A CONFERENCE--INTERRUPTED
"The case has narrowed down," said Gatton, "from my point of view,
into the quest of one man--"
"Dr. Damar Greefe!"
"Precisely. You have asked me what I found at Friar's Park and the
Bell House, and I can answer you very briefly. Nothing! The latter
place, had quite obviously been fired in a systematic and deliberate
way. I suspect that the contents of the rooms had been soaked with
petrol. It burned to a shell and then collapsed. At the present moment
it is merely a mound of smoking ashes.
"Of course, the local fire-brigade was hopelessly ill-equipped, but
even with the most up-to-date appliances I doubt if the conflagration
could have been extinguished. The men watching the house were thrown
quite off their guard when flames began to leap out of the windows:
hence, the escape of Damar Greefe."
"You are sure he _did_ escape?"
Gatton stared at me grimly.
"To whom do you suppose you are indebted for the telephone trick?" he
asked. "Besides--Blythe, the fool, actually heard the car at the
moment that it came out on to the highroad! Oh, they bungled the
thing villainously. My Marathon feat saved your life, Mr. Addison, but
it looks like losing me the case! We have the Hawkins couple. But,
although a graceless pair, they were more dupes than knaves. I am
convinced, personally, that neither of them suspected that Lady
Burnham Coverly was dead. Damar Greefe had represented to them that
she had lost her reason."
"Good heavens! what a scheme!"
"What a scheme, indeed. Hawkins seems to have considered that his
duty--which was merely to keep intruders out of the park--was dictated
by necessity. He thought that if Lady Coverly's real condition became
known she would be removed to a madhouse! He also thought that a
_nurse_ was in attendance."
"A nurse!"
"Yes. He assured me that he had heard and seen her! Mrs. Hawkins also
was certain on the point. Neither of them were ever allowed in the
house, by the way. But Damar Greefe paid them well--and they were
satisfied. The identity of the 'nurse' is evident, I think?"
"Perfectly evident. But how was poor Lady Coverly disposed of--and why
this elaborate secrecy?"
"Well," replied Gatton slowly--"out of the multitude of notes which I
have compiled upon the case, I have worked out a sort of summary, and
it amounts to this: The whole series of outrages turns upon something
in the financial arrangements of the late Sir Burnham of benefit to
the Eurasian doctor. It may be that Damar Greefe had some secret
locked up in the Bell House which he could not very well remove, and
that the greatest peril he feared was the taking over of the Park
property by an heir. I assume he had complete authority over the late
Lady Burnham; and his object in concealing her death (for our
investigations at Friar's Park have definitely established the fact
that no one had resided there for twelve months at least) was clearly
this: he hoped to carry on the pretense of attending upon the invalid
until--"
"Until there was no heir to the property remaining alive!" I
interrupted excitedly. "Exactly, Gatton! That is my own theory, too!
"We have now received," continued the Inspector, "some particulars
concerning the circumstances of Roger Coverly's death in Basle. Whilst
there was no direct evidence of foul play (and at that time at any
rate no reason to suspect it) I am convinced that the local physician
who attended him at the hotel and the specialist who was sent for
post-haste from Zurich were by no means agreed as to the cause of
death.
"The symptoms were apparently not unlike those which would be caused
by a snake-bite, for instance; but naturally one does not look for
poisonous snakes in Switzerland. There was some sort of inflammation
of the skin apparently"--he consulted a page of his note-book--"which
might have been eczema or something similar, of course, but which
according to medical evidence had no apparent connection with the
cause of his death. This was given in the certificate simply as
syncope--although there did not appear to be any hereditary cardiac
trouble or anything of the kind to account for a young fellow of that
age dying suddenly of heart failure. And there had been nothing in his
life during his sojourn at Basle which would help to clear up the
mystery.
"However, no doubt seems to have arisen at the time, as you can well
understand; nevertheless, I, personally, count the death of Roger
Coverly as the first of the outrages to be laid to the credit of Dr.
Damar Greefe!"
"The object of the whole thing is still completely dark to me," I
declared.
"In a sense it is dark to _me_," replied Gatton; "but considering that
the boy died at a time when the health of his father, Sir Burnham, was
already giving cause for anxiety, I maintain that he was removed
because his inheritance of Friar's Park was feared--by some one. The
invitation from Dr. Damar Greefe to Sir Marcus is a very significant
piece of evidence, of course; and when we consider that it reached Sir
Marcus within a very short time of his return from Russia, the
conclusion is obvious.
