THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE

Waikato Times, Volume 97, Issue 15270, 21 June 1923, Page 3

THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE

(All Rights Reserved).

(By Fred M. White). Author of "The Man withthe Va ndyke Beard," "The Edge of the Sword," "The Secret of the Sand r," "The Corner House," "Netta," "The Crimson Blind," etc.

CHAPTER XXIV. I i s It was not long after breakfast the j following morning before Philp made t his way through the streets of Hither- £ field in the direction of the office of j. Douglas and Company, where he asked j to see the manager, Mr Blinn.' The t latter was busily engaged, and could j not see his visitor for at least half an hour. So Philp sat down and waited r patiently for his time to come. He , found himself presently in a dingy lit- ( tie office where many a worthy man t had sought his ruin, but that war a j matter of indifference to Philp just ( then. He .closed the door carefully [ ■behind him, and < took a seat near , Bliun's desk. His manner was as impressive as he intended it to be. , "Now, look here, Mr Blnn," he said. ' . "I have come to place myself entirely ~ in your hands—that is, so far as the , Baines case is concerned. ' Unless I am greatly mistaken, I have got to the bottom of the mystery, and within a few days everybody will know who murdered your partner. But, before , I can be sure, it is necessay that I. , should be put in possession of certain facts, and you are the one man who can do it." « ' , "Then you can count upon me," Blinn said, with alacrity. "Nobody will be more pleased than myself to have this business cleared up. Of course, Baines was murdered all right, but I have got a pretty uneasy feeling that the police have the wrong man by the heels. That is what troubles me." ' "Oh, welll, it won't trouble you very long, if you only do as I ask yo.u. If you will give me the information I want, you will not only do my client, Mr Macrae, a great service, but you will help the authorities to lay the real culprit in ga01.." "There is nothing I should like better," Blinn cried. "Ah, In that case I had better go right down to business. 1 want to have a look at Mr Balnes's private led- " But, my dear sir, I don't know' that ic kept one. He very probably did, •jut I have found no trace of it." "No, but I have. I have seen it." "You have seen it?" Blinn cried. •Good heavens, where?" "Well, in my own lodgings, to be candid," Philp said. "I burgled the )ld man's safe in his house. You can make what use of that information you •ike, but, you see, I had certain information to go on, and I formed a certain theory, which is turning out to be absolutely correct. In other words, I know who the criminal was and why Baines was murdered. .1 might go further, and say I know how the crime was committed.and exactly where. But, to make sure of these things, I had to take matters in my own hands. So, with the aid of an expert, I removed Baine's private ledger to my house, and compared it with the business ledger which you had placed.in the hands of Mr Farrell so that he could collect all outstanding I accounts. And I may tell you that i those ledgers did not correspond ! There are two pages missing in the public ledger which appear in the private one, and if you will be good enough to get both those books here, without delay, 1 am going to prove to you the motive that led to Baines s death.". ' , . , „„,. "\mazing!" Blinn exclaimed. l\trao'rdinary! It shall be just as you s "av Mr Philp. I have got the public ledger here. I got II back from Mr Farrell when he had finished with it; but I have ' not been through Mr Balnes's safe yet, though I have a pretty shrewd idea as to where the kev is hidden." -Then that's all right. We'll have a look at the public ledger first, ana then we can -go on to Baines's cottage and examine the private one. Where Is the former?" Blinn produced the ledger promptly, and Philp fluttered over the leaves until he came to the part where the missing pages ought to have been. He laid his finger on the book. "There vou are," he said. "You see, ' the pages "are numbered, and two of them arc missing. But in the private ledger, which I have carefully examined, and which is practically a copy of this one, with a lot of notes on the margin, the missing pages are present Now I want to prove this to you so that when I call for those books a t the next hearing of the charge against my client, you can produce them and give us the evidence we need to prove that a certain man who was heavily in Baines's debt has removed from this ledger' all the figures relating to that debt." "But only one man has had those books outside the office," Blinn protested. "No one in Baines's employ or ours would.have had the slightest interest in removing those two pages." "Precisely," Philp said, drily. "You know who has handled these ledgers, or rather, this particular ledger, outside the office, and nobody else has that information." Blinn's dark skin became a trifle paler. "All right, Mr Philp," he said, huskily. "I think 1 know what you are driving at. One man has had that ledger in the way of business, and only one man. No occasion, at this stage, to mention any names. And now, if you like, we will go along to Baines's cottage and have a look into , his safe." A little later the safe in the cottage was opened and the other ledger disclosed. It was as Philp had said, practically a facsimile of the other book, except that- the missing pages were intact, and when these came to be examined it was evident enough that at the time ot Baines's death a I certain Individual was in his debt to ! the extent of nearly a thousand pounds. ' "Well, I'm blessed," Blinn cried. "This is an eye-opener. What do vou want me to do now, Mr Philp "Well. 1 want you lo carry out wlial ! Lord Beaeonslluld once called a policy of masterly inactivity. In other words, ■ go hack to your office and keep litis to yourself. In two or three days you will have a subpoena In attend' the police court and produce , those two books. Meanwhile, silI With that the two parted, and Philp set out to pay a call at the police station on inspector Dent. J

