There were several of the larger London banks and insurance offices from
which Hewitt held a sort of general retainer as detective adviser, in
fulfilment of which he was regularly consulted as to the measures to be
taken in different cases of fraud, forgery, theft, and so forth, which
it might be the misfortune of the particular firms to encounter. The
more important and intricate of these cases were placed in his hands
entirely, with separate commissions, in the usual way. One of the most
important companies of the sort was the General Guarantee Society, an
insurance corporation which, among other risks, took those of the
integrity of secretaries, clerks, and cashiers. In the case of a
cash-box elopement on the part of any person guaranteed by the society,
the directors were naturally anxious for a speedy capture of the
culprit, and more especially of the booty, before too much of it was
spent, in order to lighten the claim upon their funds, and in work of
this sort Hewitt was at times engaged, either in general advice and
direction, or in the actual pursuit of the plunder and the plunderer.
Arriving at his office a little later than usual one morning, Hewitt
found an urgent message awaiting him from the General Guarantee Society,
requesting his attention to a robbery which had taken place on the
previous day. He had gleaned some hint of the case from the morning
paper, wherein appeared a short paragraph, which ran thus:--
SERIOUS BANK ROBBERY.--In the course of yesterday a clerk employed
by Messrs. Liddle, Neal & Liddle, the well-known bankers,
disappeared, having in his possession a large sum of money, the
property of his employers--a sum reported to be rather over
L15,000. It would seem that he had been entrusted to collect the
money in his capacity of "walk-clerk" from various other banks and
trading concerns during the morning, but failed to return at the
usual time. A large number of the notes which he received had been
cashed at the Bank of England before suspicion was aroused. We
understand that Detective-Inspector Plummer, of Scotland Yard,
has the case in hand.
The clerk, whose name was Charles William Laker, had, it appeared from
the message, been guaranteed in the usual way by the General Guarantee
Society, and Hewitt's presence at the office was at once desired, in
order that steps might quickly be taken for the man's apprehension, and
in the recovery, at any rate, of as much of the booty as possible.
A smart hansom brought Hewitt to Threadneedle Street in a bare quarter
of an hour, and there a few minutes' talk with the manager, Mr. Lyster,
put him in possession of the main facts of the case, which appeared to
be simple. Charles William Laker was twenty-five years of age, and had
been in the employ of Messrs. Liddle, Neal & Liddle for something more
than seven years--since he left school, in fact--and until the previous
day there had been nothing in his conduct to complain of. His duties as
walk-clerk consisted in making a certain round, beginning at about
half-past ten each morning. There were a certain number of the more
important banks between which and Messrs. Liddle, Neal & Liddle there
were daily transactions, and a few smaller semi-private banks and
merchant firms acting as financial agents, with whom there was business
intercourse of less importance and regularity; and each of these, as
necessary, he visited in turn, collecting cash due on bills and other
instruments of a like nature. He carried a wallet, fastened securely to
his person by a chain, and this wallet contained the bills and the cash.
Usually at the end of his round, when all his bills had been converted
into cash, the wallet held very large sums. His work and
responsibilities, in fine, were those common to walk-clerks in all
banks.
On the day of the robbery he had started out as usual--possibly a little
earlier than was customary--and the bills and other securities in his
possession represented considerably more than L15,000. It had been
ascertained that he had called in the usual way at each establishment on
the round, and had transacted his business at the last place by about a
quarter-past one, being then, without doubt, in possession of cash to
the full value of the bills negotiated. After that, Mr. Lyster said,
yesterday's report was that nothing more had been heard of him. But this
morning there had been a message to the effect that he had been traced
out of the country--to Calais, at least, it was thought. The directors
of the society wished Hewitt to take the case in hand personally and at
once, with a view of recovering what was possible from the plunder by
way of salvage; also, of course, of finding Laker, for it is an
important moral gain to guarantee societies, as an example, if a thief
is caught and punished. Therefore Hewitt and Mr. Lyster, as soon as
might be, made for Messrs. Liddle, Neal & Liddle's, that the
investigation might be begun.
