"I believe you are the inspector on duty here?"
"Yes, I am. Will you kindly tell me your name and address?"
I did so, and the scratching of a quill told me that he was about to
take down my statement.
"Well?" he inquired at length. "Please go on, for my time is limited.
What's the nature of the affair?"
"I've been present to-night in a house where a double murder has been
committed," I said.
"Where?"
"Ah! That's unfortunately just the mystery which I cannot solve. Being
blind, I could obtain no idea of the exterior of the place, and in my
excitement I left it without properly marking the house."
"Tell me the whole of the facts," observed the officer. "Who are the
victims?"
"A woman and a man."
"Young or old?"
"Both young, as far as I can judge. At any rate, I examined the body of
the man and found him to be about twenty-eight."
"The gentleman has no idea of the street where the tragedy has
occurred," chimed in the constable. "He met me outside the Museum, and
the blood on his clothes was still wet."
"He's got an injury to the head," remarked the inspector.
"I was knocked down and rendered insensible by a cab," I explained.
"When I again became conscious I found myself in a strange house."
"They didn't rob you?"
I felt in my pockets, but I could not discover that I had lost anything.
I remembered that I had only a couple of half-sovereigns and some loose
silver upon me, and this remained still in my pocket. My fingers
touched the stud and pencil-case, and I hesitated whether to give these
up to the police. But next second the thought flashed through my mind
that if I did, suspicion might be aroused against me, and further that
while I kept them in my possession I should possess a secret clue to the
victims of the terrible tragedy.
After I had fully explained the whole circumstances, and the inspector
had written down with infinite care each word of my remarkable
statement, he said--
"It seems as though both the man and woman fell victims to some plot or
other. You say that there were no high words, and that all you heard
was a woman's shriek, and a man's voice say, `Why, you've killed her!'
Now, have you any idea of the identity of that man?"
"None whatsoever," I answered. "My mind is a perfect blank on
everything, save the personal appearance of the man who was afterwards
struck to the heart."
"Exactly. But don't you think that the man who expressed horror at the
first crime fell the victim of the second?"
"Ah! I never thought of that!" I said. "Of course, it seems most
likely."
"Certainly. The second crime was committed undoubtedly in order to
conceal the first."
"Then how extraordinary it is that I was spared."
"There was a motive, I believe, for that. We shall no doubt find that
later."
"You will communicate with Scotland Yard, I suppose," I remarked.
"Perhaps we shall; perhaps not," answered the inspector, vaguely. "The
affair must, of course, be fully investigated. Have you anything to
add? You say that some woman treated you kindly. Have you any idea of
her personal appearance?"
"None," I answered. "The only fact I know was that she was in evening
dress, and that upon her wrist was a curious smooth-worn bangle of a
kind of fine plaited wire, very pliable, like those worn by African
native women."
"Eh! What--impossible!" gasped the inspector, in a voice which
surprised me. But next moment he recovered his self-possession and made
a calm remark that this fact did not lead to anything definite. Yet the
sudden exclamation of startled surprise which escaped him aroused within
me a belief that my words had given him some mysterious clue.
"You have no further statement to make?"
"None," I responded.
There was a few moments' silence during which time the quill continued
its rapid scratching.
"You will kindly sign your information," the officer said, whereupon the
constable brought me the sheet of foolscap and a pen wherewith I
scrawled my name.
"Good," observed the inspector, with a grunt of satisfaction. "And now
I must ask you to excuse me further, Mr--Mr Heaton, and wish you good
morning."
I made my adieu, after obtaining from him a promise to communicate with
me if anything transpired, and, accompanied by the constable, made my
way out into the long passage again.
I had not walked a dozen paces ere I knew instinctively that some
persons were near me, and next instant felt myself seized roughly by
both arms and legs.
"What are you doing?" I shouted in alarm; "let me go!"
But only for an instant I struggled. The force used was utterly
irresistible, and not a single word was uttered. My arms were in a
moment pinioned, rendering me helpless as a child. With my terrible
affliction upon me, I could neither defend myself nor could I see my
assailants. Whoever the latter were, it was evident that they were
determined, and, further, that I had been cleverly entrapped.
My first thought was that I had been arrested, but ere the lapse of a
few moments the hideous truth became impressed forcibly upon me.
I tried to fight for life, but my wrists had been seized in grips of
steel, and after a few desperate wrenches I stood, bound, and utterly
unconscious of where I was.
My real position was, to a certain degree, plain. The man whom I had
believed to be a constable was no police-officer at all, but some thief
or London ruffian; I, far too confiding, had neglected to take the
precaution of feeling his uniform.
A shrewd suspicion overcame me that this trap had been purposely laid
for me. The man who had posed as a police inspector had obtained from
me a signed declaration of the remarkable occurrence, for what reason I
knew not. Did they now intend to silence me for ever? The thought
struck a deep and terrible dread within my heart.
To my demands to know where I was, no response was given.
Indistinct whisperings sounded about me, and by the liquid "s's" of one
person I felt convinced that a woman was present.
Little time, however, was I given in which to distinguish my
surroundings, for two persons gripped my bound arms and drew me roughly
through a narrow door, across an uneven floor, and thence down a long,
crooked flight of stone steps.
From below came up a dank, mouldy smell, as of some chamber long
unopened, and suddenly there broke upon my quick ears the wash of water.
In that moment of mental agony the truth was rendered plain. I was not
in a police-station, as I believed, but in some house beside the Thames,
and, moreover, I was descending to the water--going to my death.
Once again, as a last effort, I struggled and fought with the fierce
desperation begotten of terror, but in a moment the strong hands that
held me pushed me violently forward, and I then felt myself falling
helplessly from some dizzy height. My head reeled, and weakened as I
already was, all knowledge of things became blotted out.
The touch of a cool, sympathetic hand upon my brow was the first thing I
subsequently remembered. My arms had apparently been freed, and with a
quick movement I grasped the hand. It was a woman's.
Was I dreaming?
I stretched forth my left hand to obtain some idea of my surroundings,
and found myself lying upon an uneven stone flooring that seemed covered
with the evil-smelling slime of the river.
With my right hand I touched a woman's firm, well-moulded arm, and to my
amazement my eager fingers came into contact with a bangle. I felt it.
The hand, the arm, the bangle, the perfume of _peau d'Espagne_, all were
the same as those of the woman who had pitied me in my helplessness, and
had so tenderly cared for me in that mysterious, unknown house, wherein
the tragedy had afterwards occurred.
At first I lay speechless in wonderment, but when I found tongue I
spoke, imploring her to make explanation. I heard her sigh deeply, but
to all my inquiries she remained dumb.