Kitabı oku: «The Chestermarke Instinct», sayfa 10
CHAPTER XIX
THE DEAD MAN'S BROTHER
Polke hastily followed the policeman from the room – to return immediately with a quiet-looking elderly gentleman in whom Neale and Starmidge saw a distinct likeness to the dead man.
"His brother!" whispered Polke, as he handed a chair to the visitor. "So you've seen about this in the newspapers, sir?" he went on, turning to Mr. Leonard Hollis. "And you thought you'd better come over, I suppose?"
"I have not only read about it in the newspapers," answered the visitor, "but I last night – very late – received a telegram from my brother's clerk – Mr. Simmons – who evidently found my address at my brother's rooms. So I left Birmingham – where I now live – at once, to see you. Now, have you heard anything of my brother?"
Polke shook his head solemnly and warningly.
"I'm sorry to say we have, sir," he replied. "You'd better prepare for the worst news, Mr. Hollis. We found the body this morning – not two hours ago. And – we don't know, as yet, how he came by his death. The doctors say it may have been pure accident. Let's hope it was! But there are strange circumstances, sir – very strange!"
Hollis quietly rose from his chair.
"I suppose I can see him?" he asked.
Polke led him out of the room, and Starmidge turned to Neale.
"We're gradually getting at something, Mr. Neale," he said. "All this leads somewhere, you know. Now, since we found that incomplete cheque, there's a question I wanted to ask you. You've left Chestermarke's Bank now, and under the circumstances we're working in you needn't have any delicacy about answering questions about them. Do you know of any recent transaction of theirs which involved ten thousand pounds?"
"No!" replied Neale. "I certainly don't."
"Nor any sum approaching it?" suggested Starmidge. "Or exceeding it?"
"Nothing whatever!" reiterated Neale. "I know of all recent banking transactions at Chestermarke's, and I can't think – I've been thinking since we saw that cheque – of anything that the cheque had to do with."
"Well – it's a queer thing," remarked the detective meditatively. "I'll lay anything Hollis brought that cheque down here for some specific purpose – and who on earth is there in this place that he could bring it to but Chestermarke's? However, we'll see if I don't trace something about it when I get up to town, and then – "
Polke and the dead man's brother came back, talking earnestly. The superintendent carefully closed the door, and begging his visitor to be seated again, turned to Starmidge.
"I've told Mr. Hollis all the main facts of the case," he said. "Of course, he identified his brother at once."
"When did you see him last, sir!" asked Starmidge.
"Some eight or nine months ago," replied Hollis. "He came to see me, in Birmingham. Previous to that, I hadn't seen him for several years. I ought to tell you," he went on, turning to Polke, "that for a great many years I have lived abroad – tea-planting in Ceylon. I came back to England about a year ago, and eventually settled down at Edgbaston. I suppose my brother's clerk found my address on an old letter or something last night, and wired to me in consequence."
"When Simmons was here," observed Starmidge, "he said that your brother seemed to have no relations."
"I daresay Simmons would get that impression," remarked Hollis. "My brother was a very reserved man, who was not likely to talk much of his family. As a matter of fact, I am about the only relation he had – except some half-cousins, or something of that sort."
"Can you tell us anything about your brother's position?" asked Starmidge. "The clerk said he didn't practise very much, and had means of his own."
"Quite true," assented Hollis. "I believe he had a comfortable income, apart from his practice – perhaps five or six hundred a year. He mentioned to me that he only did business for old clients."
"Do you think he'd be likely to have a sum of ten thousand pounds lying at his bankers?" inquired Starmidge.
Hollis looked sharply at the detective and then shook his head.
"Not unless it was for some special purpose," he answered. "He might have such a sum if he'd been selling out securities for re-investment. But my impression is – in fact, it's more than an impression – I'm sure that he bought himself an annuity of about the amount I mentioned just now, some years ago. You see, he'd no children, and he knew that I was a well-to-do man, so – he used his capital in that a way."
