Half-Mast Murder

by Milward Kennedy

  The Superintendent returned to his room, pretty well satisfied. Julian Paley’s statement, of course, was just what might be expected. He had told the truth wherever it might be checked by other evidence : but it was a pretty slender defence.

  Then he thought of the young man’s last remark, and swore. “That American likes to poke his nose into other people’s business,” he said to himself. “Well, I’ll poke mine into his, to level things up.”

  CHAPTER XXIII

  RECORDS RECONSIDERATION

  Any doubt of Mr. Quirk’s intention to play the part of prisoner’s friend was removed by two telephone calls which were put through to the Superintendent a very few minutes after he had left Julian Paley.

  The first was from Mrs. Arkwright.

  “Is the news true, Superintendent,” she asked, and her voice sounded unusually agitated. “Have you really arrested Julian ?” “Yes, it’s true, I am afraid, Mrs. Arkwright.”

  “Oh, I’m quite sure you’re wrong, she declared. “I know him—he couldn’t here——” do such a thing. And think how he’s been trying to come up

  “But you wouldn’t let him, ma’am. You were a bit hard then, just as you seem to think I am now.”

  “Oh, that was quite different. It was just that I couldn’t feel comfortable, so soon afterwards—you understand, I’m sure. Because of his difference of opinion with my poor brother.”

  “Quarrel,” suggested Guest laconically.

  “That’s an exaggeration. But I won’t argue—I know you’re wrong, and I’m sure you’ll find it out. Now the thing is this—my niece has heard the news. That foolish American sent a message to her, and the maid delivered it and never told me. The child is in a terrible state.”

  “I’m very sorry——” the Superintendent began.

  “No use crying over spilt milk,” Mrs. Arkwright went on, disregarding the interruption. “She’s terribly worked up, and insists that she must come and see him—and you.”

  “Better not, ma’am.”

  “So I think—in a way. But she’s so set on it that I’m afraid of the result if I stop her.”

  “That’s for the doctor, isn’t it, ma’am ?”

  “Yes. But I think I must use my judgment. And if she wants to talk to you, I think she’d better.”

  “H’m. I’d rather advise you, ma’am, to consult your solicitor as well as the doctor.”

  “Tosh !” said Mrs. Arkwright with surprising vigour, “if my niece has got something to say, she’d better say it. The best thing to do is to tell the whole truth, whatever it is.”

  The Superintendent could not take exception to this admirable principle, and reluctantly agreed to see the lady and her niece if they came down. He would not promise that they should see Julian Paley, but he did not actually suggest that they would not be allowed to do so.

  “Only I’m busy—up to the eyes, ma’am—at the moment, and I’d rather you came, say, in an hour’s time,” he concluded, his chief purpose being to gain time for a consultation with the Chief Constable.

  But hardly had Mrs. Arkwright rung off, when Mr. Quirk rang on and also asked for an interview ; this request was promptly granted.

  The little American was evidently full of Transatlantic energy and decision that afternoon. He dashed round to the police station, and burst into Guest’s room on the heels of an introductory constable.

  He was dressed much as when the Superintendent had last seen him, but his appearance was not so trim and dapper. His hair seemed to fly wildly in the wind of his own rush, his eyes flickered restlessly behind his horn-rimmed spectacles, his Adam’s apple danced more violently than ever in his skinny throat.

  “Well, Captain—or, pardon me, Superintendent,” he burst out, “so you’ve arrested my young friend, Julian Paley.”

  “Quite so, Mr. Quirk—but is he a friend of yours ?”

  “Maybe a recent one, I admit, but a friend he certainly is. And you can take it from me that you have picked the wrong horse.”

  The Superintendent raised his eyebrows, but made no attempt to stem the American’s eloquence, as he explained with more oratory than definite proof that Julian was quite incapable of murdering a fly, far less a loved and respected uncle. It was true, of course, that the nephew and uncle hadn’t quite seen eye to eye, but then by all accounts the late Professor, for all that he was a truly great man, had been rather severe in his judgments.

