Here was the explanation of the conversation French had overheard on Hampstead Heath. With a little thought he was able to follow the man’s mental processes.
In the first place, it was evident that Pyke had realised that he was suspected, as well as that French had opened Ganope’s note. He would guess, therefore, that French would shadow him continually until his meeting with Mrs. Berlyn, and would try to overhear what passed thereat. He would also see that for that very reason he was safe from arrest till the meeting had taken place, when this immunity would cease.
But he wanted the night in which to escape. How could he stave off arrest until the following day?
Clearly he had solved his problem by writing out the conversation, possibly with stage directions, as a playwright writes out the dialogue in his play. In it he had pledged himself to a visit to Berlyn on the morrow. If he could make French swallow the yarn he knew that arrest would be postponed in order that French might learn the junior partner’s whereabouts. He had then sent Mrs. Berlyn her “lines” and she had learnt them like any other actress. French ruefully admitted to himself that in spite of the absence of a rehearsal, the two had presented their little piece with astonishing conviction.
On reaching the Yard, French’s first care was to set the great machine of the C.I.D. in operation against the fugitives. Among his notes he already had detailed descriptions of each, and he thought he would be safe in assuming that Pyke would wear his collar up and his hat pulled low over his eyes. Mrs. Welsh had described the suitcase, and burdened by this, French thought there was a reasonable chance of the man having been noticed.
A number of helpers were soon busy telephoning the descriptions to all the London police stations as well as to the ports. Copies were also sent for insertion in the next number of the Police Gazette. In a day or so all the police and detectives in the country would be on the lookout for the couple.
With Mrs. Welsh’s help French made a list of the clothes likely to be in the suitcase. As these would have had a considerable weight, he thought it unlikely that Pyke would have walked very far. He therefore despatched three sets of men, one to make enquiries at the adjoining railways and tube stations, another to comb the neighbouring hotels and boardinghouses, and the third to search for a taxi driver who might have picked up such a fare in one of the nearby streets.
It was not until these urgent matters had been dealt with that he turned to consider his second line of enquiry. Of Jefferson Pyke himself he knew practically nothing. What was the man’s history? Why was he remaining in England? Particularly, where had he been at the time of the crime and while the crate was at Swansea.
He began operations by writing to the Lincoln police for all available information about Phyllis Considine, as well as Stanley and Jefferson Pyke. Then he sent a cable to the Argentine, asking the authorities there for details about Jefferson. He wired to the police at San Remo, Grasse, and in Paris, asking whether the cousins had stayed during the month of at the various hotels Jefferson had mentioned. Lastly he rang up the Bibby Line offices to know if they could help him to trace two passengers named Pyke who had sailed from Liverpool to Marseilles on their Flintshire about four months previously.
The Bibby people replied that the Flintshire had been home, but had left again for Rangoon. However if Mr. French would call at their office they would show him the passenger list and perhaps give him other required information.
In an hour French was seated with the manager. There he inspected the list, which bore the names of Stanley and Jefferson Pyke, and he was assured that two gentlemen answering to these names had actually sailed.
“If that is not sufficient for you, it happens that you can get further evidence,” the manager went on. “Mr. Hawkins, the purser of the Flintshire, broke his arm on the homeward trip. He went off on sick leave and if you care to go down to Ramsgate you can see him.”
“I shall be only too glad,” French said.
Armed with an introduction from the manager, French travelled down next morning to the Isle of Thanet. Mr. Hawkins was exceedingly polite and gave him all the information in his power. He remembered the Pykes having sailed on the last trip from Birkenhead to Marseilles. Stanley Pyke he had not come in contact with more than in the normal way of business, though they had once chatted for a few moments about the day’s run. But he had seen a good deal of Jefferson. He, Mr. Hawkins, had spent a year in the Argentine in Jefferson’s district and they had found they had many acquaintances in common. He had formed a high
