MURDER IN THE PROCESSION

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22887, 16 November 1937, Page 17

MURDER IN THE PROCESSION

By LESLIE CARGILL Author of " Mystery of an Omnibus."

SYNOPSIS A splendid' procession is passing through London and one of tho lending figures among the military representative!, Genera Sir Vincent Parminster, is shot n the back and sways from his horse. The crowd believes lie has fainted, tho sound of shots having been lost in a loud passage of band music. At Scotland Yard (hero is a gathering of important officers It has been decided to keep the facts secret and Captain Caythers is detailed to investigate the murder. _ lie is joined by Major blossom, who desires to assist. Mossom had served under Parminster. CHAPTER I.—(Continued) The assistant commissioner dropped his bantering mood. "That sounds interesting," ho observed. "Suppose you begin by giving me a sort of character reading. Up to now there doesn't seem to bo any motive." "On tho contrary. Tho General must have had as many enemies as any man in this country. There were times when I'd cheerfully have killed him and expected thanks for doing so." "Whew! Is this a confession?"

Major Mosson chuckled. "Unfortunately not. You'll have to cast a wider net —much wider. Parminster was admired by all his men as a fine soldier — brave as a lion, and never spared himself —but personally ho was cordially detested." "I see. Keen disciplinarian, eh?" "That isn't enough to make an officci unpopular. It was his lack of sympathy and understanding that made him so queerly inhuman. There wasn't an atom of sentiment in his whole mako-up and as he got older he became harder. Without a qualm he's break his closest friend " "So he had friends?"

"Plenty for a time. You must have met the sort of man who seems to attract people like a magnet. Parminster was one. They're rare, especially the type that are known to bo unscrupulous. Perhaps that's the wrong word. He was just stone-hard. And ambitious. Good Lord, he rose step by step on the trampled bodies of his erstwhile friends."

" Metaphorically, of course, major?"

"Of course. But they really were drained dry. He used them, then chucked them aside. The odd thing was that they rarely squealed. As for tho rank and file, they'd follow him through thick and thin, hating him like poison all the while." " Bather a complex character!" " Not really, when you'd taken the measure of the man. Anyhow I seemed to understand his mentality. No doubt that accounted for him playing 1110 fewer dirty tricks than usual." " So you didn't escapo scot free?" " Not by a long chalk. Goodness knows what I might have risen to if Parminster hadn't been in the way." Caythers scratched his head. " What I can't fathom," ho remarked, "is your desire to come into this case. By rights you ought to be quite pleased the old chap got what was obviously coming to him." " That's the strangest thing," Major Mosson answered with deliberate slowness. " We'd all have liked to scrag him, but not one of us would have lifted a finger against him, or allowed anybody else to. Does that make sense to you?" "Not the slightest, though I've come to tho conclusion that you may bo useful. Also it explains something the ambulanco man said." "What ambulance man?" " Waters. He was on tho scene and rendered first-aid. In conversation with Inspector Stoddart he mentioned that he thought somebody would get tho beast some day. I think those were the words."

" Probably served under General Parminster." " Exactly! During the war." " I'd like a chat with him." "By all means. Home's at Tooting, '23 Mitchley Road. Talk to anybody vou like. This is all strictly secret and

* . ." Caythers was reverting to his old grouse" With a friendly nod and a grin the Major made his escape. Without wasting any time, he went to Tooting, where, among a maze of streets that looked exactly similar, he found Mitchley Road. Number 23 was a neatly kept suburban villa with a distinctive golden laurel hedge clipped to a shingled nicety. A riot of tulips and wallflowers made a colourful display. The place spoko of pride in ownership and some measure of orderliness. Not, the major concluded, likely to be tho home of a man of violent tendencies.

