PARTICIPANTS IN THE SECRET
Allerdyke was scarcely prepared for the feverish energy with which
Fullaway dragged him out of the hotel, forced him into the first taxi-cab
they met, and bade the driver make haste to the Waldorf. He knew by that
time that the American was a nervous, excitable individual who now and
then took on tremendous fits of work in which he hustled and bustled
everybody around him, but he had never seen him quite so excited and
eager as now. The discovery at that shabby hotel which they had just
quitted seemed to have acted on him like the smell of powder on an old
war-horse; he appeared to be positively panting for action.
"Allerdyke!" he almost shouted as the cab moved away, and he himself
smote one clenched fist upon the other. "Allerdyke--this thing has got to
go through! I resign all claim to that reward. Allerdyke!--this affair is
too serious for any hole-and-corner work. I shall tell Van Koon that what
we know, or fancy, must be thrown into the common stock of knowledge! The
thing is to get at the people who've been behind this poor chap Ebers, or
Federman, or Herman, or whatever his name is. Allerdyke!--we must go
right into things."
Allerdyke laughed sardonically. When Fullaway developed excitement, he
developed coolness, and his voice became as dry and hard as the other's
was fervid and eloquent.
"Aye!" he said in his most phlegmatic tones. "Aye, just so! And where
d'ye intend to cut in, now, like? Is it a sort of Gordian knot affair
that you're thinking of? Going to solve this difficulty at one blow?"
"Don't be sarcastic," retorted Fullaway. "I'm going to take things clean
up from this Federman or Ebers affair. I'm going deep--deep! You'll see
in a few minutes."
"Willing to see--and to hear--aught," remarked Allerdyke laconically.
"I've been doing naught else since I got that wireless telegram."
Then they relapsed into silence until the Waldorf was reached.
There Fullaway raced his companion upstairs to his rooms and burst
in upon Mrs. Marlow like a whirlwind. The pretty secretary, busied
with her typewriter, looked up, glanced at both men, and calmly
resumed her labours.
"Mrs. Marlow!" exclaimed Fullaway. "Just step to Mr. Van Koon's rooms
and beg him to come back here to my sitting-room with you--important
business, Mrs. Marlow--I want you, too."
Allerdyke, closely watching the woman around whom so much mystery
centred, saw that she did not move so much as an eyelash. She laid her
work aside, left the room, and within a minute returned with Van Koon,
who gazed at Fullaway with an air of half-amused inquiry.
"Something happened?" he asked, nodding to Allerdyke. "Town on fire?"
"Van Koon, sit down," commanded Fullaway, pushing his compatriot into the
inner room. "Mrs. Marlow, fasten that outer door and come in here. We're
going to have a stiff conference. Sit down, please, all of you. Now," he
went on, when the other three had ranged themselves about the centre
table, "There is news, Van Koon. Allerdyke and I have just come away from
an hotel in the Docks where we've seen the dead body of a young man who's
been found dead there under precisely similar circumstances to those
which attended the death of the French maid in Eastbourne Terrace. We've
also heard a description of a man who was at this hotel in the Docks last
night--it corresponds to that of the fellow who accompanied Lisette
Beaurepaire. I, personally, have no doubt that this man, whoever he is,
is the murderer of Lisette and of this youngster whose body we've just
seen. Mrs. Marlow, this dead young fellow, from whose death-chamber we've
just come, is that valet I used to have here--Ebers. You remember him?"
"Sure!" answered Mrs. Marlow, quite calmly and unconcernedly. "Very
well indeed."
"This Ebers," continued Fullaway, turning to Van Koon, "was a young
fellow, Swiss, German, something of that sort, who acted as valet to me
and to some other men here in this hotel for a time. I needn't go into
too many details now, but there's no doubt that he knew, and was in touch
with, Lisette Beaurepaire, and Miss Lennard positively identifies him as
the man who met her and Lisette at Hull, and represented himself as
Lisette's brother. Now then, Ebers--we'll stick to that name for the sake
of clearness--was in and out of my rooms a good deal, of course. And
what I want to know now, Mrs. Marlow, is--do you think he got access to
our letters, papers, books? Could he find out, for instance, that I was
engaged in this deal between the Princess Nastirsevitch and Mr. Delkin,
and that Miss Lennard had bought the Pinkie Pell pearls? Think!"