"He inherited the title on the death of Sir Burnham, whilst he was on
service in Archangel. Being in Russia, I conclude that he was not
accessible from the Eurasian doctor's point of view. Directly he
_became_ accessible, this invitation arrived; and it is perfectly
clear that the fate intended for him was that which so nearly befell
yourself! Remember, I have seen the gun mounted on the tower of
Friar's Park and I assure you it was not placed there yesterday. In
short, I have no doubt that it was put there in anticipation of Sir
Marcus's visit and only employed in your case as a sort of
afterthought.
"The Red House plot was the next move on the part of the Eurasian, and
it succeeded almost faultlessly. The accident at the docks prevented
the scheme being carried out in all its details, but it did not
entirely dislocate the murderer's arrangements, for it left us with no
better clew to his identity than the statuette of the cat."
"The presence of that statuette calls for some explanation, Gatton," I
said.
Gatton very carefully lighted his pipe.
"That is true," he admitted, "but I will come to this side of the case
later; at present I am summing up the evidence against Damar
Greefe--who is certainly the acting partner in this series of outrages
against the members of the house of Coverly. Observe the ingenuity of
the Red House plot.
"He hoped by this not only to bring about the death of Sir Marcus, but
also, by conviction for his murder, the death of the next heir, Mr.
Eric Coverly! In fact, so well was his plan conducted, that even
now--although we know poor Sir Eric to have been innocent--you will
note that he has been unable to establish an alibi even by a full
confession of his movements on the night of the crime! In other words,
if he had not fallen a victim to the precipitancy of his enemies,
to-day his name would be under as black a cloud as ever. It was with
the idea of clearing him that I caused those paragraphs to be
distributed to the press, in which I anticipated the existence of
such a confession as he had actually made--but, I may add, of one more
convincing than that which we heard Miss Merlin read."
"Do you mean, Gatton," I said, looking hard at him, "that by
professing to have established the innocence of Eric Coverly, you
hoped to draw down upon him the renewed activities of his enemies?"
Gatton looked rather guilty, but:
"I do admit it!" he said. "Nevertheless he did not fall a victim to
this trap which I had laid for him in his own best interests. After
all, you must admit that his death was an accident; for he suffered
the penalty of your misdeeds."
"My misdeeds!" I cried.
Gatton smiled grimly.
"I say misdeeds," he continued--"although they were not conscious on
your part. But it is fairly evident, I think, that whereas the unknown
partner of Dr. Damar Greefe was an active enemy of the Coverlys
(witness the evidence of 'the voice' and of the cat statuette), it is
to Dr. Damar Greefe _himself_ that you are indebted for the three
attempts on your life; the first two at Upper Crossleys and the third
here in your own home by the simple but deadly expedient of
substituting for your own 'phone the duplicate one which previously
had been employed so successfully at the Red House! He hoped to remove
a dangerous obstacle from his path and a menace to his safety."
"But, my dear Gatton, why should he regard _me_ as a menace more
deadly than you, for instance?"
"The reason is very plain," answered Gatton. "I don't think he paid
you the compliment of regarding your investigations as likely to prove
more successful than my own, but I do think that he apprehended danger
from the indiscretions of his lady accomplice."
"Do you refer to the woman who visited me at the Abbey Inn?"
"I do," said Gatton shortly, "and to the woman who visited you here
and stole the statuette of Bâst! The history of Edward Hines and his
predecessor, which you have so admirably summarized, points to the
presence in the Upper Crossleys neighborhood of such a character as we
have been seeking ever since your experience here (I refer to the
cat-eyes which looked in through the window)."
"I begin to see, Gatton," I said slowly.
"With what object this unknown woman visited you at the Abbey Inn I
cannot conjecture, but doubtless this would have been revealed had not
her visit been interrupted and terminated by the appearance of the
Eurasian doctor upon the scene. From your own account she recognized
that she had committed an indiscretion by coming there, and of the
doctor's anger--- which he was quite unable to conceal--you have told
me. Note also that the next episode was your being followed by Cassim,
the Nubian, undoubtedly with murderous intent. Then, recognizing that
he had hopelessly compromised himself, the Eurasian took desperate
means to silence you for ever."
"He did," I said, "and came very near to succeeding. But to return,
Gatton, to this problem of the image of Bâst. You see, the figure of
a cat was painted upon the case in which Sir Marcus's body was found
and the image of a cat was discovered inside the case. Then, you will
not have overlooked the significance of the fact that Edward Hines was
the recipient of a present from his unknown friend which also took the
form of a gold figure of a cat, and which I found, when I examined it,
to be of ancient Egyptian workmanship."
"Right!" said Gatton, and emphatically bringing his open hand down
upon the table: "I said at the very beginning of the case, Mr.
