MR. CORONER PRESIDES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21326, 29 October 1932, Page 13 (Supplement)

MR. CORONER PRESIDES

A Novel by SELDON TRUSS ft

CHAPTER XVlll—(Continued)

Tony looked at his watch; it was 1.30 a.m. At a quick pace he walked past the darkened Eight Bells and its neighbouring cottages to the rim of tho village where stood the quaint old-fashioned house that was Dr. Andrew's home and surgery. Barely had ho inserted his key into the latch when tho door was whipped open arid the housekeeper, anxious and resentful, faced him, candle in hand. " Thank goodness you've come at last!" she exclaimed. "I was beginning to think you were never coming, doctor." Tony chuckled rather loudly as ho entered. " I began to think the same myself," ho answered. " Will you lock that door, Mrs. Grummit. And bolt it, please. Thank you, that's much better." Ho observed the housekeeper's distended eyea fastened on him, with sudden amazement and suspicion, and became aware for the first time of his disreputable appearance. His clothes were torn and stained, ho was minus a hat and ho reeked of beer from head to foot. Tho housekeeper raised tho candlo a fraction higher in order to absorb these details to the full, and during that process her lips set in a thin, tight and forbidding lino, whilst in her eyes shone a glint of pure exultation. " I understood that you had been called away to a caso, doctor," she said mincingly. " Quite right. And a very tough case it proved, Mrs. Grummit. If it isn't troubling you too much, do you think you could find mo something to eat 1 And a drink." "A drink did you say, doctor? ' Mrs. Grimmit sniffed ostentatiously. " I did say a drink, Mrs. Grummit. 1 am aware that I carry a refreshing odour of beer, but unfortunately it is all outside me. I am aware too, that you are cherishing thoughts of the day you will be able to regale Dr. Andrews with a long list of my derelictions. That day shall not bo denied you, Mrs. Grummit. Only, for Heaven's sako don't stand thero looking like Nemesis at this unhallowed hour!" 'Hie housekeeper bridled indignantly. "I am not accustomed to being called names, doctor, and I'll thank you —" Tony checked her suddenly to listen, then turned to face her again, his brows contracted. " Are all the doors and windows locked ?" ho demanded quickly, and then laughed. " My nerves aren't very good at the moment." The housekeeper stared at him and drew I back, a little uneasily. It was certainly rather queer behaviour on tho doctor's P art - , . ■, " Of course all the doors and windows are locked—" " Right. I'll have my meal in the surgery, Mrs. Grummit." Tony did not add that the reason for this fresh eccentricity lay in the surgery's proximity to the telephone, that instrument being located outside the 6urgery door. It was comforting proximity, and incidentally he proceeded to call up the Eight Bells in tho hope of being able to get hold of Shane. After a prolonged delay the voice of Marvin, sleepy and yet suspicious, as ever, answered him. No Inspector Shane had left that day for London. Didn't know when the inspector would be back. Where had the doctor been all day ? The inspector had kept asking for him. Other people too— Marvin was very insistent with his questions. With growled thanks Tony rang off and seated himself at the cold meat and tepid tea conveyed by Mrs. Grummit He frowned at the tea rather irritably, and ringing for a tumbler substituted a stiff whisky and soda, Mrs. Grummit notwithstanding. He observed that she had paused there, instead of taking his departure. " There have been five calls for you this evening, doctor," she said stiffly, in the