"Would you be surprised to see a cheque of his drawn for ten thousand pounds?" asked Starmidge suddenly.
"Frankly, I should!" replied Hollis, with a smile. "That is, if it was on his private account."
"Do you happen to know who kept his private account?" inquired Starmidge.
"Yes," answered Hollis. "He banked with an old private firm called Vanderkiste, Mullineau & Company, of Lombard Street."
Starmidge, after a whispered word with Polke, took up the envelope in which he had placed the dead man's letter-case, and produced the cheque.
"Look at that, sir," he said, laying it before the visitor. "Is that your brother's handwriting?"
"His handwriting – oh, yes!" exclaimed Hollis. "Most certainly! But – there's no signature!"
"No – and there's no name of any payee," said Starmidge. "That's where the mystery comes in. But – this – and this letter-case and its contents – was found on him, and there's no doubt he came down to Scarnham intending to pay that cheque to somebody. You can't throw any light on that, sir?"
The visitor, who continued to regard the cheque with evident amazement, at last turned away from it and glanced at his three companions.
"Well," he said, "I don't know that I can. But one principal reason why I hurried here, after getting Simmons' telegram last night, is this: In the newspapers there is a good deal of mention of a Mr. John Horbury, manager of a bank in this town. He, too, you tell me, has disappeared. Now, I happen to possess a remarkably good memory, and it was at once stirred by seeing that name. My brother Frederick and I were at school together at Selburgh – Selburgh Grammar School, you know – quite thirty-five or six years ago. One of our schoolmates was a John Horbury. And – he came from this place – Scarnham."
The three listeners looked at each other. And Neale started, as if at some sudden reminiscence, and he spoke quickly.
"I've heard Mr. Horbury speak of his school-days at Selburgh!" he said. "And – now I come to think of it – he had some books with the school coat-of-arms on the sides – prizes."
"Just so!" remarked Hollis. "I remember Jack Horbury very well indeed, though I never saw him after I left school, nor heard of him either, until I saw all this news about him in the papers. Of course, your missing bank manager is the John Horbury my brother and I were at school with! And I take it that the reason my brother came down to Scarnham last Saturday was – to see John Horbury."
Starmidge had been listening to all this with close attention. He was now more than ever convinced that he was at last on some track – but so far he could not see many steps ahead. Nevertheless, his next step was clearly enough discernible.
"You say you saw your brother some eight or nine months ago, sir?" he remarked. "Did he mention Mr. Horbury to you at that time?"
"No, he didn't," replied Hollis.
"Did he ever – recently, I mean – ever mention his name to you in a letter?" asked Starmidge.
"No – never! I don't know," said Hollis, "that he or I ever spoke to each other of John Horbury from the time we left school. John Horbury was not, as it were, a very particular chum of ours. We knew him – as we knew a hundred other boys. As I have already told you, the two names, Horbury, Scarnham, in the newspapers yesterday, immediately recalled John Horbury, our schoolmate, to me. Up to then, I don't suppose I'd ever thought of him for – years! And I don't suppose he'd ever thought of me, or of my brother. Yet – I feel sure my brother came here to see him. For business reasons, I suppose?"
"The odd thing about that, Mr. Hollis," remarked Polke, "is that we can't find the slightest reason, either from anybody here, or from your brother's clerk in London, why your brother should come to see Horbury, whether for business, or for any other purpose. And as to his remembering Mr. Frederick Hollis, well, here's Mr. Neale – Mr. Horbury was his guardian – and Mr. Neale, of course, has known him all his life. Now, Mr. Neale never heard him mention Mr. Frederick Hollis by name at any time. And there's now staying in the town Mr. Horbury's niece, Miss Fosdyke; she, too, never heard her uncle speak of any Mr. Hollis. Then, as to business – the partners at Chestermarke's Bank declare that they know nothing whatever of your brother – Mr. Gabriel, the senior partner, has seen the poor gentleman, and didn't recognize him. So – we at any rate, are as wise as ever. We don't know what your brother came here for!"
