THE NOVELIST

Otago Witness, Issue 3993, 23 September 1930, Page 70

THE NOVELIST

Tke Mystery of Ryeburn Manor.

By

JOHN LAURENCE,

Author of " The Sign of the Double Cross Inn,” etc. ■ (Special fob the Otago Witness.)

INFATUATION.

“So Miss Sunderland is the other woman ? ” murmured the superintendent, stroking his beard. “ Precisely,” agreed Vidler. “ And we’ve only got to show that Lee is in love with his wife’s secretary, and the dislike of the two men will be explained. The only thing is that Miss Sunderland is certainly not in love with her employer. Harding’s her pet lamb.” “It seems to me that the time has now come when Thornton should be asked to explain his movements,” said Sir Arthur. “ Tantamount to arresting him if the explanation is not satisfactory ? ” queried Vidler. “ It’s an irrevocable step.” “ You don’t want to take it ? ” “ I do not.” The inspector was emphatic, and the commissioner did not press him. He had complete faith in his subordinate’s judgment. “ Those' pearls are sticking in my mind,” confessed the latter. “ I don’t know whether Thornton thinks they’re the real ones which he sent to Miss de Hava, or whether he knew they were f.-lse. If he knew they were false he mu t have known the risk he was runif she turned on him. As it is she ha; turned and made a case against h:n pretty damning. I can only think that he believed the pearls were genuin? :-nd in that case other thinks don’t fit Did Lee, for example, know they wer> imitation? If so, what is his game? If he believed they were real, why didn’t he worry when they were stolen?”

“ They were insured, of course?” “ Oh, yes, but Lee hasn’t put in any claim yet. Now both the real and the imitation have disappeared he may get active, and then I shall certainly think he knew they were imitations. But whether Lee does, whether - he knows, doesn’t get away from the fact that the clasp of the necklace is found in Miss Sunderland’s bedroom. That’s a hurdle that wants a bit of getting over.” “Miss Sunderland seems to .crop up whichever way the problem is tackled. It seems to me she’s mixed up with Harding, Lee, and Thornton,” commented the superintendent. Vidler nodded. “ I agree, and I think she’ll be the next woman to tackle, though there’ll be fireworks from Harding.” “You’re quite free in your mind about him ? ” queried the commissioner. “ Quite. He’s just infatuated, that’s all. I’ll go down in the morning.” BACK TO RYEBURN. Harding was certainly infatuated, as Vidler put it. During the drive down to Winchelsea his only thoughts were of Sheila. If it had not been for Sheila, in fact, he would not have troubled to enter Ryeburn Manor again, for he had taken a very definite dislike to~the place, and Lee and Thornton.

For the first time since the alarm of burglary, two nights before, Mrs Lee appeared at dinner, 'and Harding made polite inquiries. “I’ve told James I shall never feel really well again until I have had a complete change,” she declared. “We psychic people, Mr Harding, feel these things more than the ordinary person. There is an atmosphere about" Ryeburn which is evil.”

“ Don’t talk rubbish, Maria,” said her husband, curtly. “You’ll be seeing visions next. If you’d lived a couple of hundred years ago you’d have beep burnt as a witch?’

Mrs Lee looked complacently at her husband with that maddeningly superior air which always baffled him, and left him in a state of irritation. He turned to Harding. “ Any news from town ? ” he asked.

“ Vidler seems very busy,” replied Harding, glancing at Thornton. “He tells me he’s on the track of the pearls.” “ Where does he expect to find them ? ” asked Thornton.

“ That I don’t know. Perhaps by tomorrow morning he will be able to tell us,” answered Harding. Vidler arrived shortly after 11 o’clock, and approached the house from the back. He appeared to be in no hurry to enter and announce his arrival. In fact, quite the reverse. For some time he stood chatting to one of the gardeners about Simmonds.

_ “ ’E didn’t know much about a garden, sir,” said that gardener in reply to his question. “Though ’e was willing to learn, and that’s more than some of ’em are. I never ’ad to show him twice ’ow to do a bit of bedding out. I could a’ made something of ’im if e’d lived.” “He was liked by everybody ? ” “’E was a bit reserved like, but none the worse for that,” answered the gardener vs be tied a piece of bass round

the stem of some climbing roses. “ ’lm and me got on well together. We was all sorry when ’e went. You ain’t found out nothing, I suppose, sir?” “ We’re getting there, ’ replied Vidler. Ihere was little to be gained there, and he strolled slowly across to the garage, outside the open doors of which he had seen the chauffeur washing down the cars.