manner of one whose sense of duty will not be denied, whatever the circumstances. Tony looked up in surprise, Five calls in an evening, was unheard of in Mallingi-idge. " Who were they ? " "■ A gentleman on the telephone, sir. Tho same gentleman in each case. No name given, but you were urgently required. I was obliged to tell the gentleman that I did not know where you'd gone to, sir." "No name?" Tony queried thoughtfully. " What was the voice like ? " " A flat sort of voice, sir. It was a trunk call." Tony whistled softly as the housekeeper rustled out of the surgery. At the conclusion of his meal he returned to the telephone to get Scotland Yard. The exchange promised to call him when the connection was established. It might be twenty minutes, it might be half an hour. Tony went up to his bedroom, shaved quickly and changed into clean garments. Any thought of bed was out the question, weary though he felt. Glancing out of tho window he saw that the first faint radiance of dawn was beginning to lighten the sky. And then, in the roadway beneath him he saw something else—a mass of unfamiliar shadow against the opposite hedge. Presently a section of the shadow detached itself from the mass and slithered across the road toward "tho house. Tony heard the crack of glass and the sound of a raised window sash. By the time he had descended the stairs—six treads at a time—tho front door was open, tho cold air blowing into tho narrow, darkened hall. He threw himself on to the door and swung it forward. Instead of tho expected slam the door met a silent spongy blackness that retaliated with grim, ever-increasing pressure against him. The veins on his forehead and neck stood out like cord as he exerted every ounce of strength, but the pressure outside waxed and swolled with ever-gaining intensity, until with a gasp of impotence Tony felt himself borne back into tho hall. The next moment invisible hands were at his arms and legs and throat. Swathes of soft fabric were wrapped swiftly round his head, so that he could hardly breathe. As ho was lifted by those vice-like hands ho heard the housekeeper scream once —and only once. They had got him after all. The thought seared his brain with despair and he. tasted tho dregs of bitterness in the knowledge that Celia would suffer—for his failure. A rapid muttering of voices sounded in his ears, and then ho was flung violently aside. The low noto of a motor engine vibrated somewhere very close. A flood of filthy language in a grinding undertone. Quick steps around .the roo'm. Then someono pulled off the swathe from his head, and ho sat up. blinking in tho surgery light, gazing incredulously at the fantastic sight before his eyes. In one corner of the Aurgery a group of five, shabby black-clad figures, ench wearing tho Tau mask, were huddled in abject terror. In tho open doorway two men stood. One wore the smart, wellfitting uniform of a chauffeur, tho other, neatly dressed in sober grey, was a Chinaman. Both carried revolvers that were levelled at the group in the opposite corner. , „ The Chinaman was the first to speak. I greatly regret that wo were unable to arrive earlier, Dr. Rivington. I trust, sir, that you are none the worso for this unfortunate experience." The formal sentences, spoken with a faint American accent, almost caused Tony to smile. Ho scrambled to his feet and regarded these two new arrivals a little dazedly. Their incongruity, coupled with tho queer circumstance of their presence, drove him to fresh suspicion. The succession of " unfortunate experiences " could hardly bo expected to have any other effect. He hold his tongue and waited, warily, for them to explain themselves.

