THE MAN WHO KNEW.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 21029, 13 November 1931, Page 16

THE MAN WHO KNEW.

(COPYRIGHT.)

ABSORBING STORY OF LOVE AND MYSTERY

CHAPTER XVII. The shadows were beginning to lengthen and the sun to sink in the golden west before Lashbrook came reluctantly back to earth again and suggested that it was time to move. " Yes, I suppose it is," Molly said, with a little sigh. " But there is one thing that we haven't settled on, Phil. I'ou don't want to give up your profession, and I should be sorry for you to do so", though it would be nice to be always together. " What's in the back of your mind?" Phil asked. " Well, something like this," Molly replied. "Supposing that we don't make any very definite arrangements for the early future. Suppose I don t buy the old house—at least, not yet. But there is no reason why we shouldn't have a little flat in town and a cottage in the country." "That's not a bad idea. However, there is plenty of time to talk about/ that. We must get back now. So, for the time being, the two returned to London, and the business that lay before them. Morning brought Lashbrook to a realisation of the fart, that he was, more or less, at a dead end so far as the Mansfield Street murder case was concerned, and until the problem was successfully solved then he could see no great hopes for the future. He, had his own ideas, of course, and it seemed to him that it would be no very difficult matter to place his hand upon the shoulder of the actual criminal. Hut confronting the miscreant with his ciime and proving it, in a court of law was an entirely different matter. And if he moved precipitately, (hen he might scare his quarry and the whole scheme would fall into ruin. If only he could find some clue leading up to the safe key which had been discovered in the handle of the automatic then he could advance more boldly. But it seemed to believe that the man who had shot down Andrew Millar knew that the key lav "snugly hidden in the weapon with which the crime was committed. Nor could he see, as far as he had gone, any particular reason for the crime at all. There was nothing for it, therefore, but (o plod doggedly on with the off chan.e of something definite turning up-at any rate to follow up his inquiries at the Wanderlust Club as to the, movements of yd by Craft on both before and after the war And with this uppermost in his mind he made his way on Monday morning as far as the Wanderlust Club and there he managed to obtain a quiet, interview with the secretary. Chit, in his office. , _ , " I dare say you know why I am heie, Phil said. < ~ " Well. I can give a pretty good guess Clift smiled. " You want to know all about Mr. Selbv Crafton. Am I to take it definitely that you regard him as the CU '-Nothing of the. sort." Phil said crisply. "It is my business to suspect everybody, but if you ask me if I have anything definite against Crafton L have to'tell, you that you are absolutely and entirely wrong. Of course, it is a bit of a coincidence that Crafton and Millar both belong to your club and more than strana;e that one member should find another one murdered. But that doesn t prove anything. Still, for the sake ot argument, W6 will admit that T^ii. Oralton is under suspicion. You will remember what J nsked you to do the last time I was here." " Oh, I have not forgotten, ( hit said. " I have made discreet inquiries in every direction and I can't find a, single member of my staff who can recollect seeing those two men together. J can t even ascertain that they ever interchanged a word.'' ~ " Yes, I rather suspected that, .Lasnbrook said, " But what about the other point I put to you? The dates when Miliar and Crafton came and went. J 4 Ol years back." From a desk in his writing table, Uiit produced a slip of paper which he consulted carefully. " Here you are," he . said. Up to 1913 both the men we are speaking about were here pretty regularly. Just coming and going at intervals but never for very long. Then, in the summer of 1914—at the°beginning of August to be. exact—they both vanished and T didn't see either of them again for nearly two years. Then they began returning at longish intervals and so on till the end of the war. Do these facts help you at all?" "To a certain extent," Philip admitted. "It proves that they either joined the forces or they were engaged upon work of a secret nature. I shall be greatly surprised if it doesn't ultimately transpire that they were abroad in some capacity or another. Possibly working for the Government and possibly working against it. So far as my investigations have proved, neither of them has reason to be particularly proud of his past. And I should gather that the same remark applies to many others of your members." " You are about right there," Clift agreed. "Of course, we have a good many members whoso reputations are a credit to the club, but then on the other hand, there are those of whom the less said 1 lie better. We lost a great many members during (he war " " Yes, mostly foreigners," Philip suggest ed. "Quite right, Mr. Lashbrook. Germans. Scores of them never came back, but quite a sprinkling of them did, though they were not particularly welcome at first. But all that sort of feeling has died down in the course of time, and there is no resentment felt to-day against the presence of any German member." " Then you really haven't got anything to tell me?" Philip asked. " I am afraid not," Clift said. All I have been able to ascertain is that somewhere about the end of the war Andrew Millar was detained by the Italian authorities and thrown into gaol. But how long he was kept there*, and what the charge was, I have rio notion whatever. I got that information from a brother of Millar's. But, of course, you were present, when he told me." " Of course 1 was," Phil exclaimed. " But I had forgotten all about it. J have no doubt that, sooner or later, I shall lie able to turn this information to advantage."

