THE GREAT FAIRFAX MYSTERY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20780, 24 January 1931, Page 12 (Supplement)

THE GREAT FAIRFAX MYSTERY.

By JOSEPH KEATING.

Author of "Marriage Contract." "Flower of the Dark." Etc., Etc.

CHAPTER XVl.—(Continued)

" Sonny boy," Nicassy interposed, putting down his glass and looking at Warrender with a general smile, " I guess you'd hardly bo alive to sit with us by your fireside in your pleasant English fashion to-night, if Jcrrold's men liadn t been keeping some sort of eye on you. Do you think that gang of crooks are ever going to forgive you for spoiling their chance the other day ?"

"I don't think you'd have got back from Paris—perhaps not from Limchouse to-day—without a little unseen help—you take "such risks, Warrender," came from the Scotland Yard man, in a quiet voice. " There's a strange lot following you, and only waiting for a suitable chance to get you." Warrender felt suddenly grateful to the detectives. Shrewd as" they were, lie knew them too well to doubt their sinceritv. They meant what they said and were not trying to lull his suspicions. If their object had been to induce him to disclose tho secret that a girl was hidden somewhere in the flat thoy were too loyal to resort to any unworthy ruse to make him betray himself. They would have been frank and open with him. It was a relief to feel that tho object of their visit was not Nina. He must find a way of getting her out unseen by them.

" I understand," ho nodded appreciatively " Thanks very much —both. I think we shall get tho thieves —and the murderer before they get me. Why did you want to seo me to-night ?" Jerrold took his cigar from his lips and contemplated the thin veil of smoke curling upwards from it thoughtfully. " You know there's some sort of religious meaning supposed to bo connected with the stolen gems," N ho remarked.

Warrender nodded again. " Sometimes I'm half inclined to believe it—and other times not," ho answered. " Prince Litinsky says it's only the money value these strange people arc after." " Most likely the prince is right," Nicassy assented. " They re worth hundreds of thousands of dollars." " Maybe," Jerrold agreed, still reflecting. ""But it's mysterious. I'm not a bit superstitious, Warrender, but there's something queer about the jewels. Whoever's got them —they're where they were never intended to be." " What do you mean. Jerrold ?" " I mean, Warrender—those people are following you about because the jewels have got into the wrong hands." Warrender had a difficulty to prevent his glance from turning toward the bedroom door. Did Nina know into whose hands the jewels had gone ? A word from her might reveal so much, if she would only speak. " Explain, Jerrold, if you don't mind," he said.

The Scotland Yard man looked at him. " What I suggested really amounts to this," he said significantly: "The moment you find the jewels you're a dead man, Warrender." A silence in which the faint ticking of the little clock on the mantlepiece could be heard followed for an instant. The three men were gazing at one another steadily. " I don't quite understand you, Jerrold," Warrender said.

" The gang that murdered Fairfax and got possession of the casket containing the gems. Warrender." the detective rejoined, with a puzzled expression, " seem to be a great mystery to the first gang that attacked you and Nicassy, here, as they are to us. They seem to think you know where the jewels arc. and are on your track hoping to discover your secret before they put paid to your account."

" Tho straight answer to that, Jerrold," Warrender declared seriously, " is—l don't know where the jewels are. If I did, I tell you frankly, you should know at once."

He wondered if Nina could hear what he said. Would it prevent her from speaking ? It did not matter. He hoped she had heard. She must understand clearly that the moment he knew where the gems were he would stop at nothing to get them restored to their proper owners, and bring the murderers of Fairfax to justice.

" I believe you," the inspector told him at once. " That makes it so serious, Warrender. You'll get tho jewels—and the gang will kill you." " That may be so, Jerrold," Warrender said, after a pause. " I shouldn't like that to happen if I can help it." the detective informed him. Warrender lit a fresh cigarette. " The question is—can it be helped ?" he queried. " The first thing to be done," Jerrold went on, " is to wipe out the gang that's following you." " A tough proposition," commented Nicassy. " That's really why we're here to-night. Warrender." " To-day," the Scotland Yard man continued, " I've been interrogating the man you knocked down—you remember, Warrender, the first attack on you, Nicassy and Princess Darya in the taxicab ?" Warrender nodded.