  The Superintendent interposed rather sharply that Mr. Quirk seemed to have absorbed a good many of the opinions which Mr. Julian Paley might be expected to hold. This set the American off on another dissertation on his utter impartiality.

  “Benevolent neutrality, eh ?” asked Guest. “Now you haven’t forgotten, Mr. Quirk, that you assured me that you were anxious to get at the truth of this murder ?”

  “Why, certainly I have not forgotten. And that is why I want to convince you that in arresting that young man you are making an error of colossal magnitude.”

  “Good ! I expect we mean the same thing though we put it differently. And I’ll take you at your word. Will you answer a few questions ?”

  “I surely will,” Mr. Quirk answered, though manifestly a little taken aback. Nor was he any happier when the Superintendent sent for a stenographer to take down the conversation, and insisted on the American taking a seat which left him in much the same relation to his interrogator as a patient to a dentist.

  “Now, first of all, Mr. Quirk,” Guest began, “I’d better tell you that I’ve checked what you told me of your own movements that afternoon, and satisfied myself that your account was accurate.”

  “I’m surely much obliged,” was the frigid comment. “If you ever thought I had anything to do with the tragedy—why, that was an even bigger error than you’re making with Julian Paley.”

  “Meaning he had something to do with it ?”

  “No, sir. I only meant——”

  “Oh, all right. I understand. But you may as well know here and now, Mr. Quirk, that this Julian Paley was in the summer-house that afternoon—admits it—that he opened the safe—in fact, did pretty well everything but use the dagger, according to his story.”

  The American’s jaw dropped. Guest quickly followed up his advantage.

  “Now there’s one thing, Mr. Quirk, that you can help with. I haven’t found any correspondence between yourself and the Professor. How d’you account for this ?”

  “Why,” he replied uncomfortably, “I guess that was my fault. I—well, I asked the Professor to destroy my letters. You see, my mission was of a secret nature.”

  “H’m, you mean the document you were bringing was as important as that ?”

  “Y-yes.”

  The Superintendent wondered what was going to come out—if anything was. The American was manifestly uneasy at the turn which the conversation had taken.

  “I’m afraid I shall have to see that document, Mr. Quirk,” he went on firmly. He was met by a number of incoherent protests, which he thrust aside.

  “You must remember you are in England now, Mr. Quirk.”

  “But I assure you, Superintendent, it’s not possible to show you that document. I haven’t got it.”

  “You mean that you have not got it here. But you can fetch it.”

  “No, no. I mean I no longer possess it.”

  “Come, now. You’d better explain. The sole reason—or the main reason that you came down here—was to give that document to Professor Paley. You’ve been here ever since. And now you say you haven’t got the document.”

  “That’s correct. Oh, I suppose I’d better come clean with it. So here goes. I sold it.”

  “Sold it ?”

  “Yes, sir. I—it’s true that my society sent me over with the document. But not necessarily for Professor Paley. I was to exercise my proper discretion and decide who could make the best use of it. And—well——” (the little man was purple with embarrassment) “I—this sounds peculiar, and I don’t want it talked about—you und
erstand my position——”

  The Superintendent impatiently cut him short. A series of short, sharp questions elicited the fact that Mr. Quirk was not himself by any means a wealthy man ; he was not in his Harmonious Association merely for the fun of it ; and his idea of using his discretion had been to organise on the quiet a little auction—backed by something like blackmail—between three potential purchasers of the mysterious papers. The late Professor Paley had been the highest bidder ; but, after his sudden death, a politician of some eminence had won the day—subject to his being satisfied that the document was genuine. It had been entrusted to the registered post—via the hotel porter—and Mr. Quirk was anxiously awaiting the reply.

  “You will appreciate that the transaction is a private one. It may sound peculiar, Superintendent——”

  Guest intimated that it certainly did.

  “But not criminal,” the little man urged nervously.

  “I wonder whether your Society would share that view.”

  Mr. Quirk was silent, and gazed pleadingly at the Superintendent. He sighed with relief as the other went on : “However, that is by the way now. We’ll see about it later, if need be. For the moment, I want to be clear about this : you expected the Professor to buy this document that very afternoon ?”