“ What does she do to the gallon ? ” asked Vidler, indicating the small twoseater.

“ About thirty to thirty-two, sir. I don’t keep a record of her now. I used to, but Mr Lee and Mr Thornton didn’t keep it up, so I stopped putting it down. The other’s the best car, though she only does eighteen. I generally drives her.”

“ You keep a record of her ? ” The chauffeur put his hand in the pocket of the driver’s door, and pulled out a small pocket-book. “ Eighteen as near as I can make it,” he remarked, turning over the pages. The inspector looked at the entries idly. Each contained the date, the reading of the speedometer, the mileage since the last reading, and the number of gallons of petrol which had been put in the tank.

He pointed to a row of figures which had been half crossed through. “You seem to have got in a muddle here,” he remarked. The chauffeur scratched his head.

“ I can’t make out what happened there,” he confessed. “ I must have been reading the speedometer wrong.” “ You’re a hundred and fifty miles out. According to the book you didn’t use any petrol doing it.”

“ Well, sir, the tank was full enough,” explained the chauffeur, with a puzzled air. “ I never did understand those figures, so I just puts down 18 miles to tbe gallon, and left it at that.” Vidler made a mental note of the date, and looked thoughtful. The chauffeur might not be able to understand, but the inspector was turning an idea over in his mind, which was the most startling that had yet occurred to him since he had been investigating the murder of Simmonds.

“ Does Mrs Lee drive ? ” he asked casually.

“ Yes, sir. She’s a very good driver for a woman, and understands about cars, which most of ’em don’t, with all due respect. It ain’t their fault. They ain’t got the mechanical mind.” Vidler began to revise his views about Mrs Lee. He wondered how much of her fortune-telling was a pose. “ Mrs Lee prefers the big car, I suppose ?” he asked. “ Oh, yes, sir. She thinks the twoseater don’t hold the road well. Mr Lee and Mr Thornton uses the small car mostly.” The chauffeur replaced the record book in its pocket. For some minutes the inspector continued to talk about cars and their idiosyncrasies, and then strolled away with a thoughtful look on his face. Vidler was not afraid of starting theories, but the one he was revolving over in his mind was one which made him whistle softly to himself as he entered the house.

He found Lee in the library, and the export merchant greeted him cheerily. “ Wondered when you were coming, Vidler. Harding said last night that you were after the pearls. Brought them with you ? ” Vidler laughed. “ Harding’s a little optimistic,” he retorted. “ We’ve got a few ideas, but they take time working out. Have you put in a claim yet ? ” “ Told Thornton to send it in this morning,” replied Lee promptly. “Thought they may as well get busy.” MARKHAM’S TASK. Vidler rubbed his eyelid with his handkerchief. So Lee sent in a claim for insurance! That was significant. It seemed to imply that he had not known the pearls in the safe were imitation, that he had believed them to be real. Vidler had rejected the theory that Lee might have known all along they were imitation. He could see no reason for that, despite Lee’s apparent lack of real excitement when he found the pearls were missing. Vidler reflected that ne had been looking at the loss of £20,000 from his own point of view. Though the sum was colossal from the inspector’s viewpoint, from that of the export merchant it was a comparatively small sum. “ They were insured in the wife - name,” continued Lee. “Did it in one of my soft moments. Theoretically she’ll get the money.” He laughed and winked. “ She wouldn’t know what to do with t if she did get it,” he added. “Though Maria’s not half the fool she pretends

to be. You mustn’t be taken in by all her guff about the spooks.” Vidler was silent for a moment while he digested this fresh piece of news. So the insurance money went to Mrs Lee! “ Did Mrs Lee suggest they should be insured in her name?” lie asked.

“Oh lord, yes. She’s got her own banking account. I gave them to her on the twentieth anniversary of our marriage. We married young. She was only eighteen, and I was twenty.” “ You don’t look much over forty,” observed Vidler.

“ I’m not. Forty-one next month. The insurance company will be sniffy, having to pay up on the first premium.” .As Vidler wandered downstairs a few minutes later, in answer to the luncheon gong, he wondered very much if the insurance company would have to pay. And he made a point of sitting next to Mrs Lee, for she had suddenly begun to interest him in an extraordinary degree.

