FURTHER EVIDENCE
After all, Hurd did not send Jessop to town as he threatened to do.
Evidently the captain had told him all he knew, and appeared to be
innocent of Krill's death. But, in spite of his apparent frankness the
detective had an idea that something was being kept back, and what that
something might be, he determined to find out. However, his thoughts
were turned in another direction by a note from Beecot addressed to him
at "The Red Pig," asking him to come at once to the Jubileetown Laundry.
"I believe we have discovered the person who stole the opal brooch from
me," wrote Paul, "and Deborah has made a discovery connected with Norman
which may prove to be of service."
Wondering what the discovery might be, and wondering also who had taken
the brooch, Hurd arranged that Jessop and Hokar should remain at
Christchurch under the eyes of two plain-clothes officials. These
managed their duties so dexterously that Matilda Junk was far from
guessing what was going on. Moreover, she informed the detective, who
she thought was a commercial gent, that she intended to pay a visit to
her sister, Mrs. Tawsey, and demanded the address, which Hurd gave
readily enough. He thought that if Matilda knew anything--such as the
absence of Mrs. Krill from the hotel during the early part of
July--Deborah might induce her to talk freely.
Hokar had proved a difficult subject. Whether he was too grateful to
Mrs. Krill to speak out, or whether he really did not understand what
was asked of him, he certainly showed a talent for holding his tongue.
However, Hurd saw well enough that the man was afraid of the Sahib's
law, and when matters came to a crisis would try and prove his innocence
even at the cost of implicating others. Therefore, with an easy mind the
detective left these two witnesses being watched at Christchurch and
repaired to town, where Aurora informed him of the interview with Hay.
Billy approved of the way in which his sister had managed matters.
"I guessed that Hay was the man who put Mrs. Krill on the track of her
husband," he said, with satisfaction; "but I wasn't quite sure how he
spotted the man."
"Oh, the one eye identified him," said Aurora, who was eating chocolate
as usual, "and Norman's fainting at the sight of the brooch confirmed
Hay's belief as to who he was. I wonder he didn't make a bargain with
Norman on his own."
Hurd shook his head. "It wouldn't have paid so well," said he, wisely.
"Norman would have parted only with a small sum, whereas this murder
will bring in Hay a clear five thousand a year when he marries the girl.
Hay acted cleverly enough."
"But I tell you Hay has nothing to do with the murder."
"That may be so, though I don't trust him. But Mrs. Krill might have
strangled her husband so as to get the money."
"What makes you think she did?" asked Aurora, doubtfully.
"Well, you see, from what Jessop says, Mrs. Krill is devotedly attached
to Maud, and she may have been anxious to revenge her daughter on Krill.
He acted like a brute and fastened the child's lips together, so Mrs.
Krill treated him in the same way."
"Hum," said Miss Qian, reflectively, "but can you prove that Mrs. Krill
was in town on the night of the murder?"
"That's what I'm going to find out," said Hurd. "All you have to do is
to keep your eyes on Hay--"
"Oh, he won't cut, if that's what you mean. He thinks everything is
square, now that I've got those boys to stop chattering. He'll marry
Maud and annex the money."
"He may marry Maud," said Hurd, emphatically, "but he certainly won't
get the five thousand a year. Miss Norman will."
"Hold on," cried Aurora, shrewdly. "Maud may not be Lemuel Krill's
child, or she may have been born before Krill married the mother, but in
any case, Sylvia Norman isn't the child of a legal marriage. Krill
certainly committed bigamy, so his daughter Sylvia can't inherit."
"Well," said Hurd, "I can't say. I'll see Pash about the matter. After
all, the will left the money to 'my daughter,' and that Sylvia is beyond
doubt, whatever Maud may be. And I say, Aurora, just you go down to
Stowley in Buckinghamshire. I haven't time to look into matters there
myself."
"What do you want me to do there?"
"Find out all about the life of Mrs. Krill before she married Krill and
came to Christchurch. She's the daughter of a farmer. You'll find the
name in this." Hurd passed along a copy of the marriage certificate
which Mrs. Krill had given to Pash. "Anne Tyler is her maiden name. Find
out what you can. She was married to Krill at Beechill, Bucks."
Miss Qian took the copy of the certificate and departed, grumbling at
the amount of work she had to do to earn her share of the reward. Hurd,
on his part, took the underground train to Liverpool Street Station, and
then travelled to Jubileetown. He arrived there at twelve o'clock and
was greeted by Paul.
