I did not answer, and Baker shook his head in sympathy.
"I do not attempt to suggest what occurred while the two sat here by the fire," said Quarles, "but whatever it was, somebody wished it to be known that something had happened. That is my answer to the question. The message suggests murder. As the house has not yet been thoroughly searched, murder may actually have taken place."
Baker started, and I looked at the professor in astonishment.
"You think Mrs. Fitzroy is lying dead somewhere in this house?" I said.
"I have a theory which we may put to the test at once," returned Quarles.
"In the cellars, I suppose?"
"No, Wigan; we"ll look everywhere else first. I expect to find a body, and not very securely hidden either; there wouldn"t be much time; and, besides, I believe it is meant to be found. Still I do not expect to find Mrs. Fitzroy"s body. I expect to find a dead man. Shall we go and look?"
A man in my profession perforce gets used to coming in contact with death in various forms, but there is always a certain thrill in doing so, and in the present search there was something uncanny. The quest was not a long one. In a small bedroom on the first floor, spa.r.s.ely furnished and evidently used chiefly as a box-room, we found the body of a man under the bed. A cord had been thrown round his neck and he had been strangled fiercely and with powerful hands at the work.
"Not a woman"s doing," said Quarles as he knelt down to examine the corpse.
There were no papers of any kind in the pockets, but there was money and a cigar case.
"Time is precious now, Wigan," said the professor. "You might telephone to the station and ask if they have found the driver of the taxi. I want to know if this poor fellow is the man he drove to Melbury Avenue last evening, also whether it has always been a Wednesday when he has brought him into this neighborhood; and, of course, you must ask him any questions which may lead to the identification of the dead man. I don"t suppose he will be able to help you much in that direction. You will find, I fancy, that the driver got tired of waiting for his fare last night and drove away."
"Or took another fare--the murderer," I suggested.
"I don"t think so," said Quarles. "You might also ask the inspector at the station whether he is prepared to swear that the first voice he heard over the "phone--the voice which said "police"--was a woman"s.
What time does it grow dark now, constable?"
"Early--half-past four, sir."
"I"ll go, Wigan. I want to think the matter out before dark. Seven o"clock to-night--meet me at the top of the road at that time, and somewhere close have half a dozen plain clothes men ready for a raid.
Now that we know murder has been done, you couldn"t suggest a house to raid, I suppose, constable."
"I couldn"t, sir."
"Nor can I at present. Seven o"clock to-night, Wigan."
The professor"s manner, short, peremptory, self-sufficient, was at times calculated to disturb the serenity of an archangel. I had been on the point of quarreling with him more than once that morning, but the sudden demonstration of what seemed to be the wildest theory left me with nothing to say. Constable Baker had an idea of putting the case adequately, I think, when he remarked: "He ain"t human, that"s what he is."
The taxi driver had been found, and, when taken to Hambledon Road, recognized the dead man as his fare. He had driven him to Melbury Avenue on four occasions, and each time it had been a Wednesday. Of course, the gentleman might have come more than four times, and on other days besides Wednesdays for all he knew. On each occasion he had been called off a rank in Trafalgar Square. His fare had paid him for the down journey before walking up the avenue, and had never kept him waiting so long before, so he gave up the job and went back to town.
He had not picked up another fare until he got to Kensington.
The inspector at the station was certain the message he had received was in a woman"s voice, but he was not sure that the word "police" was in the same voice, or that it was a woman who spoke it.
At seven o"clock I was waiting for Quarles at the top of Hambledon Road. He was punctual to the minute.
"You"ve got the men, Wigan?"
"They are hanging about in Melbury Avenue."
"It may be there is hot work in front of us," said Quarles, "and the first move is yours. No. 6 Hambledon Road is the house we want, and you will go to the front door and ask to see the master. I fancy a maidservant will answer the door, but I am not sure. Whoever it is, prevent an alarm being given, and get into the house with the two men who will accompany you. That done, get the door into the garden open, and I will join you with the rest of the men. If there is any attempt at escape it will be by the garden, and we shall be waiting for them.
Utter silence; that is imperative. Of course, they may be prepared, but probably they are not. If it is necessary to shoot, you must, and we will force our way in as best we can and take our part in the struggle. Come along, let"s get the men together."