That afternoon Vidler walked into Rye, and from the police station put through a call to Markham at Scotland Yard. “ You’ve got news, laddie,” boomed the latter, making the earpiece vibrate. “ I’ve got a bit of work for you,” replied the inspector. “I want you to make inquiries of all the garages for a mile or so round Ditchling roadrand find out if a car, a Forrest four-seater saloon, painted dark blue, index number YV1922 vvas garaged there between the hours of eight and twelve on the night of the murder.” “ Lee’s car, I suppose ? ” answered the superintendent. “ Oh, marvellous Sherlock,” jeered Vidler. “ Lee’s car it is.” VIDLER AND SHEILA. “ I suppose Lee’s alibi is a bit wonky ?” questioned Markham. “ I haven’t tested it yet, so you needn’t jump to conclusions,” replied Vidler. “ Lee’s not the only person in Ryeburn Manor who can drive a car. Any news your end ? ” Markham chuckled. He knew it was no use asking Vidler to give any further details. “ All right. Where shall I ’phone you ? ” “At Ryeburn Manor. If I’m not there, leave a message for me to ’phone you.” “Jennings came in this morning. His face was a sight for the gods. You might have given the poor devil a warning-” “I forgot about him,” confessed Vidler. “ And if I had remembered I shouldn’t have thought the maid would have turned up.” “ She turned up all right, and I generally gathered from Jennings’s incoherency that he was summed up from his feet to the hair on his head. Judging by what he didn’t report, the maid must have been worth hearing. Jennings’s chief concern is the money he’s spent on taking her out.” In the town afterwards Vidler saw Harding’s car drawn up outside a tea shop, and with a slight smile on his face he entered.

“ I suppose three’s not company,” he said lightly, sitting down at the table where Sheila and Harding were having tea. “ You might have told me you were coming in. I had to walk all the way to Rye.”

“ We’ll take you back,” grinned Harding, happily. “ Lee and Thornton have gone to Hastings for the afternoon, and we thought we’d have tea out. We hadn’t counted on you butting in.” “ You’re not butting in, Mr Vidler,” said Sheila. “ You are always welcome.”

Vidler smiled as he looked into her blue eyes. No wonder Harding was in love with her! He could almost have fallen in love with her himself. Her face was glowing with happiness as she poured out a cup of tea for him. At the moment, indeed, even the unexpected appearance of the inspector failed to have a .damping effect upon her high spirits. “ You are becoming quite a well-known person, Miss Sunderland,” observed Vidler. “ There was quite a thrilling account of your escape in to-day’s papers.” “ Yes, I felt quite brave after reading it, but it was the other way round. 1 was so frightened, in fact, that I fainted, and knew nothing about it until I opened my eyes on the sands.” “ And found Harding looking into them? ” said Vidler. Sheila blushed.

“ I found several people looking into them,” she declared. “Mr Harding naturally was there.”

“ I suppose I can congratulate you both,” said Vidler boldly. “We were certainly very lucky to escape,” agreed Sheila, with a twinkle of amusement in her eyes, as she turned the detective’s words.

“You are both destined for greater things than being killed in the air.”

He leant forward with a serious expression on his face as he spoke. “ I wonder, Miss Sunderland, if you are prepared to tell me anything about Mrs Lee’s pearls ? ” he added. The happiness died suddenly from her face.

“About Mrs Lee’s pearls?” she faltered.

“ It would help me quite a lot in find ing the murderer of Simmonds if I knew what you were doing in Ditchling road that night, and what you may know about the pearls,” he said gently. “ Is this necessary now, D.V. ? ” asked Harding, as he saw the look of distress on Sheila’s face. “ Miss Sunderland has told me she will tell you everything before long.”

“NOTHING BUT TROUBLE.” “ Meanwhile, Simmonds’s murderer remains undiscovered,” said Vidler a little sharply. “ I should have thought nothing would prevent anyone telling the truth if it meant finding the murderer.' “ I can’t help you with that,” said Sheila in a low voice, nervously stirring her tea. ° “ You’ve no right to question Miss Sunderland, D.V.,” protested Harding. “ You might trap her into saying some thing she didn’t mean.” The inspector raised his eyebrows. My dear Harding, if Miss Sunderland has not taken Mrs Lee’s pearls, has not murdered Simmonds, there is nothing for her to hide, there is no trap for her to enter. People who have nothing to hide never fear telling the truth.” °

“ I have not stolen Mrs Lee’s pearls,” said Sheila quickly. “ Really and truly I haven’t, Mr Vidler! Oh, you must believe that! I’m not a thief! ”

the tears were welling in her eyes, and Harding looked quickly at the inspector. The latter affected to ignore the black looks he was receiving. It seemed that he much preferred to look into the appealing, moist, blue eyes of Sheila Sunderland.

“ I don’t believe you did steal them,” declared Vidler, but I do think you know who did.”