" However," lie thought, halting at the gate, " one never can tell." In the annals of Scotland Yard sonic strange happenings had been reported from just such disarmingly pleasant abodes. Waters was at home, a fact explained by his being a night watchman at a business establishment in the city. " I'm an army pensioner, too," he confided. " Ah," said Major Mossom, glad that the right note had been struck at the beginning of the interview. " A long-service man, I suppose?" " No, sir, not as it happens. Although I was in the regulars when the war broke out, I'd only put in a few years. The pension is for disability. Not that the old wound worries me overmuch, and fifteen shillings a week isn't a bad compensation. But yoi: haven't come to chat about the ser vice, major!" " Not exactly, though it happens t< help. You knew General ParminsterP'

<s Served under him in France."

" Not pre-war?" Waters shook his head. " From what I saw of him it was a lucky escape."

" Which means ho wasn't very popular, eh? Isn't it rather surprising that anyone in his position should have been close enough in contact with the troops to get. a bad name?" " Well, lie wasn't a general in those days. Promotion came later. He was a major when I first knew him, and a real snorter. Always raising Hell, and making things as uncomfortable as possible." " So that is why you told the inspector it was no surprise that somebody would get the beast one day?" "That was 'a foolish remark, sir. Englishmen don't go and spit their spite on thoso they don't like. When I came to the conclusion the general had been shot at it came to my mind that one of the chaps might have been a bit hot-headed and —and—" " Resorted to murder, Waters. That's what you mean, isn't it?" " Yes, .1 suppose so. He's dead, then?" Major Mossom wasn t sure whether this question ought to bo evaded. Then ho decided that evasiveness would be foolish. " You've got your wits about you." he replied. "So I'll be quite candid. General Parminster is dead. Probably the news doesn't surprise you." " Not particularly. After years of ambulance work i can generally recognise a goner. Strange, though, the papers haven't said anything about it." "We're keeping it dark for tho time being. Naturally a lot of people do know, but the circle is being kept, er, select." "f understand. It wouldn t do to start a scare with tho country full of important visitors and nerves on edge for various reasons. They told me to keep my mouth shut and I've obeyed orders.'' . "Wise man. And you acted with discretion all tho way through. That covering up of the bloodstain, for instance, showed you realised tho necessity of avoiding a panic." "That's right, sir." "On tho other hand," said the major, so softly that Waters had to listen attentively, "it might have been construed as rather suspicious."

(COPYRIGHT)

STORY OF A GREAT REVENGE AND A SACRIFICE

"Good heavens, you don't imagine L had any hand in the affair?" "Please don't jump to conclusions. Let us consider the facts carefully. First of all you wero 011 the spot. Secondly, your official capacity gave you freedom of movement. Thirdly, 1 understand you were responsible for getting the wounded man moved away extremely quickly, which might suggest playing for time. Fourthly, the blanket. All that means the authorities couldn't begin investigating until the trail was cold." "You're accusing me of ..."

"Nothing of the kind, merely inventing another side of the story. No." Ho inspected the object of the inquisition keenly, "i don't think that was tho way of it. You'd have acted differently during this interview if it had been." "There's something else important, sir. 1 wasn't behind the general when he staggered, and there is one witness to that." "Don't bother about him, Waters. Nor about the cold trail. Keeping it quiet was the lesser of two evils." "But this witness, major. He. . ." "Save him for any of my colleagues who conic round asking awkward questions."

"He was also an old army comrade of mine," Waters said, determined to finish, his say. "Before the procession came in .sight we'd been chinwagging and he told me he'd noticed Marley in tho crowd." "Afraid that doesn't convey anything to me."

"There's this much about it, sir. Marley was a man with a grievance. If anyone had cause to hate the old general, ho had." "Tell me about it."

"When I first know Marley he was batman to Major Parminster, as ho then was. The job wasn't what you'd call cushy. Many a time there were things thrown at the officer's servant, and the language lie had to put up with was really shocking. You'd think a man with all that being done to him would have asked to go back to company duty. But I've told you how we'd stick to him through thick and thin. L suppose that's one of the qualities of a born leader of men. Why, I've followed the major over the top when he was as cool as if it was a church parade. Never turned a hair in the hottest spots. ..." "You were talking about Marley,' Major Mossom gently reminded the now enthusiastic ex-soldier.

