"Why should Mayes need to send his confederate instructions by written
note? We know the nature of his hold over his subordinates, and we know
that it means personal communication. Also, the cheque was in Mayes's
own hands last night. More, Mayes knows very well that I have read that
cypher--has known it for some time; otherwise how could we have
discovered the bonds in the case of the Lever Key? Also, Mayes knows
that we have his cheque-book and know his bank. Didn't I assure you we
were watched last night? I believe he knows all we have done. In such
circumstances he might risk his jackal's liberty by sending him on the
desperate chance of cashing a cheque, but, knowing the risk, he would
never have let him come with information on him. And least of all would
he have let him come carrying a vital secret written in that very
cypher which he knows I read many weeks ago. And then see how that
message, instead of being concealed, was positively brought to your
notice! That man Broady Sims is a cunning rascal, and the police know
him of old as a skilful swindler and bill-forger. A man like that
doesn't get rid of a compromising scrap of paper by trundling it out
under your nose just at the moment he is arrested, when the attention of
everybody is directed to him; no, he would wait his opportunity, and
then he would probably slip it into his mouth and swallow it. As it is,
he would seem to have succeeded in dropping this paper full in your
sight, with an elaborate pretence of secrecy. Now this is what has been
done, Brett. That man has been sent to cash a cheque, with very little
hope of success, or none, because the first move that Mayes would
anticipate on our part would be the watching for him and his cheques at
the bank in Upper Holloway. If by any chance the cheques had been
cashed, well and good, no harm would have been done, and then Mayes
could have gone on to arrange for drawing the rest of his balance--could
probably have quite safely come himself to draw it. But if on the other
hand, as he fully anticipated, Sims was arrested, what then? Nothing was
lost but a penny cheque-form, and even Sims--though Mayes would care
nothing about that--could only be searched and then released, for the
cheque was perfectly genuine, and there was no charge against him. But
since he would certainly be searched, that cypher note was given him,
with instructions to make a conspicuous show of attempting to get rid of
it. Now that note was written in a cypher which Mayes knew was as plain
as print--to whom? To _me_. I am on his trail, and this note is
deliberately flung in my way, open as the day, but with every appearance
of secrecy. I am his dangerous enemy, and he knows it--as he told you,
in fact, yesterday. If he can clear me away, he can take breath and make
himself safe. The purpose of this note is to induce me to go, alone, to
this place on Channel Marsh to-night at twelve, in the hope of learning
where to find Mayes. There I am to be got rid of--murdered in some way,
for which preparation will be made. Mayes judges my character pretty
well. He knows that, in such circumstances as he represents, Sims being
kept away from his appointment, I should certainly go and take his
place, and use his password, to learn what I could. And, Brett, _that is
precisely what I shall do_!"
"What? You will go?" I exclaimed. "But you mustn't--the danger! We'd
better both go together."
Hewitt smiled. "Why not forty of us?" he said. "No. Here is a chance of
bagging our man, for, however I am to be arranged for--whether by shot,
steel, or the tourniquet, I make no doubt it is Mayes himself who is to
do it. You shall come, however, you and Plummer at least. But we will
not go in a bunch--you shall follow me and watch, ready to help when
needful. This Channel Marsh is an empty, dark space between two channels
of the Lea. It is among the Hackney Marshes, lying between Stratford and
Homerton, and I fancy there is a deserted house there, though I can't
remember ever having seen it. Do you know it?"
"No; not in the least."
"Well, I must reconnoitre to-day, and that with a lot of care. I think I
told you I was convinced of being watched, and that is a thing you can't
prevent in a place like London, if it is skilfully done. Now, Brett, you
have done very well this morning. If you want to be on the scene of
action to-night at twelve, you must get leave from your editor, mustn't
you? How's your wrist?"
It was still extremely stiff, and I told Hewitt that I doubted my
ability to hold a pen for two or three days.
"Very well, then; get off and convey your excuses as soon as you please.
I shall have a talk with Plummer, and then I shall take a few hours to
myself, by myself, in somebody else's clothes. Be in your rooms all the
evening, for you may expect a message."