Collected works of j s f.., p.265
Collected Works of J S Fletcher, page 265
Mallalieu walked into the police-station, to find the sergeant just returned and in consultation with the superintendent, whom he had summoned to hear his report. Both turned inquiringly on the Mayor.
“I’ve heard all about it,” said Mallalieu, bustling forward. “Mr. Bent told me. Now then, where’s that cord they talk about?”
The sergeant pointed to the coil and the severed piece, which lay on a large sheet of brown paper on a side-table, preparatory to being sealed up. Mallalieu crossed over and made a short examination of these exhibits; then he turned to the superintendent with an air of decision.
“Aught been done?” he demanded.
“Not yet, Mr. Mayor,” answered the superintendent. “We were just consulting as to what’s best to be done.”
“I should think that’s obvious,” replied Mallalieu. “You must get to work! Two things you want to do just now. Ring up Norcaster for one thing, and High Gill Junction for another. Give ’em a description of Harborough — he’ll probably have made for one place or another, to get away by train. And ask ’em at Norcaster to lend you a few plain-clothes men, and to send ’em along here at once by motor — there’s no train till morning. Then, get all your own men out — now! — and keep folk off the paths in that wood, and put a watch on Harborough’s house, in case he should put a bold face on it and come back — he’s impudence enough — and of course, if he comes, they’ll take him. Get to all that now — at once!”
“You think it’s Harborough, then?” said the superintendent.
“I think there’s what the law folks call a prymer facy case against him,” replied Mallalieu. “It’s your duty to get him, anyway, and if he can clear himself, why, let him. Get busy with that telephone, and be particular about help from Norcaster — we’re under-staffed here as it is.”
The superintendent hurried out of his office and Mallalieu turned to the sergeant.
“I understood from Mr. Bent,” he said, “that that housekeeper of Kitely’s said the old fellow had been to the bank at noon today, to draw some money? That so?”
“So she said, your Worship,” answered the sergeant. “Some allowance, or something of that sort, that he drew once a quarter. She didn’t know how much.”
“But she thought he’d have it on him when he was attacked?” asked Mallalieu.
“She said he was a man for carrying his money on him always,” replied the sergeant. “We understood from her it was his habit. She says he always had a good bit on him — as a rule. And of course, if he’d drawn more today, why, he might have a fair lot.”
“We’ll soon find that out,” remarked Mallalieu. “I’ll step round to the bank manager and rouse him. Now you get your men together — this is no time for sleeping. You ought to have men up at the Shawl now.”
“I’ve left one man at Kitely’s cottage, sir, and another about Harborough’s — in case Harborough should come back during the night,” said the sergeant. “We’ve two more constables close by the station. I’ll get them up.”
“Do it just now,” commanded Mallalieu. “I’ll be back in a while.”
He hurried out again and went rapidly down the High Street to the old-fashioned building near the Town Hall in which the one bank of the little town did its business, and in which the bank manager lived. There was not a soul about in the street, and the ringing of the bell at the bank-house door, and the loud knock which Mallalieu gave in supplement to it, seemed to wake innumerable echoes. And proof as he believed himself to be against such slight things, the sudden opening of a window above his head made him jump.
The startled bank-manager, hurrying down to his midnight visitor in his dressing-gown and slippers, stood aghast when he had taken the Mayor within and learned his errand.
“Certainly!” he said. “Kitely was in the bank today, about noon — I attended to him myself. That’s the second time he’s been here since he came to the town. He called here a day or two after he first took that house from Mr. Cotherstone — to cash a draft for his quarter’s pension. He told me then who he was. Do you know?”
“Not in the least,” replied Mallalieu, telling the lie all the more readily because he had been fully prepared for the question to which it was an answer. “I knew naught about him.”
“He was an ex-detective,” said the bank-manager. “Pensioned off, of course: a nice pension. He told me he’d had — I believe it was getting on to forty years’ service in the police force. Dear, dear, this is a sad business — and I’m afraid I can tell you a bit more about it.”
“What?” demanded Mallalieu, showing surprise in spite of himself.
“You mentioned Harborough,” said the bank-manager, shaking his head.
“Well?” said Mallalieu. “What then?”
“Harborough was at the counter when Kitely took his money,” answered the bank-manager. “He had called in to change a five-pound note.”
The two men looked at each other in silence for a time. Then the bank-manager shook his head again.
“You wouldn’t think that a man who has a five-pound note of his own to change would be likely, to murder another man for what he could get,” he went on. “But Kitely had a nice bit of money to carry away, and he wore a very valuable gold watch and chain, which he was rather fond of showing in the town, and —— eh?”
“It’s a suspicious business,” said Mallalieu. “You say Harborough saw Kitely take his money?”
“Couldn’t fail,” replied the bank-manager. “He was standing by him. The old man put it — notes and gold — in a pocket that he had inside his waistcoat.”
Mallalieu lingered, as if in thought, rubbing his chin and staring at the carpet. “Well, that’s a sort of additional clue,” he remarked at last. “It looks very black against Harborough.”
