Parker clicked his heels and went out glowing.
The chief inspector drew a long breath. `Well, gentlemen, there you are. The murderer had considerably over half an hour's time to clear out. And, as the general says, what between rain and fog the sentries at the gates wouldn't have been able to see anything of a person who 'slipped' out. Now, we get down to work. Our first hope… '
He picked up the sheets containing the names of the visitors.
`Sincee we have something to go on,' he continued, 'we can use our guests. We know the approximate time of the murder. Hallo!' he called towards the door, and a warder opened it. `Will you go down to the Bloody Tower and send up the sergeant in charge of the police officers who have just arrived?'
'I hope it's Hamper,' he added to his companions. `First, we'll put aside the slips made out by the three people we want to interview ourselves — Mrs Bitton, Mr Arbor, and, just as a precaution, the careful Mrs Larkin. Let's see, Larkin —'
`Mrs Bitton didn't make out any, sir,' Dalrye told him.' `She laughed at the idea.'
`Right, then. Here's the Arbor one. Let's see. I say, that's a beautiful handwriting; like the lettering on a calling card. Fastidious, this chap.' He examined the paper curiously. 'Julius Arbor, 440 Park Avenue, New York City. No occupation
'Doesn't need one,' Sir William growled. `He's got pots.'
'Arrived Southampton, March 4, S.S. Bremen. Duration of stay indefinite. Destination, Villa Seule, Nice, France.' He adds, very curtly, 'If further information is necessary, suggest communicating with my London solicitors, Messrs Hillton and Dane, Lincoln's Inn Fields.' H'm.'
He smiled to himself, put the sheet aside, and glanced hastily at the others.
`If you've ever heard any of these other names, gentlemen, sing out; otherwise I'll let the sergeant handle them.
`Mr and Mrs George G. Bebber, 291 Aylesborough Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pa., U.S.A. - Lucien Lefevre, 6o Avenue Foch, Paris. Mlle Clementine Lefevre, as above. - Miss Dorothea Delevan Mercenay, 23 Elm Avenue, Meadville, Ohio, U.S.A. Miss Mercenay adds M.A. to her name, underscored heavily. That's the lot. They sound harmless enough.’
`Sergeant Betts, sir,' said a voice at the door. A very serious-faced young man saluted nervously.
`Betts,' said Hadley. `Betts.. oh yes. Did you get a picture of the dead man's face?'
`Yes, sir. They've set up the outfit in that Tower place, and the pictures are drying now.'
`Right.. Take a copy of that picture and show it to all the people listed here; the warder will show you where they are. Ask them if they saw him today; when and where. Be particular about anybody they may have seen in the vicinity of the Traitors' Gate at any time, or anybody acting suspiciously. Mr Dalrye, I should be obliged if you would go along and make shorthand notes of anything important'
Dalrye rose, reaching for pencil and notebook.
'I want particularly to know, Betts, where they were between one-thirty and one forty-five o'clock. That's vital. Mr Dalrye, will you kindly ask Mrs Lester Bitton to step in here?'
6. The Souvenir Crossbow Bolt
`Now, then,' Hadley pursued. Again with meticulous attention he straightened the pencil, the notebook, and the flashlight before him. `The police surgeon will bring in the contents of Driscoll's pockets, and we can have a good look at the weapon. I'll leave it up to the chief warder to take charge of questioning the warders about whether they saw anything.
`Now, Gentlemen. Before we see Mrs Bitton, suppose we try to clarify our ideas. Let's go around, the circle here, and see what we all have to say. Sir William, what strikes you about the case?'
`That's easy,' Sir William said, twisting the ends of his white scarf. `You can't miss it. It's the absolute lack of motive. Nobody in the world had the slightest reason for killing Philip.'
`Yes. But you're forgetting one thing,' Hadley pointed out. `We're dealing, in some fashion with a madman. It's useless to deny that this hat-thief is mixed up in it. Whether he, killed Philip Driscoll or not, he seems to have put that hat on his head. Now, from what Dalrye said, it's clear that Driscoll was on the hat-man's track pretty closely..’
`But, good God, man! You can't seriously suggest that this fellow killed Philip because Philip found out who he was! That's absurd.'
`Quite. But worth looking into. Therefore, what's our obvious move?'
Sir William's hooded eyelids drooped. `I see. Philip was turning in regular, copy to his newspaper. One of his articles appeared to-day, in the morning edition. That means he turned it in last night. And if he went to the office, he may have told his editor something…?'
`Precisely. That's our first line of inquiry. If by any wild chance his agitation to-day was caused by some sort of threat, it would probably have been sent to the office; or at least he might have mentioned it there. It's worth trying.!
'Rubbish,' said Dr Fell. I
`Indeed?' said the chief inspector, with heavy politeness. `Would you mind telling us why?'
The doctor made a capacious gesture. `Hadley, you know your own game, Heaven knows. But you don't know the newspaper business. I, for my sins, do. Did you ever hear the story of the cub reporter whose first assignment was to cover a big Pacifist meeting in the West End? Well, he came back with a doleful face. 'Where's your story?' says thee news editor. 'I couldn't get one,' says the cub; 'there wasn't any meeting.' 'No meeting?' says the news editor. 'Why not?' 'Well,' says' the cub, 'the first speaker had no sooner got started than somebody threw a brick at him. And then Lord Dinwiddie fell through the bass drum, and a fight started all around the platform, and they began hitting each other over the head with the chairs, and when I saw the Black Maria at the door I knew there wouldn't be any more meeting, so I left.''
Dr Fell shook his head sadly. `That's the sort of picture you're drawing, Hadley. Man, don't you see that if Driscoll had found out anything, or particularly been threatened, it would have been NEWS? News in capitals, 'HAT FIEND THREATENS DAILY SOMETHING' MAN.' Certainly he'd have mentioned it at the office. Rest assured you'd have seen it to-day on the first page.'
`He mightn't,' Hadley said, irritably, `if he had been as nervous as he seems to have been.'
`Wait a bit. You're wrong there,' put in Sir William. `Give the boy his due. Whatever he was, he wasn't a coward. His upsets never came because he feared any sort of violence.!
'But he said…'
`That isn't the point, you see,' Dr Fell said, patiently. `To publish anything of the sort couldn't have done any harm. They might say they'd found a vital clue, or that there had been a threat. The first would only warn their victim. The second would have been more publicity, which the hat-fellow wanted in the-first place; look at the way he acts. It would have done no harm, and assuredly it would have helped young Driscoll's job.'
'Suppose he'd actually found out who the man was, though?'
`Why, the newspaper would have communicated with the police,' and Driscoll would have got the credit. Do you seriously think anybody would have been afraid, at the time, of a person who seemed to be a mere genial practical joker?
No, no. You're letting the hat on the corpse run away with your own sense of humour. I'm willing to agree with Sir William's statement the boy wasn't a coward but what was it he did fear? There's a tip. Think it over.'
`I have something to say to you in a moment,' the chief inspector told him. `But, for the moment, let's continue. Have you any suggestions, General?'
General Mason had been smoking glumly. He took the cigar out of his mouth and shook his head.
`None whatever. Except that it's fairly obvious now he was stabbed and not shot with that bolt.'
`Mr Rampole?' Hadley saw that the American was ill at ease, and raised his eyebrows encouragingly. `Any ideas?'
Three pairs of eyes were fixed on him, and he tried to be casual under the scrutiny. This might be the test as to whether he heard anything more of the case after today.