"I am going to astonish you," he said to that Individual, when once they were alone in his office. "I am going to give a piece of most important evidence bearing on the Baines murder. I haven't told you this before, because I bad a fancy to do a little bit of detective work on my own account. But let me tell you this. Some days ago, when Miss Goldfinch was on the common with a dog belonging to a man named Hammer, who is in the employ of Mr Sam .Parmer, she found a coat buried under some gorse bushes. At, least it was the dog who found the coat —a bloodstained serge coat, that, beyond question, was the property of the murderer." With tills introduction, Phllp proceeded to tell his story at length. He told how the dog had behaved when the coat had been found, and how it was impossible that Bragger's own hairs could have been left on the garment after it was dug up. Then he went on to describe the way in which Dr Goldfinch had experimented on the coat, and come to the logical conclusion that the .bloodstains upon it were human. He supplemented this with the testimonial he had extracted from Ned Hammar, and wound up by telling the astonished Dent- the rest of the details, though, for his own purpose, he refrained from mentioning the information he had elicited in connection with those two ledgers. "I think that is about all," he said. "1 thought it just'as well to come and tell you this, because I want to convince you, if there is any necessity to do so,*that my client is quite innocent of this crime. I know exactly where to put my hand upon the actual murderer; but I am going to do it in my own time, and in my own way. lam going to force a confession 1 in dramatic circumstances; but if, in the meantime, you want that coat, I am perfectly willing to hand it over to you." "Well, you have certainly surprised me this. morning," Dent admitted. "But, from a strict police point of view, I shall want a good deal more before I am satisfied. I suppose you intend to call the man Hammer at the next hearing." "Certainly," Philp said. "And I mean to call the dog as ' well. We can't swear the terrier, but I think he will serve my purpose, all the same. And what do you propose to do at the next hearing? Are you carrying the case much further?" "Well, that I can't say for the moment," Dent said. "In the face oi what you have told me, we shall have to start almost afresh. It will probably take weeks before we can get to the bottom of the whole thing, i shall probably call a little more formal evidence and ask for a month's adjournment." "Ah, that is just what.l expected,'' Philp said. "And meantime an absolutely innocent man will be kept in prison. Dent shrugged his shoulders philosophically. "That may be correct," he said, "but then it is the usual thing, and though exceedingly unpleasant for Mr Macrae, is more or less inevitable. I very much regret it, Mr Philp, but I am afraid your client must put up with it for the next few weeks. In the ( circumstanccs, I cannot very well release him." "No, I suppose not," Philp smiled. "But if I were a belting man, I would offer you long odds that next Thursday afternoon, when the day's proceedings before the magistrates are finished, my client will walk out ol the court a free man." So saying Philp rose, and, shaking hands with Dent, returned thoughtfully to his lodgings. At ten o'clock or the Thursday morning he turned up al the police court, and from his seat ir the well listened to what Dent was saying. "Your worships," the Inspecto: said, "1 don't propose to offer any evidence this morning. Certain inform ation has come into my hands durinj the last day or two which has beei thoroughly investigated. If I an right, it will throw another light 01 the crime altogether. But still, i will take lime, and I formally appl; for a further month's adjournment." "Has the defence any objection t that?" the Chairman asked. "What d> you say, Mr Philp?" Philp bent down to Farrell, who wa seated by his side, rather restlessly looking over his correspondence. "What do you think?" Philp asked "Oh, it is nothing to do with me,' Farrell said, with a shrug of his shoul ders. 'it is for you to say." "Very well. Your worships, lob ject. If the police will not call evi dence, I will, and when I have iinishet there will be no adjournment, fu the simple reason that my client's in nocence will be established. I hav ail my witnesses here, and 1 am goin; to prove my statement up to the hilt.' Farrell looked up in wild-eyed as tonishirient, whilst an electric thril seemed to run through evcrybod listening there. (To be continued to-morrow).