THE JUMPER

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20917, 23 September 1939, Page 21 (Supplement)

THE JUMPER

By JOHN CREASEY

Thrilling Detective-Mystery Serial

CHAPTEgg XXVI. Confirmation of a Theory It was later in the day that Chief Inspector Crabber, once trusted officer at Scotland Yard, told the whole truth, and confirmed the Jumper’s theory. Some years before, Mayhew had offered Crabber a substantial bribe for overlooking a flagrant breach of the law, and from that time onwards Crabber had associated with the crook. For the most part, all he had done was to warn Mayhew when the police were on his tail, with the result that Mayhew was always quite safe from arrest. After a while, however, Grabber had grown avaricious, and Mayhew had offered him big money if he would take a more active part in some of the schemes. Crabber had agreed, and for a year or more he had actually been working for and against the police. Then Mayhew had gone to Australia, and—Crabber had learned later—had met the man who was reputed to be Jonathan Brigham, a millionaire who had earned his money after years of prospecting for gold. Mayhew had discovered to his complete surprise that the supposed Brigham was actually an ex-convict from England named Simmons. n Mayhew had used his knowledge as a means of blackmail, and he had learned that some years before the real Brigham had been murdered and Simmons—whose sentence had been for forgery—had taken his place. Brigham had not been well known in any of the larger towns, and by living on his own and mixing with as few people as possible, Simmons had been able to get away with the deception without trouble, and but for the intervention of Mayhew he might still have been in Australia, living a luxurious life. But Mayhew had had no desire to stay in Australia, and he certainly did not propose to allow such a fruitful source of income to remain thousands of miles away. By threatening disclosure he took the pseudo Brigham to England with him, and it had been Mayhew’s intention purely and simply to force the millionaire murderer to pay him a substantial sum every month. And then the unexpected had happened. One of Mayhew’s acquaintances, a crook well known in England and Australia, had seen Brigham, and suspected the truth. After a few meetings with the Australian he had threatened to split to the police unless he, too, was given a share of the money which Simmons—or Brigham—was • paying to Mayhew. At first Mayhew had agreed, but he bad been quick to realise the dangers of more than one person knowing the truth. Very carefully he had planned murder. The blackmailer, a man named Rogers, had been hoodwinked by Mayhew’s apparent friendliness, and then one might in June had been invited by Mayhew to visit a gambling i den in the Mile End Road. Unravelling the Mystery Actually the supposed gambling den had been Izzy Kohn’s cafe. Mayhew had, at the same time, been interested in a serious commercial proposition—the building of a new warehouse at the bottom of the Run. ■He had seen how he could use this, and after Rogers had been lured to the cafe, he had shot him and then had him carried to the warehouse. His plan was simple. The dead man was to be buried beneath the foundations of the warehouse and cemented over, and normally the job would have been put through without trouble. tiut Mayhew had reckoned without the conscientiousness of P.G. Morgan. Despite the foul night, Morgan had gone along the Run, seen Mayhew, and suspected that something was wrong. Izzy Kohn had tried desperately to prevent the policeman from going down the Run, but had failed; and Mayhew had known that if the policeman was allowed to live he would see the body of the murdered man, and the game would be up. •Consequently Mayhew had killed Morgan, and buried the body beneath the cement. The second body had been buried under a different section of the new warehouse, and its existence had never been suspected. The story was told with a great deal of but it was finished at last. Crabber was at Scotland Yard, and the Jumper as well as Sir William Davis weer among the audience. The Assistant Commissioner put one or two minor questions, but the statement was a full one, and there was very little left for the police to puzzle out. Everything was vividly clear, and the Jumper could follow the whole story from the moment P.G. Morgan had walked down the Run to his death. It was proved that Mayhew had a nation-wide organisation, numbering over twenty people, in his employ. Apart from the place at Manchester he had hide-outs in Birmingham, Glasgow and Newcastle. With these places ready for emergency, and Crabber at the Yard, he had felt safe. But he had made a fatal mistake, and flown to Esher, forgetting at the time that Snide Healy knew of the address. The Esher house had been looked after by a woman ex-convict, who was now in hospital and, later, would stand trial with the rest of Mayhew’s gang. Mayhew had gone too far when he had murd-ered a policeman. Crabber was taken away from the room, and a few minutes later only Sir William Davis and James Dawlish

