THE LADY DETECTIVE
Influenced by Audrey's love, and touched by her devotion to her
mother's memory, Shawe had committed himself beyond withdrawal to the
_rôle_ of knight-errant. Like those of old he was going out, if not to
redress a cruel wrong, at least to revenge it. He quite understood why
the girl wished to punish the assassin of her mother; but he could not
see how the fulfilment of the task she had set him would bring about
their marriage. Sir Joseph cared so little for his late wife that he
was quite willing to bury the bitter fact of her existence in
oblivion. To reawaken recollections of the objectionable Lady Branwin
by bringing her murderer to justice, and thus revive the whole
terrible episode for the benefit of the public, would not be pleasing
to the millionaire.
Moreover, if Shawe did accomplish his aim, Branwin would only pay to
him the already promised reward. He would be ready enough to give the
money, since he had ample means at his disposal, but he certainly
would remain firm on the question of the marriage. Of course, Ralph
knew well enough that Audrey would not fail him and would remain true.
But since she refused to marry him because she fancied she would
hinder his career, and since Sir Joseph certainly would disinherit her
if she so persisted, and thus she would not bring him any money to aid
that career, it seemed that there was but a faint hope she would
become Mrs. Shawe. Still, he had promised, and it only remained for
him to keep his promise, with the hope that events would so turn out
that the desire of his heart might be fulfilled. With this idea in his
mind Shawe returned to his chambers in the Temple and set about making
a start. But it was like looking for a needle in a haystack.
In the first place, Shawe did not see how he could enter Madame
Coralie's shop and ask questions from the woman and her assistants;
yet, if he wished to learn anything, it was absolutely necessary to do
so. Madame Coralie herself would certainly refuse to answer any
questions, since Shawe was not an accredited agent of the police.
Moreover, for obvious reasons connected with business, she wished the
murder to be relegated to the list of undiscovered crimes. The trail
assuredly started at the Pink Shop, as Audrey had stated; but if he
could not find anyone likely to give him a clue to the beginning of
things, Ralph disconsolately considered--and very sensibly--that there
would be little chance of success. It was at this point of his
meditations that he thought of Perry Toat.
It was a good idea, as she was the very person he required for
this especial purpose. Peronella Toat--called Perry for business
purposes--was a woman-detective with whom he had come into contact
over a divorce case. It was mainly owing to her shadowing of the
guilty couple that the petitioner had obtained his freedom, and the
judge had complimented Miss Toat on the way in which she had managed
the business. Moreover, as she was a woman, she would easily be able
to penetrate into a shop entirely devoted to the needs of women, and
once within those sacred walls might be able to learn what was
necessary in the way of clues.
"I shall write to her at once," Shawe said to himself, and drew
writing materials towards him. "She's a clever little woman, and I
daresay can cajole or force Madame Coralie into answering what
questions are necessary to be put; but I'm hanged if I can see where,
or how, she's going to start."
His letter brought Miss Toat next day to his chambers at ten o'clock,
before he started for the Courts. She was an undersized, colourless
little woman, with a white face and drab-hued hair. Her mouth was
firm, with thin, pale lips, and her eyes were of a sharp grey, almost
steely in their glitter. Quietly arrayed in a tailor-made costume, she
looked very businesslike, and her crisp, decisive manner showed that
she knew the value of time. In silence she listened to Shawe's
exposition of the case. "It's a difficult mystery to unravel," she
said, when he had finished.
"Where's the mystery?" asked Ralph, somewhat surprised. "The murder
was no doubt committed for the sake of the diamonds. The motive is
clear."
"How did the assassin know that Lady Branwin had jewels with her?"
asked Perry Toat, fixing her pale eyes on his face "How did he know
the position of the room in which she slept, and how did he gain
admission into the court?"
"I can answer that last question," said Shawe, easily. "He gained
admission into the court by means of a skeleton key, which is now in
the possession of the police. Inspector Lanton has it, I believe."
Miss Toat drummed on the table with her thin fingers, which were not
unlike the claws of a bird of prey. "If the assassin used such a key,"
she remarked, "he must have examined the lock and have bought a key to
fit. That would take some time, Mr. Shawe."
"Well?" asked the barrister, puzzled.
"Well," she repeated, raising her sandy eyebrows, "can't you see that
the procuring of the key would take some time? Yet Lady Branwin slept
at the Pink Shop on the spur of the moment, as it were, and merely had
the diamonds with her by chance; since--according to her daughter--she
was taking them to be reset by a jeweller. If I am right," added Miss
Toat, with emphasis--"and I think that I am right in my surmise--the
assassin must have had some idea beforehand that Lady Branwin would
sleep in the room wherein she was murdered, and would have the
diamonds with her."