Mrs. Marlow had evidently done her thinking; she replied without
hesitation.
"If he did, or could, it would be through your own carelessness,
Mr. Fullaway," she said. "You know that I am ridiculously careful
about that sort of thing! From the time I come here in the
morning--ten-o'clock--until I leave at five, no one has any chance of
seeing our papers, or our letter book, or our telegram-copies book. They
are always on my desk while I am in the office, and when I go downstairs
to lunch I lock them up in the safe. But--you're not careful! How many
times have I come in the morning, and found that you've taken these
things out of the safe over-night and left them lying about for anybody
to see? Dozens of times!"
"I know--I know!" admitted Fullaway with a groan. "I'm frightfully
careless--always was. I quite admit it, Mrs. Marlow, quite!"
"Of course," continued Mrs. Marlow, in precise, even tones, "of course if
you left the letter-book lying round, and the book in which the
duplicates of all our telegrams and cablegrams are kept, too--why, this
Ebers man could easily read what he liked for himself when he was in here
of a morning before you got up. He was in and out a great deal, that's
certain. And as regards those two affairs, the documents we have about
them are pretty plain, Mr. Fullaway. Anybody of average intelligence
could find out in ten minutes from our letter-book and telegram-book that
we negotiated the sale of the Pinkie Pell pearls to Miss Lennard, and
that Mr. James Allerdyke was bringing here a valuable parcel of jewels
from Russia. And," concluded Mrs. Marlow quietly, "from what I saw of
him, Ebers was a smart man."
Van Koon, who had been listening attentively to all this, turned a
half-whimsical, half-reproving glance on Fullaway, who sat in a contrite
attitude, drumming his fingers on the polished table.
"I guess you're a very careless individual, my friend," he said, shaking
his head. "If you will leave your important papers lying about, as this
lady says you're in the habit of doing, what do you expect? Now, you've
been wondering who got wind of this jewel deal, and here's the very proof
that you gave every chance to this Ebers to acquaint himself with it! And
what I'd like to know now, Fullaway, is this--what use do you suppose
this young fellow made of the information he acquired? That seems to me
to be the point."
"Yes!" exclaimed Allerdyke suddenly. "That is the point!"
Fullaway smote the table.
"The thing's obvious!" he cried. "He sold his information to a gang.
There must have been--I mean must be--a gang. It's utterly impossible
that all this could have been worked by one man. The man we've heard of
in connection with the deaths of Lisette Beaurepaire and of Ebers himself
is only one of the combination. I'm as sure of that as I am that I see
you. But--who are they?"
Nobody answered this question. Allerdyke plunged his hands in his pockets
and stared at Fullaway; Mrs. Marlow began to trace imaginary patterns on
the surface of the table; Van Koon produced a penknife and began to
scrape the edges of his filbert nails with a preoccupied air.
"There's the thing I've insisted on all along, Fullaway, you know," he
said at last, finding that no one seemed inclined to speak. "I've
insisted on it, but you've always put it off. I don't care what you
say--it'll have to come to it. Let me suggest it, now, to our friends
here--they're both cute enough, I reckon!"
"Oh, as you please, as you please!" replied Fullaway, with a wave of his
hands. "Say anything you like, Van Koon--it seems as if too much couldn't
be said at this juncture."
"All right," answered Van Koon. He turned to Allerdyke and Mrs. Marlow.
"Ever since this affair was brought under my notice," he said, "I've
pointed out to Fullaway certain features in connection with it.
First--there's no evidence whatever that this plot originated in or was
worked from Russia. Second--there is evidence that it began here in
London and was carried out from London. And following on that second
proposition comes another. Fullaway knew that these jewels were
coming--"
He paused and gave the secretary a keen look. And Allerdyke, watching her
just as keenly, saw her face and eyes as calm and inscrutable as ever; it
was absolutely evident that nothing could move this woman, no chance word
or allusion take her unawares. Van Koon smiled, and leaned nearer.
"But," he said, tapping the table in emphasis of his words, "there was
somebody else who knew of this deal, somebody whose name Fullaway there
steadfastly refuses to bring in. Delkin!"
