III
In the morning I was awakened by an impatient knocking at my bedroomdoor. Going to bed at two or three I was naturally a late riser, andthis was about nine. I scrambled sleepily out of bed, and turned thekey. Hewitt was standing in my sitting-room, with a newspaper in hishand.
"Sorry to break your morning sleep, Brett," he said, "but somethinginteresting has happened in regard to that business you helped me withyesterday, and you may like to know. Crawl back into bed if you like."
But I was already in my dressing-gown, and groping for my clothes. "No,no, come in and tell me," I said. "What is it?"
Hewitt sat on the bed. "I'll tell you in due order," he said. "First, Isaw Samuel again last night--after you had gone away. You remember Iwent back to my office; I had a letter or two to write which I had setaside in the afternoon. Well, I wrote the letters, shut up, and wentdownstairs. I opened the outer door, and there was Samuel, in the actof ringing the housekeeper's bell. He said he was very anxious, andcouldn't sleep without coming to hear if I had made any progress; he hadcalled before, but I was out. I half thought of taking him back to myoffice, but decided that it wasn't worth while. So I walked along to thecorner of the Strand, till I got him well under the lights. Then Istopped and talked to him. 'You ask about the progress in your case, Mr.Samuel,' I said. 'Now, I have sometimes met people who seem to considerme a sort of prophet, seer, or diviner. As a matter of fact, I amnothing but a professional investigator, and even if I were possessed ofsuch an amazing genius as I lay no claim to, I could never succeed in acase, nor even make progress in it, if my client started me with falseinformation, or only told me half the truth. More, when I find that suchis the state of affairs, and that if I am to succeed I must begin byinvestigating my client before I proceed with his case, I throw thatcase up on the instant--invariably. Do you understand that? Now I musttell you that I have made no progress with your case, none; for thatvery reason.'"
"He protested, of course--vowed he had told me the simple truth, and soforth. I replied by asking him certain definite questions. First, Iasked him whose the diamonds were. He repeated that they were his own.To that I simply replied, 'Good evening, Mr. Samuel,' and turned away.He came after me beseechingly, and prevaricated. He said something aboutanother party having an interest, but the matter being confidential. Tothat I responded by asking him with whom he had communicated beforesending for me, and who was the person in the brougham which he hadtwice entered. That flabbergasted him. He said that he couldn't answerthose questions without bringing other parties into the matter, to whichI answered that it was just those other parties that I meant to knowabout, if I were to move a step in the matter. At this he got into a sadstate--imploring, actually imploring, me not to desert him. He said heshould do something desperate--something terrible--that night if Ididn't relieve his mind, and undertake the case. What he meant he'd doI didn't know, of course, but it didn't move me. I said finally that Iwould deal only with principals, and that until I had the personalinstructions of the actual owner of the diamonds, in addition to acomplete explanation of the brougham incident, I should do nothing, andI recommended him to go to the police; and with that I left him."
"And you got nothing more from him than that?"
"Nothing more; but it was something, you see. He admitted, to allintents, that the diamonds were not his own. And now see here. I supposeI left him about ten o'clock. Here is a paragraph in one of thismorning's newspapers. It is only in the one paper; the matter seems tohave occurred rather late for press."
Hewitt gave me the paper in his hand, pointing to the followingparagraph:
/# "HORRIBLE DISCOVERY.--A shocking discovery was made just before midnight last night, near the York column, where a police-constable found the dead body of a man lying on the stone steps. The body, which was fully clothed in the ordinary dress of a labouring man, bore plain marks of strangulation, and it was evident that a brutal murder had been committed. A singular circumstance was the presence of a curious reddish mark upon the forehead, at first taken for a wound, but soon discovered to be a mark apparently drawn or impressed on the skin. At the time of going to press, no arrest had been made, and so far the affair appears a mystery."#/
"Well," I said, "this certainly seems curious, especially in the matterof the mark on the forehead. But what has it all to do----"
"To do with Samuel and his diamonds, you mean? I'll tell you. _That deadman is Denson!_"
"Denson?" I exclaimed. "Denson? How?"
"I get it from the housekeeper next door. It seems that when the policecame to examine the body they found, among other things--money and awatch, and the like--a piece of an addressed envelope, used to hold afew pins--the pins stuck in and the paper rolled up, you know. There wasjust enough of it to guess the address by--that of the office next door;and it was the only clue they had. So they came along here at once andknocked up the housekeeper. He went with them and instantly recognisedDenson, disguised in labourer's clothes, but Denson, he says,unmistakably."
"And the mark on the forehead?"