Hollis bowed his head in full acceptance of the superintendent's remarks. But he looked up at Starmidge and smiled.
"Exactly!" he said. "I quite understand you, Mr. Polke. But – I am convinced that my brother came here to see John Horbury. Why he came, I know no more than you do – but I hope to know!"
"You'll stay in the town a bit, sir?" suggested Polke. "You'll want to make arrangements for your poor brother's funeral, of course. Aught that we can do, sir, to help, shall be done."
"I'm much obliged to you, Mr. Polke," replied Hollis. "Yes, I shall certainly stay in Scarnham. In fact," he went on, rising and looking quietly from one man to the other, "I shall stay in Scarnham until I, or you, or somebody have satisfactorily explained how my brother came to his death! I shall spare neither effort nor money to get at the truth – that's my determination!"
"There's somebody else in like case with you, Mr. Hollis," observed Polke. "Miss Fosdyke's just as concerned about her uncle as you are about your brother. She declares she'll spend a fortune on finding him – or finding out what's happened to him. It was Miss Fosdyke insisted on having Detective-Sergeant Starmidge down at once."
Hollis quietly scrutinized the detective.
"Well?" he asked. "And what do you make of it?"
But Starmidge was not in the mood for saying anything more just then, and he put his questioner off, asking him, at the same time, to keep the matter of the cheque to himself. Presently Hollis went away with Neale, to whom he wished to talk, and Starmidge, after a period of what seemed to be profound thought, turned to Polke.
"Superintendent!" he said earnestly. "With your leave, I'd like to try an experiment."
"What experiment?" demanded Polke.
Starmidge pointed to the ten thousand pound cheque, which was still lying on the table.
"I'd like to take that cheque across to Chestermarke's Bank, and show it to the partners," he answered.
"Good heavens! – why?" exclaimed Polke. "I thought you didn't want anybody to know about it."
"Never mind – I've an idea," said the detective. "I'd just like them to see it, anyway, and," he added, with a wink, "I'd like to see them when they do see it!"
"You know best," said Polke. "If you think it well, do it."
Starmidge put the cheque in an envelope and walked over to the bank. He was shown into the partners' room almost immediately, and the two men glanced at him with evident curiosity.
"Sorry to trouble you, gentlemen," said Starmidge, in his politest manner. "There's a little matter you might help us in. We've been searching this unfortunate gentleman's clothing, you know, for papers and so on. And in his letter-case we found – this!"
He had the cheque ready behind his back, and he suddenly brought it forward, and laid it immediately before the partners, on Gabriel's desk, at the same time stepping back so that he could observe both men.
"Queer, isn't it, gentlemen?" he remarked quietly. "Incomplete!"
Gabriel Chestermarke, in spite of his habitual control, started: Joseph, bending nearer to the desk, made a curious sound of surprise. A second later they both looked at Starmidge – each as calm as ever. "Well?" said Gabriel.
"You don't know anything about that, gentlemen?" asked Starmidge, affecting great innocence.
"Nothing!" answered Gabriel.
"Of course not!" murmured Joseph, a little derisively.
"I thought you might recognize that handwriting," suggested Starmidge, using one of his previously invented excuses.
"No!" replied Gabriel. "Don't know it!"
"From Adam's writing," added Joseph.
"You know the name of the bankers, I suppose, gentlemen?" asked the detective.
"Vanderkiste? Oh, yes!" assented Gabriel. "Well-known city firm. But I don't think we've ever done business with them," he added, turning to his nephew.
"Never!" replied Joseph. "In my time, at any rate."
Starmidge picked up the cheque and carefully replaced it in its envelope.
"Much obliged to you, gentlemen," he said, retreating towards the door. "Oh! – you'll be interested in hearing, no doubt, that the dead man's brother, Mr. Leonard Hollis, of Birmingham, has come. He's identified the body."
"And what does he think, or suggest?" asked Joseph, glancing out of the corners of his eyes at Starmidge. "Has he any suggestions – or ideas?"