"I've been watching for you all the morning," said Beecot, who looked
flushed and eager. "Sylvia and I have made such a discovery."
Hurd nodded good-humoredly as he entered the house and shook hands with
the girl.
"Miss Norman has been doing some detective business on her own account,"
he said, smiling. "Hullo, who is this?"
He made this remark, because Mrs. Purr, sitting in a corner of the room
with red eyes, rose and dropped a curtsey.
"I'm called to tell you what I do tell on my Bible oath," said Mrs.
Purr, with fervor.
"Mrs. Purr can give some valuable evidence," said Paul, quickly.
"Oh, can she? Then I'll hear what she has to say later. First, I must
clear the ground by telling you and Miss Norman what I have discovered
at Christchurch."
So Mrs. Purr, rather unwillingly, for she felt the importance of her
position, was bundled out of the room, and Hurd sat down to relate his
late adventures. This he did clearly and slowly, and was interrupted
frequently by exclamations of astonishment from his two hearers. "So
there," said the detective, when finishing, "you have the beginning of
the end."
"Then you think that Mrs. Krill killed her husband?" asked Paul,
dubiously.
"I can't say for certain," was the cautious reply; "but I think so, on
the face of the evidence which you have heard. What do you say?"
"Don't say anything," said Sylvia, before Paul could reply. "Mr. Hurd
had better read this paper. It was found by Deborah in an old box
belonging to my father, which was brought from Gwynne Street."
She gave the detective several sheets of blue foolscap pinned together
and closely written in the shaky handwriting of Aaron Norman. Hurd
looked at it rather dubiously. "What is it?" he asked.
"The paper referred to in that unfinished scrap of writing which was
discovered behind the safe," explained Paul. "Norman evidently wrote it
out, and placed it in his pocket, where he forgot it. Deborah found it
in an old coat, she discovered in a box of clothes brought from Gwynne
Street. They were Norman's clothes and his box, and should have been
left behind."
"Debby won't hear of that," said Sylvia, laughing. "She says Mrs. Krill
has got quite enough, and she took all she could."
"What's all this writing about?" asked Hurd, turning over the
closely-written sheets. "To save time you had better give me a precis of
the matter. Is it important?"
"Very I should say," responded Paul, emphatically. "It contains an
account of Norman's life from the time he left Christchurch."
"Hum." Hurd's eyes brightened. "I'll read it at my leisure, but at the
present moment you might say what you can."
"Well, you know a good deal of it," said Paul, who did the talking at a
sign from Sylvia. "It seems that Norman--we'd better stick to the old
name--left Christchurch because he was afraid of being accused of
murdering Lady Rachel."
"Was she really murdered?"
"Norman doesn't say. He swears he knows nothing about the matter. The
first intimation he had was when Jessop came down with the news after
blundering into the wrong bedroom. But he hints that Mrs. Krill killed
her."
"Can he prove that?"
"No. He can't give any proof, or, at all events, he doesn't. He declares
that when his wife and daughter--"
"Oh! does he call Maud his daughter?"
"Yes! We can talk of that later," said Paul, impatiently. "Well, then,
Norman says he went fairly mad. Jessop had bolted, but Norman knew he
would not give the alarm, since he might be accused himself of killing
Lady Rachel. Maud, who had seen the body, wanted to run out and call the
neighbors."
"How old does Norman say she was?"
"About fifteen; quite old enough to make things unpleasant."
"Then she can't inherit the money," said Hurd, decisively.
"No," cried Beecot, quickly, "both Sylvia and I think so. But to go on
with Norman's confession. He would not let Maud go. She began to scream,
and he feared lest she should alarm the neighbors. He tied a
handkerchief across her lips, but she got free, and again began to
scream. Then he cruelly fastened her lips together with the opal
brooch."
"Where did he get that, if innocent?"
"He declared that he spied it on the floor of the sitting-room, near his
wife's feet, and then hints that she strangled Lady Rachel to get it and
turn it into money as she was desperately in need of cash for Maud. Mrs.
Krill idolized the child."
"I know that," snapped Hurd. "Go on."
"When Norman fastened the child's lips together, Mrs. Krill threw
herself on him in a rage. He knocked her insensible, and then ran away.