"That is very odd. It is an outlined triangle, rather less than an inchalong each side. It is quite red, he says, and seems to be done in agreasy, sticky sort of ink or colour."
"Was anything found--the diamonds?"
"No. He says there was money--two or three five-pound notes, I believe,some small change, a watch, keys and so forth; but there's not a wordof diamonds."
I paused in my dressing. "Does that mean that the murderer has gotthem?" I asked. Hewitt pursed his lips and shook his head. "It _may_mean that," he said, "but does it look altogether like it whenfive-pound notes are left? On the other hand, there is the disguise; theonly reason that we know of for that would be that he was bolting withthe diamonds. But the really puzzling thing is the mark on the forehead.Why that? Of course, the picturesque and romantic thing to suppose isthat it is the mark of some criminal club or society. But criminalassociations, such as exist, don't do silly things like that. Whencriminals rob and murder, they don't go leaving their tracks behind thempurposely--they leave nothing that could possibly draw attention to themif they can help it; also, they don't leave five-pound notes. But I'moff to have a look at that mark. Inspector Plummer is in charge of thecase--you remember Plummer, don't you, in the Stanway Cameo case, andtwo or three others? Well, Plummer is an old friend of mine, and notonly am I interested in this matter myself, but now that it becomes acase of murder, I must tell the police all I know, merely as a loyalcitizen. I've an idea they will want to ask our friend Mr. Samuel somevery serious questions."
"Will you go now?"
"Yes, I must waste no more time. You get your breakfast and look out forme, or for a message."
Hewitt was off to Vine Street, and I devoted myself to my toilet and mybreakfast, vastly mystified by this tragic turn in a matter alreadypuzzling enough.
* * * * *
It was not a messenger, but Hewitt himself, who came back in less thanan hour. "Come," he said, "Plummer is below, and we are going next door,to Denson's office. I've an idea that we may get at something at last.The police are after Samuel hot-foot. They think he should be made sureof in any case without delay; and I must say they have some reason, onthe face of it."
We joined Plummer at once--I have already spoken of Plummer in myaccounts of several of Hewitt's cases in which I met him--and we allturned into the office next door. There we found a very frightened andbewildered office boy, whom Denson had given a holiday yesterday, aftersending him down to Samuel. He had come to his work as usual, only tomeet the housekeeper's tale of the murder of his master and the end ofhis business prospects. He had little or no information to impart. Hehad only been employed for a month or six weeks, and during that timehis work had been practically nothing.
Plummer nodded at this information, and sniffed comprehensively at theoffice furniture. "I know this sort o' stuff," he said. "This is the waythey fit up long f
irm offices and such. This place was taken for thejob, that's plain, by one or both of 'em."
The boy's address was taken, and he was given a final holiday, and askedto send up the housekeeper as he went out. Plummer passed Hewitt a bunchof keys.
The housekeeper entered. "Now, Hutt," said Martin Hewitt, "you weresaying yesterday, I think, that the main front door was the onlyentrance and exit for this building?"
"That's so, sir--the only one as anybody can use, except me."
"Oh! then there _is_ another, then?"
"Well, not exactly to say an entrance, sir. There's a small private doorat the back into the court behind, but that's only opened to take incoals and such, and I always have the key. This house isn't like yours,sir; you have no back way into the court as we have. It's a convenience,sometimes."
"Ah, I've no doubt. Do you happen to have the key with you?"
"It's on the bunch hanging up in my box, sir. Shall I fetch it?"
"I should like to see it, if you will."
The housekeeper disappeared, and presently returned with a large bunchof keys.
"This is the one, Mr. Hewitt," he explained, lifting it from among therest.
Hewitt examined it closely, and then placed beside it one from the bunchPlummer had given him. "It seems you're not the only person who ever hada key exactly like that, Hutt," he said. "See here--this was found inMr. Denson's pocket."
Plummer nodded sagaciously. "All in the plant," he said. "See--it'sbrand new; clean as a new pin, and file marks still on it."
"Take us to this back door, Hutt," Hewitt pursued. "We'll try this key.Is there a back staircase?"
There _was_ a small back staircase, leading to the coal-cellars, andonly used by servants. Down this we all went, and on a lower landing westopped before a small door. Hewitt slipped the key in the lock andturned it. The door opened easily, and there before us was the littlecourtyard which I think I have mentioned in one of my othernarratives--the courtyard with a narrow passage leading into the nextstreet.