Fullaway suddenly laughed, throwing up his arms.
"Delkin!" he exclaimed satirically. "A millionaire several times over!
The thing's ridiculous, Van Koon! Delkin would kick me out if I went and
asked him--"
"Delkin will have to be asked," interrupted Van Koon. "You will not face
the facts, Fullaway. Millionaire, multimillionaire, Delkin was the third
person (I'm leaving this valet, Ebers, clean out, though I've not the
slightest doubt he was one of the pieces of the machine) who knew that
James Allerdyke was bringing two hundred and fifty thousand pounds' worth
of jewels for his, Delkin's approval! That's a fact, Fullaway, which
cannot be got over."
"Psha!" exclaimed Fullaway. "I suppose you think Delkin, who could buy up
the best jeweller's shop in London or Paris and throw its contents to the
street children to play with--"
"What is it that's in your mind, Mr. Van Koon?" asked Allerdyke,
interrupting Fullaway's eloquence. "You've some theory?"
"Well, I don't know about theory," answered Van Koon, "but I guess I've
got some natural common sense. If Fullaway there thinks I'm suggesting
that Delkin organized a grand conspiracy to rob James Allerdyke,
Fullaway's wrong--I'm not. What I am suggesting, and have been suggesting
this last three days, is that Delkin should be asked a plain and simple
question, which is this--did he ever tell anybody of this proposed deal?
If so--whom did he tell? And if that isn't business," concluded Van Koon,
"then I don't know business when I see it!"
"What's your objection?" asked Allerdyke, looking across at Fullaway.
"What objection can you have?"
Fullaway shook his head.
"Oh, I don't know!" he said. "Except that it seems immaterial, and that I
don't want to bother Delkin. I'm hoping that these jewels will be found,
and that I'll be able to complete the transaction, and--besides, I don't
believe for one instant that Delkin would tell anybody. I only had two
interviews with Delkin--one at his hotel, one here. He understood the
affair was an entirely private and secret transaction."
Mrs. Marlow suddenly raised her head, and spoke quickly.
"You're forgetting something, Mr. Fullaway," she said. "You had a letter
from Mr. Delkin confirming the provisional agreement, which was that he
should have the first option of buying the Princess Nastirsevitch's
jewels, then being brought by Mr. James Allerdyke from Russia."
"True--true!" exclaimed Fullaway, clapping a hand to his forehead. "So I
had! I'd forgotten that. But, after all, it was purely a private letter
from Delkin, and--"
"No," interrupted Mrs. Marlow. "It was written and signed by Mr. Delkin's
secretary. So that the secretary knew of the transaction."
Van Koon shook his head and glanced at Allerdyke.
"There you are!" he said. "The secretary knew--Delkin's secretary! How do
we know that Delkin's secretary--?"
"Oh, that's all rot, Van Koon!" exclaimed Fullaway testily.
"Delkin's secretary, Merrifield, has been with him for years to my
knowledge, and--"
But Allerdyke had suddenly risen and was picking up his hat from a side
table. He turned to Fullaway as he put it on.
"I quite agree with Mr. Van Koon," he said, "and as I'm James
Allerdyke's cousin and his executor, I'm going to step round and see
this Mr. Delkin at his hotel--the Cecil, you said. It's no use trifling,
Fullaway--Delkin knew, and Mrs. Marlow now tells us his secretary knew.
All right!--my job is to see, in person, anybody who knew. Then, maybe,
I myself shall get to know."
Van Koon, too, rose.
"I know Delkin, slightly," he said. "I'll go with you."
At that, Fullaway jumped up, evidently annoyed and unwilling, but
prepared to act against his own wishes.
"Oh, all right, all right!" he exclaimed. "In that case we'll all go.
Come on--it's only across the Strand. Back after lunch, Mrs. Marlow, if
anybody wants me."
The three men marched out, and left the pretty secretary standing by the
table from which they had all risen. She stood there for a few minutes in
deep thought--stood until a single stroke from the clock on the
mantelpiece roused her. At that she walked into the outer office, put on
her coat and hat, and, leaving the hotel, went sharply off in the
direction of Arundel Street.