is in Starmouth. Since TSK agents proliferate to such an amazing extent in this country I see no reason why Streifer, having followed Stratilesceul to Starmouth, should not have summoned one of them to his assistance. He had time enough. The murder was not committed till almost a week after Stratilesceul arrived.’
‘It is possible, Sir Daynes, but that is all one can say for it.’
‘As possible as your own hypothesis, and a good deal more probable.’
‘I beg to differ. If I thought otherwise I should not be here.’
‘Then, sir, there is little doubt that you have made a fruitless journey.’
‘We will defer judgment until we see the results, Sir Daynes. I do not propose to be deflected from my object.’
At this point an interruption became a diplomatic necessity and it was fortunate that Colonel Shotover Grout, who had been preparing himself with a great deal of throat work, chose the slight pause which ensued for his cue.
‘I suppose we can have the fella in — question him — see what he has to say himself about the business?’
They both turned to regard the colonel with unanimous unamiability.
‘I mean he’s the one who knows — can’t get away from that.’
Chief Superintendent Gish gestured. ‘Of course he has been questioned. The results were as anticipated. You’ll get nothing out of Streifer.’
‘But simply as a formality, y’know-’
‘This type of man never talks.’
A light of battle gleamed in Sir Daynes’s eye. ‘Symms!’ he exclaimed, ‘be good enough to have our prisoner brought in, will you?’
Superintendent Symms hesitated a moment, catching the Special Branch chief’s petrifying glance.
‘What are you waiting for, man?’ rapped Sir Daynes, ‘didn’t you hear what I said?’
‘I can assure you,’ interrupted Chief Superintendent Gish, well below zero, ‘that Streifer has been thoroughly and scientifically interrogated without the least success-’
‘Superintendent Gish,’ cut in Sir Daynes, ‘I feel obliged to point out that Streifer is required by this authority to answer a charge of murder and that however high the Special Branch may privately rate sabotage, in the official calendar it is homicide which takes pride of place. Streifer has been brought here primarily to answer such a charge and I propose to make it forthwith. I suppose’ — a sudden note of unease crept into his voice — ‘I suppose a case has now been made out on which a charge can be based, Symms?’
The super looked at Copping, and Copping looked at Gently. Gently nodded and puffed some smoke at Detective Sergeant Nickman’s long-suffering ear.
‘Very well, then — have him brought in, Symms!’
Streifer was produced in handcuffs, presumably on the strength of his record — he certainly looked subdued enough, being prodded into the crowded office. He was a man of forty or forty-two, dark hair, dark eyes, slanting brows, a long, straight nose and a small thin-lipped mouth. He wore a well-cut suit of dark grey and had an air of refinement, almost of delicacy, about him. The only thing suggesting something else was the long, crooked scar which stretched lividly down his right cheek, beginning under the temple and trailing away at the angle of the jaw.
Colonel Shotover Grout gave a premonitory rumble. ‘Cuffs, sir — take it they’re absolutely necessary?’
Chief Superintendent Gish spared him a look of hypnotic pity.
‘Remove them,’ ordered Sir Daynes crisply. ‘There would appear to be sufficient men with police training present to render the step unperilous.’
The cuffs were removed. A chair was drafted in. With a shorthand constable at his elbow Sir Daynes levelled a model charge and caution at the silent Streifer, inasmuch as he had, on the twelfth instant, with malice aforethought, stabbed to death one Stephan Stratilesceul, alias Max.
The baby being passed to Streifer, he simply shook his head.
‘You don’t wish to make a statement?’
‘No.’ His voice was harsh but not unpleasant.
‘You realize the invariable penalty annexed to a conviction of homicide in this country?’
‘I am not… unacquainted.’
‘It is a capital offence.’
‘Ah yes — England hangs.’
‘Yet you still do not wish to say anything in your own defence?’
Streifer shrugged his elegant shoulders. ‘Have you proof of this thing?’
‘We have a very good case.’
‘Enough to drop me into your pit?’
‘To convict you — yes.’
‘Then what should I say? Have you a confession for me to sign?’
The chief constable frowned. ‘We don’t do things that way. You may anticipate perfectly fair proceedings in this country. We have a case against you, but you are perfectly free to defend yourself. What you say will be equally considered with what we say in the court in which you will be tried.’
‘Then I shall plead that I am innocent. What more will be necessary?’
‘It will be necessary to prove it — as we shall seek to prove our contentions.’
Streifer smiled ironically and cast a deliberate glance round the assembled company. ‘What pains you take! In my country we are more economical. But let me hear these contentions of yours. I have no doubt that your scrupulous system permits it.’
Sir Daynes signalled to the super, who once more communicated with Gently by the medium of Copping. Gently, however, having produced a crumpled sheet of paper, elected to pass it back to the seat of authority. The super straightened it out hastily and began to read.
‘We can show that the accused, Olaf Streifer, is a member of a revolutionary party known as the TSK and that he is a member of the Maulik or secret police appertaining to that party and that previous to the present instance he has illicitly entered this country for the purpose of forwarding the aims of that party by criminal process.
‘We can show that the murdered man, Stephan Stratilesceul, was also a member of the TSK party, and that he was similarly engaged in forwarding its aims.
‘We can show that, on Tuesday, 5 August, Stephan Stratilesceul entered this country as a fugitive from the Polish liner Ortory, which liner was at that time breaking at Hull a voyage from Danzig to New York, and that he was pursued ashore by Streifer, and that he escaped in the trawler Harvest Sea, which brought him to Starmouth where he was landed on the morning of Wednesday, 6 August.
‘We can show that Streifer also arrived in Starmouth, date unknown, and that he took up quarters in a deserted house known as “Windy Tops”, and that he traced Stratilesceul to lodgings he had taken at 52 Blantyre Road.
‘We can show that on Tuesday, 12 August, at or about 22.00 hours, Stratilesceul proceeded in a hired car to “Windy Tops” in the company of a prostitute named Agnes Meek, alias Frenchy, and that he was not again seen alive.
‘We can show that his naked body, bearing four stab-wounds of which two would have been instantly fatal, as well as burns made before death, suggesting that he had been subject to torture, was washed ashore between the Albion and Wellesley Piers some time before 05.10 hours on Wednesday, 13 August, and that the time of death was estimated as being five or six hours previous, and that in the state of the tides and the offshore current then prevailing a body introduced into the sea near “Windy Tops” at or about 24.00 hours Tuesday would, with great probability, be washed ashore at the time and place at which Stratilesceul’s body was washed ashore.
‘We can show that following Stratilesceul’s murder, burglary was committed by Streifer at 52 Blantyre Road in the hope of recovering a suitcase containing a quantity of counterfeit United States Treasury notes, but that his purpose was frustrated by a previous burglary committed by Jeffery Algernon Wylie and Robert Henry Baines on information received from Agnes Meek.
‘We can show that Streifer eventually traced the suitcase to its hiding-place under the Albion Pier, that he recovered it, that he substituted for it a brown paper package containing the clothes worn by the deceased at the
