"Yes," I replied. "But Patterson has some object in imposing secrecy on us."
"Of course," he answered thoughtfully.
There was a pause. We both smoked on. Not a sound penetrated there save the solemn ticking of the clock and the distant strains of a piano in some man"s rooms across the square.
"Do you know, Frank," my companion said after some reflection, and looking at me with a rather curious expression--"do you know that I have some strange misgivings?"
"Misgivings!" I echoed. "Of what?"
"Well," he said, "did anything strike you as strange in Patterson"s manner?"
"To tell the truth," I answered, "something did. His att.i.tude was unusual--quite unusual, to-night."
"He"s a funny Johnnie. That story of the snake on the pavement--isn"t it rather too strange to be believed?"
"At first sight it appears extraordinary, but remember that in the laboratory upstairs we found other snakes. The occupier of the house evidently went in for the reptiles as pets."
"I quite agree with you there," he said. "But there are certain circ.u.mstances in the case which have aroused my suspicion, old chap. Of all the curious cases I"ve ever investigated while I"ve been on the _Comet_, this is the most astounding from every point of view, and I, for one, shan"t rest until we"ve fully solved the problem."
"In that you"ll have my heartiest a.s.sistance," I said. "All the time I can spare away from the office I"ll devote to helping you."
"Good," d.i.c.k exclaimed heartily, refilling his pipe. "Between us we ought to find out something, for you and I can get at the bottom of things as soon as most people."
"The two strangest features of this case," I pointed out, "are first the telephonic message, and secondly, the disappearance of the first woman we found."
"And those cards!"
"And that penny wrapped so carefully in paper!" I added. "Yes, there are fully a dozen extraordinary features connected with the affair. The whole business is an absolute puzzle."
"Tell me, old chap," d.i.c.k said, after a pause, "what causes you to suspect Patterson?"
"I don"t suspect him," I answered quickly. "No. I merely think that he has not told the exact truth of the first discovery of the crime, that"s all."
"Exactly my own opinion," responded d.i.c.k. "He"s concealing some very important fact from us--for what purpose we can"t yet tell. There"s more in this than we surmise. Of that I feel absolutely confident."
"The snake story is a little too good," I said, rather surprised that his suspicions should have been aroused, for I had not related to him my conversation with Patterson and his very lame excuse for not making a report of the discovery at the police-station. What had aroused d.i.c.k"s suspicions I was extremely puzzled to know. But he was a shrewd, clever fellow, whose greatest delight was the investigation of crime and the obtaining of those "revelations" which middle-cla.s.s London so eagerly devours.
"A very happy invention of an ingenious mind, my dear fellow," exclaimed the Mystery-monger. "Depend upon it, Patterson, being already aware that there were snakes in that house, invented the story, knowing that when the place was searched it would appear quite circ.u.mstantial."
"Then you think that he"s not in absolute ignorance of who lived there?"
I exclaimed, surprised at my friend"s startling theory.
d.i.c.k nodded.
"I shouldn"t be surprised if it be proved that he knew all along who the dead man is."
"Why?"
"Well, I noticed that he never once looked at that man"s face. It was he who covered it with a handkerchief, as though the sight of the white countenance appalled him."
"Come come," I said, "proceed. You"ll say that he"s the guilty one next."
"Ah! no, my dear fellow," he hastened to rea.s.sure me. "You quite misunderstand my meaning. I hold the theory that in life these people were friends of Patterson"s, that"s all."
"What makes you suspect such a thing?"
"Well, I watched our friend very closely this evening, and that"s the conclusion I"ve arrived at."
"You really think that he is concealing facts which might throw light on the affair?" I exclaimed, much surprised.
"Yes," he answered, "I feel certain of it--absolutely certain."
CHAPTER SIX.
WHAT I SAW IN THE PARK.
For a long time, sitting by the open window and looking out upon the starry night, we discussed the grim affair in all its details. The piano had stopped its tinkling, a dead silence had fallen upon the old-world square, one of the relics of bygone London, and the clock upon the hall had struck one o"clock with that solemnity which does not fail to impress even the most dissipated resident of Gray"s. As a bachelor abode Gray"s Inn is as comfortable and convenient a spot as there is in London, for there is always a quiet, restful air within; the grey, smoke-stained houses open on airy squares, and until a couple of years ago, quite a large colony of rooks made their home in the great old trees. It is an oasis of peace and repose in the very centre of that gigantic fevered city, where the whirl of daily life is unceasing, where in the east and south toiling millions struggle fiercely for their bread, while in the west is greater wealth and extravagance than in all the world besides.
"I think," said d.i.c.k at last, after he had put forth one or two theories, "that if we manage to get to the bottom of this affair we shall discover some very startling facts."
"That"s absolutely certain," I answered. "The disappearance of the fair girl, and the subst.i.tution of the other, is in itself a fact absolutely unique in the annals of crime. Whoever effected that change must have been indeed a bold person."
"Didn"t the people next door see any taxi drive up, or notice anything being brought up to the house?"
"No. That"s the strangest part of it," I responded. "Nothing was seen of any cab or conveyance, although, of course, there must have been one."
"And that inquiry by telephone was a remarkable incident," d.i.c.k went on.
"You say that the inquirer was popping about to various call-rooms ringing up his confederates. That shows that there were two or three in the secret. It hardly seems feasible that the man who rang up from the Minories was the same as the one with whom you spoke at Putney."
"No; but the arrangement to meet in St. James"s Park to-morrow is extraordinary, to say the least."
"Ah, my dear fellow," observed my friend, with a smile, "I very much fear that that appointment won"t be kept. Men such as they evidently are will hardly risk a meeting. On reflection, the individual, whoever he is, will see that he has given himself away, and his natural caution will prevent him from going near St. James"s Park."
"Well, I only hope he does meet me," I observed.
"So do I. But to my mind such a circ.u.mstance is entirely out of the question. You see he went to call-boxes in order to avoid detection."
"The curious thing is, that if it were the same man who rang up each time he must have travelled from one place to another in an amazingly rapid manner."
"There might be two persons," he suggested.
"Of course there might," I answered. "But I think not. The girl at the exchange evidently recognised the voice of the persistent inquirer."
"I"m glad I came down--very glad," he said. "I went over to see Lily, but she"s gone to Ipswich with her aunt, an old lady who feared to travel alone. It appears she wrote to me this morning, but the letter has missed the post, I suppose. It will come to-morrow morning."
"You had your journey to Peckham for nothing, then?"
"Yes," he answered. "She ought to have sent me a wire. Just like a woman."