were left. The Assistant Commissioner smiled grimly. ‘•lt’s been a bad business, Dawlish.” “1 don't remember a case,” said the Jumper, with a frown, “where I've made so many mistakes. If the luck hadn’t happened to break my way, I’d have been dead two or three times. But joking apart, Sir William, you know to whom we owe our success?” The Assistant Commissioner's eyes twinkled. “I suppose you’re going to name Miss Morgan?” “I am,” agreed the Jumper, ‘‘and I'm not going to blush when I do so. Had she not been anxious to find out just what had happened, we would probably never have got on to Mayhow in Manchester. It was her visit to the cafe and Kohn’s trip north, which followed it. which really gave us the opportunity.” Sir William nodded. ‘Tin inclined to think you’re right,” he said. “Well—you don’t need telling that ample compensation will be made to her.” “I expected that you would look after that,” said James Dawli/xi cheerfully. “Well, I’m glad it’s over, sir. Now, if you’ve no objection, I’ll get to my fiat. 1 have an idea I could sieep for a fortnight and still be tired!” Sir William nodded and chuckled. “You might manage that,” hes aid, “but I’m prepared to wager you will find time for a trip to Chelsea before you do get to bed. I’m not far wrong, am 1?” Dawlish chuckled in turn. “You are not,” he admitted. ‘‘lt wouldn’t surprise me if you don’t have to contribute before too long to a wedding present.” He left the Assistant Commissioner’s office and walked slowly along to his own room. lie had told the truth, when he had said that he was desperately tired, but all the time there was one great thing buoying him up. Joan MorganTime and time again he had remembered that precious moment when he had held here in his arms, and he believed that he would not be disappointed when eventually he asked her to marry him. * But It was not fair to worry her now, for not only was she hardly recovered from her ordeal, but she must still feel the tragic death of her father. Moreover, she miight say that she had known him long enough to commit herself. “But that,” Dawlish said to himself, “doesn’t mean I can’t pop along and see her.” Joan Morgan was at the Yampton Private Hotel, a port of call that was quite safe now. As the taxi which he had hired drew up outside, the Jumper remembered grimly the previous occasion when he had been here, and realised how Mayhew had learned the girl’s haven. Crabber had passed on the information —after suggesting the hotel was safe! Crabber had been a thorn in the flesh of the police for a long time. But that did not matter now. He rang the bell, wondering whether he’d be lucky or whether Joan would be asleep. Meeting the Future Together Mrs ißendell saw him, a moment later, and the Jumper caught the gleam in her eye® “Miss Morgan’s in.” she said. “She asked me to send you up if you happened to call.” “Did she, by Jove! Which room, Mrs Rendell?” “Number Three on the first floor,” said the Manageress. She chuckled aloud as Dawlish turned away from her without another word and leapt two at a time up the stairs. A few moments later he tapped on the door of Number Three, and at a quiet “Come in,” he entered. Joan was sitting near the window, fresh and radiant, and obviously she had managed to get a long sleep which had made up for the ravages of the ordeal through which she had passed. The Jumper told himself that he had never seen her look so lovely, and he had to bite his lips to prevent himself from saying something absurd. He closed the door gently behind him, and stood there smiling at her. “I know that as a policeman I have no justifiable excuse for coming to see you, but—l wanted to make sure you were all right.” He did not understand the twinkling lights in her eye. “I’m doing very well, thank you,” she said demurely. “Apart from one thing ” Dawlish frowned. “Trouble of some kind?” “I can’t stop myself from dreaming,” said Joan Morgan vei’y quietly, and her face was very serious. “Every time I dream I am in a dark place and there’s someone stumbling ! over rough ground towards me, and then someone touches me— —” “You little devil!” cried the Jumper, living up to his soubriquet and reaching her side in two strides—“you were conscious in the loft, were you?” “How on earth,” asked Joan Morgan, “did you guess that?”' The Jumper did not tell her in so many words. He knew that that moment of madness amid the rafters of the house in Esher had done far more than he c'suld ever have don? had he talked to the girl knowing that she was listening to what he saiu. j All the questions which had flooded his I mind disappeared. He needed no telling that for them the future would be bright, and that they would meet il together. THE END.