Thcrr was no occasion to slay chatting with ("lift any longer, so that, Phil went back to his headquarters, where he was soon husv making inquiries as to the antecedents of the man. Heron, and the reason why he was being detained in Wandsworth Prison. When the facts were, laid before him, he gathered that it was rather a complicated case, in which several men were implicated in connection with a rather sensational robbery of valuable jewels somewhere in Surrey. So far as Philip could gather, the whole thing had been carefully planned out by some master crook, who was still at large Put a, small clue had led to the arrest of Heron, and this had been brought about, bv carelessness on his part with regard to finger prints. The thieves had got away with their booty, and, so far, no trace of it, had been found. Put with his knowlrdge of such matters Philip was fairly confident that Heron and his fellowburglar were 110 more than mere pawns in the game. They had actually carried out the work of breaking into the house and getting away with the valuables according to plan. But these had been handed over, no doubt, to the master mind behind the robbery, and in nil probability the others had received only a. comparatively small reward for the risk they had taken. This was more or less theory on Philip's part, but quite good enough to go on with when he found himself later fn the same afternoon in the cell where (leron was confined.

By FRED M. WHITE. Author of "The Crimson Blind." "House on the River." " The Shadow of the Dead Hand, etc., etc.

The, unfortunate individual looked up sullenly as he sat on his stool with his head in his hands, and confronted Lashhrook, who regarded him with a pleasant smile on I)is fare. "Now then," he said. "1 want to have a little chat with you." " Oh, you do, do you ?" the prisoner said sulkily. " And wot may your name be, mister?" " Well, as a matter of fact, my name is Lashbrook, and I am a detective-sergeant from Scotland Yard. Now, listen to me. You can give me certain information if you like, or, on the other hand, you may refuse it. But if you like to speak freely, then it is just possible that T can do you a good turn later on, when it is time for your appearance in the Central Criminal Court." The. sullen scrowl lifted from the man's face, and he confronted Lashbrook squarely for the first time. Then he rose to his feet', clicked his heels together, and saluted. "Oh, it's liko that, is it. Heron?" Philip smiled. " Yus—it's like that," Heron grinned. " T was in the army during the war, and I knows an officer when I sees 'im. You may be, a detective-sergeant now, but I wouldn't mind betting 'arf a dollar as you was wearing a Sam Brown a few years ago." " Quite correct, Heron," Philip smiled. " .1 did hold His Majesty's commission—in fact, I do still. Now, do you happen to have heard anything in connection with a certain crime that took place in Mansfield Street a few days ago?" " Well. I did read something about it ! in one of the papers they jet, us see here." Heron said. " Rut, look 'ere. gnv'nor you ain't goin' to infer as T 'ad anythink to do with that, are you?" "Not for a moment," Philip said. " But, at the same time, you might be able t" give me some informationindirectly 1 mean. I'o you happen to know if the name of Crafton is familiar to you?" " Craftori! —Crafton!" Heron repeated slowly. " No. guv nor, T never 'eard that name afore. P.ut, then, that don't signify nothing. The sort of people T does business with c n by all sorts o' names, and the one as they uses •,least is rea 1." "Yes 1 understand that." Phil said. " But the man I am looking for is an individual vho used to have letters addressed to him from time to time at Victoria Place, Camberwell." CH APTER XVIII. Heron shot a suspicious glance at the speaker. " Wot do you "appen to know about that, mister?" he asked. " Well, 1 will tell you," Lashbrook went, on. "From information received, I called at. your address in Camberwell and had a talk with your wife. She wasn't very communicative at, first, but when she found out who I was, she spoke more freely. Now. I know that for years your shop has been a sort, of clearing house—not exactly for stolen goods, but for something like it. In fact, just before the war, you came very near to being in your present position."

