Fen wick's Legal Wife

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 85, 11 April 1933, Page 19

Fen wick's Legal Wife

By I - MARLEY CAMERON

(CHAPTER Vlll.—Continued.) Sam returned to his will-drafting and the minutes dragged on. Suddenly he laid down his pen; his quick ear had caught a sound on the stairs. Withers threw open the door and ushered in a youngish man with an air of business about him. "Mr. Hanson, sir." "I'm very glad to see you, sergeant. I had a letter from Mr. Halloway this morning telling me to expect you." 'Yes, sir. Mr. Halloway thought that I had better come down and see about an unsigned letter that we found among the papers in the late Bruce Fenwick'y flat. I could not bring the original, but I have a photograph if you would care to read it. Of course, sir, you will keep it confidential." "Of course, sergeant," said Sam, taking the photographed document and reading it with knitted brow:— "As you have not sent me what I demand from you, I have borrowed all your official papers that I could lay my hands on. If you want them back you can have them in exchange for what I came ' for." There was no superscription or signature. g "This is written in an educated hand, Jlr. Hanson," said Sam. "Yes, sir; but- don't you think that there has been ah attempt to disguise it?" ' "I do, hut it is a very common form of disguise —to slope the letters backward. What interpretation does Mr. Halloway put upon it?" "He thinks that the writer made two visits- to the flat. On the first he stole , those confidential papers ; on the second—7" • / 'Tie committed' the murder?" "That"is what it looks like, sir." "What do you think it was that he wanted in. exchange for the papers?" "Mr. Halloway ..thought that it might be something that you are interested in —something connected with .your case, I understood." , "How does he think the writer of this letter got into the flat?" "Oh, sir,, the''man wasn't a burglar— we can be sure'of that.' He thinks that it must have been a friend or acquaintance of the young man, and that he came in by the front door like all his other visitors." "Then the porter at' the flats : must have seen him." "That's our trouble, sir. The porter seems to think that he was in no way responsible for visitors; he said that people were always going in and out, and he took no particular notice of them. To tell you the truth, sir, I fancy that the man was often slipping over to the public-house at the corner. He looks'as if he took a drop. At any rate, he can't help us." "What kind of paper was this letter written on?" cheap notepaper. The heading had been torn off." "Hotel notepaper ?" "It might be that, sir—the sort of paper used in Our smaller hotels." miiggtfc-let, me. keep this photograph, sergeant. Have there been any other developments?" "Well, sir, Mr. Halloway asked me to find out from yoii anything you may know about that Cuban, Sanchez Perez. We traced him to a hotel in Holborn, and by arrangements with the manager we had a look over his room when he was but. ; We : discovered one thing— that he uses an - old-fashioned razor." "Does he? Was it an American razor?" "No, sir; it was a soft-steel razor with a French mark. His movements have been rather mysterious. We have ascertained that he called at the Board of Trade before visiting Bruce Fenwick's fiat. Since the murder he has been visiting newspaper offices in Fleet Street, and last Thursday he made a round of the gunsmiths. The officer who was keeping him under observation saw him examining pistols at the counter, and after he had left the shop we inquired of the shopkeeper what had been the object of his visit. It seems that he examines all kinds of arms— not only firearms, but also rapiers and swords. At Manson's he asked'leave to test a revolver in their shooting gallery. He surprised them by his shooting. They said that he could hit "nine times out of ten at 15 yards; that they never saw such shooting. He seemed to have boasted of the number 'of men he had wounded out in Cuba.". "A regular swashbuckler, eh? Does Mr. Halloway think that a man of that sort would use a razor if he wanted to kill a man?" "He doesn't know what to think, sir. I was particularly to ask you whether your clients knew anything about him when they were in Havana." "He came over in the same boat with them. He edits a paper —'Le Verdad'— in Havana—a scurrilous sort of' paper." "Do they give him a good character?" "They wouldn't ask him to their houses, if that's what you'mean. I understand that his paper lives by libelling people. The only good point I have heard about him is that he fights his own duels." Detective-Sergeant Hanson looked startled. "Do they still fight duels out there ?" "Not all the editors. Most of them keep a fighting man on the staff, who accepts all' the editor's , challenges, but this man, Perez, prefers to fight his own." "It must be a funny country, sir. Fancy if our newspaper editors had to do that!" Sam Wrench smiled. "It would make their society gossip-writers careful, wouldn't it? Have you visited the dead man's mother in Hampstead?" "We've had the house under observation, sir." "Any result?" "Only that the lady has discharged her servant, and has taken on a. charwoman, who comes in by the day.'* "Has anybody visited her?" "Not since our man has been there. She lives a very retired sort of life; only tradespeople have been to the house. One evening she went out to post a letter, but, of course, our man had no opportunity of seeing the address. The garden is very much neglected, and I believe, that my inspector is thinking of sending an officer as jobbing gardener to offer his services." "I thought it just possible that a_ man named Denis Plume, whom I mentioned to Mr. Halloway, might be living with her now." "Mr. Halloway wanted me to ask you about that man, sir—whether ; in the course of your inquiries you had come across any trace of him. We questioned the discharged maidservant about visittors, that perhaps she. could give a description of one of them that would fit Plume, but she seemed to know nothing about any visitor except the small, slight gentleman whose visit brought about the loss of her place. She