A few minutes later I had knocked at the door of No. 6; an elderly woman-servant came to the door, and I saw suspicion in her eyes. Even as I inquired for her master I seized her, and so successfully that she hadn"t an opportunity to utter a sound. I asked her no question, certain that she would mislead me, and, leaving one of the men with her in the hall, I hastened with the other two to the door leading into the garden, fully expecting to be attacked. We saw no one, heard no movement; either the professor had made a mistake or the conspirators considered themselves secure.
Quarles and the men came in like shadows, so silent were they, and it was evident that the professor had given his companions instructions, for two of them quickly went toward the hall.
"The cellars, Wigan," he whispered. "I think it will be the cellars."
The house was a bas.e.m.e.nt one, similar to No. 14, and from a stone pa.s.sage we found a door giving on to a dozen steep steps. It was pitch dark below.
"Don"t show a light," said Quarles as he pushed me gently to go forward. I didn"t know it at the time, but only one man came down with us.
At the foot of the stairs a pa.s.sage ran to right and left, and to the left, which was toward the garden side of the house, a thin line of light showed below a door. On tiptoe, ready for emergencies, and hardly daring to breathe, we approached it, and with one accord the professor and I put our ears to the door. For a while no sound came, then a paper rustled and a foot sc.r.a.ped lightly on the stone floor. We had chanced to arrive during a pause in the conversation, for presently a voice, pitched low and monotonous in its tone, went on with an argument:
"I can find no excuse for you in that, Bertha Capracci. It is not admitted that your husband found death at the hands of his a.s.sociates, but, were it so, it is no more than just. There are papers here proving beyond all doubt that he betrayed his friends."
"I have already said that is untrue," came the answer in a woman"s voice.
"There is no doubt," said another man.
"None," said a third.
Three men at least were sitting in judgment upon this woman, and it was evident they were not English.
"Besides, I am not one of you," said the woman.
"In name, no; in reality, yes; since your husband must have let you into many secrets," returned the first speaker. "Your woman"s wit has outplayed our spies until recently, but, once discovered, you have been constantly watched. We cannot prove that the failure of some of our plans, costing the lives of good comrades, has been due to your interference, but we suspect it. We found you in constant communication with this English Jew, Jacob Morrison, who is in the pay of the Continental police. He is dead, a warning to others, killed in your house, and busy eyes are now looking for you as his murderess.
You have hidden your ident.i.ty so entirely that all inquiry must speedily be baffled, and so you have played into our hands. Your disappearance will hardly reach to a nine days" wonder, and who will think to look for your body under the flags of this cellar? Death is the sentence of the Society, and forthwith."
I waited to hear a cry of terror, but it did not come. Nor was there a movement to suggest that the men had risen at once to the work, or, in spite of the restraining hand the professor laid on my arm, I should have been beating at the door to break it down.
"I offer you one chance of life," the man"s voice droned on after a pause. "Confess everything. Give me the names of all those to whom you have given information concerning us, and you shall have your miserable life."
"You have killed the only man who knew anything from me," she answered.
"It"s a lie," came the hissing reply. "Your cursed husband told you so much about us, he may have explained some of the means we employ to make unwilling tongues speak. I"ll have the truth out of you."
One of the men must have sat close to her, for her sudden cry of fear was instantly smothered, and there was the sound of struggle and rough usage.
"Now--quickly," whispered Quarles; and the man who had followed us to the cellars had struck with a stout piece of iron between the door and its framework. The wood splintered immediately, and, almost before I was prepared, we were facing our enemies, and Quarles was shouting for the other men in the house to come to us.
"Hands up!" I cried.
They were unprepared, that was our salvation. Not one of the three had any intention of surrender, that was evident in a moment, but they had to get their hands on their weapons, and, fortunately, only one of them had a revolver. The other two rushed upon us with knives.
I think Quarles was the first to fire, and he was not a thought too soon. He said afterward that he meant to maim and not to kill, but his bullet pa.s.sed through the man"s brain, and he dropped like a stone.
He was the one with the revolver, and, regardless of his own safety, he meant to silence the woman for ever.
The weapon was at her head when the villain dropped, and I have sometimes thought that, whatever his intention the moment before, in the act of pressing the trigger the professor realized that only the man"s death could save the woman.