston Max arrayed in his inimitabletraveling coat, and holding his hat of velour in his gloved hand. Hebowed politely.
"Good morning, gentlemen," he said.
"Good morning," said Dunbar and Sowerby together.
Sowerby hastened to place a chair for the distinguished visitor. M.Max, thanking him with a bow, took his seat, and from an inside pocketextracted a notebook.
"There are some little points," he said with a deprecating wave of thehand, "which I should like to confirm." He opened the book, sought thewanted page, and continued: "Do either of you know a person answeringto the following description: Height, about four feet eight-and-a-halfinches, medium build and carries himself with a nervous stoop. Has ahabit of rubbing his palms together when addressing anyone. Has plumphands with rather tapering fingers, and a growth of reddish down uponthe backs thereof, indicating that he has red or reddish hair. His chinrecedes slightly and is pointed, with a slight cleft parallel with themouth and situated equidistant from the base of the chin and the lowerlip. A nervous mannerism of the latter periodically reveals the lowerteeth, one of which, that immediately below the left canine, is muchdiscolored. He is clean-shaven, but may at some time have worn whiskers.His eyes are small and ferret-like, set very closely together and ofa ruddy brown color. His nose is wide at the bridge, but narrows to anunusual point at the end. In profile it is irregular, or may have beenbroken at some time. He has scanty eyebrows set very high, and a lowforehead with two faint, vertical wrinkles starting from the innerpoints of the eyebrows. His natural complexion is probably sallow, andhis hair (as hitherto mentioned) either red or of sandy color. Hisears are set far back, and the lobes are thin and pointed. His hair isperfectly straight and sparse, and there is a depression of the cheekswhere one would expect to find a prominence: that is--at the cheekbone.The cranial development is unusual. The skull slopes back from the crownat a remarkable angle, there being no protuberance at the back, butinstead a straight slope to the spine, sometimes seen in the Teutonicraces, and in this case much exaggerated. Viewed from the front theskull is narrow, the temples depressed, and the crown bulging over theears, and receding to a ridge on top. In profile the forehead is almostapelike in size and contour...."
"SOAMES!" exclaimed Inspector Dunbar, leaping to his feet, andbringing both his palms with a simultaneous bang upon the table beforehim--"Soames, by God!"
M. Max, shrugging and smiling slightly, returned his notebook to hispocket, and, taking out a cigar-case, placed it, open, upon the table,inviting both his confreres, with a gesture, to avail themselves of itscontents.
"I thought so," he said simply. "I am glad."
Sowerby selected a cigar in a dazed manner, but Dunbar, ignoring thepresence of the cigar-case, leant forward across the table, his eyesblazing, and his small, even, lower teeth revealed in a sort of grimsmile.
"M. Max," he said tensely--"you are a clever man! Where have you gothim?"
"I have not got him," replied the Frenchman, selecting and lighting oneof his own cigars. "He is much too useful to be locked up"...
"But"...
"But yes, my dear Inspector--he is safe; oh! he is quite safe. And onTuesday night he is going to introduce us to Mr. King!"
"MR. KING!" roared Dunbar; and in three strides of the long legs he wasaround the table and standing before the Frenchman.
In passing he swept Sowerby's hat on to the floor, and Sowerby, pickingit up, began mechanically to brush it with his left sleeve, smokingfuriously the while.
"Soames," continued M. Max, quietly--"he is now known as Lucas, by theway--is a man of very remarkable character; a fact indicated by hisquite unusual skull. He has no more will than this cigar"--he heldthe cigar up between his fingers, illustratively--"but of stupid pigobstinacy, that canaille--saligaud!--has enough for all the cattle inEurope! He is like a man who knows that he stands upon a sinking ship,yet, who whilst promising to take the plunge every moment, hesitates andwill continue to hesitate until someone pushes him in. Pardieu! Ipush! Because of his pig obstinacy I am compelled to take risks mostunnecessary. He will not consent, that Soames, to open the door forus..."
"What door?" snapped Dunbar.
"The door of the establishment of Mr. King," ex
plained Max, blandly.
"But where is it?"
"It is somewhere between Limehouse Causeway--is it not called so?--andthe riverside. But although I have been there, myself, I can tell you nomore...."
"What! you have been there yourself?"
"But yes--most decidedly. I was there some nights ago. But they areingenious, ah! they are so ingenious!--so Chinese! I should not haveknown even the little I do know if it were not for the inquiries whichI made last week. I knew that the letters to Mr. Leroux which weresupposed to come from Paris were handed by Soames to some one who postedthem to Paris from Bow, East. You remember how I found the impression ofthe postmark?"
Dunbar nodded, his eyes glistening; for that discovery of theFrenchman's had filled him with a sort of envious admiration.
"Well, then," continued Max, "I knew that the inquiry would lead meto your east-end, and I suspected that I was dealing with Chinamen;therefore, suitably attired, of course, I wandered about in thoseinteresting slums on more than one occasion; and I concluded that theonly district in which a Chinaman could live without exciting curiositywas that which lies off the West India Dock Road."...
Dunbar nodded significantly at Sowerby, as who should say: "What did Itell you about this man?"
"On one of these visits," continued the Frenchman, and a smile struggledfor expression upon his mobile lips, "I met you two gentlemen with aMr.--I think he is called Stringer--"...
"You met US!" exclaimed Sowerby.
"My sense of humor quite overcoming me," replied M. Max, "I even triedto swindle you. I think I did the trick very badly!"
Dunbar and Sowerby were staring at one another amazedly.
"It was in the corner of a public house billiard-room," added theFrenchman, with twinkling eyes; "I adopted the ill-used name of Levinskyon that occasion."...