was very sorry about that, sir; Mr. Halloway thought that she was referring to your visit to the house." "Probably she was. Certainly I bluffed my way in; the girl was in 110 way to blame." "She said that her mistress had given her strict orders to admit nobody; that she tried to stop you, but that you wouldn't take no for an answer." "If we always took 110 for an answer we should never get anywhere." "The maid did say that sometimes after she had gone to bed at ten o'clock she he»rd the bell ring, and that the lady must have admitted visitors herself, because she heard the grumble of a man's voice on the ground floor." "That's interesting! Do you happen tp know how long Mrs. Fen wick has occupied her present house?" "Yes, sir; we made inquiry from the house agent. She took the house just under three months ago." "You might tell Mr. Halloway that that would bo about the time when the will was executed and she became possessed of ample means. Well, sergeant, I wish that I could have been as useful to you as you have been to me, but my inquiries are only just beginning, and I don't despair of being able to give you something of real use in the future. By the way, there is one small thing that Inspector Halloway might find it worth his while to do —to make quiet inquiry at Barry's Hotel, South Kensington, about a gentleman named Eric Majendie who is said to be living there." Sergeant Hanson made a rapid note of the name and address. "I will tell Mr. Halloway what you say, sir. Is there any particular point about the gentleman?" "That will depend upon what is known of him at the hotel, and what his movements and associates are. The inquiry should be very discreet." "Very good, sir; I won't forget it. And now I'll say good-bye." "I wish you all success, Mr. Hanson. Good-bye." On leaving his office, Sam Wrench made a.detour to the Duke of Cornwall Hotel, and asked for Miss Burrows. Within a minute she came running downstairs and led him into a little writing room, where, she assured him, they were -unlikely to bo disturbed. "I've come to ask you a question, Miss Burrows —a question that' I ought to have put to you during our first interview. Can you give me the name and address of the specialist in Paris to whom Mr. Fenwick went during his first visit to Europe?" "No, he never gave us cither the name or address." "The name is all that I want.- The doctor is sure,to have noted his patient's address in his case-book, and in that way I can find out what hotel he stayed at." "If you get that, how will it help us ?" "If I am lucky it ought to help very considerably. The hotel porter may remember what visitors Mr. Fenwick had; he may even he able to recall the names of one or. two of them. These hotel servants in Paris have extraordinary memories for names and faces — especially those of foreigners, though they may come to grief over the pronunciation. The form which every guest has to fill up on arrival at the hotel is filed at the Prefecture of Police. In that roundabout way I may get the name of the man who told Mi". Fenwick that his first wife was still living." "But isn't it too much of a coincidence that in Paris of all places he should have run into a man who knew the woman he had married more than 25 years ago?" "In London it would be almost incredible, but if you had ever been at a loose end in Paris you would be less sceptical. The foreign tourists revolve in. a little circle of cafes on. the Grand Boulevards and round the Opera, and they have a free-and-easy way of striking up an acquaintance with a fellowcountryman. In fact many of them make " their living by accosting the unwary tourist and acting aa his guide and mentor. They take him round shopping and get a commission out of the tradesman to whom he gives an order, and -if he seems specially green and credulous they try the confidence trick upon him. Everything points to-Mr. Fenwick having learned the news in Paris; it is not at all unlikely ■ that a woman like his wife had disreputable friends, or that these friends should be trying their luck in Paris during the tourist season." "Are you thinking of going to Paris yourself?'' : . r "I am. I could of course trust the inquiry to an agent, hut there is a golden rule in life —'If you want a thing done, do it yourself.'" "Oh, if only we had that doctor's address!" ■*"He must; have paid the doctor's fee —perhaps by cheque. Has Mrs. Fenwick brought all his papers with her? There may be a cheque boold" "There is. She brought all his papers in a special box and I went through them with her. I saw a cheque 'book." Nancy had jumped up from her chair in her excitement. "I'll run and get it." She returned with a cheque book and Sam sat down to examine the counter* foils. "Here jye are!" he exclaimed. "Dr. Grandjean! Consultation. Fifteen dollars. Date—October .10." Se' turned over the counterfoil. ."Hallo! What's this? On the same day he drew a cheque in favour of Arthur Brown for 500 dollars. Arthur Brown? Who's he,?" "I don't know. I never heard him mention that name." "Do you think that Mrs. Fenwick would lend me this cheque book?" ; "I'm quite sure she will. I needn't even ask her. My only regret is that we havevt able to lighten your task by giving you something really useful." "This cheque book may turn out to be more than useful. It may be the key to the whole mystery." (To be continued daily.)