A MYSTERIOUS COMMUNICATION
Ralph stared at the woman, then threw himself back in his chair with a
short laugh. He was greatly disappointed in the reply.
"It is ridiculous to believe or even hint that Madame Coralie should
be guilty," he remarked sharply. "She proved a very clear alibi. No
less than four people--her husband and her three assistants--proved
that she was in the still-room when the crime was taking place below."
"Yes," assented Miss Toat, leaning her chin on her hand and her elbow
on the table, "that is what puzzles me. The alibi is very clear, and
yet--of course, you understand that I am merely theorising."
"Yes! Yes! Yes!"--Shawe made an irritable gesture, for the strain on
his nerves was great--"but the idea is ridiculous. If you had accused
that dumb girl, who was in the shop on the ground floor when the crime
was committed, it would have been more feasible. The bedroom is on the
ground floor also."
"I see no reason to accuse Peri Banou," said Miss Toat, quietly.
"And you see a reason to accuse Madame Coralie?"
"Yes. My theory is--"
"Oh, never mind your theory, Miss Toat. Come to facts."
The detective was not at all put out by his short temper, as she saw
that his nerves were worn thin, and sympathised with him. With a quick
movement she drew the loose notes to her own side of the table. "Very
good," she said in a brisk, businesslike tone. "Let us come to facts,
if you please. Do you know why Madame Coralie wears a yashmak?"
"Inspector Lanton hinted something about it to me when at the inquest.
It is to add to the attractions of the Turkish shop--to make it more
mysterious, as it were."
"Ah!"--Miss Toat raised her pencilled eyebrows--"then the inspector
did not tell you the exact truth. I expect Madame Coralie asked him to
keep it quiet for obvious reasons."
"Obvious they may be," said Ralph, impatiently, "but I can't see
them."
"Why, they are plain enough. The wearing of the yashmak is partly by
way of a good advertisement, as it suggests mystery, and partly--this
is the real reason, I expect--it is worn from necessity."
"From necessity?" Shawe stared hard at his visitor.
"Madame Coralie has a disfiguring birthmark on her right cheek, which,
extending over mouth and chin, spoils her good looks. And she must
have had some beauty when younger. Strange, is it not, Mr. Shawe, that
she who can restore another woman's looks can do nothing with her
own?"
"How do you know that she is marked in this way?"
"I saw it when she was asleep."
"But how did you enter her bedroom?" asked Ralph, much astonished.
The detective laughed. "When everyone was asleep I stole about the
house investigating in list slippers and with a bull's-eye lantern.
Madame Coralie lays aside her yashmak when in bed, so I easily saw
that which she wishes to keep concealed."
"But why should she so very much want to conceal it?"
Miss Toat looked at him greatly amazed. "Have you not been listening
to what I have been saying, Mr. Shawe? Why, if Madame's customers knew
that she could not remove a birthmark from her face, it would be a
case of 'Physician, heal thyself' with them. They would lose
confidence, and--"
"Yes, yes!" Ralph assented impatiently, and waved his hand. "I
understand now; very naturally they would doubt her capability, in
spite of her reputation. But what has this birthmark to do with the
murder?"
"Nothing," said Perry Toat, promptly; "yet I was glad enough to see it
for all that, in connection with a case. But never mind," she broke
off abruptly, "we can talk of that later. I tell you about the
disfigurement because it is just as well that you should learn
everything about a woman so closely connected with the death of Lady
Branwin. Also, it will be a useful mark to know in case she tries to
get rid of more diamonds."
"What!" Shawe jumped up with an exclamation. "Do you mean to say that
she has pawned the diamonds? In that case she must be guilty."
"It would look like it; but I am only theorising, remember."
"Oh, hang your theories! I think--" He stopped short, conscious that
he had been rude to the little woman. "I beg your pardon," he went on
ceremoniously, "but my nerves are out of order. Don't be vexed with
me. I apologise."
Miss Toat nodded in a friendly way. "I quite understand," she said
smoothly. "People unaccustomed to be mixed up with criminal matters
usually do let their nerves get out of order, although I can't say
that they usually apologise. There you have the advantage of the
greater part of my clients. But to come to business. It is now some
six or seven weeks since the murder. I discovered, by various
inquiries, which I made here, there, and everywhere, that two months
ago Madame Coralie was in deep water--financially. Now she is more
prosperous." Miss Toat paused. "You can draw your own inference."
"You mean to say that she committed the murder in order to steal the
diamonds, and has sold or pawned them to realise the spoil?"