"But if, as you say, she slept there on the spur of the moment--"
"Exactly. Therein lies the difficulty--the mystery to which I alluded.
The arrangement of Lady Branwin to stay was decided in five minutes,
let us say; yet the key to the door of the court must have taken a
longer time to procure. And it is strange also," mused Perry Toat,
"that the assassin should have known the plan of the shop. How did he
learn that when within the court he would be able to gain entrance
into the bedrooms, let alone the fact that he could not be sure any
visitors were sleeping in them?"
"Then you infer," said Shawe, promptly, "that the assassin must be
someone attached to the Pink Shop?"
"Why not--on the grounds that I have stated?"
"Because the evidence went to show that everyone connected with the
business accounted for their time. Madame Coralie, her husband,
Zobeide, Badoura, and Parizade, to give them their fantastical names,
were in the room devoted to preparing the wares on or about the very
time the murder was being committed, according to the medical
evidence. Peri Banou was in the shop, and is the only person who was
on the same floor as that of the bedroom wherein the crime took place.
Do you accuse her?"
"I don't accuse anyone as yet. I shall go to the shop and ask
questions."
Shawe shook his head sceptically. "If things are as you hint, no one
will answer any questions."
"Oh, I think so," said Miss Toat, quietly. "I know how to ask
questions."
"Madame Coralie may not allow you to enter the shop."
"Give me a five-pound note," said the detective lady, irrelevantly;
and after Ralph had placed one in her hand, she continued: "With this
I shall buy a few things to make me beautiful for ever"--there was a
faint smile on her grey face as she spoke--"between whiles I shall
keep my eyes open, and find out what I wish to know."
"If you do, you're a wonder," said the barrister, quickly, for he was
very doubtful of the success of her enterprise.
"You can say that," said Miss Toat, in an unemotional tone, "when I
indicate the assassin of Lady Branwin. Good-day."
"But when am I to see you again?" asked Ralph, following her to the
door.
Perry Toat looked back with a demure face. "When I have something to
report."
"You'll do your best?" Shawe urged her.
"I always do my best for my clients," she said, in a tone of faint
rebuke.
"But in this case there is much money also."
"Oh, I shan't charge you much, Mr. Shawe."
"I am not alluding to that. I shall pay you well. But if you lay hands
on the assassin you shall have the thousand pounds' reward offered
by--"
Peronella Toat interrupted with a flushed face. "One thousand pounds!"
she said, drawing a deep breath. "Yes, I forgot that. I must earn it.
If I do, I can gain my heart's desire."
"What is that?"
She smiled demurely. "A husband," was her reply, and she vanished.
Ralph went back to his room with a look of wonder. It seemed
impossible that this shadow of a woman should ever be able to gain a
husband, even if she had a bribe of one thousand pounds to offer her
bridegroom.
For more than a week Miss Toat remained absent, and during that period
she haunted Walpole Lane. She sought out Madame Coralie, and declared
that she wanted her complexion improved. The owner of the Pink Shop
thought that there was much room for improvement, and did wonders for
the five-pound note. This was a less charge than she usually made, but
since the murder, business had been bad with Madame Coralie, and she
was willing enough to capture small fish, as the big ones, for the
moment, would not be enticed into her net. After Miss Toat's
complexion had been renovated that wily person decided to undergo a
course of treatment for hair and figure, which necessitated two or
three nights' stay in the shop. It was for this reason that she wrote
to Shawe and asked him to forward twenty pounds. He did so rather
ruefully, for he was not well off, and the search for the assassin
promised to be expensive. However, it was for Audrey's sake, so Ralph
parted with very good grace with his hard-earned money.
Having thus obtained funds in plenty, the detective took up her abode
in the very bedroom wherein Lady Branwin had been murdered. She knew
that it was the fatal chamber, as she had seen the plan of the shop,
which the daily papers had published when the murder was the sensation
of the day. Madame Coralie was rather vexed when Miss Toat mentioned
this artlessly to her, on being installed in the room.
"That murder will ruin my business," said the Medea of Walpole Lane,
gloomily.
"Oh, I don't think so," said her client, sweetly. "I don't mind in the
least sleeping in the room where a crime has been committed."