Addison, that it turned upon the history of this Egyptian goddess, and
I think my theory has been substantiated at every point."
"It has, Inspector," I agreed; "but I don't know that the fact
enlightens us very much; for it merely indicates that the man whom you
declare to be the central figure of the conspiracy is only a secondary
figure, and that all we know about the person whom we may regard as
the prime mover is that she is a woman--apparently possessing
supernormal eyes which glitter in the dark. She is also associated in
some way with the figure of Bâst. What is her relation to Dr. Damar
Greefe and in what way is she interested in the destruction of the
Coverly family?"
Gatton smoked in silence for a while, staring at me reflectively,
then:
"If we knew that, Mr. Addison," he said, "we should know all there is
to know about 'the _Oritoga_ mystery.' But I think we should have
advanced a long step towards this information if we could apprehend
the Eurasian. Of course we have gathered up all the ragged details of
the Red House incident: I refer to the carter who delivered the crate
and collected it in the morning, of the caterer who supplied the
supper and so forth. As I had fully expected, none of the evidence
helped us at all."
"'The voice,'" I began.
"Exactly! The same 'voice' beyond a doubt, and the whole thing worked
through the means of district messengers and others, telephonically
instructed. No one appeared throughout, Mr. Addison."
"Yet," I said deliberately, "there was one point at which some one
_must_ have appeared--"
"Yes," he interrupted, "some one dragged the body out of that
supper-room, down to the garage, and packed it in the crate."
"You have definitely convinced yourself that the telephone device was
practiced there?"
"Beyond question. Haven't you seen the exchange number? That plug
where at some time a gas-fitting had been fixed up in the wall--you
remember?--proved on investigation to communicate with an empty room
adjoining. The gas cylinder was placed there of course, and the
telephone in the recess of the supper-room, where, fastened in by the
velvet curtain, any one using the poison installation would be
suffocated almost immediately."
"Good God, Gatton!" I cried. "It's a horrible business, and for my own
part I have no idea what the next step should be."
"I'm a bit doubtful, myself," admitted Gatton; "but you know the line
of reasoning which has led me to the conclusion that these people
possess a base of operations somewhere in this district. I am having
the neighborhood scoured pretty thoroughly, and I think it is merely a
question of time, now, for us to hem in the wanted man--"
"And the wanted woman!" I added.
We were interrupted by a knock at the study door, and Coates came in
with the evening mail.
"Excuse me, Gatton," I said--for I had observed that one of the
letters was from Isobel.
Eagerly I tore open the envelope ... and what I read struck a sudden
chill to my heart. Looking up:
"Gatton!" I cried--"Miss Merlin has received, by post, a small
statuette of Bâst!"
"What!"
"From her brief description I am almost tempted to believe that it is
the one which was stolen from here! She is dreadfully frightened,
naturally."
The Inspector stood up.
"We must see it," he said rapidly, "at once; and we must see the
wrapping it came in and the postmark. It is maddening," he burst out
angrily, "to think that Dr. Damar Greefe may be somewhere within less
than half a mile of us as we sit here now, that we could ring him up
if we knew his number; but that even with all the resources of the
Criminal Investigation Department at work we may yet be unable to find
him! Even an outside suburb like this is a very big place to search
and the job is something like looking for a needle in a haystack!"
My own frame of mind was one of horrible doubt and indecision. I knew
not what to do for the best; and Gatton had begun to pace up and down
like a caged wild beast. Therefore:
"Fill your pipe," I said wearily. "A lot may depend upon our next
move. To make a false one would perhaps be fatal."
Gatton stared at me almost savagely, then threw himself back into the
armchair from which he had arisen, and was just reaching out for the
tobacco-jar which I had pushed before him, when a bell rang. I heard
Coates opening the front door, and wondering whom this late visitor
could be, I stared questioningly at the Inspector.
Came a tap upon the door.
"Come in," I cried.
Coates entered, and standing stiffly in the doorway:
"_Dr. Damar Greefe_!" he announced.
Unmoved, he stood aside; and whilst Gatton and I slowly rose from our
chairs in a state of utter stupefaction, the Eurasian doctor entered,
and stood, a tall, gaunt figure, towering over the burly form of
Coates in the doorway!
His hawk eyes blazed feverishly and his face was drawn and haggard,
whilst I observed with a sort of horrified wonder that he seemed to be
almost too weak to stand. For, as Gatton and I came finally to our
feet, he clutched at the edge of a bookcase, but recovered himself,
bowed in that stately fashion which immediately translated me in
spirit to the strange library in the Bell House, and:
"Gentlemen," he said, and his harsh voice rose scarcely above a
whisper--"pray resume your seats. I shall not detain you long."