He walked through the night, until, at dawn, he came to a distant
railway station. There he took a ticket and went to London. He
concealed himself until there was no chance of his being discovered, and
besides, saw the verdict of the jury in the newspapers. But he was
determined he would not go back to his wife, because she threatened
him."
"In what way?"
"Ah," said Paul, while Sylvia shuddered, "in a strange way. When he
fastened the child's lips together, Mrs. Krill said that she would do
the same to him one day and with the same brooch."
Hurd uttered an exclamation. "So that was why she wanted the brooch so
much?" he exclaimed eagerly.
"Yes. And she told Hay she wanted it though she did not reveal her
reason. She said if she got the brooch he would be allowed to marry
Maud, with whom Hay was deeply in love. Hay stumbled across me by
accident, and I happened to have the brooch. The rest you know."
"No," said Hurd, "I don't know how the brooch came into the possession
of Mrs. Krill again, to use in the cruel way she threatened."
"Well," said Sylvia, quickly, "we aren't sure if Mrs. Krill _did_ get
the brooch."
"The evidence is against her," said Hurd; "remember the threat--"
"Yes, but wait till you hear Mrs. Purr," said Paul, "but just a moment,
Hurd. You must learn how Norman laid the foundations of his fortune."
"Ah, I forget! Well?" and the detective settled himself to listen
further.
"He was hard up and almost starving for a long time after he came to
London," explained Paul, "then he got a post in a second-hand bookshop
kept by a man called Garner in the Minories. He had a daughter,
Lillian--"
"My mother," put in Sylvia, softly.
"Yes," went on Beecot, quickly, "and this girl being lonely fell in
love with Norman, as he now called himself. He wasn't an attractive man
with his one eye, so it is hard to say how Miss Garner came to love him.
But she married him in the end. You'll find everything explained at
length in the paper we gave you. Then old Garner died, and Lillian
inherited a considerable sum of money, together with the stock. Her
husband removed the books to Gwynne Street and started business. But
with the money he began to trade in jewels, and you know how he got on."
"That's all plain enough," said Hurd, putting the confession of Norman
into his pocket. "I suppose the man dreaded lest his first wife should
turn up."
"Yes! And that's why he fainted when he saw the brooch. Not knowing that
Jessop had removed it from Maud's mouth and pawned it--"
"I'm not so sure of that," said Hurd, quickly. "Bart overheard him
talking of Stowley and the pawnbroker there."
"Well," said Paul, with a shrug, "he says nothing about it in the
confession. Perhaps he did trace the brooch to the Stowley shop, but if
so, I wonder he did not get it, seeing he wanted it. But when he saw it
in my possession, he thought I might know of Mrs. Krill and might put
her on the track. Hence his fainting. Later, he learned how I became
possessed of it, and tried to buy it. Then came the accident, and I
really believed for a time that Hay had stolen it."
"Aurora says he swore he did not."
"And he didn't," said Paul, going to the door. "Mrs. Purr!"
"You don't mean to say that old woman prigged it?" asked Hurd.
"No. But she warned me against that boy Tray on the day Deborah was
married. Later, I asked her what she meant, and she then told me that
she had learned from Tray's grandmother, a drunken old thief, how the
boy brought home the opal brooch, and--"
Here Mrs. Purr, who had entered and was dropping curtseys to the majesty
of the law, as represented by Hurd, thought an undue advantage was being
taken of her position. She wished to talk herself, and interrupted Paul,
in a shrill voice.
"Granny Clump, she is," said Mrs. Purr, folding her hands under her
apron. "Tray's gran'mother, as 'is name is Tray Clump, I swear on my
Bible oath. A wicked old woman as is famous for drink--"
"I've heard of her," said the detective, remembering; "she's been up
heaps of times."
"And grows no better," wailed Mrs. Purr, bibulously, for she had been
strengthening herself for the interview with frequent libations of gin.
"Oh, what a thing strong drink is, sir! But Granny Clump, bein' ill with
the lungses, and me bein' 'elpful in sich cases, 'aving bin a nuss, when
young, as I won't deceive you by denying, called on me to be a good
Smart 'un. And I wos, though she swore awful, saying she wanted gin an'
jellies, an' could 'ave 'ad them, if that limb--so did she name Tray,
gentlemen both--'ad only 'anded to 'er the rich brooch he brought 'ome,
just afore he went to earn a decent livin' at the lawr orfice, which 'is
name is Pash--"
"Ha," said Hurd, thoughtfully, "I'll see the boy."
