THE CRY IN THE NIGHT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21251, 3 August 1932, Page 18

THE CRY IN THE NIGHT

By OTTWELL BINNS *

(COPYRIGHT)

Author of "The Lavenham Treasure," "Diana of the Islands." " The Myjitery of the Atoll," etc., etc. ' v

CLEVER AND ENTHRALLING MYSTERY STORY BY POPULAR WRITER

SYNOPSIS The Conway Castle has berthed, and Sir Martin Charlton, who has left the French Foreign Legion to return to England* and take up his title, is parting from Miss Bobbie Rowthorne. They have grown fond of each other 011 the boat, but Sir Martin Ims a wife—somewhere. He meets, on the quay, the man who is responsible for the fact that, lie is living under a, cloud.| " Studholme! . . . By heaven!" he mutters, and the other, startled, steps backward and falls into the.water. Inspector Ransome, of the C.1.D., who has been an interested spectator observes with surprise that he takes no further notice of the man whom he has addressed as " Studholme," but drives away in a taxi without caring, apparently. whether he i t rescued or not. That night. Sir Martin-goes to Studholme's house "to settle an old score, and has reached Pondicherry Lodge, whe-o Studholme lives, "when he hears a scream. Miss Itowthorrie Tuns out of the house, and. recognising 111111, begs him to take her away. Sir Martin takes Miss Rowthorne back to London, and then returns to Pondicherry Lodge. Jno louse is apparently deserted and a telephone boll is ringing insistently. He takes up the receiver and recognises th* voice as that of a woman known ns " Queenie. whom he was tricked into marrying before he joined the Legion. Thinking that he is Studholme, she tells hint that two men, " Honpy " and "Ilarry," are on their way to the house to protect him from Charlton. They arrive. Sir Martin hides, and learns, from their horrified exclamations, that tliey liave discovered the dead body of otudholmo in another rooom. The Iwo men leave Uie liouse. hurriedly; Queenie rings up again, and Sir Martin tells her that Studholme is dead, but does not disclose his identity. He also informs Scotland Yard, but; does not give his name. CHAPTER 111 Inspector Ransome, newly arrived at Scotland Yard for night duty, listened with interest to the account of his subordinate. " Telephone message ten minutes ago from some person unknown, reporting a murder at Pondicherry Lodge, Sharpnell's Lane, other side of Hampstead, and asking us please attend to the matter. Message came from a call-box in the Hampstead area, and I suspect was put through bv some humorist of the.brand that gives false fire alarms for the pleasure, of saing the brigade turned out. " Who lives at Pondicherry Lodge,?,", asked the inspector tersely. " You've found out? " ' " Y T es, and telephoned to the house, but can get .no reply." " Name? " snapped the inspector. . " Studholme—Arthur. A.—" The officer broke off sharply as he saw the tense look which his words brought to the other's face and asked. " You know the man? " I've seen him," replied the inspector brusquely, " and you can take it from me that the telephone rail isn't a joke. Is Dearnley here ? " "In his room." "Ask him to come here and then order one of the cars round with a driver who knows Hampstead well." As the other hurried away, Ransome seated himself at a table and, taking a sheet of paper, began to -write. " Wanted urgently the name of a tall, spare young man, who was firSt-class passenger on the Conway Castle. Man in question looks,like a soldier, has,grey eyes with steady gaze, thin, handsome face* clean shaven. Looks as if he had suffered from fever. Was dresse 1 at the time of landing in dark blue suit. Is naturally distinguished looking, and possibly a person of some consequence. Address wanted if available. Reply at once as the.matter is imperative." When his messenger returned with the colleague for whom he had sent, the inspector handed his subordinate the paper. " Get that inquiry through to the Conway Castle, Southampton, at once. If the purser is not on board, he must be found ■without unless someone else can give the information." " Yes, sir." ' " Dearnley,. just call the surgeon. Tell him we shall be pulling out in five minutes, and that if he isn't ready he is to follow at once to Pondicherry Lodge, Sharpnell's Lane, Hampstead." Dearnley, who was young and enthusiastic in his profession, nodded and disappeared, and Inspector Ransome picked up a speaking tube and addressed himself to the records department. ... " " Just go thrcfugh the index for the name of Arthur Studholme. I have an- idea you may find it. If you do. I want all particulars about the man that Can be furnished. Good! Thank you." " Car is ready; sir," announced a messenger from the doir. Four minutes later, with his junior by his side, Inspector Ransome was on his ■way to Sharpnell's Lane. As they drove 011, Dearnley asked for particulars. " Myrder report, by telephone from someone unknown, at a house the other side of Hampstead—Pondicherry Lodge, tenatit or owner, one Arthur Studholme." "Studholme —Studholme. Ah, I remember. There was a man of that name mixed up in a gun-running affair during the Spanish-Morocco flare up. He got away with it. Know him at all ? " "Saw him this afternoon, if I am not mistaken," answered the inspector and gave a terse account of the interesting events of which he had been a spectator. His subordinate whistled softly and offered comment. " Looks a simple case? That tall young soldier—'' . ' - More simple than you know..That tall young soldier was in Hampstead less than an hour ago. I came on the tube to town •with him in the same coach." > "Great Harry! Fate seems to have dealt all the cards against him. Did he know you ? " " " No. Never saw me this afternoon, I fancy. And he Jooked cool enough, evening kit, and all that, immaculate." " Man can put out another without disturbing his white neck-tie," answered Dearnley. "A pistol doesn't throw blood about." "No. And if he is the man we shall want—" "No question of that, I fancy. Case is so simple that you might bespeak the prison chaplain for a date three weeks after the next assizes." He was silent for a moment and then.added: "Wonder if that girl supplies the motive? "" " Very possibly, I should sav>" answered Ransome. and lapsed into silence until the car, which, for a little time, had been crawling, drew up at the gate of Pondicherry Lodge." Here we are ! " 1 The pair walked up the approach together, noted the lighted room and the illuminated fanlight of the hall, and Dearnley remarked: " Seems quiet enough." " Too quiet," replied the inspector. 11 Matthews could get no reply on the telephone." They reached the door and rang the bell two or three times without receiving any answer. Then Dearnley walked to the window of the lighted room and looked in. A moment later he returned to bis colleague. " We're wasting time," he said quietly. The man is lying there on the carpet. (Corpse, .if ever I saw one." Inspector Ransome tried the door. It •was locked, held by the Catch of the Yale lock which had acted automatically when Charlton had closed the door on leaving. Dearnley forced an entrance by breaking a window, and admitted bis colleague by the front door. They entered the lighted room together, and a moment later were standing near the body which the younger man bad seen through the window. The inspector gave one glance (downward and ejaculated. "Studholme! ' And no question about the murder! " said Dearnley. " That knife! Got the man xight through an artery: Look Where the blood has spurted! As far as the wall there." Ransome was already looking, and there was an odd expression on his face. iAs he stood there, he was visioning a man sealed in the tube coach, immaculate,' his linen..without .a-flaw, or, stain, and it was