The bank premises were quite near--in Leadenhall Street. Having arrived
there, Hewitt and Mr. Lyster made their way to the firm's private
rooms. As they were passing an outer waiting-room, Hewitt noticed two
women. One, the elder, in widow's weeds, was sitting with her head bowed
in her hand over a small writing-table. Her face was not visible, but
her whole attitude was that of a person overcome with unbearable grief;
and she sobbed quietly. The other was a young woman of twenty-two or
twenty-three. Her thick black veil revealed no more than that her
features were small and regular, and that her face was pale and drawn.
She stood with a hand on the elder woman's shoulder, and she quickly
turned her head away as the two men entered.
Mr. Neal, one of the partners, received them in his own room.
"Good-morning, Mr. Hewitt," he said, when Mr. Lyster had introduced the
detective. "This is a serious business--very. I think I am sorrier for
Laker himself than for anybody else, ourselves included--or, at any
rate, I am sorrier for his mother. She is waiting now to see Mr. Liddle,
as soon as he arrives--Mr. Liddle has known the family for a long time.
Miss Shaw is with her, too, poor girl. She is a governess, or something
of that sort, and I believe she and Laker were engaged to be married.
It's all very sad."
"Inspector Plummer, I understand," Hewitt remarked, "has the affair in
hand, on behalf of the police?"
"Yes," Mr. Neal replied; "in fact, he's here now, going through the
contents of Laker's desk, and so forth; he thinks it possible Laker may
have had accomplices. Will you see him?"
"Presently. Inspector Plummer and I are old friends. We met last, I
think, in the case of the Stanway cameo, some months ago. But, first,
will you tell me how long Laker has been a walk-clerk?"
"Barely four months, although he has been with us altogether seven
years. He was promoted to the walk soon after the beginning of the
year."
"Do you know anything of his habits--what he used to do in his spare
time, and so forth?"
"Not a great deal. He went in for boating, I believe, though I have
heard it whispered that he had one or two more expensive
tastes--expensive, that is, for a young man in his position," Mr. Neal
explained, with a dignified wave of the hand that he peculiarly
affected. He was a stout old gentleman, and the gesture suited him.
"You have had no reason to suspect him of dishonesty before, I take it?"
"Oh, no. He made a wrong return once, I believe, that went for some time
undetected, but it turned out, after all, to be a clerical error--a mere
clerical error."
"Do you know anything of his associates out of the office?"
"No, how should I? I believe Inspector Plummer has been making inquiries
as to that, however, of the other clerks. Here he is, by the bye, I
expect. Come in!"
It was Plummer who had knocked, and he came in at Mr. Neal's call. He
was a middle-sized, small-eyed, impenetrable-looking man, as yet of no
great reputation in the force. Some of my readers may remember his
connection with that case, so long a public mystery, that I have
elsewhere fully set forth and explained under the title of "The Stanway
Cameo Mystery." Plummer carried his billy-cock hat in one hand and a few
papers in the other. He gave Hewitt good-morning, placed his hat on a
chair, and spread the papers on the table.
"There's not a great deal here," he said, "but one thing's plain--Laker
had been betting. See here, and here, and here"--he took a few letters
from the bundle in his hand--"two letters from a bookmaker about
settling--wonder he trusted a clerk--several telegrams from tipsters,
and a letter from some friend--only signed by initials--asking Laker to
put a sovereign on a horse for the friend 'with his own.' I'll keep
these, I think. It may be worth while to see that friend, if we can find
him. Ah, we often find it's betting, don't we, Mr. Hewitt? Meanwhile,
there's no news from France yet."
"You are sure that is where he is gone?" asked Hewitt.
"Well, I'll tell you what we've done as yet. First, of course, I went
round to all the banks. There was nothing to be got from that. The
cashiers all knew him by sight, and one was a personal friend of his. He
had called as usual, said nothing in particular, cashed his bills in the
ordinary way, and finished up at the Eastern Consolidated Bank at about
a quarter-past one. So far there was nothing whatever. But I had started
two or three men meanwhile making inquiries at the railway stations, and
so on. I had scarcely left the Eastern Consolidated when one of them
came after me with news. He had tried Palmer's Tourist Office, although
that seemed an unlikely place, and there struck the track."
"Had he been there?"