"He thinks his brother came here to meet Mr. Horbury," answered Starmidge.
"That's so evident that it's no news," remarked Joseph. "Perhaps he can suggest where Horbury's to be found."
Starmidge bowed and went out and straight back to Polke. He handed him the cheque and the letter-case.
"Lock 'em up!" he said. "Now then, listen! You can do all that's necessary about that inquest. I'm off to town. Sit down, and I'll tell you why. And what I tell you, keep to yourself."
That evening, Starmidge, who had driven quietly across the country from Scarnham to Ecclesborough, joined a London express at the Midland Station in the big town. The carriages were unusually full, and he had some difficulty in finding the corner seat that he particularly desired. But he got one, at last, at the very end of the train, and he had only just settled himself in it when he saw Gabriel Chestermarke hurry past. Starmidge put his head out of the window and watched – Gabriel entered a first-class compartment in the next coach.
"First stop Nottingham!" mused the detective. And he pulled a sheaf of telegram forms out of his pocket, and leisurely began to write a message which before he signed his name to it had run into many words.
CHAPTER XX
THE OTHER CHEQUE
Starmidge sent off his telegram when the train stopped at Nottingham, and thereafter went to sleep, secure in the knowledge that it would be promptly acted upon by its recipients. And when, soon after eleven o'clock, the express ran into St. Pancras, he paid no particular attention to Gabriel Chestermarke. He had no desire, indeed, that the banker should see him, and he hung back when the crowded carriages cleared, and the platform became a scene of bustle and animation. But he had no difficulty in distinguishing Gabriel's stiffly erect figure as it made its way towards the hall of the station, and his sharp eyes were quick to notice a quietly dressed, unobtrusive sort of man who sauntered along, caught sight of the banker, and swung round to follow him. Starmidge watched both pass along towards the waiting lines of vehicles – then he turned on his heel and went to the refreshment room and straight to a man who evidently expected him.
"You got the wire in good time, then?" said Starmidge.
"Plenty!" answered the other man laconically. "I've put a good man on to him. See anything of them?"
"Yes – but I didn't know our man," remarked Starmidge. "Who is he? Will he do what I want?"
"He's all right – fellow who's just been promoted, and, of course, he's naturally keen," replied Starmidge's companion. "Name of Gandam. That was a pretty good and full description of the man you want followed, Starmidge," he went on, with a smile. "You don't leave much out!"
"I didn't want him to be overlooked, and I didn't want to show up myself," said Starmidge. "I noticed that our man spotted him quick. Now, look here – I'll be at headquarters first thing tomorrow morning – I want this chap Gandam's report. Nine-thirty sharp! Now we'll have a drink, and I'll get home."
"Good case, this?" asked the other man, as they pledged each other. "Getting on with it?"
"Tell you more tomorrow," answered Starmidge. "When – and if – I know more. Nine-thirty, mind!"
But when Starmidge met his companion of the night before at nine-thirty next morning, it was to find him in conversation with the other man, and to see dissatisfaction on the countenances of both. And Starmidge, a naturally keen observer, knew what had happened. He frowned as he looked at Gandam.
"You don't mean to say he slipped you!" he exclaimed.
"I don't know about slipped," muttered Gandam. "I lost him, anyway, Mr. Starmidge, and I don't see how I can be blamed, either. Perhaps you might have done differently, but – "
"Tell about it!" interrupted Starmidge. "What happened?"
"I spotted him, of course, from your description, as soon as he got out of the train," replied Gandam. "No mistaking him, naturally – he's an extra good one to watch. He'd no luggage – not even a handbag. I followed him to the taxi-cabs. I was close by when he stepped into one, and I heard what he said. 'Stage door – Adalbert Theatre.' Off he went – I followed in another taxi. I stopped mine and got out, just in time to see him walk up the entry to the stage-door. He went in. It was then half-past eleven; they were beginning to close. I waited and waited until at last they closed the stage-door. I'll take my oath he'd never come out! – never!"
Starmidge made a face of intense disgust.