Miss Toat nodded again. "That is my theory." The barrister put his
hands into his pockets and began to pace the room, as was his custom
when perplexed. "I don't see what evidence you have to support your
theory," he remarked, after a pause.
"Well, as we agreed at our first interview, Lady Branwin only arranged
in five minutes to sleep at the Pink Shop, and it was merely by chance
that she had the diamonds with her. That the murder was committed for
the sake of the jewels is positive, since they are missing. Yet any
outside person could not have known that the unfortunate woman was
possessed of those jewels at that particular time. Madame Coralie
knew--"
"Pardon me," interrupted Shawe. "In my own hearing she declared that
she did not know what Lady Branwin had in the red bag."
Miss Toat shrugged her shoulders. "Naturally, for her own sake, she
would say that, Mr. Shawe. But the fact remains that owing to the
rapidity and unexpectedness of Lady Branwin's decision to sleep at the
shop no outsider could have arranged beforehand to commit the crime
for the sake of the jewels."
"But the key in the outside door of the court was--"
"That might all have been arranged as a false clue to throw the police
off the scent."
"I doubt it," said Shawe, decisively, "and remember that your theory
is entirely destroyed by the very strong alibi of Madame Coralie. The
woman could not have been in two places at once."
"Well," said Perry Toat, cautiously, "I stated that I suspected Madame
Coralie had strangled Lady Branwin, but I did not say that she had
actually committed the deed herself."
"Oh! Then you think she employed someone else to commit the murder?"
"Yes, and for her own sake was careful to provide the alibi we know
of. Lady Branwin came at five o'clock to the shop, and was murdered,
according to the medical evidence, about eight. Madame Coralie had,
therefore, ample time to tell her accomplice that Lady Branwin
possessed the diamonds. Also, as Lady Branwin talked frequently of
coming for treatment, and Madame always refused her, the evening when
she agreed to give the treatment might have been arranged. Madame
could also explain to her accomplice about the door in the outer wall
of the court, and have arranged for the window of the bedroom to be
open. Then--well, the rest is easy."
"But the woman declared that the window was shut."
"Of course, for her own sake, in the same way that she declared her
ignorance of the diamonds being in the red bag. I said lately," went
on Miss Toat, in an apologetic manner, "that the key in the outer door
of the court might have been arranged as a false clue. I am right in
one way, as the key was, I fancy, left in the door to avert suspicion
from Madame Coralie. But her accomplice must have entered and escaped
in that way, and afterwards, when Lady Branwin was dead and buried and
the inquest was over, she must have met her accomplice to share the
spoil. Hence she is now in possession of money which, according to
many people, she sadly needed."
"Have you traced the diamonds?" asked Ralph, abruptly.
"No; and it will not be an easy task to trace them, especially if they
have been unset and sold as separate stones. But I am shortly going
round the pawnshops and to various fences--you know what a fence is, a
person who receives stolen goods, I suppose, Mr. Shawe?--and if Madame
sold them or pawned them herself the mark may help to identify her."
"I think not," said Shawe, grimly, "as she would probably wear a
veil."
"Certainly not a yashmak," said Miss Toat, quietly. "However, I
can but make inquiries, as I say. Moreover, I shall go back to the
shop again and ask further questions. But I think--so far as I can
judge--that my theory is a correct one."
Ralph again walked the floor. "Who do you think is the accomplice?"
"I can't say," said the detective, promptly. "At first I thought that
Madame's husband might be the one; but he was with her and the three
assistants in the still-room, and can prove as strong an alibi as his
wife."
"What sort of person is this husband, and what is his name?"
"Edward Vail is his name, and he is what you would call a wastrel,"
replied Perry Toat, quickly; "one of those dandified idiots who walk
the streets and dress loudly in order to attract the eyes of women. He
is good-looking in an effeminate way, and has never done a stroke of
work in his life."
"Strange that so clever a woman as Madame Coralie should marry such a
character."
"It is the clever women who generally make fools of themselves in this
particular way," said Miss Toat, enigmatically. "However, I don't
think Eddy Vail--he is usually called Eddy, which to my mind stamps
his character--I don't think he is the accomplice, owing to the alibi,
unless--" The little woman paused suggestively.
"Unless what?"
"Unless the three assistants have been bribed or threatened into
providing the alibi. For her own sake, of course, Madame would say she
was in the still-room; but Zobeide, Badoura and Parizade may have been
bullied or cajoled into supporting a false statement."
"It is possible," said Shawe, musingly; "and if Madame or her husband
is guilty, it is easy to see how they could have learnt beforehand
about the diamonds. How can you get at the truth?"