A FINE STORY BY A BRILLIANT AUTHOR.

The Chinaman made a slight bow in Tony's direction. " I am instructed by my master to request you to be good enough to accompany us, Dr. Rivington. My master has certain reasons for wishing to make your acquaintance." Tony's hps tightened ironically. " You'll forgive mo for not seeing eye to eye with that proposal," he said. " So many people have been hungering for my acquaintance of late." " I am aware of that, sir. It is regrettable. I have, however, my master's instructions to carry out." Tony glanced at tho two revolvers; both were still levelled at tho group in tho corner. " Did your master instruct you to use force for my apprehension ? " ho asked quietly. " On tho contrary, sir, ho assured me that no such expediont was necessary. All that is required, according to my instructions, is to make one observation to you, sir." " And that is ? " " That you have at heart the welfare of Miss Celia Forrest." Tony gazed at tho speaker thoughtfully. Ho was aware of a sharp movement among tho group in tho corner—a movement that was instantly checked by a jerk of tho chauffeur's revolver. A pause fell. " Supposo 1 admit that—" Tony said slowly. " I think your mysterious master will understand that I prefer to communicate with Scotland Yard." My master does not consider it desirable at the present juncture that you should communicate with Scotland Yard, Dr. Rivington." Tony laughed irritably. "The deuce he doesn't! I am Borry I must disagree." Tho Chinaman shrugged slightly. " It is a pity to waste this time, sir, in view of Miss Forrest's danger." Tony started. " She is in danger—at this moment ? " " In grave danger, Dr. Rivington." " How do I know that you are—her friends ? " " We have just rescued you from her enemies, Dr. Rivington." Tony thought rapidly. Then he jerked his head toward the corner. " What aro you going to do with them ? " " They will be tied up and left here. A message will be telephoned to the Tau headquarters informing them that you have been disposed of. The police will then be telephoned for and information laid that will prevent a renewal of activity by these gentlemen for tho present, though I understand that they aro merely blind agents in these matters with no power to make disclosures. Your housekeeper has been released and is at this moment recovering in tho kitchen with the aid of sal volatile." At the vision thus conjured up of Mrs. Grummit, Tony grinned. " You will accompany us, Dr. Rivington ? " " Yes." " Thank you, sir. If you would be so good as to step to tho car and await us there—" Tony nodded. At that instant tho telephono bell rang and he moved to tho instrument. Before ho could lift the receiver, the Chinaman forestalled him. " Scotland Yard wishes to speak to Dr. Rivington? " he queried softly. " I regret that is not possible. Dr. Rivington hat just been called to yet another case." CHAPTER XIX SCOTLAND YABD TALKS IT OVER In ""a small and very plainly furnished office within the innocent-looking edifice that fronts the Victoria embankment and possesses a rather more suggestive entrance from Whitehall, Inspector Shane sat thumbing the pages of a loose-leaf notebook and uttering the bull-like grunts that wero indicative of profound thought. Seated at the desk and regarding the detective with a quizzical smile was a grey-haired man who had " retired soldier " written all over him, and who was, in fact,' a newly-appointed assistantcommissioner. The detective closed his notebook and carefully repocketed it. "And that's all, sir, at the moment. Not much, either, if you come to think it out." "At least you've one course of action open to you," the assistant-commissioner suggested. " There's the girl, Shane. It's plain enough that she is in some way involved, and an arrest might clear the air quite a lot." The detective shook his head positively. "It's too obvious, sir!" " Too obvious? What are clues for? " Shane chuckled gruffly. " Oh, I grant the clues lead straight to the girl. But, begging your pardon, they leaa so straight that they lead the other way." " You mean that the clues are a blind ? " " That's just it, sir." The detective rubbed his nose worriedly. "As a blind they are so downright stupid that I cannot understand a clover criminal faking them and the party who did this job was clever. Could anything be more childish, for instance, than that perfume business ? What murderer sets about the job reeking of scent ? " " But you identified the scent? " "After the inquest I did, sir. Miss Celia Forrest had a bottle of it in her room at the village inn. I obtained a sample and the nurse who attended Sir Charles Hartmoro is prepared to swear it is the same as she smelt after the murder. Well, what of it? If I can pinch a drop of Miss Forrest's scent, so can anybody else." "And tho footprints? According to your argument, then, someone else might have been wearing Miss Forrest's shoes, oh ? " tho assistant-commissioner pursued. " The footprints aren't so simple, sir. We took a cast of them, but although the size is the same, there's one point of difference. Tho cast shows the head of a screw in the heel—the sort of screw that is used to fasten these rubber pads to save the leather. In this case it looked as if the rubber had worn away to nothing, leaving tho screw. None of Miss Forrest's shoes show traces of tho use of rubber pads." The assistant-commissioner nodded thoughtfully. " That might absolve Miss Forrest. But an alibi is ncoded for proof positive." "And that's what she wouldn t be able to find, unless I'm much mistaken." " You mean she was there ? " " I mean she was somewhere noar, sir. I traced her movements that night from London to Appington Station. No trace after that, but it's a sight too curious to be a coincidence. There's one party who could spill a little information if ho choose, and that's the doctor. I've a hunch he saw Miss Forrest that night, but ho won't give her away if ho can help it. As a matter of fact, I feel that way myself. If wo pull in that girl she would iiave the dickens of a job to clear herself, and she isn't the murderess! " Tho assistant-commissioner sat, back with a smile. "We don't often hear you getting sentimental, Shane. And so the doctor is —er, soft'on the girl? " " I wouldn't say that, sir. As a matter of fact, it looks more like a match with Mr. Evan. Bentley." " Bentley ? That's the coroner, isn't it?" Shane nodded. "Ho wouldn't be tho sort to appreciate a scandal," he commented. " A dry and precise sort of a gentleman of very conventional habits." " Um. It rather strikes me that doctor ought to bo made to talk. Suppose you get him here, Shane." The detective nodded. " I agree, sir. The only thing is, I'm not in a position to got hold of tho doctor at the moment." The assistant-commissioner s'tared, frowning, and the detective leant forward. " Dr. Rivington was called away in the middle of the inquest to a patient," he

(COPYRIGHT)

