"He had been leaning upon it, and there was the mark where it had sunk into the soft turf up to the point where the silk joins the stick. A man who carries an umbrella on a kidnapping adventure must be habitually in fear of rain--none but a well-dressed man would fear rain.
"Then, as he had a cigar in his hand with the end bitten off, it shows the habitual smoker. He was only waiting for the end of the drama before lighting up. His height I get from his stride, and his size by the fact that, like Humpty-Dumpty, he had a great fall. I"ll tell you the rest later. I"m afraid it"s an ugly business."
"But the girl riding beside the driver?" burst out Mr. Doulton, bewildered by the facts that Malcolm Sage had deduced from so little.
"At the edge of a side-road there is invariably a deposit of dust, and the marks where they all got out and in are clearly visible. The hurry of departure is shown by the fact that the car started before one of the men had taken his place, and his footsteps running beside it before jumping on to the running-board are quite clear. I"ll ring you up later. I cannot stay now." And with that he hurried away.
"Back along your own tracks, Tims," said he on reaching the car. He then walked on to the main road.
With head over right shoulder, Tims carefully backed the car, Malcolm Sage signalling that he was to turn to the right.
Instructing Tims to drive slowly, Malcolm Sage took his seat beside him, keeping his eyes fixed upon the off-side of the road. He stopped the car at each cross-road, and walked down it some twenty or thirty yards, his eyes bent downwards as if in search of something. At the end of half an hour he instructed Tims to drive back to London at his best speed.
II
That afternoon in his office Malcolm Sage worked without cessation.
Both telephones, incoming and outgoing, were continually in use.
Telegraph girls and messenger boys came and went.
Gladys Norman had ceased to worry about the shininess of her nose, and William Johnson was in process of readjusting his ideas as to lack of the dramatic element at the Malcolm Sage Bureau as compared with detective fiction and the films.
About three o"clock a tall, clean-shaven man was shown into Malcolm Sage"s room. He had a hard mouth, keen, alert eyes, and an air suggestive of the fact that he knew the worst there was to be known about men and acted accordingly.
With a nod Malcolm Sage motioned him to a seat. Six months before he had saved d.i.c.k Lindler from the dock by discovering the real criminal in whose stead Lindler was about to be charged with a series of frauds. Since then Malcolm Sage had always been sure of such "inside" information in the bookmaking world as he required.
"How"s the betting now?" enquired Malcolm Sage.
"Nine to two on Jefferson offered; and no takers," was the reply.
"There"s something up, Mr. Sage; I"ll take my dying oath on it," he said, leaning across the table and dropping his voice.
"Any big amounts?" enquired Malcolm Sage.
"No, that"s what troubles me. The money"s being spread about so. The funny thing is that a lot of it is being put on by letter. I"ve had a dozen myself to-day."
Malcolm Sage nodded slowly as he filled his pipe, which with great deliberation he proceeded to light until the whole surface of the tobacco glowed. Then, as if suddenly realising that Lindler was not smoking, he pulled open a drawer, drew out a cigar-box, and pushed it across, watching him closely from beneath his eyebrows as he did so.
Lindler opened the box, then looked interrogatingly at Malcolm Sage.
"Didn"t know you smoked the same poison-sticks as the "Downy One,""
he said, picking up a long cigar with a red and gold band, and examining it.
"Who"s he?"
"Old Nathan Goldschmidt, the stinking Jew."
"I"m sorry," said Malcolm Sage; "that should not have been there.
Try one of the others."
Lindler looked across at him curiously.
"Personally, myself," he said, "I believe he"s at the bottom of all this heavy backing of Jefferson."
Malcolm Sage continued to smoke as if the matter did not interest him, whilst Lindler bit off the end of the cigar he had selected and proceeded to light it.
"Several of his crowd have been around this morning trying to load me up," he continued presently, when the cigar was drawing to his satisfaction. "Must have stayed up all night to be in time," he added scathingly.
"Have you seen Goldschmidt himself?"
"Not since yesterday afternoon."
"Does he usually carry an umbrella?"
Lindler laughed.
"The boys call him "Gampy Goldschmidt,"" he said.
"You really think that the Goldschmidt gang is Backing Jefferson?"
"They"ve been at it for the last week," was the response. "They _know_ something, Mr. Sage. Somebody"s going to do the dirty, otherwise they wouldn"t be so blasted clever about it?"
"Clever?"
"Putting on all they can on the Q.T.," was the response.
"Find out all you can about Goldschmidt and his friends. Keep in touch with me here if you learn anything. Incidentally, keep on the water-wagon until after the fight."
"Right-o!" said Lindler, rising; "but I wish you"d tell me----"
"I have told you," said Malcolm Sage, and with that he took the proffered hand and, a moment later, d.i.c.k Lindler pa.s.sed through the outer door. As he did so, he almost collided with Thompson, who had just jumped out of Malcolm Sage"s car and was dashing towards the door. Thompson rushed across the outer-office, through the gla.s.s-panelled door, and pa.s.sed swiftly into Malcolm Sage"s room.
"It"s the car right enough, Chief," he said, making an effort to control his excitement. "I picked it up outside Jimmy Dilk"s. There were three men in it."
Malcolm Sage nodded, then, opening a drawer, produced a sealed packet.
"If I"m not back here by half-past four," he said, "ring up Inspector Wensdale, and ask him to come round at once with a couple of men and wait in the outer office. Give him this packet. There"s a letter inside. If he"s not there, get anyone else you know."
Thompson stared. In spite of long a.s.sociation with Malcolm Sage, there were still times when he failed to follow his chief"s line of reasoning.
"If I telephone or write cancelling these instructions, ignore anything I say. Do you understand?"
"I understand, Chief," said Thompson.
Malcolm Sage picked up his hat and stick and left the room.
Tims, who had been waiting at the outer door, sprang to his seat and, almost before the door of the car had closed, it jerked forward and was soon threading its sinuous way towards Coventry Street.