“THE THIRD MAN.”

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXV, Issue 3370, 26 September 1931, Page 3

“THE THIRD MAN.”

□ By C. K. THOMPSON n

CHAPTER 11. (Continued.)

Bassington and Green made a complete circuit of the grounds twice and then took up their positions under a large tree in the shadows. Here they settled themselves down for a long wait. The Inspector knew that his brother would not retire before ten o'clock.

"I shouldn't think that Hammersmith, if he intends coming here tonight, would put in an appearance before midnight," mused Green, as he silently and efficiently disposed of a beetle which had insinuated itself between his shirt collar and skin.

"All the same, it's just as well to be on the job early, not that I disagree with you," replied the Inspector. "We can get a pretty and good eyeful of what is going on from here, but, as it gets on, it would be just as well for us to keep on the move, or at least establish ourselves 'in different parts of the ground." He broke off suddenly.

"Hullo—a visitor!" Green also had heard the click of the gate latch, and both detectives keenly watched the progress of the visitor, a man carrying a small case, as he made his way up the path to the tradesmen's entrance. ■ The bearing of the individual, and the fact that he had not used the main entrance, tended to show that he was not unexpected "That," remarked Bassington, with a faint smile, "will be the timepiece expert." "How's that?"

"Brother Horace has a clock which won't go," the inspector explained. "He—"

"Just as well to keep tabs on that cove all the same," interrupted the detective-sergeant. "We can't afford to take any chances you know."

Bassington nodded. "Go to it," he instructed.

Green left the shadow of the tree and began to make his way cautiously towards the house. He had just reached the corner of the building, when he heard footsteps and was mildly surprised to perceive that it was the supposed jeweller returning. The man could not have entered the house after all

Green crouched in the shadow of the wall and debated the question as to what he should do. In the meantime the other man had reached the gate, pased through it, and was making his way leisurely up the street. The sergeant quickly returned to the tree, which still sheltered the inspector. Bassington consoled him.

"He had no time to do any dirty work," he said. "No doubt Horace's clock does not need attention after all. Anyhow, if we want the man we should be able to pick him up easily enough." Green was still a little perturbed and showed It.

"But, Inspector, supposing he isn't a watch-fixer after all?" he demanded. "Seems to me that we're taking a lot for granted. I tell you straight, this job is not to my liking at all. We just can't afford to take chances. If anything happens to that old sinner, begging your pardon, of course, then you and I will be up the spout—well and truly."

Bassington reached forward in the semi-darkness and patted his colleague on the shoulder. "Gome on and I'll put you out of your misery," he said, and rose to his feet. Green followed him. The inspector led the way through the shrubbery and presently came to a stop behind a large old rosebush. By peering around it, they could see into the Judge's study through a chink in the heavy curtains. At the desk, busily writing, sat Mr. Justice Bassington. Green heaved a sigh of relief. He was satisfied.

"Somehow, I think this little possy will do me from now on," he said. "I want to have the old chap under my eyes all the time." After a short discussion, it was agreed that, as the spot was reasonably secluded, one of them should watch from there while the other patrolled the grounds, in turns. It was a very tedious and monotonous job, thought Green, as he crouched behind the rosebush, with his eye glued to the Judge. The inspector was somewhere about prowling. He was beginning to feel cramped and was on the point of standing up, when the inspector joined him. "You can do your parade now," said Bassington, and the sergeant grunted with relief.

The hours passed slowly. Ten o'clock came and went, but still the Judge sat writing. The two guardians were beginning to think that he was engaged in writing a never-ending book. On occasions they saw him leave the table and vanish from their sight for several minutes, but he did not leave the room. The only door was to the right of the table, and the Judge always went to the left. By Bassington's watch it was just Ave minutes from midnight, when Green set off on liis tenth patrol. The Judge was now at the table, but he was not writing. He seemed to be gazing abstractedly Into the cornerto the left of course. Suddenly, ho got up and walked out of sight, in the direction which he had been gazing, and at that moment Green returned. He was about to pass a remark of gome nature to the Inspector, when a

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clock began to chime from inside the study. They counted the strokes together. "Midnight!" Bassington and Green grunted in unison.

"He must have got the old thing to work, and now he's standing there admiring it," said the inspector, and then broke off with a sharp yelp as Green's nails bit ito his hand. "Someone coming into the room," hissed the detective in his ear.

Bassington looked sharply into the study and beyond the desk, where he could just see the corner of the door. It was opening steadily, and around the edge of it came a hand, then an arm.

The inspector's gaze was not riveted on the arm, but the hand and what it held—a long, curved knife! From the rosebush to the window it was perhaps fifty yards, and the two men covered it in a series of bounds.

"Round the front, quick!" bellowed the inspector, as he reached the sill and Green darted off without replying. When Bassington glared through the curtains he saw that the door was now closed. He tried the window, found it unlocked, and swung it open. The sight that met his eyes staggered him. Lying on the floor in grotesque positions were his brother and another man. In the hand of the stranger was the knife he had seen in the mysterious hand at the door, but that did not attract his attention.

An involuntary cry of horror rose to his lips as he stared down at the body of Mr. Justice Bassington. It was lying in a great pool of blood and the head was cleanly severed from the body!

