The Gorgon

Waikato Times, Volume 108, Issue 18168, 5 November 1930, Page 12

The Gorgon

1 Serial Story | 8 :<*

I (By J. Lindsay Hamilton.) | pj (All Rights Reserved.) jp

SYNOPSIS. Colonel Dainton is'concerned about the disappearance of Ills brother-in-law, Jim Rowson, the vagabond millionaire. He consults. Dr. Farrer, an eminent nerve specialist, who describes how Rowson called on him six weeks ago in a state o ! f nervous collapse, leaving in his care.a remarlcably hideous mummy. Colonel Dainton confides in his daughter Helen and her friend Peter Southwark. During the night a cry of terrible fear is heard, and Jenkins, Colonel Dainton’s manservant, is found brutally murdered. While discussing the murder with Peter Southwark, the door flies open and they are looking into the muzzle of a revolver. CHAPTER IV. Andrew Eden—Uninvited Quest. The intruder was a slenderly-built man, a little above the average height. The Impression of slenderness was enhanced by the wide, clean-cut shoulders sloping away to a narrow waist and straight hips. One could not have called , him handsome. .The long, straight line'of the mouth, the prominent bridge of the nose, and the slightly cadaverous cheeks redeemed the face from mere good looks. A pair of grey eyes, unusually large for a man, glinting "frostily,, lent a cold, implacable strength to his general air of virility. As he slipped the revolver into his pocket, his whole expression underwent a change. The lines of his face softened and the coldness of the eyes melted into gentle humour. For one gasping moment Colonel Dainton regarded him in blank amazement.

He was too astonished to be conscious of any sensation but relief and a curious .sense' of reassurance. Clearly the man’s audacity was neither forced nor offensive. It was too natural.

Peter was the . first to find his tongue. “Eden,” he exclaimed, in a tone of •wondering inquiry. “What the —?” He paused, conscious o'f the extraordinary situation, and performed the necessary ' introduction.. “Andrew Eden of the Foreign Office—uninvited guest,” he announced, with a whimsical smile. ‘Colonel Dainton, who will, no doubt, demand an explanation on his own account.” “Human sleuth-hound, Sir," explained Eden, with a rare smile. “Prevention of crime, and so on.. It’s a relief to know that expectations on this occasion have not been realised. “What did you expect?” asked the Colonel quickly. “Trouble,” he answered with a careless shrug. “Then your relief is a little prematupre. My man Jenkins has been brutally done to death,” Eden without a word leapt to his feet. He was clearly taken aback. But it was characteristic of the man that no expression of astonishment passed his lips. He wasted no time in futility.

“Take me to him,” was all he said in a tone of quiet command. Once in the ■ bedroom, he glanced casually round the room, strode to the bedside, and drew back the covering from the huddled figure of what had been a man. “H’m! Bungling, bad bungling," he murmured. “Now, I wonder what Birdie had to do' with it.” Oblivious alike to Colonel Dainton’s curiosity and the look of horror on the distorted features of the victim, he continued to gaze abstractedly at the bed.

Suddenly he turned away, and as though he had lost all further interest left the room.

“The police will do all there is to be done,” he said flanlly. “My work begins in the morning. I’ll get Southwark to give me a shake-down for a few hours. By the way, I must ask you to keep my visit secret for the present, Colonel. It is of the utmost importance that I should work alone."

Rather to his own surprise, Colonel Dainton found himself agreeing to Eden’s request. His own impulse was to put the whole thing in the hands of Scotland Yard, and be done with it.

But there was something about Eden that Impressed one. He explained nothing, and', yet one felt satisfied. He seemed to take it for granted that his actions must be accepted without question, and they were.

With that peculiarly boyish smile that so completely transfigured him, Eden thanked the Colonel for his courtesy, and , yawning lazily, followed Petera Southwark up the 'stairs. When Peter returned from arranging for his comfort, he found Inspector Durham and a doctor closely examining the body, while Colonel Dainton ■flood answering the abrupt questions shot at him from time to time. Durham was -a thorough worker. Mis questions embraced not..only the events of the night, but the whole past history, character and pursuits of (lie victim. TO' , all of which the Colonel could only reply that Jenkins had come to him six months ago, had lived up to his splendid references, nnd that he could in no way conceive of any possible motive for the murder of a harmless manservant. Inspector Durham next turned his attention to the room. Every nook and cranny was subjected to.a rigorous searching examination. From 'the man’s clothes he extracted all papers and letters, and tied them carefully in a bundle.