"You can see him now," said Beecot, unexpectedly. "When I learned this
from Mrs. Purr and knew you were coming, I sent a message to Pash's
office for the boy. He came up quite unsuspectingly, but he refused to
speak. I shut him up in a back room, and Deborah has been watching
him--"
"An' the languige of that blessed limb!" exclaimed Mrs. Purr, raising
her hands.
"Bring him in," said Hurd. "Miss Norman, if the boy uses bad language,
you needn't stay."
Sylvia, having heard what Tray could do in this way, needed no further
hint. She left the room gladly, and told Deborah to bring along her
prisoner. Shortly, the noise of kicking and strong language was heard
coming nearer, and Deborah, with a red face and a firm mouth, appeared
at the door, holding aloft a small boy who was black in the face with
rage. "There," said Deborah, flinging Tray in a heap at the detective's
feet, "if me an' Bart 'ave sich a brat, I 'ope he dies in his cradle,
instead of growing to a galler's thief in th' use of words which make me
shudder, let alone my pretty. Ugh!" she shook her fist at Tray. "You Old
Bailey viper, though young at that."
"Here," said Tray, rising, much dishevelled, but with a white face, "let
me go. I'll 'ave the lawr of you."
"I'll attend to that, my lad," said Hurd, dryly. "Now, then, where did
you get that brooch?"
"Sha'n't tell," snapped the boy, and put his tongue out.
Hurd gave him a smack with an open hand on the side of his face, and
Master Clump began to blubber.
"Assalting me--oh, won't you ketch it," he raged in his puny wrath. "My
master's a law-cove, and he'll 'ave y' up before the beak."
"You answer my questions," said Hurd, sternly, "or you'll get another
clout. You know who I am well enough. Make a clean breast of it, you
imp, or I'll lock you up."
"If I make a clean breast will you let me cut?" asked Tray, beginning to
whimper, but with a cunning gleam in his eyes.
"I'll see, when I know what you have to say."
Tray looked round the room to see if there was any way of escape. But
Paul guarded the closed window and Deborah, itching to box his ears,
stood before the door. Before him was the stern-faced detective with
whom Tray knew well enough he dare not trifle. Under these circumstances
he made the best of a bad job, and told what he knew although he
interpolated threats all the time. "Wot d'y want with me?" he demanded
sulkily.
"Where did you find that brooch?"
"I prigged it from Mr. Beecot's pocket when he wos smashed."
"Did Mr. Hay tell you to steal it?"
"No, he didn't."
"Then how did you know the brooch was in my pocket?" asked Paul.
"I was a-dodgin' round the shorp," snapped Tray, "and I 'eard Mr. Norman
an' Mr. Beecot a-talkin' of the brooch; Mr. Beecot said as he 'ad the
brooch in 'is pocket--"
"Yes, I certainly did," said Paul, remembering the conversation.
"Well, when the smash come, I dodged in and prigged it. T'wos easy
'nough," grinned Tray, "for I felt it in 'is bres' poket and collared
it. I wanted to guv it t' th' ole man, thinkin' he'd pay fur it, as he
said he would. But arter the smash I went 'ome t' m' grann' and hid the
brooch. W'en I wos a-lookin' at it at night, I sawr 'er a-lookin' at it,
and she grabbed it. I cut away with m'own property, not wishin' to be
robbed by the ole gal."
"What did you do then?"
Tray wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve. "I 'eard that Mr.
Norman wos dead--"
"Yes, and you told Jessop so in the office. How did you know?"
"'Cause I went to the shorp in th' mornin' to sell the brooch to th' ole
man. He was a goner, so I cut to Mr. Pash, as wos his lawyer, and said
I'd sell 'im the brooch."
"What?" cried Hurd, rising. "You gave the brooch to Mr. Pash?"
"Yuss. He said he'd 'ave me up for stealin', and wouldn't guv me even a
bob fur it. But he said I'd be his noo orfice boy. I thought I'd be
respectable, so I went. And now," ended Master Clump in a sullen manner,
"you knows all, and I ain't done nothin', so I'm orf."
Deborah caught him by the tail of his jacket as he made a dart at the
door and swung him into the middle of the room. Hurd laid hands on him.
"You come along with me," he said. "I'll confront you with Pash."
Tray gave a howl of terror. "He'll kill me," he shouted, "as he killed
the old cove. Yuss. _He_ did it. Pash did it," and he howled again.