THE ORANGE TAXI.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20639, 11 August 1930, Page 18

THE ORANGE TAXI.

BY C. D. LESLIE.

(COPYRIGHT.)

SYNOPSIS. Emerging from the Minerva Club in an apparently dazed condition, a tall, fashion-ably-dressed girl is driven to her flat in an orange-coloured taxi. The driver has to rouse her from a stupor on reaching Birkenhead Mansions and is bidden to wait while sho fetches the fare. On the nonreturn of the girl, the taximan goes in pursuit, discovers from the porter that her name is Miss Feo Sark, and enters her apartment She is seated smoking, and bids- him help himself from a wallet. He wonders whether she is drunk or drugged, but a keen scrutiny reveals that she is suffering from nicotine poisoning. He remonstrates with her, makes tea and brings her out of a, eemi-trance. Then ho obtains her promise to give up smoking. I here has been a change in the driver's tone of voice, and, attracted by the transformation, Miss Sark presses for his name. It is obvious that he is a gentleman. Smith is the name ho prefers to bo known by. There is an exchange of confidences which ( ends in Smith being engaged as " cousin" and protector against fortune-hunters (particularly against one, Constantino Lucas). Smith is to adopt the role of Sir Arthur Sefton—the owner of the title being abroad and little known. Arrangements are made for a meeting at the Minerva on the morrow, and Smith departs. Outside ho is accosted by a police inspector and a constable, who accompany him to his taxi. Inside is the sprawling form of a man. Examination by the inspector follows. " Strangled," he exclaims. 11 and it strikes me, young man, you know more about this than you pretend." CHAPTER 11. MISS SARK GETS A SURriUSE. Smith uttered a short laugh. " A little previous, aren't you, Inspector ? When you know me better you'll find I never leave people I've strangled in my cab. I always throw 'em out." " I nevei said you'd strangled him. I said it strikes me you know more about this than you pretend. How came this man in vour cab ?"

" I tell you I don't know. I left it empty."

The two men got out and the inspector, whoso name was Bond, produced his official notebook and pencil.

"Is it a murder case, sir," eagerly asked the policeman. Ilis superior nodded and glanced at his wrist watch. " 11.50," ho announced. " How long has this cab been standing

here?" " Three-quarters of an hour." " What is this place ?" The speaker peered at tho building. Smith told him and the information went down. " Let's have your namo arid particulars."

"Name: Smith, number 45875. Taxi No. H.N. 723, owned by Joseph Parker, Westminster Mews, Argyle Street, behind tho County Hall." " You said you'd been collecting a fare; how did that come to take you three-quarters of an hour?" "This way; I drove a lady from the Minerva. Brought her here just before eleven. She'd no money on her. Told mo to wait. .1 did. She never came back and I went in after her. Saw the night porter; he said her name was Miss Sark." The speaker paused. " Go -on, Smith." So far tho taximan had spoken the truth, but the truth would no longer serve him; invention was necessary. Inspiration came:

" Well, I knew the name at once. It was the Miss Sark. Haven't you heard of her?" " I haven't."

" She's a young lady who camo into a pot of money last Autumn, and she comes from my part of the country. I used to know her when sho was living at the vicarage at Buckhurst. I did odd jobs there. Well, I left and came to London. I reads how she's an heiress and I wonder ' Shall I ever come across her in London,' for she's bound to come to London, and then to-night she takes my cab from the Minerva, but I never recognised her in her fine clothes, and of course sho never recognised me, but when the portei gave me her name I knew it was her." Smith stopped. "You introduced yourself?" prompted the inspector. " Yes, and she remembered mo and was very nice to me. Insisted on giving me some supper and talked to me of old times, as friendly as anything." " Ha!" ejaculated the inspector, frowning at his notebook. " And while you're supping in this lady's fiat, two men, wo must presume two men, get into your cab, and one strangles the other, and then goes home and leaves us to clear things up. Dammit," declared tho speaker, tilting his hat tho better to scratch his head, " it's the queerest case that's evei come mv way."