" We've still got him in custody. He's some kind of Russian whatever the others are—and a fanatic—thinks the jewels are sacred and that he was acting in a holv cause," Jerrold smiled. "He probably didn't know what information he was giving me, hut I think we'll ho able to get at the rest of the gang to-night. You might recognise some of them, Warrender. I want you to come." " Certainly, Jerrold." " They're most likely dangerous international" crooks." Jerrold observed.

" Sure thing," Nicassy agreed. " I expect to find among them the man with the needle-bullet outfit that killed old l'.lilfax." . . "Wo might even find t h.it girl of yours among them. Warrender." Jerrold added, looking at his watch and rising. "How long will it take you to get ready?"

Warrender made a swift decision. Nicassy had risen. The two detectives were preparing to go. " I'll go with you." Warrender said. He rang the hell. His man brought the visitors their lints and coats. Warrender was readv almost as soon as the others were. They went out to the landing together. The detectives were going down the stairs. Warrender stepped back into the sitting room, where Sandars was picking iin the tilings on the tray. _ " Sandars," Warrender said significantly. " T trust you." Sandars stood up straight. " You can, sir." Warrender was sure in that moment lie could do so. " Tell her," lie said, and hurried out. While he was with the other two, Nina could he certain of getting away unseen.

CHAPTER XVII. "Bali!" " Sacramento!" " Noni d'un clnen !' " 'I i" . „ • The gamblers were in full swing their wild hope or despair uttered in fierce, luit. scarcely audible sounds—discovery must not lie risked.' fin in or loss, I lie whispering 11iss of tlio shuffling caids went on. ~ , Tl was a liflle after midnight, the hour when denizens of London's underworld were most wide awake, always diending unwelcome visits from the police. A | imlsp in a narrow thoroughfare on the, north side of Oxford Street seemed to he in complete darkness. Blinds were closely drawn. In addition, old-fashioned, heavy wooden shutters were fastened across the windows. and neither from thern nor from the glass at th<i top of the hall was a glimmer of light visible. The tall old house, like all the others in the sordid district, appeared to be wrapped in slumber and stillness.

(COPYRIGHT.)

A STORY FULL OF THRILLING ADVENTURES AND PERILS.

In reality only the outside had that appearance. Inside, beyond a door at the further end of the darkened hall passage, a gaping hole in the floor allowed light to come up, revealing a twisting staircase leading downward to a basement illuminated by electric lamps. There a crowd of men were packed about a green-covered table on which lay piles of Bank of England notes, treasury notes, small heaps of silver, and here and-there pieces of gold, British sovereigns or the gold currency of other nations. The crowd, too, were of various nationalities—Russian, French, English, American, some clean-shaven, others with dark beards, their perspiring, greasy-looking faces shining. Shifty, restless eyes were fixed on the tablo where the crisp banknotes and gold pieces were moved about by two men according to the rate dealt out by the cards played on the greeit cloth. Occasionally, in spite of all attempts at suppression, storm and tempest broke through the uneasy silence when someone,, losing all, fell into a paroxysm of rage and scuffled back from tho table. " Pollard—you could help me." Behind the excited gamblers was Pollard, his pale, cynical face calm and smiling us usual. He was in smart evening clothes, his spotlessly white shirt front looking strangely out of place amid the grimy surroundings. Ho seemed to have come from a society function. With him was a tall, dark-faced man, whose tanned and dried skin suggested the South African sun. They were sitting at a small, marble-topped table, speaking in low, earnest voices. " What did you say the girl's namo was, Crag?" ho asked. Pollard's companion glanced round cautiously. He wanted to make sure he was not overheard.

" Nina Richmond," he answered. Pollard reflected. " Never heard of her." " I understand she goes into good society at times," his companion suggested, bending close to the other eagerly. Pollard nodded. " If so, I might see her, Crag." " That's why I rely on you," Crag urged. " Let mo think," pondered Pollard. "I wonder if I know her?"

After a pause he shook his head. " Can't remember, Crag," he said. "Are you sure there is such a girl?" A savage oath, half smothered, came from tho dark-faced man. " I know she's alive," he said. " You nuist find her, Pollard. I don't care what the cost is. Don't be afraid of expense. See!"