said. " Someone brought him a note. Rather a queer circumstance I thought, ut the time, because ho was going to have a word with me afterwards, relevant to the previous night's happenings, and you'd think he'd leave a message. No one knows who that patient was. The next time I saw the doctor was after Sir Charles Ilartmore's funeral, and then he was driving like the devil toward the main London Road. I tried to hail him and ho cut me dead. And that's the last I've seen of him!" " But the man's an important witness! He must be found," the assistant-com-missioner urged seriously. " Exactly sir. For that reason I've left Henry down at Mallingridgo to keep a look-out. And I had tlie doctor's car traced. It was loft outside a public house in Brixton High Street last night, minus the doctor. Of course it's too early to assume a disappearance, but it looks as though someone didn't want the doctor to do any talking." "It looks ns though the doctor is nicely involved," the assistant-commis-sioner commented grimly. " The whole infernal show is a mass of hypotheses. Blind clues that throw suspicion on the girl in such a manner that the police won't suspect her! What, precisely, do you expect me to make of that ?" "As to that, sir," Shane answered slowly. " I have my guess. Suppose it were done to frighten the girl!" The assistant-commissioner's teeth clicked together incredulously, and a little contemptuously. " Why the douce should anyone want to frighten a female newspaper reporter?" " Why indeed, sir, the detective conceded lamely, and then he changed the conversation with awkward abruptness. " As a matter of fact, sir, our biggest stumbling block is that fellow, Jull. I've been trying to get a line on him ever since the murder, but he's clean vanished. These letters I found addressed to him were from relatives in Essex, just chatty sort of news with no sort of clue to anything wrong. I looked the people up. Decent, small shopkeepers, tolerably well educated. They couldn't throw any light on Albert Jull's disappearance, but they were properly angry at the suggestion of any crooked work so far as he is concerned. A faithful servant to Sir Charles Hartmore for over thirty years, they said, and a trusted confidant also. When you come to think of it, it wasn't the action of a criminal to telephone the doctor to go to his dying master." " For an innocent man it was a damned funny action to desert his dying master at such a time," retorted the assistantcommissioner drily. " How do we know what his motives were ? Ha may have stripped the house." The detective grunted dubiously. " It's quite possible, sir, I grant, but it isn't consistent. And by the look of it there was precious little of value in the place. All Sir Charles' money affairs -were managed for him by the Oriental Diamond Syndicate. A very largo estate it is, with no claimant as far as I know. A couple of days ago I had an interview with Murdoch, the general manager of the syndicate, and he gave me to understand that the interest has been mounting up for years, and the capital represents over a million sterling. Pettigrew, the lawyer, is advertising for next-of-kin, in the absence of a will, but unfortunately he knows very little of the family history!" Shane rubbed his nose thoughtfully. " It'd be a powerful motive, that million!" " So powerful that the next-of-kin is going to be the focus of quite a lot of attention," the assistant-commissioner put in grimly. " We mustn't be misled, sir. It isn't the only possible motive. There's revenge, for instance. Besides, what is the point of murdering a dying man for his money?" "If you are going to assume revenge for a motive that brings you back to personal history, eh ?" " Exactly, sir. I have baen working on that," Shane answered. " Local gossip didn't help much, but it gave a start. Then I turned up files of old newspapers, registers at Somerset House and so forth. The sum total isn't very useful. One unhappy incident in Sir Charles Ilartmore's life seems to have been the estrangement and subsequent disappearance of his only son, Mervyn. What the quarrel was about no one seems to know, but Sir Charles gave out that his son was dead. That might have been either a literal or a metaphorical statement. At any rate this family upheaval seems to explain why Sir Charles led the life of a recluse. What it doesn't explain is where the Tau comes in. On the other hand, the Tau were alin the habit of branding their handiwork, so we needn't assume any closer connection than that." The assistant-commissioner fidgeted irritably. "This Tau business! Of all the fantastic balderdash—" " It's all that, sir," the detective agreed gloomily. " I thought we'd swatted those bugs years ago. It's my opinion that they've been revived for this particular stunt, whatever it is. And it must be something pretty big to need such a covering of melodramatic foolery. All the same, the Tau used to be a very solid fact twelve years and more ago. The last man we arrested, if you remember the case—no, it was before your time, sir, begging your pardon. Anyhow, this chap was branded on the arm with the Tau mark. Not a word could wo got out of him or his fellows, not even his name. He was charged as Number 108, with murder—not the usual Tau murder, but the killing of one of his colleagues. The charge was altered to manslaughter when the facts were known. The dead man had tried to take his wife. I remember the woman was a lovely creature, true Romany, but a beauty, and good all through, in spite of it. It, broke her heart, that affair, and she died soon after—that reminds me! Number 108 was released the other day. Wo might have another shot at pumping him —" " His information is not likely to be very useful after twelve years," the assist-ant-commissioner pointed out discourac- " I'm afraid you're right, sir, but we could try. At least he can say what the gang procedure was in cases of murder—if ho chooses, which is doubtful—" the detective broke off suddenly and stared hard at his superior. " It's a funny thing, you know, sir. that Tau mark on Ilartmore's corpse. Tho more I think of it—Humph! It's absurd! " Tho assistant-commissioner frowned. " What is absurd ? " " Nothing, sir, begging your pardon. I sometimes get silly delusions, but I don't give way to 'em, i promise you. Only—" A rap came at tho door and Shano rose to open it. In the passage outside stood tho saluting figuro of Sergeant Henry in plain clothes, his mackintosh glistening with wet. " Excuse me, sir," the sergeant whispered. " I heard you was in hero. You ordered me to report to you the moment I arrived, sir." Shano turned toward the room. " It's Henry, sir, reporting. Shall 1 have him in ? " Tho assistant-commissioner nodded and Sergeant Henry entered self-consciously. By his demeanour it was evident that he had tidings to impart. (To be continued daily)