"No, of course he hadn't!" he exclaimed. "He'd gone out at the front. I suppose that never struck you? I know that stage-door of the Adalbert – it's up a passage. If you'd stood at the end of that passage, man, you could have kept an eye on the front and stage-door at the same time. But, of course, it never struck you that a man could go in at the back of a place and come out at the front, did it? Well – that's off for the present. And so am I."
Vexed and disappointed that Gabriel Chestermarke had not been tracked to wherever he was staying in London, Starmidge went out, hailed a taxi-cab, and was driven down to the city. He did not particularly concern himself about Gabriel's visit to the stage-door of the Adalbert Theatre; it was something, after all, to know he had gone there: if need arose, he might be traced from that theatre, in which, very possibly, he had some financial interest. What Starmidge had desired to ascertain was the banker's London address: he had already learned in Scarnham that Gabriel Chestermarke was constantly in London for days at a time – he must have some permanent address at which he could be found. And Starmidge foresaw that he might wish to find him – perhaps in a hurry.
But just then his chief concern was with another banking firm – Vanderkiste's. He walked slowly along Lombard Street until he came to the house – a quiet, sober, eminently respectable-looking old business place, quite unlike the palatial affairs in which the great banking corporations of modern origin carry on their transactions. There was no display of marble and plaster and plate glass and mahogany and heavy plethoric fittings – a modest brass plate affixed to the door was the only sign and announcement that banking business was carried on within. Equally old-fashioned and modest was the interior – and Starmidge was quick to notice that the clerks were all elderly or middle-aged men, solemn and grave as undertakers.
The presentation of the detective's official card procured him speedy entrance to a parlour in which sat two old gentlemen, who were evidently greatly surprised to see him. They were so much surprised indeed, as to be almost childishly interested, and Starmidge had never had such attentive listeners in his life as these two elderly city men, to whom crime and detention were as unfamiliar as higher finance was to their visitor. They followed Starmidge's story point by point, nodding every now and then as he drew their attention to particular passages, and the detective saw that they comprehended all he said. He made an end at last – and Mr. Vanderkiste, a white-bearded, benevolent-looking gentleman, looked at Mr. Mullineau, a little, rosy-faced man, and shook his head.
"It would be an unusual thing, certainly," he observed, "for Mr. Frederick Hollis to have ten thousand pounds lying here to his credit. Mr. Hollis was an old customer – we knew him very well – but he didn't keep a lot of money here. We – er – know his circumstances. He bought himself a very nice annuity some years ago – it was paid into his account here twice a year. But – ten thousand pounds!"
Mr. Mullineau leaned forward.
"We don't know if Frederick Hollis paid any large amount in lately, you know," he observed. "Hadn't you better summon Linthwaite?"
"Our manager," remarked Mr. Vanderkiste, as he touched a bell. "Ah, yes, of course – he'll know. Mr. Linthwaite," he continued, as another elderly man entered the room, "can you tell us what Mr. Frederick Hollis's balance in our hands is?"
"I have just been looking it up, sir," replied the manager, "in consequence of this sad news in the papers. Ten thousand, eight hundred, seventy-nine, five, four, Mr. Vanderkiste."
"Ten thousand eight hundred and seventy-nine pounds, five shillings and fourpence," repeated Mr. Vanderkiste. "Ah! An unusually large amount, I think, Mr. Linthwaite?"
"Just so, sir," agreed the manager. "The reason is that rather more than a week ago Mr. Hollis called here himself with a cheque for ten thousand pounds which he paid into his account, explaining to me that it had been handed to him for a special purpose, and that he should draw a cheque for his own against it, for the same amount, very shortly."
"Ah!" remarked Mr. Vanderkiste. "Has the cheque which he paid in been cleared?"
"We cleared it at once," replied the manager. "Oh, yes! But the cheque which Mr. Hollis spoke of drawing against it has not come in – and now, of course – "
"Just so," said Mr. Vanderkiste. "Now that he's dead, of course, his cheque is no good. Um! That will do, thank you, Mr. Linthwaite."