Satisfied at length that nothing more could be learnt from the interior of the flat, he expressed a wish to- see the garden; an unusually large and well-kept garden it was, too, far the building, now consisting of three commodious flats, was at ope time a laige detached house standing iin its own grounds. " Passing down the hall into' a small conservatory, Colonel Dainton led the way; and a moment later they were beneath the open window of Jenkins’ room. The Scotland Yard man swept the ground with his torch and a low exclamation -of satisfaction escaped him. The soft soil showed clearly the deep imprints, of a very large foot, hut there was no deeper impression such as the heel of a boot would leave in the yielding- earth. “In his socks,” muttered Durham. “Some foot, too.” He measured a footprint carefully

“Size twelve in hoots at the least. That narrows the field o'f enquiry a lot.” Among the laurel bushes near the seven foot garden . wall they- came across further tracks. It was clear by their direction that the murderer had made both entry and exit by Way of the garden.

“It surely must be the work of a maniac, Inspector," said the Colonel when they were back in the flat. “I can’t conceive of any possible motive for such wanton brutality." Durham closed his note book with a snap and prepared to take his departure. “Can’t commit myself to any opinions,” he replied bluntly. “As for motives, there’s plenty would be glad to put him out of the way. He was a blackmailer’s tout. Birdie, his pals called him. But we’ll get our man all right, they don’t elude us for long.”

A few minutes later Colonel Dainton was alone. Bed seemed out of the question. He sat turning over in his mind the events of the day.. Inspector Durham knew Jenkins as Birdie, a criminal. This in itself was startling. He remembered the missing letter and that again brought him to the problem of his brother-in-law’s disappearance. Could there be any possible connection between the two baffling mysteries, he wondered? And what of Eden? Eden, he felt convinced; was the man who could supply the missing link In the chain. Gradually his head drooped and he vvas presently sound asleep in his chair. CHAPTER V. Celia’s Cable. Peter was up early, refreshed in spite of the loss of sleep, but it was to flnd that Andrew Eden had already breakfasted and had gone. . “1-Ie said he’d be bask at eleven, Sir,". Roberts informed him. “Very nice gentleman, too, if I may make so bold.”

Roberts had been Peter’s batman throughout harassing days in France, and was now very much the privileged servant. "Asked me if I wanted a new job.” He grinned appreciatively. “Said he was sure you must be a bit of a tartar, Sir. But he was only having his joke, you understand!" “The devil he did,” laughed Peter.

This was the Eden he knew of old, a light-hearted irrepressible being, far removed from the tight-lipped dynamic Eden of the previous night. Suddenly an idea occurred to him. “I’m going to sack you, Roberts," he announced. “Ohl Only for the day,” he added with a laugh as the man’s face fell in dismay.. “I want you to go down at once and give your services to Colonel Dainton. And, by the way, enquire from me how Miss Dainton is this morning. One minute, I’ll give you a note.”

Roberts, looking a little nonplussed, took the hastily scrawled note and departed. A few minutes later he was back again.. “He don’t want me, sir. Mr Eden’s sent a man along already. But I was to thank you for the kindness. Awful about Jenkins, isn’t it, sir?- Who’d have thought ” But Peter did not want to discuss Jenkins or any. other man. “Didn’t you enquire after -Miss Dainton?” he cut in with unusual sharpness. Roberts regarded him reproachfully.

“I was just going toi tell you, sir. She looked very well indeed if I may so, and said she was convalescent and ■would be allowed to see visitors.”

Peter gulped the remainder of his breakfast with inordinate haste. His anxiety to see Helen again amounted almost to a fever. He realised impatiently that it was still rather early. He would be intruding. So he wandered f*jstl,essly about the room, gazed out of the window, picked up the morning paper and tried to read it. It was some minutes before he noticed he was holding it upside down. Fin ally he flung it down and strode decisively out of the room. Time or no time, he would see Helen at once. Any fear that he was intruding was dispelled at once by the warmth of Helen’s welcome.

“I want toi thank you,” she began with perfect. simplicity. “Don’t say it was nothing,” she laughed, “that would be most uncomplimentary, wouldn’t It?" Peter, who had been about to make some such remark, laughed ruefully and clapped one hand to his brow. “Logic,” he pleaded, “was always my weakest point, so I’ll take your word for. It, Miss Dainton ,and keep clear of the awful risk.” “How’s the nose?" she asked mischievously. “Progressing favourably—a little more prominent than usual, perhaps," he pronounced judicially. “I’m thinking of taking it for a sniff of good old Hampshire air. I wish—lf you would —” he paused diffidently. “A little fresh air would do you a wmrld of good, Miss Dainton.” "That’s awfully good of you,” she answered quickly. “But I must stand by Daddy. It will be a difflcutl day for him." , , “I’ll ask him,” said Peter slyly. “He’ll be glad to have you out of It all, I know.” It was a good move, for Colonel Dainton had quietly entered the room. “What is the conspiracy?” good humouredly. Peter told him and he welcomed it gladly. “Objection overruled. Splendid” Peter regarded her triumphantly, “toi have the car round in half an hour, Miss Dainton.”