Dunbar began to punch his left palm and to stride up and down the floor;whilst Sowerby, his blue eyes opened quite roundly, watched M. Max as aschoolboy watches an illusionist.
"Therefore," continued M. Max, "I shall ask you to have a party ready onTuesday night in Limehouse Causeway--suitably concealed, of course;and as I am almost sure that the haunt of Mr. King is actually upon theriverside (I heard one little river sound as I was coming away) a launchparty might cooperate with you in affecting the raid."
"The raid!" said Dunbar, turning from a point by the window, and lookingback at the Frenchman. "Do you seriously tell me that we are going toraid Mr. King's on Tuesday night?"
"Most certainly," was the confident reply. "I had hoped to form oneof the raiding party; but nom d'un nom!"--he shrugged, in his gracefulfashion--"I must be one of the rescued!"
"Of the rescued!"
"You see I visited that establishment as a smoker of opium"...
"You took that risk?"
"It was no greater risk than is run by quite a number of people sociallywell known in London, my dear Inspector Dunbar! I was introduced by anhabitue and a member of the best society; and since nobody knows thatGaston Max is in London--that Gaston Max has any business in hand likelyto bring him to London--pardieu, what danger did I incur? But, exceptingthe lobby--the cave of the dragon (a stranger apartment even than thatin the Rue St. Claude) and the Chinese cubiculum where I spent thenight--mon dieu! what a night!--I saw nothing of the establishment"...
"But you must know where it is!" cried Dunbar.
"I was driven there in a closed limousine, and driven away in the samevehicle"...
"You got the number?"
"It was impossible. These are clever people! But it must be a simplematter, Inspector, to trace a fine car like that which regularly appearsin those east-end streets?"
"Every constable in the division must be acquainted with it," repliedDunbar, confidently. "I'll know all about that car inside the nexthour!"
"If on Tuesday night you could arrange to have it followed," continuedM. Max, "it would simplify matters. What I have done is this: I havebought the man, Soames--up to a point. But so deadly is his fear ofthe mysterious Mr. King that although he has agreed to assist me in myplans, he will not consent to divulge an atom of information until theraid is successfully performed."
"Then for heaven's sake what IS he going to do?"
"Visitors to the establishment (it is managed by a certain Mr. Ho-Pin;make a note of him, that Ho-Pin) having received the necessary dose ofopium are locked in for the night. On Tuesday, Soames, who acts as valetto poor fools using the place, has agreed--for a price--to unlock thedoor of the room in which I shall be"...
"What!" cried Dunbar, "you are going to risk yourself alone in thatplace AGAIN?"
"I have paid a very heavy fee," replied the Frenchman with his oddsmile, "and it entitles me to a second visit; I shall pay that secondvisit on Tuesday night, and my danger will be no greater than on thefirst occasion."
"But Soames may betray you!"
"Fear nothing; I have measured my Soames, not only anthropologically,but otherwise. I fear only his folly, not his knavery. He will notbetray me. Morbleu! he is too much a frightened man. I do not know whathas taken place; but I could see that, assured of escaping thepolice for complicity in the murder, he would turn King's evidenceimmediately"...
"And you gave him that assurance?"
"At first I did not reveal myself. I weighed up my man very carefully;I measured that Soames-pig. I had several stories in readiness, but hischaracter indicated which I should use. Therefore, suddenly I arrestedhim!"
"Arrested him?"
"Pardieu! I arrested him very quietly in a corner of the bar of 'ThreeNuns' public house. My course was justified. He saw that the reign ofhis mysterious Mr. King was nearing its close, and that I was his onlyhope"...
"But still he refused"...
"His refusal to reveal anything whatever under those circumstancesimpressed me more than all. It showed me that in Mr. King I had to dealwith a really wonderful and powerful man; a man who ruled by meansof FEAR; a man of gigantic force. I had taken the pattern of the keyfitting the Yale lock of the door of my room, and I secured a duplicateimmediately. Soames has not access to the keys, you understand. I mustrely upon my diplomacy to secure the same room again--all turns uponthat; and at an hour after midnight, or later if advisable, Soameshas agreed to let me out. Beyond this, I could induce him to donothing--nothing whatever. Cochon! Therefore, having got out of thelocked room, I must rely upon my own wits--and the Browning pistol whichI have presented to Soames together with the duplicate key"...
"Why not go armed?" asked Dunbar.
"One's clothes are searched, my dear Inspector, by an expert! I havegiven the key, the pistol, and the implements of the house-breaker (avery neat set which fits easily into the breast-pocket) to Soames, toconceal in his private room at the establishment until Tuesday night.All turns upon my securing the same apartment. If I am unable to do so,the arrangements for the raid will have to be postponed. Opium smokersare faddists essentially, however, and I think I can manage to pretendthat I have formed a strange penchant for this particular cubiculum"...
"By whom were you introduced to the place?" asked Dunbar, leaning backagainst the table and facing the Frenchman.
"That I cannot in honor divulge," was the reply; "but the representativeof Mr. King who actually admitted me to the establishment is oneGianapolis; address unknown, but telephone number 18642 East. Make anote of him, that Gianapolis."
"I'll arrest him in the morning," said Sowerby, writing furiously in hisnotebook.
"Nom d'un p'tit bonhomme! M. Sowerby, you will do nothing of thatfoolish description, my dear friend," said Max; and Dunbar glared at theunfortunate sergeant. "Nothing whatever must be done to arouse suspicionbetween now and the moment of the raid. You must be circumspect--ah,morbleu! so circumspect. By all means trace this Mr. Gianapolis; yes.But do not let him SUSPECT that he is being traced"...