borno on him suddenly that possibly the case was not quite so simple as it had appeared ten minutes before. Sub-inspec-tor Dearnley divined something of his thoughts. " Man who used that knife must have been fairlv sprayed," he commented. "Yes!" " And the fellow you saw in the tube hadn't a spot? " " None that I saw." " (111! it would have been visible enough. A spurt that sent that across there couldn't linvo missed him." " Ho may have changed after," said Ransoine. . " A possibility, yos." Ransoine stooped and looked at the knife without touching it. It had an ivory handle, and there were two blood splashes at the very top. Then lie commented. " Knife has an Eastern look. Wo shall know when we can examine it. And tinless the fellow wore gloves, lie's left his trade-mark there on the handle, which must be a perfect surface for finger prints. . . . We'll look round. I'll take the desk whilst you go through the man's clothes. Won't find much there I imagine. .A man doesn't cart much round in evening dress pockets." He lookod round, noted tlio orderliness of the room, the closed drawers of the handsome bureau by which the body lay, and offered further comment. " Motive wasn't robbery, by the look of things, anyway." He moved to the bureau, which stood open. There, were papers there, letters, and a telegram thrown down, as it appeared, after reading. lie picked it up, glanced through it swiftly, then gave a sharp whistle of surprise. Dearnley looked up. " Found something " A whole lot. Listen ! " He read tlse telegram aloud. " Studholme, Pondicherry Lodge, Sharpnell's Lane, Hampstead— At eleven to-night I am calling on you for a settlement. Having come so far. 1 expect to find you. It will not pay you . to disappoint me, and if you are wise you will give me a square deal, you and those others.—M.C." " Handed in at the West Station, Southampton, at 3-45," said the inspector, adding drily, " less than half an hour after the Conway Castle berthed." " Tallies with everything else,'' commented Dearnley. Then a worried look came on his face. " What's biting you ? " demanded Ransome. " Oh, the thing's too confoundedly easy. Everything in this business is dovetailed to a nicety, and that's neither life nor sense. Things just don't happen like that." The inspector nodded, lugubriously, then looked down at the dead man. " That knife may prove you're wrong, Dearnley. IfHhere are any prints to be got from it —" " I wonder why the owner left it behind him," interjected the other. " Seems a i'ool tiling to do." " All murderers are fools, and most of them make some mistake or the hang man would be on the dole . . . but whoever did this job had a grievance. I wonder who the others are. Clearly Studholme had associates who will have to look out or—" " Somebody coming up the drive," broke in Dearnley. " The surgeon, I expect. Well, he won't tie able to do much here."' It was the police surgeon. Ho gave one glance at the dead man, and at the position of the knife, then looked at the splashes on the wall. " Carotoid artery severed," he commented, and after a brief examination gave judgment. " Been dead two hours or so—not more. . . . Any clues ? " "Lots! All too good," answered Ransome, " that is, unless the knife confirms them, in which case it is all over except the hanging." " Well, the fellow who made such a mess of this fine carpet deserves to be banged anyway," answered the surgeon. " But there's nothing that I can do, and as I was out of bed the most of last night, I'm going home." He departed, and the two officers continued their search, Ransome going steadily through the papers in the bureau, whilst his colleague made a thorough search of the room. Presently the younger man gave a sharp exclamation. " What is it ? " demanded the inspector. " Handkerchief—woman's—Honoton lac e by the look of it." He held .it up for inspection. " No name, no laundry mark. Found it behind the door there, all crumpled. May have been thftre a week." Inspector Ransome thought of the girl who had been a passenger bv the ConI way Castle, and whom Studholme had met at. Southampton, and shook his head. "No! , dropped there to-night, I'll wager. Remember that, girl I told you about —name of Bobbie ? She's the owner as like as not. Adds another to the too obvious exhibits in the case, I guess." " You don't suppose that she—" " No. How many women uae the knife ? Last tiling most of them would think of if they wanted to get rid of a man. Women can't stand the sight of blood; and that girl wasn't a killer, anyway." " Seems to be mixed up in the business, though. She iu the connecting link between' that man there and your unknown soldier." " The obvious one; but perhaps not the only/, and, maybe, not even the vital one." " Anything in those papers ? " " All sorts of stuff—nothing that matters,' apparently, though Studholme had some curious business acquaintances from the look of things. Have a look round the rest of the house, will you, Dearnley ? " (To be continued daily)