“I suppose I must,” said Helen, but her dancing eyes belled the meekness of her submission. Shortly after they were gone, Andrew Eden rapped on the door of Colonel Dainton’s flat and ,w’ as admitted by the new manservant. “All's well,” he reported in an undertone. “But I’ve had no opportunity yet.”

Eden nodded briskly, but .offered no comment. “A Ireasure that man” was the Colonel’s verdict a few minutes later. “He has proved invaluable already. It was most thoughtful of you to send him. Where did you pick him up at such short notice?" “Yes. Smith is a goud man to have about,” Eden remarked deliberately. “You can trust him Implicitly, Colonel, lie has worked for me before.” Then without preamble he went to the point. “I have been watching your investigations with interest.. So have others. That accounts for my intrusion last night. You were likely to prove a nuisance to- —shall we say, the others Knowing something of their methods and acting on certain informtion t had, I rushed down from Liverpool ■last night to try and prevent them. As it happens ,1 should have been too late in any case.” “But what does it all mean? You know about Rowson? What lias Jenkins to do with it?” “I’ll tell you briefly," said Eden. “For months I have been picking up loose, threads that led me to form an | astonishing theory. Subsequent events

and the disappearance of your brother-in-law have pi'oved it correct up to a point.’’ We are -on the track of one of the most highly organised criminal gangs we have ever been up against. Mot one gang, but several, each specialised in their own branch of crime, from the pickpocket to the international swindler with his Rolls Royce and his chateau on the Riviera, disciplined and co-ordinated by one master" brain. We could make a hundred arrests to-morrow, but the machinery would go on working unhampered. We don’t. It’s the one man we want. Find him and we can smash the whole organisation." The Colonel had listened with wrapt attention. Now he flashed out a question. "Have you any idea who he is?" Eden shook his head.

"His own men don’t even know him. I doubt whether his own chief of staff himself knows. He keeps out of the limelight, but the hold he seems to have over them is almost incredible. They refer to him with baited breath as "The Gorgon,” and the mildest curiosity as to his identity is visited with instant death. That, at least, is the way they talk and I am inclined to believe it." “And Row-son has fallen into that creature’s hands?" asked the Colonel aghast. . „ „ , "As others have done, said Eden slowlv. “Halroyd, the woollen manufacturer, found wandering months after his disappearance, a helpless wreck,' his memory bltmk; Ryder the Australian, over on a holiday, st’ill missing; Butler, a wealthy young rake. The theory was that he had got mixed up with some unscrupulous woman, lie took his own life. In each case they were missing for months, yet their cheques were honoured, and in the end there was nothing to show for the extraordinary dissipation of their wealth. ’’ "Good God I" exclaimed Colonel i Dainton. "This is awful. Poor Jim.” | “I'm inclined !o think," said Eden, j with slow deliberation, "that yon need j not fear for his safety, for the pres- { ent. I fancy he has succeeded in putting a spoke in their wheel.” He refused to say more and' the entry of Smith with a telegram effectually put a stop to the conversation. Colonel Dainton tore open the pink envelope with some anxiety, but as | he read this gave way to a look of I mingled relief and surprise. I "A cable from Celia, Rowson’s daughter,” he explained. “She is on the Caronia and expects to be here tonight. Little minx, she might have let me know sooner.” But from his smile it was plain to be seen that his American niece held a place of her own in his- heart. Suddenly his attention was drawn to Eden’s very evident perturbation. He was pacing the room. One clenched list smote into his open palm. . "Damn!” He swore with soft mtensitv. "I might have foreseen." lie strode to the telephone and called up a number. A few abrupt questions and he replaced the receiver and faced Colonel Daintbn. “It will berth at Southampton about six this evening. Your niece must be met there.” There was a note, of urgency in his voice. “There’s a train down at 1.43. Had you any previous intimation that she was coming? he shot out suddenly. The note of command in Eden's voice touched Colonel Dainton in his weakest spot. He told turn shortly of Celia’s letter and the anonymous note, adding stiffly that he had mislaid them. [ (To be continued.)