The Brooklyn Murders

reason why the inspector had followed Walter Brooklyn out of the coroner’s court, had not been idle. He had left his place a minute or two later, merely whispering to Joan that there was something he must do at once. He had come out of the court just in time to see the inspector and Walter Brooklyn get into a taxi and drive off. Hailing another taxi, he had told the driver to follow, and his car had drawn up at Vine Street Police Station a moment after the other. He had seen Brooklyn and the inspector pass into the building, and had then paid his driver, and stood disconsolately outside wondering what he should do. Finally, he went into the station and asked for Inspector Blaikie, sending in his card. He was kept waiting for some minutes, and then the inspector came to him, and asked what he wanted.

“You have arrested Mr. Walter Brooklyn, have you not?” Ellery asked.

The inspector replied that he had.

“Is it possible for someone to come and see him? I suppose he will be here overnight.”

The inspector shook his head. “He will be here for the night,” he said, “but you can’t see him. He has already sent for his lawyer.”

“I don’t want to see him myself. But his stepdaughter, Miss Cowper, is very anxious to have a talk with him.”

“Oh, that’s another matter. It might be arranged. I don’t say it could, but it might. The right course would be for her to see his lawyer, and for him to apply on her behalf. I couldn’t do anything on my own responsibility.”

“Then, if I brought her here, you couldn’t allow her to see him.”

“No, I’m afraid I couldn’t. The regulations are very strict.”

Ellery tried to move the inspector. He failed, but he was not inclined to give up hope. He went straight to Scotland Yard and asked for Superintendent Wilson. Reminding that official that, earlier in the day, he had wished him luck in his effort to clear Walter Brooklyn, Ellery obtained without difficulty permission for Joan to see him in his cell. Armed with a signed permit, he drove straight to Liskeard House.

He found Joan with his guardian, Harry Lucas, who had brought her back in his car from the court. Lucas, too, had seen the inspector leave the court, and had guessed his purpose. He had also guessed Ellery’s object in leaving a moment later. In the car, he had already told Joan what he feared; and they had agreed that the best thing was to go back to Liskeard House and wait for news. Walter Brooklyn would come there if he was still a free man; and if not, Ellery would either come, or telephone to tell Joan what had happened.

Joan therefore received Ellery’s bad news without surprise; and she gave him a grateful kiss⁠—she had told Lucas of their engagement while they were waiting⁠—when he showed her the permit to visit her stepfather Lucas’s car was at the door, and he offered to take Joan round at once. He took the driver’s seat himself, telling his chauffeur to await his return, and Joan and Ellery got in behind.

XVI

A Link in the Chain

Fred Thomas came away a good deal dissatisfied from his discussion with his client. Walter Brooklyn, he felt, had given him little enough to go upon. He persisted in affirming that he had not been in Liskeard House that night, and in denying absolutely that he had either rung up his Club and given a message or left his walking-stick in Prinsep’s room. Yet surely, Thomas argued, the police, if they had proceeded to the drastic step of an arrest, must have some definite proof that he had been in the house, or at any rate some clear indication of his complicity. He did not believe that his client was being frank with him; and, while he had not said this outright, a hint of what he thought had produced a violent outburst of bad temper from Brooklyn, and almost caused him to tell his legal adviser to clear out and come back no more. This had served to confirm Thomas’s idea that Brooklyn was lying, and his thought, as he went away, was that, if he tried again, probably Brooklyn would tell him the truth when he cooled down and came to realise more fully what his position was. In his experience imprisonment had a wonderfully sobering effect. Meanwhile, Thomas made up his mind to see Carter Woodman, and try to find out from him more definitely how matters stood. Woodman, presumably, would want Walter Brooklyn to get off, even if he believed him to be guilty. He would probably not want a member of the Brooklyn family to be convicted of murder, whatever the truth might be.

Thomas had not long left Walter Brooklyn when Joan arrived to see him. She had come into the police-station alone, leaving Lucas and Ellery outside in the car to wait for her return. While they waited, Ellery told his guardian more about his engagement to Joan, and received from him very hearty congratulations. “You didn’t take my advice, my boy,” Lucas said; “but now that things have come out right, I’m most heartily glad that you didn’t. I have hoped for this for a long time. I’m very fond of you both, and I can see there’s no doubt about your being fond of each other.” Which was very pleasant hearing for Ellery; for he had a great liking for his guardian, and he knew that his friendly countenance would be likely to stand him in good stead with Sir Vernon Brooklyn, of whom he was more than a little afraid. “You must back me up with Sir Vernon,” he said; and Lucas readily promised his help.

It was three-quarters of an hour before Joan came out of the police-station. She seemed well satisfied, smiling back at the policeman who accompanied her to the door.