“We’ve the numbers of the notes that I handed to Kitely,” observed the bank-manager. “They may be useful if there’s any attempt to change any note, you know.”
Mallalieu shook his head.
“Aye, just so,” he answered. “But I should say there won’t be — just yet. It’s a queer business, isn’t it — but, as I say, there’s evidence against this fellow, and we must try to get him.”
He went out then and crossed the street to the doctor’s house — while he was about it, he wanted to know all he could. And with the doctor he stopped much longer than he had stopped at the bank, and when he left him he was puzzled. For the doctor said to him what he had said to Cotherstone and to Bent and to the rest of the group in the wood — that whoever had strangled Kitely had had experience in that sort of grim work before — or else he was a sailorman who had expert knowledge of tying knots. Now Mallalieu was by that time more certain than ever that Cotherstone was the murderer, and he felt sure that Cotherstone had no experience of that sort of thing.
“Done with a single twist and a turn!” he muttered to himself as he walked back to the police-station. “Aye — aye! — that seems to show knowledge. But it’s not my business to follow that up just now — I know what my business is — nobody better.”
The superintendent and the sergeant were giving orders to two sleepy-eyed policemen when Mallalieu rejoined them. He waited until the policemen had gone away to patrol the Shawl and then took the superintendent aside.
“I’ve heard a bit more incriminatory news against Harborough,” he said. “He was in the bank this morning — or yesterday morning, as it now is — when Kitely drew his money. There may be naught in that — and there may be a lot. Anyway, he knew the old man had a goodish bit on him.”
The superintendent nodded, but his manner was doubtful.
“Well, of course, that’s evidence — considering things,” he said, “but you know as well as I do, Mr. Mayor, that Harborough’s not a man that’s ever been in want of money. It’s the belief of a good many folks in the town that he has money of his own: he’s always been a bit of a mystery ever since I can remember. He could afford to give that daughter of his a good education — good as a young lady gets — and he spends plenty, and I never heard of him owing aught. Of course, he’s a queer lot — we know he’s a poacher and all that, but he’s so skilful about it that we’ve never been able to catch him. I can’t think he’s the guilty party — and yet — —”
“You can’t get away from the facts,” said Mallalieu. “He’ll have to be sought for. If he’s made himself scarce — if he doesn’t come home — —”
“Ah, that ‘ud certainly be against him!” agreed the superintendent. “Well, I’m doing all I can. We’ve got our own men out, and there’s three officers coming over from Norcaster by motor — they’re on the way now.”
“Send for me if aught turns up,” said Mallalieu.
He walked slowly home, his brain still busy with possibilities and eventualities. And within five minutes of his waking at his usual hour of six it was again busy — and curious. For he and Cotherstone, both keen business men who believed in constant supervision of their workmen, were accustomed to meet at the yard at half-past six every morning, summer or winter, and he was wondering what his partner would say and do — and look like.
Cotherstone was in the yard when Mallalieu reached it. He was giving some orders to a carter, and he finished what he was doing before coming up to Mallalieu. In the half light of the morning he looked pretty much as usual — but Mallalieu noticed a certain worn look under his eyes and suppressed nervousness in his voice. He himself remained silent and observant, and he let Cotherstone speak first.
“Well?” said Cotherstone, coming close to him as they stood in a vacant space outside the office. “Well?”
“Well?” responded Mallalieu.
Cotherstone began to fidget with some account books and papers that he had brought from his house. He eyed his partner with furtive glances; Mallalieu eyed him with steady and watchful ones.
“I suppose you’ve heard all about it?” said Cotherstone, after an awkward silence.
“Aye!” replied Mallalieu, drily. “Aye, I’ve heard.”
Cotherstone looked round. There was no one near him, but he dropped his voice to a whisper.
“So long as nobody but him knew,” he muttered, giving Mallalieu another side glance, “so long as he hadn’t said aught to anybody — and I don’t think he had — we’re — safe.”
Mallalieu was still staring quietly at Cotherstone. And Cotherstone began to grow restless under that steady, questioning look.
“Oh?” observed Mallalieu, at last. “Aye? You think so? Ah!”
“Good God — don’t you!” exclaimed Cotherstone, roused to a sudden anger. “Why — —”
But just then a policeman came out of the High Street into the yard, caught sight of the two partners, and came over to them, touching his helmet.
“Can your Worship step across the way?” he asked. “They’ve brought Harborough down, and the Super wants a word with you.”
CHAPTER VIII
RETAINED FOR THE DEFENCE
INSTEAD OF REPLYING to the policeman by word or movement, Mallalieu glanced at Cotherstone. There was a curious suggestion in that glance which Cotherstone did not like. He was already angry; Mallalieu’s inquiring look made him still angrier.
“Like to come?” asked Mallalieu, laconically.
“No!” answered Cotherstone, turning towards the office. “It’s naught to me.”
He disappeared within doors, and Mallalieu walked out of the yard into the High Street — to run against Bent and Brereton, who were hurrying in the direction of the police-station, in company with another constable.