CHAPTER 111. Detective-Inspector Bassington was one of the most efficient officers in the C.I.D. and next in line for Superintendent. He had risen from the rank of uniformed constable by sheer merit, and not a little of his success had been due to his ability to deal with the unusual situation. But, as he stood in that luxurious study, confronted by the bodies of two dead men and one of them his brother —men who had met their death by horrible violence —he felt weak. For minutes his faculties refused to work. Blindly he felt for a chair and sank into it, to be aroused from something akin to stupor by Green, who arrived via the open window fully five minutes later. Green took In the scene with one comprehensive, look. He did not understand it in the least and shuddered violently as his eye rested on the Thing on the floor, which, ten minutes earlier, had been a living man. The body of the Judge lay a few paces from the big clock in the corner, the severed head lying a few feet to the right. The second body was sprawled nearby, the hand grasping the huge knife outflung, the blade of the weapon resting on the floor in the centre of the pool of blood.

"This 'is what I call a hell of a mess," muttered the sergeant, as ho wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. He crossed to where the inspector was still sitting and shook him by the shoulder. "Got to do something, Inspector," he said, apologetically. Bassington left the chair, went to the desk and seized the telephone. He was the efficient policeman again.

"Better rouse the servants, Green," he said, as he replaced the receiver. "I'll give this turn-out a preliminary once-over." When the sergeant had left the room, he first turned to the body of the unknown man. A glance at the twisted face told him that the man was a stranger to him. With an effort he rolled the body over and then received a shock.

Half of the right side of the face was missing! The ear and right cheek had apparently been laid open, and when the man had been turned on his back, that portion had fallen away from the head!

Bassington preferred to wait for the arrival of the doctor and the help from headquarters before he proceeded any further. He crossed the room and locked the window and went outside, locking the study door behind him. In the passage he met Green ushering before him a terrified maid and a startled chaffeur.

"Go, Milly, and arouse Miss Ayesha, but do not tell her what has happened," said Bassington, quietly. The maid burst into a fit of weeping, but departed. The inspector told the chaffeur to hang around, and then drew Green aside.

"I don't profess to know how this happened," he said, "but there was a third man in it—there must have been! You saw nothing when you went round the front?" Green shook his head dully.

"How they got into the house without our seeing them beats me," he confessed. "There's going to be hell to pay over this night's work." "With you and I, Green, figuring prominently," added the inspector, grimly. "Poor Horace," he went on, bitterly, "done in under our very eyes. Good Lord! We'll have to do some pretty tall thinking to get out of this issue." The discussion was interrupted by the arrival of the Government Medical Officer, who brought with him no less a person than Superintendent Perry. After a brief greeting, the four

men entered the study, where the doctor began his examination. The policemen watched him in silence, but the examination did not last long. "This knife," he said, indicating the murderous weapon with his foot. "Know what it is?"

"Never struck anything like it before," said Bassington, with a shake of the head.

"Well, I have," retorted the medical man. "It's one of those sweet things the Indian troops used on the Turks in the war." "A kukri? The Gurkha's favourite plaything?" "You've said it. Capable of chopping a man's head off all right. You haven't got far to go to find the thing that did this guillotine act."

"You think . . ." began Green, but the doctor broke in briskly. "No I don't," he said. "Your job. Go to it," and with a nod he was gone. In the hall he passed a girl in a dress-ing-gown, but did not give her a-sec-ond look. Ayesha looked after him with fear-stricken eyes and then rushed to the library. Bassington met her in the doorway and motioned her back, closing the door behind him. "Oh, Uncle Bill," she gasped out, "what is it?"

"Your father has met with an accident," he said, gravely. "An accident?" she repeated. "But I don't understand. Why are you here at this time of the night, and who was that man who just went out? Let me go into the study." Gently he took her by the arm and half led, half dragged, her to a seat. "Better not, dear. I may as well tell you, Ayesha, your father is dead. He has been murdered." She recoiled as if she had been struck. Her hands went to her faoe in horror and she gave a little scream. Bassington quickly but gently took her in his arms and she clung to him. Suddenly she burst out into a fit of convulsive sobbing and he let her cry on his shoulder. His own face was careworn. In half an hour he had aged ten years. Under his eyes, practically, his own brother had been foully murdered. "My dear," he said, at last, vwll you do your old uacle a favour and go back to your room. I was a fool to have wakened you. Here, Milly, take Miss Ayesha to her room and remain there with her," he added, as he caught sight of the terrified-lookmg servant standing nearby. The girl clung to him as if loth to go, but he gently disengaged her embrace and then, with the assistance of

the maid; he led her to her room. At the door he kissed her gently, and, as it closed behind her shaking figure, he furtively wiped a tear from his own creased cheek. Then, squaring his shoulders and with a grim look in his eyes, he returned to the study. Superintendent Perry nodded slightly as he came in. "We've made arrangements to have the body taken to the morgue," he mentioned. "It is not a nice sight." He referred to the late Judge. The other body was of secondary consideration for the moment.

"Nothing further can be done hwe. I'll leave a couple of plajn-clothes men to see that nothing is touched, and we'll go back to headquarters," said Perry.

He had brought two men with him and these were given their instructions. Then, with Bassington and Green, the Superintendent departed. At headquarters a preliminary conference was held. This lasted until nearly four o'clock and then broke up. As Perry bade the others good morning, his tones were grim. "There'll be a conference at ten and you can expect some fireworks. In the meantime the main thing is to keep this out of the papers." (To be continued.)