While he was speaking he drew from an inside pocket a thick wad of treasury notes which he passed covertly over the table into the ready hands of Pollard, who laughed in his cynical fashion as he stuffed th«. notes out of sight.

" Daresay I'll find her, Crag," he rejoined. " Well, you know there's plently more where those notes come from," Crag told him, a scowl intensifying the darkness of his complexion. " Get her into my hands, Pollard. That's all tho risk you need take."

" I don't mind risk when the pay's good, Cr.ig," Pollard sneered. " I'll do my best."

There's one thing I should tell you. Pollard," Crag warned him. "If it's true it's queer. She's supposed to be with a strange crowd that have the power of killing by sending an invisible message. It's mysterious. If they want to remove anyone they can send death unseen."

Pollard laughed. " Oh, I'm not superstitious," he said. " Can you give mo some idea what this girl's like ?" The dark-faced man shook his head. " She should be fair," he said, " with blue eyes. But I don't know. She was left when a child with a woman named Mrs. Neath."

Pollard's-thin white faco suddenly became whiter. "Mrs. Neath?" The name seemed to frighten away the sinister smile from his lips. " That woman ? Bit of a mysticsees visions—knows the future. I've seen her. Yes, she belongs to a funny crowd. I say, Crag, it's dangerous!" Pollard's bony hands were shaking. Ho glanced around him uneasily. The backs of the mob pressing around the card table were toward him. The impassioned flutter of the gamble was all they heeded, their grief or joy expressing itself in stifled oaths or groans. Heat from human bodies packed into too small a space made the atmosphere foul in that damp, unwholesome basement where the plaslci of the walls cracked and fell. Near the twisted stairs another section of men, with faces as criminal-looking as those of the gamblers, were eating sandwiches at a marblo counter on which stood a big metal hot water urn, polished and glistening under the lights. Coffee and cocoa were being served out in coarse cups. Even bottled beer and whisky were handed across tho counter, though no magistrate had ever given a licence for their sale there, together with more druglike liquors, absinthe, vermouth—foreign stiumlants driving men to ugly deeds.

"Why, Crag," Pollard's voice was quavering as his evil, terrified eyes came back to his companion, " why don't you try and get hold of tho girl yourself?" A look of wild alarm came into the dark face of the other man. He was shaking with fear. " There arc powerful reasons why 1 must keep out of it," he answered.

Pollard's cynical smile began to reappear 011 his bloodless lips. " it's a risky job, Crag," he said. "Tell nie exactly why you want to get this Richmond girl into your hands .

Even Pollard himself seemed to be Startled at the savage expression suddenly distorting tho features of the tall man, as he leaned forward over the ,n;irble-topped table. Before he could speak a knocking at the street door thundered through the building. _ A figure came leaping down tho twisted stairs. Instantly confused, cries and curses escaped from tho men diinking at tho counter. The commotion spread to tho gamblers. Above tho hubbub could bo heard the same words, in effect, repeated over and over again in different languages—Russian, French, English and in the peculiarly incisive intonation or America: "Detectives!" "They've surrounded the place!

It, was true. The knocking at the door was tho work of Jerrold's men carrying out his orders, demanding admittance. '• Open —in the name of the law !" In another moment tho door would have, been forced in. One of tho watchers from inside, dreading the consequences of refusal, hurriedly removed the bars from their socketsadmitting tho police, .lerrold had skilfully completed his arrangements and organised tho raid, determined to put an end to the activities of tho suspected members of tho gang without delay. Everywhere along the dim, narrow thoroughfare were officers in plain clothes or in uniform.

Down in tlio unwholesome basement, tho glint of steel and the metal of revolvers was seen among the foreigners, desperate at the prospect of falling into Iho hands of tho authorities. Ot hers attempted to escape by a door at the rear. They found themselves running into the arms of uniformed constables, and driven back by drawn batons in the struggle, while ft stampede for the only other exit was met -by Jerrold, Warrender, and Nicassy coming down tho twisting staircase with constables in uniform behind them. (To bo continued on Saturday next.)