  “Yes.”

  “The reason why you were so anxious to see him at once—and not to rely entirely on correspondence—was that you hoped to get his cheque then and there ?”

  “Yes—or, I should say, his money. You will appreciate that in the circumstances, which were somewhat delicate, I could not handle a cheque.”

  “H’m.” Guest paused, and thought with some annoyance, and no little apprehension, that there was something which he had overlooked. However, “What was the price ?” he asked sharply.

  “Er—one thousand pounds,” Mr. Quirk nervously admitted, and Guest whistled.

  “And you had arranged that he should pay that sum over to you that very afternoon ?”

  “Not precisely. But it was understood that he would have the—fee at hand, and that I would bring the document as soon as I could. He knew the date on which my ship was due to arrive. But of course the—fee depended upon the authenticity of the document,”

  The Superintendent did not conceal his disgust, and intimated that if Mr. Quirk had explained all this at the outset, instead of pretending to be so full of high morals and altruism, it would have made things easier all round.

  “And I don’t mind telling you, Mr. Quirk,” he concluded, “that I shall make it quite clear to the gentleman to whom you’re now trying to sell a document which isn’t yours that we know all about the transaction. And we shall probably insist on a sight of the document itself, or maybe impound it.”

  The American was reduced by his time to a state of limp incoherence. Guest proceeded briefly but effectually to examine him as to his relations with Julian Paley : effectually in so far as nothing emerged of any value or importance. Finally he dismissed him, with a stern caution. As he rose to depart, Mr. Quirk made a last attempt to recapture his pristine pedestal.

  “I should like to assure you, Superintendent, that my feeling for the late Professor Paley was perfectly genuine and sincere, quite aside from the aspect of my negotiations which I have explained to you. And I am horrified to think that, at the very moment that I was trying to induce that very perfect manservant to admit me to his master’s presence, that great man was lying dead—or even that the assassin was engaged in his deadly work.”

  To which admirable sentiment the Superintendent’s discourteous and cynical reply was a snort and a jerk of the head in the direction of the door.

  “Pretty specimen,” he commented to the stenographer, when the door had closed behind the American. “But I suppose I was to blame. Forgot that all Americans aren’t millionaires, and that in all countries the people who are employed by benevolent societies are liable to expect something more in return for their Services than the privilege of service.”

  Doubtless the stenographer would have enjoyed a discussion of this theme, but the Superintendent’s expansive mood departed as quickly as it had come, and in a very different manner he set the whole staff humming with his furious demand to know why he had not yet had the report on Professor Paley’s banking account.

  The upshot was that Sergeant Grimmett got a clear impression that his prospects in the Force depended upon his getting the report completed in about five seconds. He protested indignantly that the local bank had been visited, and the manager in confidence had. revealed the fact that there had been no peculiar payments in or out of the Professor’s account : and as for the London bank—well, the Chief Constable had undertaken to look into that.

  “Very well,” snapped the Superintendent, baffled but unmollified, “then ring up Major Dillon. No, do it from this room.”

  The attendant constable nervously intervened to say that Mrs. Arkwright was waiting with Miss Paley and two gentlemen.

  “Two gentlemen ? Who the devil are they ?” Guest swore irritably. “I don’t want a mass meeting,” he said. “I don’t mind seeing—oh, never mind, I’ll put them straight.”

  He strode to the room in which the quartette were waiting. They greeted him with a confused chorus, in which indignation seemed the predominant note from the men, and excited anxiety from Cynthia Paley.

  “Now, now, one at a time, please,” the Superintendent almost shouted. “This is all very irregular. I don’t mind stretching a point and seeing Miss Paley here, with Mrs. Arkwright, if they have anything to tell me. But you two gentlemen —well, you’ve had every chance to tell your stories, and you’ve been slow enough to take it, and now you can wait till I’m ready. Constable”—he turned to the man who was standing at the door—“these two gentlemen will wait here. Will you follow me, please.” This last was addressed to the two ladies.