" We'd better seo if the hall porter knows him," suggested the policeman. "I don't," he had carefully scrutinised the dead man.

Inspector Bond glared at his subordinate; it was not tho duty of that functionary to make suggestions. " Naturally." lie said. " 1 shall start by interviewing the hall porter. You'll have to think of something more brilliant than that, Higgins, to earn good conduet, stripes. Now stand by the cab."

He turned from the crushed constable, and, motioning Smith to accompany him. ascended the steps. The porter's boxwas empty. Smith explained it was so when he came out ot the flat.

" Ah, here he comes," said the inspec tor, as a man in uniform appeared from the basement. " You on duty here?"

" Yes. Anything wrong ?" was tho gruff reply. '' Only a man strangled in a cab outside these flats."

The porter received the news with Bri tish calm.

"Well, what' about if? D'you want to use the phone ?"

" Doesn't seem to worry vou much

sardonically commented the inspector. " It's my wife I'm worrying about," was the frank reply. " She's got a bad touch of influenza, feverish she is, and wants nursing, and (lie girl's gone home to-night. I don't like leaving 'or."

" Como and look at tho man, seo if you know him." The dead man was elderly, and obviously well-to-do, judging by his signet ring, gold watch chain, and tho high quality of his clothes and linen. Tho sort of man who would live at Birkenhead Mansions, but the porter disclaimed him ; tie wasn't a resident.

At this point, as thn little group stood round tne cab and tlio inspector hesitated as to the next step, the elements decided for him. A sudden shower of warm rain descended, and cover was es sential. Bond dismissed the hall porter to his box, and the policeman to his heat, and entering the cab told Smith to drive to Wauchope Police Station. Arriving there, just as the shower ceased, the taximan had to wait, but not for long The dead man was lifted out and carried into the mortuary attacned to the station; and hero for Inspector Bond tho case ended, for a C.I.D. man happened to lie in the station and immediately took charge. Ho came out and entering the cab examined it. thoroughly " Whero do you sleep, Smith ?" ha inquired ot the driver. " Two, Argvlo Street, a fow yards from tho garage." " Well, you can go home. We shall want you to givo evidence later; but you'll have full notico when and where. Good-night.".

A SPLENDID SERIAL OF ROMANCE, LOVE AND MYSTERY.

Smith was a little surprised at, this casual dismissal, but on reaching ie converted mews, now a garage, w eie e kept his cab, lie found the polico were not so trustful as they seemed. Inquiries had been made about him over the phone, and at the local police station; he had been certified as existing, ana respectable taximan. "Isit a summons, matey ? asked the man on duty. , The police are the natural enemies ot taximen, but the war is seldom bitter, as the police, with occasional exceptions merely enforce and do not strain law against the drivers. " It's worse, than tnat,' he r ®P' ied > and recounted briefly how a man had been found dead in the cab; and P lead '"B fatigue, took his departure He wanted to be alone, to think thing 3 over, and having shut the door on himself in the small bedroom he occupied in Aigyle Street, ho sat down on the bed and reflected. , Within two hours, two entanglements had come into his life. First Miss Sark. Yes, entanglement was the worci. Whatever had made him accept the " job " she offered him? True, nothing was settled, and by not keeping the appointment at the Minerva he could diop the whole affair with the utmost ease. But though he toyed with the idea he knew he. would certainly go. And why not ? His motives were above criticism, he wanted to help her, he felt sure he could help her. There were drawbacks; but the advantage outweighed them. Their association would be beneficial to both. Truth to tell he was sick of cab-driving. It would be pleasant to go back to his own world, to rejoin the class who dressed for dinner and, when they wanted anything, rang a bell and told a servant to fetch it. But the murder complicated things horribly. It would be a first-class sensation. The newspapers would take it up and feature it. His " picture " would be wanted to illustrate the " story, and his counterfeit presentment was the last thing Mr. Smith desired to see in the daily and evening papers. In fact, rather than see it there he would disappear. . . , , At this point it occurred to him that the complications balanced each other. The murder forced him to disappear, the Sark entanglement provided a hidingplace. As Sir Arthur Barrington Dawe Sefton, at Penrode, wherever that was, ho could be safe from the police, who would be looking for Smith. Only • t would be necessary to let Miss Sark know what he had told the police, to explain his having supper in her flat. They would be calling on her early that day; he must get a communication to her first; but that could be done by means of ono of the taximen using the garage. " I wish," was his last waking thought after he got into bed, " I'd never picked that giii up at the Minerva."