"Not only had he been there, but he had taken a tourist ticket for
France. It was quite a smart move, in a way. You see it was the sort of
ticket that lets you do pretty well what you like; you have the choice
of two or three different routes to begin with, and you can break your
journey where you please, and make all sorts of variations. So that a
man with a ticket like that, and a few hours' start, could twist about
on some remote branch route, and strike off in another direction
altogether, with a new ticket, from some out-of-the-way place, while we
were carefully sorting out and inquiring along the different routes he
_might_ have taken. Not half a bad move for a new hand; but he made one
bad mistake, as new hands always do--as old hands do, in fact, very
often. He was fool enough to give his own name, C. Laker! Although that
didn't matter much, as the description was enough to fix him. There he
was, wallet and all, just as he had come from the Eastern Consolidated
Bank. He went straight from there to Palmer's, by the bye, and probably
in a cab. We judge that by the time. He left the Eastern Consolidated at
a quarter-past one, and was at Palmer's by twenty-five-past--ten
minutes. The clerk at Palmer's remembered the time because he was
anxious to get out to his lunch, and kept looking at the clock,
expecting another clerk in to relieve him. Laker didn't take much in the
way of luggage, I fancy. We inquired carefully at the stations, and got
the porters to remember the passengers for whom they had been carrying
luggage, but none appeared to have had any dealings with our man. That,
of course, is as one would expect. He'd take as little as possible with
him, and buy what he wanted on the way, or when he'd reached his
hiding-place. Of course, I wired to Calais (it was a Dover to Calais
route ticket) and sent a couple of smart men off by the 8.15 mail from
Charing Cross. I expect we shall hear from them in the course of the
day. I am being kept in London in view of something expected at
headquarters, or I should have been off myself."
"That is all, then, up to the present? Have you anything else in view?"
"That's all I've absolutely ascertained at present. As for what I'm
going to do"--a slight smile curled Plummer's lip--"well, I shall see.
I've a thing or two in my mind."
Hewitt smiled slightly himself; he recognised Plummer's touch of
professional jealousy. "Very well," he said, rising, "I'll make an
inquiry or two for myself at once. Perhaps, Mr. Neal, you'll allow one
of your clerks to show me the banks, in their regular order, at which
Laker called yesterday. I think I'll begin at the beginning."
Mr. Neal offered to place at Hewitt's disposal anything or anybody the
bank contained, and the conference broke up. As Hewitt, with the clerk,
came through the rooms separating Mr. Neal's sanctum from the outer
office, he fancied he saw the two veiled women leaving by a side door.
The first bank was quite close to Liddle, Neal & Liddle's. There the
cashier who had dealt with Laker the day before remembered nothing in
particular about the interview. Many other walk-clerks had called
during the morning, as they did every morning, and the only
circumstances of the visit that he could say anything definite about
were those recorded in figures in the books. He did not know Laker's
name till Plummer had mentioned it in making inquiries on the previous
afternoon. As far as he could remember, Laker behaved much as usual,
though really he did not notice much; he looked chiefly at the bills. He
described Laker in a way that corresponded with the photograph that
Hewitt had borrowed from the bank; a young man with a brown moustache
and ordinary-looking, fairly regular face, dressing much as other clerks
dressed--tall hat, black cutaway coat, and so on. The numbers of the
notes handed over had already been given to Inspector Plummer, and these
Hewitt did not trouble about.
The next bank was in Cornhill, and here the cashier was a personal
friend of Laker's--at any rate, an acquaintance--and he remembered a
little more. Laker's manner had been quite as usual, he said; certainly
he did not seem preoccupied or excited in his manner. He spoke for a
moment or two--of being on the river on Sunday, and so on--and left in
his usual way.
"Can you remember _everything_ he said?" Hewitt asked. "If you can tell
me, I should like to know exactly what he did and said to the smallest
particular."
"Well, he saw me a little distance off--I was behind there, at one of
the desks--and raised his hand to me, and said, 'How d'ye do?' I came
across and took his bills, and dealt with them in the usual way. He had
a new umbrella lying on the counter--rather a handsome umbrella--and I
made a remark about the handle. He took it up to show me, and told me it
was a present he had just received from a friend. It was a gorse-root
handle, with two silver bands, one with his monogram C.W.L. I said it
was a very nice handle, and asked him whether it was fine in his
district on Sunday. He said he had been up the river, and it was very
fine there. And I think that was all."
"Thank you. Now about this umbrella. Did he carry it rolled? Can you
describe it in detail?"