"Sorry, sir. To make it brief, the batman "turned 011 his officer 0110 day and there was a devil of a rumpus. That could have meant a court-martial, but there wasn't one, then. When Marley was clinked it was for stealing a lot of money. 1 can't remember how much, but they put him in prison, and also dismissed him from tlio service. He always swore the notes —marked ones, too —were planted in his kit." . "Sounds a bit tall, Waters." "So it does, sir. But most of us believed he was right. Else why should he have been kept on as batman all that time? You don't like to say such things about anyone in the position of Sir Vincent Pariuinster, but I'm repeating what the men thought and what .Marley was thoroughly convinced about." "Wait a moment! What makes you so sure!"" "I3v the way he took things. There's a difference between the resentment of a wronged man and the bad temper of a guilty one who's been found out. Marley "sort of smouldered inside." ' "1 sec what you mean. Do you think he would have nursed his grievance all these years?" "Most likely, sir." "And then planned to shoot the general in cold blood?" "That's not a fair question. Somebody did." Major Mosson went away pondering over what he had learned. And the more lie thought about it the less he liked the business. Having known Sir Vincent .Pariuinster fairly well, he loathed tlio idea of connecting him with such a mean trick as had been suggested. At the hack of his mind, too, was a feeling that an ofiicer and a gentleman could not stoop so low. Against this he was well aware that bad sheep were to be found even in pedigree flocks. In any case it was a line that must be followed up. If it didn't lead anywhere there was another skeleton that must be dragged out of the closet and Mosson hated the prospect of rattling old bones he had thought buried for ever. Back at Scotland Yard he. found an urgent request waiting 'or him. Would lie see Captain Caythers without delay. The assistant commissioner was in a restless mood. "We've roped in a chap who seemed a likely suspect," he explained. "Used to be a batman until ho was ignominiously pitched out of the army." "That'll be ex-Private .Marley." Caythers started. "Evidently you've found something out. Pretty slick, too. You're wasted in that watertight compartment of yours. How much do you know ?" "Enough to establish a motive." "Huh! A darned sight too easy in this case. That's all we've got against the man at tlio moment. He was there all right, .so Micro was an opportunity as well as a reason." "What about a statement?" "Blank. Says lio's not sorry, but murder isn't in his line. By the way, we'ro not keeping under cover any more. They've decided that with all the investigation going 011 it can't be done. Marley wouldn't keep his mouth shut for one. That man is bitter, and I can't blame him if his story is true." "Maybe it is. You know Parminster was by way of being a friend of mine. Yes, I'll call him that in spite of everything. A lot can be forgiven in a good soldier, and he was certainly that. As the muck rake is being used I might as well mention an episode of some years back." "Will it throw light 011 this case?" "Jt might. Anyhow it will give you a better idea of the general's capacity for falling foul of pconle. We were in the Balkan State of Baltnia together. In those days 1 was very young and callow and rather admired my senior for cutting a dash with the women. That can be decidedly dangerous in a country where blood runs hot. Karel Vrenska was a member of one of the most influential families in Baltnia, and Irma Yskoida was practically engaged to him until the dashing English officer intervened. That sort of thing doesn't lead to a duel in England, but it is part of the Balfnian code to avenge such matters in the local forest in the cold grey hours before breakfast." "Parminster was challenged?" "He certainly was. To make matters worse ho laughed at the seconds. So Vrenska presented himself in person, and slapped Parminstcr's cheek in a highly dramatic fashion. I was present on the occasion." "What happened then?" "Fisticuffs. Crude and vulgar scrapping, with the local lad coming off second best. But no gentlemanly duel. The queer thing about it was that lrma was furious with her English admirer on the grounds that her honour had not been defended. Vrenska swore a blood feud. They went in for those as well. When tlio British authorities got to hear about it, they shifted Parminster to tlio other sido of tlio globe. 'lnteresting, eh?" "Very, though not particularly helpful." "Have it.your own way. It's given me an idea though." "What is it?" "For the time being I'll keep it to myself. Don't forget I'm a freelance. You carry 011 with your ex-private while 1 gang my ain gait." (To be continued daily)