But he wasn't quite sure that he meant it.

Tho ofiicer who examined the cab outside Wauchopo Police Station was Thomas Hall, an inspector fairly high up in the Division. His seniors regarded him as a sound 'detective; he never did anything spectacular, but ho usually caught the criminal ho was after; indeed, in the nether world he was known as " put_ 'em up Hall; an allusion to tho invitation he so frequently extended to " wanted men. Having finished his examination, Hall went to Scotland Yard, to report the case, and to put in an application to take charge of it. Whom he saw and what strings he pulled do not matter; suffice it to s.iy that at ten o'clock next morning on arrival at his room he found official sanction to deal with it awaiting him. His first step was to visit the mortuary, and have a consultation with the doctor, who, in his presence the previous night, had examined the body. Since then a post mortem had taken j place. " He had a weak heart," said the doctor, " which helped to kill him, but strangulation was the primary cause. The murderer took him by the throat, the marks of his fingers are plain to see, and finished him off by tying a silk handkerchief or scarf roui.d his neck, and pulling it; he wouldn t have effected his purpose so easily had the deceased, otherwiso healthy, had a normal heart." Hall nodded. "As I thought," he agreed. "Shall we fix tho inquest for tomorrow, at two o'clock; that suit you?" He took the papers and effects of the dead man and retired to study them, but was disturbed a few minutes later by Divisional-Inspector Bond. "" I've been to the Mansions, sir," he explained, " to get corroboration of the taximan's story, and it's all O.K. The C.1.1), man received the news without any outward pleasure; he considered Bond had been poaching on his preserves. " You've seen Miss Sark ?" " Yes, sir, and she confirms Smith's story. And I've seen the secretary of tho company that owns the Mansions, and tho doctor attending Mrs. Downs, the porter's wife. It's quite true about her 'flu, and the secretary gives the husband the highest character. Tho secretary also gave me a list of the tenants; tho place is very select and high-priced. So it looks as if we can rule Smith and Downs and e v eiybody else in the flats out of it."

The detective noted the address of the secretary and tho name of tho doctor, and then spoko with the suavity that only half-veiled his real feelings. " I'm obliged to you, Inspector Bond, but you needn't take any further steps over this case. lam in charge of it. I may later want assistance outside my branch, and I may not. If Ido I will apply to you." " Very good, sir, and 1 hope to goodness you make a hash of the case, replied Bond, but only the first threo words were uttered aloud.

Almost immediately afterwards, Hall put on his hat and walked to Birkenhead Mansions. Downs was off duty and an understudy in the box; of him the detective inquired which was Miss Sark's flat. An elderly maid answered his ring, and denied her mistress to him; Miss Sark was engaged. " I'm afraid, J can't take that answer," tho detective replied, smiling politely. " I'm from Scotland Yard."

" She's seen ono detective already." " No, ma'am, begging your pardon, she hasn't; she's seen a divisional-in-spector —not a detective. Just take her my card, and say my business is very important." In the sitting room ho awaited Miss Sark, who camo to him secretly perturbed, though outwardly calm; sho was country-bred, and her few months in London, as a fashionable young lady, had not banished a youthful impression that Scotland Yard was an awe-inspiring institution.

But the man who rose at her entrance looked homely, and his manner reassured her. (To be continued daily.)