"Well, I've told you about the handle, and the rest was much as usual, I
think; it wasn't rolled--just flapping loosely, you know. It was rather
an odd-shaped handle, though. I'll try and sketch it, if you like, as
well as I can remember." He did so, and Hewitt saw in the result rough
indications of a gnarled crook, with one silver band near the end, and
another, with the monogram, a few inches down the handle. Hewitt put the
sketch in his pocket, and bade the cashier good-day.
At the next bank the story was the same as at the first--there was
nothing remembered but the usual routine. Hewitt and the clerk turned
down a narrow paved court, and through into Lombard Street for the next
visit. The bank--that of Buller, Clayton, Ladds & Co.--was just at the
corner at the end of the court, and the imposing stone entrance-porch
was being made larger and more imposing still, the way being almost
blocked by ladders and scaffold-poles. Here there was only the usual
tale, and so on through the whole walk. The cashiers knew Laker only by
sight, and that not always very distinctly. The calls of walk-clerks
were such matters of routine that little note was taken of the persons
of the clerks themselves, who were called by the names of their firms,
if they were called by any names at all. Laker had behaved much as
usual, so far as the cashiers could remember, and when finally the
Eastern Consolidated was left behind, nothing more had been learnt than
the chat about Laker's new umbrella.
Hewitt had taken leave of Mr. Neal's clerk, and was stepping into a
hansom, when he noticed a veiled woman in widow's weeds hailing another
hansom a little way behind. He recognised the figure again, and said to
the driver, "Drive fast to Palmer's Tourist Office, but keep your eye on
that cab behind, and tell me presently if it is following us."
The cabman drove off, and after passing one or two turnings, opened the
lid above Hewitt's head, and said, "That there other keb _is_
a-follerin' us, sir, an' keepin' about even distance all along."
"All right; that's what I wanted to know. Palmer's now."
At Palmer's the clerk who had attended to Laker remembered him very
well, and described him. He also remembered the wallet, and _thought_ he
remembered the umbrella--was practically sure of it, in fact, upon
reflection. He had no record of the name given, but remembered it
distinctly to be Laker. As a matter of fact, names were never asked in
such a transaction, but in this case Laker appeared to be ignorant of
the usual procedure, as well as in a great hurry, and asked for the
ticket and gave his name all in one breath, probably assuming that the
name would be required.
Hewitt got back to his cab, and started for Charing Cross. The cabman
once more lifted the lid and informed him that the hansom with the
veiled woman in it was again following, having waited while Hewitt had
visited Palmer's. At Charing Cross Hewitt discharged his cab and walked
straight to the lost property office. The man in charge knew him very
well, for his business had carried him there frequently before.
"I fancy an umbrella was lost in the station yesterday," Hewitt said.
"It was a new umbrella, silk, with a gnarled gorse-root handle and two
silver bands, something like this sketch. There was a monogram on the
lower band--'C. W. L.' were the letters. Has it been brought here?"
"There was two or three yesterday," the man said; "let's see." He took
the sketch and retired to a corner of his room. "Oh, yes--here it is, I
think; isn't this it? Do you claim it?"
"Well, not exactly that, but I think I'll take a look at it, if you'll
let me. By the way, I see it's rolled up. Was it found like that?"
"No; the chap rolled it up what found it--porter he was. It's a fad of
his, rolling up umbrellas close and neat, and he's rather proud of it.
He often looks as though he'd like to take a man's umbrella away and
roll it up for him when it's a bit clumsy done. Rum fad, eh?"
"Yes; everybody has his little fad, though. Where was this found--close
by here?"
"Yes, sir; just there, almost opposite this window, in the little
corner."
"About two o'clock?"
"Ah, about that time, more or less."
Hewitt took the umbrella up, unfastened the band, and shook the silk out
loose. Then he opened it, and as he did so a small scrap of paper fell
from inside it. Hewitt pounced on it like lightning. Then, after
examining the umbrella thoroughly, inside and out, he handed it back to
the man, who had not observed the incident of the scrap of paper.
"That will do, thanks," he said. "I only wanted to take a peep at
it--just a small matter connected with a little case of mine.
Good-morning."