“Ah!” said Mallalieu as they met. “So you’ve heard, too, I suppose? Heard that Harborough’s been taken, I mean. Now, how was he taken?” he went on, turning to the policeman who had summoned him. “And when, and where? — let’s be knowing about it.”
“He wasn’t taken, your Worship,” replied the man. “Leastways, not in what you’d call the proper way. He came back to his house half an hour or so ago — when it was just getting nicely light — and two of our men that were there told him what was going on, and he appeared to come straight down with them. He says he knows naught, your Worship.”
“That’s what you’d expect,” remarked Mallalieu, drily. “He’d be a fool if he said aught else.”
He put his thumbs in the armholes of his waistcoat, and, followed by the others, strolled into the police-station as if he were dropping in on business of trifling importance. And there was nothing to be seen there which betokened that a drama of life and death was being constructed in that formal-looking place of neutral-coloured walls, precise furniture, and atmosphere of repression. Three or four men stood near the superintendent’s desk; a policeman was writing slowly and laboriously on a big sheet of blue paper at a side-table, a woman was coaxing a sluggish fire to burn.
“The whole thing’s ridiculous!” said a man’s scornful voice. “It shouldn’t take five seconds to see that.”
Brereton instinctively picked out the speaker. That was Harborough, of course — the tall man who stood facing the others and looking at them as if he wondered how they could be as foolish as he evidently considered them to be. He looked at this man with great curiosity. There was certainly something noticeable about him, he decided. A wiry, alert, keen-eyed man, with good, somewhat gipsy-like features, much tanned by the weather, as if he were perpetually exposed to sun and wind, rain and hail; sharp of movement, evidently of more than ordinary intelligence, and, in spite of his rough garments and fur cap, having an indefinable air of gentility and breeding about him. Brereton had already noticed the pitch and inflection of his voice; now, as Harborough touched his cap to the Mayor, he noticed that his hands, though coarsened and weather-browned, were well-shaped and delicate. Something about him, something in his attitude, the glance of his eye, seemed to indicate that he was the social superior of the policemen, uniformed or plain-clothed, who were watching him with speculative and slightly puzzled looks.
“Well, and what’s all this, now?” said Mallalieu coming to a halt and looking round. “What’s he got to say, like?”
The superintendent looked at Harborough and nodded. And Harborough took that nod at its true meaning, and he spoke — readily.
“This!” he said, turning to the new-comers, and finally addressing himself to Mallalieu. “And it’s what I’ve already said to the superintendent here. I know nothing about what’s happened to Kitely. I know no more of his murder than you do — not so much, I should say — for I know naught at all beyond what I’ve been told. I left my house at eight o’clock last night — I’ve been away all night — I got back at six o’clock this morning. As soon as I heard what was afoot, I came straight here. I put it to you, Mr. Mayor — if I’d killed this old man, do you think I’d have come back? Is it likely?”
“You might ha’ done, you know,” answered Mallalieu. “There’s no accounting for what folks will do — in such cases. But — what else? Say aught you like — it’s all informal, this.”
“Very well,” continued Harborough. “They tell me the old man was strangled by a piece of cord that was evidently cut off one of my coils. Now, is there any man in his common senses would believe that if I did that job, I should leave such a bit of clear evidence behind me? I’m not a fool!”
“You might ha’ been interrupted before you could take that cord off his neck,” suggested Mallalieu.
“Aye — but you’d have to reckon up the average chances of that!” exclaimed Harborough, with a sharp glance at the bystanders. “And the chances are in my favour. No, sir! — whoever did this job, cut that length of cord off my coil, which anybody could get at, and used it to throw suspicion on me! That’s the truth — and you’ll find it out some day, whatever happens now.”
Mallalieu exchanged glances with the superintendent and then faced Harborough squarely, with an air of inviting confidence.
“Now, my lad!” he said, almost coaxingly. “There’s a very simple thing to do, and it’ll clear this up as far as you’re concerned. Just answer a plain question. Where ha’ you been all night?”
A tense silence fell — broken by the crackling of the wood in the grate, which the charwoman had at last succeeded in stirring into a blaze, and by the rattling of the fire-irons which she now arranged in the fender. Everybody was watching the suspected man, and nobody as keenly as Brereton. And Brereton saw that a deadlock was at hand. A strange look of obstinacy and hardness came into Harborough’s eyes, and he shook his head.
“No!” he answered. “I shan’t say! The truth’ll come out in good time without that. It’s not necessary for me to say. Where I was during the night is my business — nobody else’s.”
“You’ll not tell?” asked Mallalieu.
“I shan’t tell,” replied Harborough.
“You’re in danger, you know,” said Mallalieu.
“In your opinion,” responded Harborough, doggedly. “Not in mine! There’s law in this country. You can arrest me, if you like — but you’ll have your work set to prove that I killed yon old man. No, sir! But — —” here he paused, and looking round him, laughed almost maliciously “ — but I’ll tell you what I’ll do,” he went on. “I’ll tell you this, if it’ll do you any good — if I liked to say the word, I could prove my innocence down to the ground! There!”
