MURDER
Jack Tarling lay stretched upon his hard bed, a long cigarette-holder
between his teeth, a book on Chinese metaphysics balanced on his chest,
at peace with the world. The hour was eight o'clock, and it was the day
that Sam Stay had been released from gaol.
It had been a busy day for Tarling, for he was engaged in a bank fraud
case which would have occupied the whole of his time had he not had a
little private business to attend to. This private matter was wholly
unprofitable, but his curiosity had been piqued.
He lay the book flat on his chest as the soft click of the opening door
announced the coming of his retainer. The impassive Ling Chu came
noiselessly into the room, carrying a tray, which he placed upon a low
table by the side of his master's bed. The Chinaman wore a blue silk
pyjama suit--a fact which Tarling noticed.
"You are not going out to-night then, Ling Chu?"
"No, Lieh Jen," said the man.
They both spoke in the soft, sibilant patois of Shantung.
"You have been to the Man with the Cunning Face?"
For answer the other took an envelope from an inside pocket and laid it
in the other's hand. Tarling glanced at the address.
"So this is where the young lady lives, eh? Miss Odette Rider, 27,
Carrymore Buildings, Edgware Road."
"It is a clan house, where many people live," said Ling Chu. "I myself
went, in your honourable service, and saw people coming in and going out
interminably, and never the same people did I see twice."
"It is what they call in English a 'flat building,' Ling," said Tarling
with a little smile. "What did the Man with the Cunning Face say to my
letter?"
"Master, he said nothing. He just read and read, and then he made a face
like this." Ling gave an imitation of Mr. Milburgh's smile. "And then he
wrote as you see."
Tarling nodded. He stared for a moment into vacancy, then he turned on
his elbow and lifted the cup of tea which his servant had brought him.
"What of Face-White-and-Weak Man, Ling?" he asked in the vernacular. "You
saw him?"
"I saw him, master," said the Chinaman gravely. "He is a man without a
heaven."
Again Tarling nodded. The Chinese use the word "heaven" instead of "God,"
and he felt that Ling had very accurately sized up Mr. Thornton Lyne's
lack of spiritual qualities.
He finished the tea, and swung his legs over the edge of the bed.
"Ling," he said, "this place is very dull and sad. I do not think I shall
live here."
"Will the master go back to Shanghai?" asked the other, without any
display of emotion.
"I think so," nodded Tarling. "At any rate, this place is too dull. Just
miserable little taking-money-easily cases, and wife-husband-lover cases
and my soul is sick."
"These are small matters," said Ling philosophically. "But The
Master"--this time he spoke of the great Master, Confucius--"has said
that all greatness comes from small things, and perhaps some small-piece
man will cut off the head of some big-piece man, and then they will call
you to find the murderer."
Tarling laughed.
"You're an optimist, Ling," he said. "No, I don't think they'll call me
in for a murder. They don't call in private detectives in this country."
Ling shook his head.
"But the master must find murderers, or he will no longer be Lieh Jen,
the Hunter of Men."
"You're a bloodthirsty soul, Ling," said Tarling, this time in English,
which Ling imperfectly understood, despite the sustained efforts of
eminent missionary schools. "Now I'll go out," he said with sudden
resolution. "I am going to call upon the small-piece woman whom
White-Face desires."
"May I come with you?" asked Ling.
Tarling hesitated.
"Yes, you may come," he said, "but you must trail me."
Carrymore Mansions is a great block of buildings sandwiched between two
more aristocratic and more expensive blocks of flats in the Edgware Road.
The ground floor is given up to lock-up shops which perhaps cheapened the
building, but still it was a sufficiently exclusive habitation for the
rents, as Tarling guessed, to be a little too high for a shop assistant,
unless she were living with her family. The explanation, as he was to
discover, lay in the fact that there were some very undesirable basement
flats which were let at a lower rental.
He found himself standing outside the polished mahogany door of one of
these, wondering exactly what excuse he was going to give to the girl for
making a call so late at night. And that she needed some explanation was
clear from the frank suspicion which showed in her face when she opened
the door to him.
"Yes, I am Miss Rider," she said.
"Can I see you for a few moments?"
"I'm sorry," she said, shaking her head, "but I am alone in the flat, so
I can't ask you to come in."
This was a bad beginning.
"Is it not possible for you to come out?" he asked anxiously, and in
spite of herself, she smiled.
"I'm afraid it's quite impossible for me to go out with somebody I have
never met before," she said, with just a trace of amusement in her eyes.
"I recognise the difficulty," laughed Tailing. "Here is one of my cards.
I'm afraid I am not very famous in this country, so you will not know
my name."
She took the card and read it.
"A private detective?" she said in a troubled voice. "Who has sent you?
Not Mr.----"
"Not Mr. Lyne," he said.
She hesitated a moment, then threw open the door wider.
"You must come in. We can talk here in the hall. Do I understand Mr. Lyne
has not sent you?"
"Mr. Lyne was very anxious that I should come," he said. "I am betraying
his confidence, but I do not think that he has any claim upon my loyalty.
I don't know why I've bothered you at all, except that I feel that you
ought to be put on your guard."
"Against what?" she asked.
"Against the machinations of a gentleman to whom you have been----" he
hesitated for a word.
"Very offensive," she finished for him.
