"No, she"s behind now, and Mrs. Laker"s with her. They met in the Strand, and came after us in another cab. Rare fun, eh! They think we"re pretty green! It"s quite handy, too. So long as they keep behind me it saves all trouble of watching _them_." And Inspector Plummer chuckled and winked.
"Very good. You don"t mind keeping your eye on that door, do you? I"ll be back very soon," and with that Hewitt turned off into Abchurch Lane.
At Winsor & Weekes"s information was not difficult to obtain. The houses were destined to come down very shortly, but a week or so ago an office and a cellar in one of them was let temporarily to a Mr. Westley. He brought no references; indeed, as he paid a fortnight"s rent in advance, he was not asked for any, considering the circ.u.mstances of the case. He was opening a London branch for a large firm of cider merchants, he said, and just wanted a rough office and a cool cellar to store samples in for a few weeks till the permanent premises were ready. There was another key, and no doubt the premises might be entered if there were any special need for such a course. Martin Hewitt gave such excellent reasons that Winsor & Weekes"s managing clerk immediately produced the key and accompanied Hewitt to the spot.
"I think you"d better have your men handy," Hewitt remarked to Plummer when they reached the door, and a whistle quickly brought the men over.
The key was inserted in the lock and turned, but the door would not open; the bolt was fastened at the bottom. Hewitt stooped and looked under the door.
"It"s a drop bolt," he said. "Probably the man who left last let it fall loose, and then banged the door, so that it fell into its place. I must try my best with a wire or a piece of string."
A wire was brought, and with some manoeuvring Hewitt contrived to pa.s.s it round the bolt, and lift it little by little, steadying it with the blade of a pocket-knife. When at length the bolt was raised out of the hole, the knife-blade was slipped under it, and the door swung open.
They entered. The door of the little office just inside stood open, but in the office there was nothing, except a board a couple of feet long in a corner. Hewitt stepped across and lifted this, turning its downward face toward Plummer. On it, in fresh white paint on a black ground, were painted the words--
"BULLER, CLAYTON, LADDS & CO., TEMPORARY ENTRANCE."
Hewitt turned to Winsor & Weekes"s clerk and asked, "The man who took this room called himself Westley, didn"t he?"
"Yes."
"Youngish man, clean-shaven, and well-dressed?"
"Yes, he was."
"I fancy," Hewitt said, turning to Plummer, "I _fancy_ an old friend of yours is in this--Mr. Sam Gunter."
"What, the "Hoxton Yob"?"
"I think it"s possible he"s been Mr. Westley for a bit, and somebody else for another bit. But let"s come to the cellar."
Winsor & Weekes"s clerk led the way down a steep flight of steps into a dark underground corridor, wherein they lighted their way with many successive matches. Soon the corridor made a turn to the right, and as the party pa.s.sed the turn, there came from the end of the pa.s.sage before them a fearful yell.
"Help! help! Open the door! I"m going mad--mad! O my G.o.d!"
And there was a sound of desperate beating from the inside of the cellar door at the extreme end. The men stopped, startled.
"Come," said Hewitt, "more matches!" and he rushed to the door. It was fastened with a bar and padlock.
"Let me out, for G.o.d"s sake!" came the voice, sick and hoa.r.s.e, from the inside. "Let me out!"
"All right!" Hewitt shouted. "We have come for you. Wait a moment."
The voice sank into a sort of sobbing croon, and Hewitt tried several keys from his own bunch on the padlock. None fitted. He drew from his pocket the wire he had used for the bolt of the front door, straightened it out, and made a sharp bend at the end.
"Hold a match close," he ordered shortly, and one of the men obeyed.
Three or four attempts were necessary, and several different bendings of the wire were effected, but in the end Hewitt picked the lock, and flung open the door.
From within a ghastly figure fell forward among them fainting, and knocked out the matches.
"Hullo!" cried Plummer. "Hold up! Who are you?"
"Let"s get him up into the open," said Hewitt. "He can"t tell you who he is for a bit, but I believe he"s Laker."
"Laker! What, here?"
"I think so. Steady up the steps. Don"t b.u.mp him. He"s pretty sore already, I expect."
Truly the man was a pitiable sight. His hair and face were caked in dust and blood, and his finger-nails were torn and bleeding. Water was sent for at once, and brandy.
"Well," said Plummer hazily, looking first at the unconscious prisoner and then at Hewitt, "but what about the swag?"
"You"ll have to find that yourself," Hewitt replied. "I think my share of the case is about finished. I only act for the Guarantee Society, you know, and if Laker"s proved innocent----"
"Innocent! How?"