  Mrs. Arkwright alone seemed unimpressed by this new aspect of Superintendent Guest.

  “Really, Superintendent,” she said, “I don’t see what all this fuss is about. My niece wants to help you—you know that she has been very ill ever since that terrible day—and now she’s here to tell you all she knows, from the moment when we watched my poor brother walk across the terrace with Mr. Trent here, with his coffee-cup in his hand, on the way to the summer-house, to the time when——”

  “What ?” the Superintendent interrupted in a tone which silenced Mrs. Arkwright too. “D’you mean to tell me the Professor carried a coffee-cup down to the summer-house with him ?”

  “Why, yes,” she answered.

  “And you saw him take it with him when you and he parted company ?” he demanded of Mr. Trent.

  “Er, yes. What’s that got to do with it ?”

  The Superintendent by way of reply strode out of the room and shut the door behind him, leaving four bewildered people inside the room and a no less bewildered constable on guard outside it.

  He stamped excitedly back to his own room, where the Sergeant was still telephoning.

  “Well ? What news ?” he demanded. The Sergeant tried in vain to answer him and at the same time to listen to Major Dillon. Finally he abandoned the attempt, asked the Chief Constable to hold on as the Superintendent wished to speak himself, thrust the instrument into Guest’s hands, and retired to the window to mop his brow.

  “I gather you’re in a hurry to know about the Professor’s bank account?” Major Dillon said, and to the excited Superintendent he seemed positively to drawl. “What’s the hurry ?”

  “Depends on the answer, sir. Maybe a case for an arrest or——”

  “But, good heavens, man, have you gone off your head ? You’ve arrested Julian Paley, and I don’t see——”

  “I know, sir, but there are new factors to consider. Can you tell me about the bank ?”

  The Chief Constable had mercy on him ; it seemed he had got the facts and was in a position to put him out of his misery. The bank had reported that the Professor had done an unusual thing j
ust over a week ago. He had gone up to London, paid a personal visit to the bank, and drawn out a sum of precisely one thousand pounds, in banknotes of comparatively small denominations, none exceeding £20.

  Major Dillon recognised in the Superintendent’s grunt an expression of satisfaction.

  “Well? What’s the idea?” he asked.

  Guest paused, his hand over the mouthpiece, and told the Sergeant to get the car at once.

  “You’ll come with me, and two constables,” he said. “Quick.”

  The Sergeant fled. The Superintendent in turn took pity on Major Dillon.

  “I’m taking a risk, sir. Not sure yet whether I can prove any case or not. But I’m staking everything on getting conclusive evidence after I’ve made the arrest.”

  “Yes, but who’s the——”

  “Oh, Richards, the perfect butler.”

  The door opened and a constable thrust his head in.

  “Car here, Super,” he said.

  The Superintendent unceremoniously replaced the receiver.

  CHAPTER XXIV

  COMBINES CIGARS AHD CONGRATULATIONS

  The chase was over. At Cliff’s End no doubt a situation of some discomfort existed. At Major Dillon’s house, Superintendent Guest, comfortable in the knowledge that Richards, self-confessed a murderer, was under lock and key, lay back in his host’s armchair, drew luxuriously at a cigar, and was delighted to expound his views.

  A funny case, sir, I agree. And unpleasant. I wouldn’t say it reflected much credit on any of the parties, unless, maybe, Mrs. Arkwright. No, sir, the rest seem to me a rotten lot.

  “There’s young Paley. All very well to disagree with your uncle, and for my own part I don’t cotton to the late Professor’s views about disarmament. But, still, it’s a bit too much to drug your uncle and rob his safe. All very well, again, to say it was for a patriotic motive ; but it strikes me it was also likely to help the nephew in his profession, eh ?”

  Major Dillon nodded.

  “And he drags his sister in,” the Superintendent continued. “Gets her to bite the hand that fed her. And she’s ready enough to run with the hare and hunt with the hounds, so to say. No wonder she got a shock, though, when she went back to the summer-house to haul up the flag again, and found the Professor dead.”