He turned and looked at Starmidge when the manager had withdrawn.
"That explains matters," he said. "The ten thousand pounds had been paid to Mr. Frederick Hollis for a special purpose."
"But – by whom?" asked Starmidge. "That's precisely what I want to know! The knowledge will help me – ah! – I don't know how much it mayn't help me! For there's no doubt about it, gentlemen, Hollis went down to Scarnham to pay ten thousand pounds to somebody on somebody else's account! He was, I am sure, as it were, ambassador for somebody. Who was – who is – that somebody? Almost certainly, the person who gave Hollis the cheque your manager has just mentioned – and whose ten thousand pounds is, as a matter of fact, still lying in your hands! Who is that person? What bank was the cheque drawn on? Let me have an answer to both these questions, and – "
The two old gentlemen exchanged looks, and Mr. Mullineau quietly rose and left the room. In his absence Mr. Vanderkiste shook his head at the detective.
"A very, very queer case, officer!" he remarked.
"An extraordinary case, sir," agreed Starmidge. "Before we get to the end of it there'll be some strange revelations, Mr. Vanderkiste."
"So I should imagine – so I should imagine!" assented the old gentleman. "Very remarkable proceedings altogether! We shall be deeply interested in hearing how matters progress. Of course, this affair of the ten thousand pounds is very curious. We – "
Mr. Mullineau came back – with a slip of paper, which he handed to the detective.
"That gives you the information you want," he said.
Starmidge read aloud what the manager had written down on his principal's instructions.
"Drawer – Helen Lester," he read. "Bank – London & Universal: Pall Mall Branch." He looked up at the two partners. "I suppose you gentlemen don't know who this Mrs. or Miss Helen Lester is?" he inquired.
"No – not at all," answered Mr. Mullineau. "Nor does Linthwaite. I thought Mr. Hollis might have told him something about that special purpose. But – he told him nothing."
"You'll have to go to the London & Universal people," observed Mr. Vanderkiste. "They, of course, will know all about this customer."
Mullineau looked inquiringly at his partner.
"Don't you think that – as there are almost certain to be some complications about this matter – Linthwaite had better go with Detective Starmidge?" he suggested. "The situation, as regards the ten thousand pounds, is a somewhat curious one. This Miss or Mrs. Lester will want to recover it. Now, according to what Mr. Starmidge tells us, no body, so far as he's aware, is in possession of any facts, papers, letters, anything, relating to it. I think there should be some consultation between ourselves and this other bank which is concerned."
"Excellent suggestion!" agreed Mr. Vanderkiste. "Let him go – by all means."
Half an hour later, Starmidge found himself closeted with another lot of bankers. But these were younger men, who were quicker to grasp situations and comprehend points, and they quickly understood what the detective was after: moreover, they were already well posted up in those details of the Scarnham mystery which had already appeared in the newspapers.
"What you want," said one of them, a young and energetic man, addressing Starmidge at the end of their preliminary conversation, "is to find out for what purpose Mrs. Lester gave Mr. Frederick Hollis ten thousand pounds?"
"Precisely," replied Starmidge. "It will go far towards clearing up a good many things."
"I have no doubt Mrs. Lester will tell you readily enough," said the banker. "In fact, as things are, I should say she'll only be too glad to give you any information you want. That ten thousand pounds being in Messrs. Vanderkiste's hands, in Hollis's name, and Hollis being dead, there will be bother – not serious, of course, but still formal bother – about recovering it. Very well – Mrs. Lester, who, I may tell you, is a wealthy customer of ours, lives in the country as a rule, and I happen to know she's there now. I'll write down her address. Tell her, by all means, that you have been to see us on the matter."
Starmidge left Mr. Linthwaite talking with the London & Universal people; he himself, now that he had got the desired information, had no more to say. Outside the bank he opened the slip of paper which had just been handed to him, and saw that another journey lay before him. Mrs. Lester lived at Lowdale Court, near Chesham.