Heron smiled, and then laughed out right..

" You're about correct there, guv'nor." he said. " There was me and Bill Baines ami Snuffy 'Awkms, all of us expectin' to be arrested at any moment. Then the war broke out, and we 'listed in a body. There was nobody to ask questions, and the recuiting sergeant was only too glad to get 'old of us. And that's 'ow we got away from England, and we stayed where we was put till the war was over. But only two of us came back. 'Owever, when we did. everything 'ad blown over nicely and you can believe it, or not, mister, but for a year or two afterwards we was absolutely on the square. And a fat, lot. of good that was. . 'Alf starvin' most, of the time, and me living on the little bit wot the missus and myself makes out of the shop. So we goes back to the old life again, and 'ere I am. And 'ere [ shouldn't be but for on-3 man—God rot, 'is soul! —'oo double-crossed me an' left me an' my mate to faro the music. An' I don't mind telling you, guv'nor, straight, that when I am once more free, I am going after that blighter, and, if I "ave to swing for 'im, T shall."

" What's his name," Phil asked inno cent ly.

"Oh no, you don't, guv'nor, oh no, you don't," Heron said, with a. wag of his head. " That's my secret. A cent '« calls 'isself, and a gent by birth I br.lifve 'e in. One 'o them sneerin', drawlin' sort, o' swine, as you see in some o' thern West, End bars. Speaks in a voice as seems to come from the top of 'is 'ead. Very dossy clothes, but not so new as they might be. The broken-down type o' swell, as is to be met with on any racecourse. Swagger as much as you like, and a, big black moustache as 'e was very proud of. Lord bless yer, I should know 'im if I met 'im in the dark, and me with my eyes shut."

" Well, never mind him for the moment. 1 want you to try and remember the appearance of the man who used your shop two years ago ' for certain letters. He called himself Douglas Hume."

Heron jumped half across Ins cell. " Why, that's tho perishing blighter 1 mean," he said, betraying himself in the excitement of the moment. "Douglas 'Ume, eh? Don't 1 know 'im ? Do you suppose I should be,'ere now if I 'adn't? Only let me get my 'ands on 'im—" Heron broke off suddenly.

" I suppose hi; is not. the same man, by any chance, who had a hand in the jewel robbery which led to your arrest on the present charge?" Lashbrook asked "If lie is—"

" Now you're goin' too far, guv'nor," Heron interrupted. "I'd walk round the world barefooted to see Hume laid by the 'eels, but there's others 'oo are walking about outside to-day as I should ave to implicate at the same time. But all you want to know about this 'ere Douglas 'Ume I am willin' to tell you. " Go on, then," Philip said encouragingly. But it was very little that Heron had to say which was likely to be of any use in connection with the Mansfield Street crime. All Phil gathered was that the. individual who called himself Douglas Hume was a man of something more than respectable family, and that he had been cast out- by his relatives long before. A man who lived entirely by his wits, and who was ready, at all times, to exploit a new type of criminal to gain his own ends.

" And (his is all you have, to tell me?" Phil queried at length. " I don't suppose you happen to know what this nan. Hume, was doing during the war. I sup pose you never met him?"

" No. sir, not so long as the fighting was going on. Rut T did come in contact with 'ini before ' was demobbed, and that wore when I were in Paris. You see, for the last year of the fighting, my division was 011 the .Italian front, and when the war was over a lot of us found ourselves in Paris, wait in' to get hank to England. And ono night in a sort of pub —wot they calls an estaminet —I looks up from mv glass and thero I see 'is Jordship, as"large as life. He was dressed in a sort of uniform as wasn't English, and wasn't altogether French. An' quite the toff, I assure you. An officer of some sort, because a "lot o' them poilus jumps 1,0 their feet an' salutes 'im. Then 'e gave me the wink an' we goes outside an' 'as a few words. Wanted to know when T was goin' an' all that. Also when I was goin' 'ome, an' all that. Also where 'e could see me when we both gets back to England. Kays as he might be able to put a good job or two in my way an' so I tips 'im my address. But the name 'o gives me there wasn't 'Ume, or anything like it. It didn't worry me much becos I knew my man and I knew that, with any luck, we should mftffit again."