"You are a very sensible woman, Miss Toat," said Madame Coralie,
energetically. "All my friends seem to have deserted me since the
death of Lady Branwin."
"They will come back, Madame." Miss Toat nodded vigorously. "The event
will soon pass out of their minds. By the way, has anything been heard
likely to show who is guilty?"
"No," said Madame Coralie, savagely. "I wish I could find out. I'd
kill the man for ruining my business."
"He will be killed in any case, and by the law," said Miss Toat, in a
silky voice. "Let us hope that he will be caught."
"Amen to that. But I don't think he ever will."
Plainly, little evidence was to be got out of Madame Coralie, and
probably she knew nothing of the truth. If she did, she would
assuredly have denounced the culprit to the police, if only out
of revenge. Miss Toat saw that she would get no clue in that
direction, and submitted herself to the treatment for hair and
figure with very good grace. But the proprietress of the Pink Shop
would have been ill-pleased had she seen the little woman slipping
about the premises in the dead of night like an eel. Being tiny and
light-footed--especially since she wore list slippers--Miss Toat, when
all the inmates of the place were buried in slumber, would take a dark
lantern and steal round the rooms. She examined the shop itself,
the passage running at the back and terminating in the door which
opened on to the right-of-way, leading into Walpole Lane, and noticed
that the house-door into the empty court was flush with those of the
four bedrooms. To be precise--and Miss Toat in her investigation was
very precise--a quartette of doors led to their several apartments,
and the fifth door admitted anyone who was curious into the court.
Miss Toat _was_ curious, and as she found the key on a nail in the
still-room--as had been mentioned in the evidence at the inquest--she
opened the door and explored the court from end to end.
When her hair had been burnished to a soft golden hue, and her figure
had been made less angular, she took an effusive leave of the
magician, and went round to make inquiries about her of this person
and that. During her stay in the shop, and by dexterous questioning,
both by word of mouth and by means of the deaf-and-dumb language,
Perry had found out a great deal which Madame Coralie would have
rather she had not known. Armed with this knowledge, she went from
pillar to post, and added to her stock of information, finally
presenting herself by appointment at Shawe's chambers to report
progress.
The barrister scarcely knew her; for, instead of looking like a drab
nonentity, she appeared quite pretty in an artificial manner. He
really thought that thus transmogrified she would be able to gain the
husband she had hinted at, and complimented her on her changed
appearance.
"It's all in the way of business," said Perry Toat, disdainfully, "and
as soon as I conclude my task I shall revert to my former state."
"But why?" demanded Shawe, wondering if her vanity would allow this
sacrifice.
But it appeared that Miss Toat had no vanity at all. "Madame Coralie's
adornments are too conspicuous for one of my calling," she explained,
"and I attract attention in quarters where I wish to be unknown.
Better to be the ugly duckling, Mr. Shawe, for then I can be more
successful in my profession."
This remark recalled Ralph to the business in hand. "I sincerely hope
that you have been successful in this instance?" he said eagerly.
The woman, with her artificial air of youth and her garish mask of
aggressive beauty, looked thoughtfully at the young man. "I have
learnt a great deal which may be of use to you," she said slowly; "but
I cannot say--so far as my opinion goes--that I have been successful."
"Oh!" Ralph dropped back into the chair whence he had risen, and
seemed extremely disappointed. "Then you have failed?"
"I don't say that."
"In that case you must have succeeded."
"I don't say that either," remarked Miss Toat, drily.
"You must have done one or the other," cried Shawe, exasperated.
"No. I have learnt nothing very definite; but there are certain
facts." She drummed on the table--her usual gesture when puzzled. "It
is a very difficult case, Mr. Shawe."
"I know that, and for such a reason I placed it in your hands," he
retorted.
Miss Toat nodded. "I am gratified by your opinion of my skill," she
said politely. "All the same, you can't expect me to work miracles."
"Is a miracle required in this case?"
"I think so." She produced a mass of notes from her bag, and laid them
down before the barrister. "There you will find all that I have been
able to learn," she said to her employer. "They contain information
about Madame Coralie--information which reveals much she would give
her ears not to have known. Read these notes."
Ralph turned over the loose papers. "I would rather hear what you have
discovered by word of mouth," he said fretfully; for this beating
round the bush annoyed him. "In a word, Miss Toat, do you suspect
anyone?"
"Yes, I do"--the detective leant forward with bright eyes--"but only
theoretically. I suspect"--she paused for effect--"I suspect Madame
Coralie herself as having strangled Lady Branwin."