"By working on Badoura's jealousy. She is in love with Eddy, and as
she is a pretty girl, the unscrupulous scamp has encouraged her, in
spite of the fact that he is a married man. I intend to go back to the
shop and to get her to state what she knows."
"If she knows anything."
"Quite so; but if she does, her jealousy of Eddy Vail will make her
speak. I don't know exactly how to unloosen her tongue, but I shall
try to."
"But it seems ridiculous that Eddy Vail should be in love with a dumb
or blind girl."
"I didn't say that he was in love with her," said Miss Toat, drily,
"but that she was in love with him, which is quite a different way of
looking at the matter. Moreover, Badoura, as the forewoman, is in
possession of all her senses, Mr. Shawe. Zobeide is deaf, Parizade is
blind, and Peri Banou is dumb. Badoura is all right, and is simply a
pretty, commonplace girl who has been attracted by Eddy Vail's good
looks."
"Well," said the barrister, after a long pause, "I hope you will be
successful, although I am bound to say that you have no evidence that
I can see to support your wild theories."
"They may not be so very wild after all. Wait until I can make Badoura
speak. Yes," added Miss Toat, with an after-thought, "and Peri Banou
also."
"The dumb girl, who was in the shop when the crime was committed.
Humph! I suppose she may know something."
"She may. I am going to ask her. Meanwhile I must have more
money--say, another twenty pounds."
Ralph looked rueful. "I can get it for you to-morrow," he said
doubtfully, "for to tell you the truth, Miss Toat, I am not very well
off just now. Can't you do without it?"
"No, Mr. Shawe," she replied plainly. "I would if I could. But it is
necessary that I should go back to the Pink Shop and spend money, as
that is the only way in which I can come into contact with Badoura and
Peri Banou in order to question them. Of course, if you wish me to
give up the case--"
"No, no--certainly not!" he exclaimed hastily. "I shall send you the
twenty pounds to your office to-morrow before twelve o'clock. The
solution of this mystery means a lot to me, and I am willing to spend
my last farthing on it."
"I don't think you will have to do that," said Miss Toat, getting
ready to go. "I expect to get some tangible clue from those two
girls;" and with this piece of comfort she departed, leaving Ralph
rather disconsolate.
While the case was being examined into, Shawe had seen very little of
Audrey. Sir Joseph had returned unexpectedly from Brighton, for he had
grown weary of the seaside and wished to get back to business. Mrs.
Mellop still remained at the house on Camden Hill, as the millionaire,
finding her an amusing woman to have at his dinner-table, asked her to
chaperon his daughter for a longer period. The widow augured from this
that Branwin was really in love with her, and did all she could to
fascinate him still further. She was glad that he had come back to be
under her spell.
But Ralph was far from pleased by this unexpected return, as he could
not visit the house so freely as formerly. Twice or thrice he did
call, but Sir Joseph was so grim and glacial in his welcome that the
young man thought it was best to remain away. Also, Mrs. Mellop,
taking her cue from the millionaire, behaved disagreeably, and kept a
closer watch on Audrey. Ralph was very unhappy, and could only see his
sweetheart at odd times and in odd ways. The course of true love was
not running smoothly by any means.
Shawe, however, busied himself with searching into the case with the
assistance of Perry Toat. That wily person came to him again and
again, and related various details which she had learnt from Badoura,
Parizade and Peri Banou, which more or less helped on the matter.
But so busy was the barrister in fixing the pieces of the puzzle
together--for by this time he had learnt some tangible scraps of
evidence from Perry Toat's investigations--that he quite neglected
Audrey. He was not, therefore, surprised to receive a note from her
asking him to come to the Round Pond in Kensington Gardens the next
morning at seven o'clock. At that hour neither Sir Joseph nor Mrs.
Mellop was likely to be up, and Audrey would be free from their
watchful eyes. Ralph promptly decided to go, but sent no answer to the
note, since it might fall into the hands of his enemies--for so he
regarded the millionaire and the widow who wished to marry the
millionaire.
Early as he was at the rendezvous Audrey was still earlier, and came
towards him hurriedly, a pathetic figure in her black dress. She
kissed him hastily, then at once announced the reason why she had sent
for him.
"I have received an anonymous letter," said Audrey, unexpectedly.
"An anonymous letter," repeated Ralph, curiously. "What about?"
"You can read it for yourself." She produced it from her pocket. "It
advises me to refrain from investigating the murder of my mother. If I
do, it declares that I shall suffer the greatest grief of my life."
Shawe was evidently startled. "Show me the letter," he said abruptly.