"Well, this is what took place, as near as I can figure it. You"d better undo his collar, I think"--this to the men. "What I believe has happened is this. There has been a very clever and carefully prepared conspiracy here, and Laker has not been the criminal, but the victim."
"Been robbed himself, you mean? But how? Where?"
"Yesterday morning, before he had been to more than three banks--here, in fact."
"But then how? You"re all wrong. We _know_ he made the whole round, and did all the collection. And then Palmer"s office, and all, and the umbrella; why----"
The man lay still unconscious. "Don"t raise his head," Hewitt said. "And one of you had best fetch a doctor. He"s had a terrible shock." Then turning to Plummer he went on, "As to _how_ they managed the job I"ll tell you what I think. First it struck some very clever person that a deal of money might be got by robbing a walk-clerk from a bank. This clever person was one of a clever gang of thieves--perhaps the Hoxton Row gang, as I think I hinted. Now you know quite as well as I do that such a gang will spend any amount of time over a job that promises a big haul, and that for such a job they can always command the necessary capital. There are many most respectable persons living in good style in the suburbs whose chief business lies in financing such ventures, and taking the chief share of the proceeds. Well, this is their plan, carefully and intelligently carried out. They watch Laker, observe the round he takes, and his habits. They find that there is only one of the clerks with whom he does business that he is much acquainted with, and that this clerk is in a bank which is commonly second in Laker"s round.
The sharpest man among them--and I don"t think there"s a man in London could do this as well as young Sam Gunter--studies Laker"s dress and habits just as an actor studies a character. They take this office and cellar, as we have seen, _because it is next door to a bank whose front entrance is being altered_--a fact which Laker must know from his daily visits. The smart man--Gunter, let us say, and I have other reasons for believing it to be he--makes up precisely like Laker, false moustache, dress, and everything, and waits here with the rest of the gang. One of the gang is dressed in a blue coat with bra.s.s b.u.t.tons, like a hall-porter in Buller"s bank. Do you see?"
"Yes, I think so. It"s pretty clear now."
"A confederate watches at the top of the court, and the moment Laker turns in from Cornhill--having already been, mind, at the only bank where he was so well known that the disguised thief would not have pa.s.sed muster--as soon as he turns in from Cornhill, I say, a signal is given, and that board"--pointing to that with the white letters--"is hung on the hook in the doorpost. The sham porter stands beside it, and as Laker approaches says, "This way in, sir, this morning. The front way"s shut for the alterations." Laker, suspecting nothing, and supposing that the firm have made a temporary entrance through the empty house, enters. He is seized when well along the corridor, the board is taken down and the door shut. Probably he is stunned by a blow on the head--see the blood now. They take his wallet and all the cash he has already collected. Gunter takes the wallet and also the umbrella, since it has Laker"s initials, and is therefore distinctive. He simply completes the walk in the character of Laker, beginning with Buller, Clayton & Ladds"s just round the corner. It is nothing but routine work, which is quickly done, and n.o.body notices him particularly--it is the bills they examine. Meanwhile this unfortunate fellow is locked up in the cellar here, right at the end of the underground corridor, where he can never make himself heard in the street, and where next him are only the empty cellars of the deserted house next door. The thieves shut the front door and vanish. The rest is plain. Gunter, having completed the round, and bagged some 15,000 or more, spends a few pounds in a tourist ticket at Palmer"s as a blind, being careful to give Laker"s name. He leaves the umbrella at Charing Cross in a conspicuous place right opposite the lost property office, where it is sure to be seen, and so completes his false trail."
"Then who are the people at 197, Hackworth Road?"
"The capitalist lives there--the financier, and probably the directing spirit of the whole thing. Merston"s the name he goes by there, and I"ve no doubt he cuts a very imposing figure in chapel every Sunday. He"ll be worth picking up--this isn"t the first thing he"s been in, I"ll warrant."
"But--but what about Laker"s mother and Miss Shaw?"
"Well, what? The poor women are nearly out of their minds with terror and shame, that"s all, but though they may think Laker a criminal, they"ll never desert him. They"ve been following us about with a feeble, vague sort of hope of being able to baffle us in some way or help him if we caught him, or something, poor things. Did you ever hear of a real woman who"d desert a son or a lover merely because he was a criminal?
But here"s the doctor. When he"s attended to him will you let your men take Laker home? I must hurry and report to the Guarantee Society, I think."
"But," said the perplexed Plummer, "where did you get your clue? You must have had a tip from some one, you know--you can"t have done it by clairvoyance. What gave you the tip?"
"The _Daily Chronicle_."
"The _what_?"
"The _Daily Chronicle_. Just take a look at the "agony column" in yesterday morning"s issue, and read the message to "Yob"--to Gunter, in fact. That"s all."