He turned suddenly and saw, gazing at him with a terrified expression
from a door behind, the face of the woman who had followed him in the
cab. The veil was lifted, and he caught but a mere glance of the face
ere it was suddenly withdrawn. He stood for a moment to allow the woman
time to retreat, and then left the station and walked toward his office,
close by.
Scarcely thirty yards along the Strand he met Plummer.
"I'm going to make some much closer inquiries all down the line as far
as Dover," Plummer said. "They wire from Calais that they have no clue
as yet, and I mean to make quite sure, if I can, that Laker hasn't
quietly slipped off the line somewhere between here and Dover. There's
one very peculiar thing," Plummer added confidentially. "Did you see the
two women who were waiting to see a member of the firm at Liddle, Neal &
Liddle's?"
"Yes. Laker's mother and his _fiancee_, I was told."
"That's right. Well, do you know that girl--Shaw her name is--has been
shadowing me ever since I left the Bank. Of course I spotted it from
the beginning--these amateurs don't know how to follow anybody--and, as
a matter of fact, she's just inside that jeweller's shop door behind me
now, pretending to look at the things in the window. But it's odd, isn't
it?"
"Well," Hewitt replied, "of course it's not a thing to be neglected. If
you'll look very carefully at the corner of Villiers Street, without
appearing to stare, I think you will possibly observe some signs of
Laker's mother. She's shadowing _me_."
Plummer looked casually in the direction indicated, and then immediately
turned his eyes in another direction.
"I see her," he said; "she's just taking a look round the corner. That's
a thing not to be ignored. Of course, the Lakers' house is being
watched--we set a man on it at once, yesterday. But I'll put some one on
now to watch Miss Shaw's place, too. I'll telephone through to
Liddle's--probably they'll be able to say where it is. And the women
themselves must be watched, too. As a matter of fact, I had a notion
that Laker wasn't alone in it. And it's just possible, you know, that he
has sent an accomplice off with his tourist ticket to lead us a dance
while he looks after himself in another direction. Have you done
anything?"
"Well," Hewitt replied, with a faint reproduction of the secretive
smile with which Plummer had met an inquiry of his earlier in the
morning, "I've been to the station here, and I've found Laker's umbrella
in the lost property office."
"Oh! Then probably he _has_ gone. I'll bear that in mind, and perhaps
have a word with the lost property man."
Plummer made for the station and Hewitt for his office. He mounted the
stairs and reached his door just as I myself, who had been disappointed
in not finding him in, was leaving. I had called with the idea of taking
Hewitt to lunch with me at my club, but he declined lunch. "I have an
important case in hand," he said. "Look here, Brett. See this scrap of
paper. You know the types of the different newspapers--which is this?"
He handed me a small piece of paper. It was part of a cutting containing
an advertisement, which had been torn in half.
[Illustration]
"I _think_," I said, "this is from the _Daily Chronicle_, judging by the
paper. It is plainly from the 'agony column,' but all the papers use
pretty much the same type for these advertisements, except the _Times_.
If it were not torn I could tell you at once, because the _Chronicle_
columns are rather narrow."
"Never mind--I'll send for them all." He rang, and sent Kerrett for a
copy of each morning paper of the previous day. Then he took from a
large wardrobe cupboard a decent but well-worn and rather roughened tall
hat. Also a coat a little worn and shiny on the collar. He exchanged
these for his own hat and coat, and then substituted an old necktie for
his own clean white one, and encased his legs in mud-spotted leggings.
This done, he produced a very large and thick pocket-book, fastened by a
broad elastic band, and said, "Well, what do you think of this? Will it
do for Queen's taxes, or sanitary inspection, or the gas, or the
water-supply?"
"Very well indeed, I should say," I replied. "What's the case?"
"Oh, I'll tell you all about that when it's over--no time now. Oh, here
you are, Kerrett. By the bye, Kerrett, I'm going out presently by the
back way. Wait for about ten minutes or a quarter of an hour after I am
gone, and then just go across the road and speak to that lady in black,
with the veil, who is waiting in that little foot-passage opposite. Say
Mr. Martin Hewitt sends his compliments, and he advises her not to wait,
as he has already left his office by another door, and has been gone
some little time. That's all; it would be a pity to keep the poor woman
waiting all day for nothing. Now the papers. _Daily News, Standard,
Telegraph, Chronicle_--yes, here it is, in the Chronicle."