"I don't know how offensive you've been," he laughed, "but I gather you
have annoyed Mr. Lyne for some reason or other, and that he is determined
to annoy you. I do not ask your confidence in this respect, because I
realise that you would hardly like to tell me. But what I want to tell
you is this, that Mr. Lyne is probably framing up a charge against
you--that is to say, inventing a charge of theft."
"Of theft?" she cried in indignant amazement. "Against me? Of theft? It's
impossible that he could be so wicked!"
"It's not impossible that anybody could be wicked," said Tarling of the
impassive face and the laughing eyes. "All that I know is that he even
induced Mr. Milburgh to say that complaints have been made by Milburgh
concerning thefts of money from your department."
"That's absolutely impossible!" she cried emphatically. "Mr. Milburgh
would never say such a thing. Absolutely impossible!"
"Mr. Milburgh didn't want to say such a thing, I give him credit for
that," said Tarling slowly, and then gave the gist of the argument,
omitting any reference, direct or indirect, to the suspicion which
surrounded Milburgh.
"So you see," he said in conclusion, "that you ought to be on your guard.
I suggest to you that you see a solicitor and put the matter in his
hands. You need not move against Mr. Lyne, but it would strengthen your
position tremendously if you had already detailed the scheme to some
person in authority."
"Thank you very, very much, Mr. Tarling," she said warmly, and looked up
into his face with a smile so sweet, so pathetic, so helpless, that
Tarling's heart melted towards her.
"And if you don't want a solicitor," he said, "you can depend upon me.
I will help you if any trouble arises."
"You don't know how grateful I am to you, Mr. Tarling, I didn't receive
you very graciously!"
"If you will forgive my saying so, you would have been a fool to have
received me in any other way," he said.
She held out both hands to him: he took them, and there were tears in her
eyes. Presently she composed herself, and led him into her little
drawing-room.
"Of course, I've lost my job," she laughed, "but I've had several offers,
one of which I shall accept. I am going to have the rest of the week to
myself and to take a holiday."
Tarling stopped her with a gesture. His ears were superhumanly sensitive.
"Are you expecting a visitor?" he asked softly.
"No," said the girl in surprise.
"Do you share this flat with somebody?"
"I have a woman who sleeps here," she said. "She is out for the evening."
"Has she a key?"
The girl shook her head.
The man rose, and Odette marvelled how one so tall could move so swiftly,
and without so much as a sound, across the uncarpeted hallway. He
reached the door, turned the knob of the patent lock and jerked it open.
A man was standing on the mat and he jumped back at the unexpectedness
of Tarling's appearance. The stranger was a cadaverous-looking man, in a
brand-new suit of clothes, evidently ready-made, but he still wore
on his face the curious yellow tinge which is the special mark of the
recently liberated gaol-bird.
"Beg pardon," he stammered, "but is this No. 87?"
Tarling shot out a hand, and gripping him by the coat, drew the helpless
man towards him.
"Hullo, what are you trying to do? What's this you have?"
He wrenched something from the man's hand. It was not a key but a
flat-toothed instrument of strange construction.
"Come in," said Tarling, and jerked his prisoner into the hall.
A swift turning back of his prisoner's coat pinioned him, and then with
dexterousness and in silence he proceeded to search. From two pockets he
took a dozen jewelled rings, each bearing the tiny tag of Lyne's Store.
"Hullo!" said Tarling sarcastically, "are these intended as a loving gift
from Mr. Lyne to Miss Rider?"
The man was speechless with rage. If looks could kill, Tarling would have
died.
"A clumsy trick," said Tarling, shaking his head mournfully. "Now go back
to your boss, Mr. Thornton Lyne, and tell him that I am ashamed of an
intelligent man adopting so crude a method," and with a kick he dismissed
Sam Stay to the outer darkness.
The girl, who had been a frightened spectator of the scene, turned her
eyes imploringly upon the detective.
"What does it mean?" she pleaded. "I feel so frightened. What did that
man want?"
"You need not be afraid of that man, or any other man," said Tarling
briskly. "I'm sorry you were scared."
He succeeded in calming her by the time her servant had returned and then
took his leave.
"Remember, I have given you my telephone number and you will call me up
if there is any trouble. Particularly," he said emphatically, "if there
is any trouble to-morrow."
But there was no trouble on the following day, though at three o'clock in
the afternoon she called him up.
"I am going away to stay in the country," she said. "I got scared last
night."
"Come and see me when you get back," said Tarling, who had found it
difficult to dismiss the girl from his mind. "I am going to see Lyne
to-morrow. By the way, the person who called last night is a protégé of
Mr. Thornton Lyne's, a man who is devoted to him body and soul, and
he's the fellow we've got to look after. By Jove! It almost gives me an
interest in life!"
He heard the faint laugh of the girl.
"Must I be butchered to make a detective's holiday?" she mocked, and he
grinned sympathetically.
"Any way, I'll see Lyne to-morrow," he said.
The interview which Jack Tarling projected was destined never to take
place.
On the following morning, an early worker taking a short cut through Hyde
Park, found the body of a man lying by the side of a carriage drive. He
was fully dressed save that his coat and waistcoat had been removed.
Wound about his body was a woman's silk night-dress stained with blood.
The hands of the figure were crossed on the breast and upon them lay a
handful of daffodils.
At eleven o'clock that morning the evening newspapers burst forth with
the intelligence that the body had been identified as that of Thornton
Lyne, and that he had been shot through the heart.