“ What have the pearls to do with Mr Simmonds?” fenced Sheila.

“ That’s what I’m trying to find out. But let us stick to the pearls for the moment, Miss Sunderland. Do you know who has stolen them ? ”

“ I can’t answer that—oh, I can’t! ” She wrung her hands in despair, and Harding bent across to the detective.

“ Miss Sunderland’s not in a fit state to answer your questions, D.V. You’ve no right to question her in a public restaurant.”

Vidler smiled and held out his cup. “ May I have another cup of tea, Miss Sunderland? It will soothe my nerves. Really, I think in a minute Harding will refuse to give me a lift back to Ryeburn Manor.”

“ I wish I’d never seen the place,” retorted Harding angrily. “ It’s brought nothing but trouble.” “ If you hadn’t seen it, if you hadn’t come down with me that day,” said Vidler, with a twinkle in his eye, “ you might never have met the girl on the roof again—you might never have known Miss Sunderland. Is she nothing but trouble ? ” BLUFFING? The light banter of his tones broke the tension. The colour came back to Sheila’s cheeks. “ I have been the cause of all Mr Harding’s troubles,” she said. “ But if it hadn’t been for Mr Harding they might have been worse.” “ And Mr Vidler,” murmured the detective, lighting a cigarette. “ D.V.’s certainly been patient,” declared Harding. “ I must apologise for feeling a little wild, but the fact is, D.V. •—only we don’t want it spread—Miss Sunderland and I are engaged to be married.”

“ Quick w’ork —and congratulations.”

There was a genuine ring of pleasure in the detective’s tones, and Sheila glanced across at him with a grateful look.

“ I don’t think you’re half so dreadful as you pretend to be sometimes,” she said softly. “ Really and truly, Mr Vidler, I am not hiding anything from you which matters—which would help you.”

“ Perhaps not,” agreed Vidler. “ But I can’t say how vital it may be until I hear what it is, can I ? There are all sorts of questions which I can’t answ’er. Why were you in Ditching road at all that night, for instance ? Why should the clasp of the missing necklace be in your bedroom ? ” Sheila w - as silent. The questions did not come as a shock to her, for she already knew’ through Harding what the detective had discovered. Suddenly she looked up and met his eyes frankly. “ I may be able to tell you soon, Mr Vidler, if you will give me a little time. Will you ? ” Vidler nodded his agreement. It was a step forw’ard, though not much of a one. But he felt sure that whatever her motive was for keeping back her new’s it w’as not a criminal one. But her refusal to speak made things more difficult for him. He w - as trying, as it W'ere, to fit together the various pieces of a jig-saw puzzle with the knowledge that some of them w’ere missing. “ I don’t know how much time I can give you, Miss Sunderland. If I were the only person concerned I should trust to your common sense to tell me. But I’m only a cog in the machine. I have to report to my chiefs at Scotland Yard. I can hold them back a little while, but not the insurance company. Mr Lee instructed Thornton this morning to put in a claim.”

He was surprised at the effect of his words. She bent forw’ard with a startled look on her face.

“Mr Lee is claiming the insurance money! ” she exclaimed, in agitated tones. “Oh, but he can’t, Mr Vidler! He mustn’t! ”

“I don’t understand. He has,” said the inspector. He saw that Harding was puzzled, too. Here were deeper depths than he had yet probed; but w’hen he pressed her to explain she took refuge in bis promise to give her time to reply.

He wondered what she meant that Lee couldn’t —mustn’t—put in a claim

for compensation for his loss. Did that mean she knew the pearls were not lost in the real sense of the w r ord? Had Lee still got them, and was his claim a bogus one? If so, what was the explanation of the clasp that had been found in Sheila’s bedroom? What was Thornton’s. idea in sending the imitation pearls to Lilian de Hava? Was Sheila Sunderland bluffing all the while? Her unguarded exclamation gave him much food for thought—and her actions, too, afterwards. From the moment she had learnt the news that Lee had put in a claim she showed a definite anxiety to return to Ryeburn Manor.

“ She wants to talk to Lee just as quickly as possible,” reflected the inspector.

He sat behind Harding on the way back, and the latter looked gloomily ahead, and hardly spoke. Sheila was in the back of the car, a very different expression on her face from that which she had had when Vidler had entered the tea shop at Rye. Once in Ryeburn Manor she immediately went upstairs. An inquiry of one of the servants brought the reply that Lee and Thornton had not returned from Hastings. On the telephone pad in the hall Vidler saw the message asking him to ring up Scotland Yard. (To be continued.)