The overmastering energy of Heldon Foyle was at once the envy and
despair of his subordinates. There was a story that once he went without
sleep for a week while unravelling the mystery of the robbery of the
Countess of Enver's pearls. That was probably exaggerated, but he
certainly spent no unnecessary time for rest or food when work was
toward--and he saw also that his staff were urged to the limits of human
endurance.
Having spent four hours sleeping in his clothes, he deemed that he had
paid full courtesy to nature. He unlocked a drawer, picked out a deadly
little automatic pistol, and dropped it into his jacket pocket. He
rarely went armed, and had never fired a shot in his life save at a
target. But on certain occasions a pistol was useful to "back a bluff."
And on the mission he had in mind he might need something. He felt in
his breast-pocket to make certain that the enlarged photograph of the
finger-prints found on the dagger were there, and sallied forth into the
dusk.
In his own mind he had definitely decided on the immediately important
points in the inquiry. There was Ivan, the missing servant, to be found,
as also the Princess Petrovska. The police of a dozen countries were
keeping a look-out for them. Then there was the knife with its quaint,
horizontal hilt of ivory. Rigorous inquiry had failed to elicit its
place of origin, yet so strange a weapon once seen would infallibly be
recognised again. Finally, there was the question of Sir Ralph
Fairfield.
The evening papers had seized avidly on a mystery after their own heart,
and glaring contents-bills told of "Millionaire Murdered on Wedding Eve.
Strange Mystery." But Foyle had already seen the papers. He held
straight on for the Albany.
"Was Sir Ralph Fairfield in?" The question was superfluous, for he had
already seen Chief Detective-Inspector Green standing outside apparently
much interested in an evening paper. And Green would not have been there
unless Sir Ralph were about.
Foyle was received coldly by the baronet, and his quick eyes noted a
half-empty decanter on the table. Fairfield was palpably nervous and ill
at ease. He was plainly distrustful of his visitor's purpose. The
detective was apologetic and good-humoured.
"I have come to apologise for my rudeness at Grosvenor Gardens," he
began. "I was worried, and you were, of course, upset. Now we are both
more calm, I come to ask you if you would like to add anything to what
you said. Of course, you'll be called to give evidence at the inquest,
and it would make it easier for you as well as for us if we knew what
you were going to say."
Fairfield shrugged his shoulders. "I have told you all you will learn
from me," he said quickly. "I suppose you've seen Lady Eileen Meredith."
"No." The lie was prompt, but the superintendent salved his conscience
with the thought that it was a necessary one. "I don't know that she can
tell us anything of value."
An expression of relief flitted over the face of Grell's friend. After
all, it was something to have the worst postponed. A man may face swift
danger with debonair courage, may be undaunted by perils or emergencies
of sport, of travel, of everyday life. But few innocent men can believe
that a net is slowly closing round them which will end in the obloquy of
the Central Criminal Court, or in a shameful death, without feeling
something of the terror of the hunted. "The terror of the law" is very
real in such cases. Fairfield was no coward, but his nerves had begun to
go under the strain of the suspense. It would have been different had he
been able to do anything--to find relief in action. But he had to remain
passively impotent.
"Well," he said, "I expect you're very busy, Mr. Foyle. I don't want to
keep you."
The detective received the snub with an amiable smile. "I won't force my
company on you, Sir Ralph. If you will just dictate to me a description
of the string of pearls that Grell showed you, I will go. Can you let me
have a pen and some paper?"
Ungraciously enough Fairfield flung open a small inlaid writing-desk,
and Foyle took down the description as though he really needed it. As he
finished he held out the pen to Fairfield.
"Will you sign that, please? No, here."
Their hands were almost touching. Foyle half rose and stumbled clumsily,
clutching the other's wrist to save himself. The baronet's hand and
fingers were pressed down heavily on the still wet writing. The
detective recovered his balance and apologised profusely, at the same
time picking up the sheet of paper.
"I don't know how I came to do that. I am very sorry. It's smudged the
paper a bit, but that won't matter. It's still readable. Good-bye, Sir
Ralph."
So admirably had the accident been contrived that even Fairfield never
suspected that it was anything but genuine. In a public telephone-box, a
few hundred yards away, Heldon Foyle was examining the half-sheet of
notepaper side by side with the photograph of the finger-prints on the
dagger. A telephone-box is admirably constructed for the private
examination of documents if one's back is towards the door and one is
bent over the directory. Line by line Foyle traced "laterals," "lakes,"
and "accidentals," calling to his aid a magnifying glass from his
waistcoat pocket.
When he emerged he was rubbing his chin vigorously. The prints were
totally different. Sir Ralph Fairfield was not the murderer of the man
so astoundingly like Robert Grell.