Martin Hewitt seemed singularly excited. "See there," he said, "that ishow Denson left the building without passing the housekeeper's box! Andnow I'm going to make another shot. See here. This key on Denson's bunchattracted my attention because of its noticeable newness compared withmost of the others. _Most_ of the others, I say, because there is oneother just as bright--see! This small one. Now, Hutt, do you happen tohave a key like that also?"
Hutt turned the key over in his hand and glanced from it to his ownbunch. "Why, yes, sir!" he said presently. "Yes, sir! It's the same asthe key of the fire-hose cupboards!"
"Does that key fit them all? How many fire-hose cupboards are there?"
"Two on each floor, sir, one at each end, just against the mains. Andone key fits the lot."
"Show us the nearest to this door."
A short, narrow passage led to the main ground-floor corridor, where acupboard lettered "Fire Hose" stood next the main and its fittings. "Wehave to keep the hose-cupboards locked," the housekeeper explainedapologetically, "'cause o' mischievous boys in the offices."
This key fitted as well as the other. A long coil of brown leather hosehung within, and in a corner lay a piece of chamois leather evidentlyused for polishing the brass fittings. This Hewitt pulled aside, andthere beneath it lay another and cleaner piece of chamois leather,neatly folded and tied round with cord. Hewitt snatched it up. Heunfastened the cord; he unrolled the leather, which was sewn into a sortof bag or satchel; and when at last he spread wide the mouth of thissatchel, light seemed to spring from out of it, for there lay aglittering heap of brilliants!
"What!" cried Plummer, who first got his speech. "Diamonds! Samuel'sdiamonds!"
"Diamonds, at any rate," replied Hewitt, "whether Samuel's or somebodyelse's. But they can't have been there long. How often is this cupboardopened?"
"Every Saturday reg'lar, sir," replied the housekeeper; "just to dust itout and see things is right."
"Now, see here!" said Martin Hewitt, "I've had luck in my conjectures asyet, and I'll try again. Here is what I believe has happened. Every wordthat Samuel told me about the theft of those diamonds was true, exceptas to their ownership. Denson has planned all along to rob him of asbig a collection of diamonds as he could prompt him to get together,and he has played up to this for months. His smaller dealings one wayand another were ground-bait. Very artfully he let Samuel take thediamonds safely away once, in order that he should be less watchful andless suspicious the second time. This second time he does the trickexactly as we see. He hangs up the imaginary American's hat, he escapesby the fanlight, and he goes out by the back way to avoid thehousekeeper's observation. He has arranged beforehand for this, too. Hehas seized an opportunity when the housekeeper has been out of his boxto get wax impressions of these two keys, and he has made copies ofthem. And here we come on a curious thing. It is easy enough tounderstand why he should foresee and get himself a key for the backdoor, in order to make his escape. But why the key of the hose-cupboard?Why, indeed, should he leave the diamonds behind him at all? It is plainthat he meant to come back for them--probably at night. He would havebeen wholly free from observation in that quiet courtyard, and he couldlet himself in, get the diamonds, and leave again without exciting thesmallest alarm or suspicion. But why take all the trouble? Why not stickto the plunder from the beginning? The plain inference is that hefeared somebody or something. He feared being stopped and searched, orhe feared being waylaid _sometime during yesterday_. By whom? There'sthe puzzle, and I can't see the bottom of it, I confess. If I could,perhaps I might know something of last night's murder.
"As to Samuel's prevarications, there is only one explanation that willfit, now that the rest is made clear. He must have been entrusted withthese diamonds by a private owner, for sale--secretly. Some lady ofconspicuous position in difficulties, probably--perhaps unknown to herhusband. Such things occur every day. A common expedient is to sell thestones and have good paste substituted, in the same settings. Samuelwould be just the man to carry through a transaction of that sort. Thatwould account for everything. The jewels are _en suite_, cut, butunset--taken from a set of jewellery, and paste substituted. Samuelarranges it all for the lady, finds a customer--Denson--who treats himexactly as he has told us. When he realises the loss Samuel doesn't knowwhat to do. He mustn't call the police, being bound to secrecy on thelady's behalf. He sends her a hasty message, and remains keeping watchby Denson's office. She hurries to him with all possible secrecy,keeping her carriage blinds down; he dashes into the brougham todescribe the disaster, taking his case with him in his frantic desire toexplain things fully. The lady fears publicity, and won't hear of thepolice--she instructs him to consult me: and consequently, of course,when I recommend communicating with the police he won't listen to thesuggestion. Samuel has arranged with the lady to hurry off and reportprogress as soon as he has consulted me, and this he does, the ladyhaving appointed Manchester Square for the interview. Perhaps she hintssome suspicion of Samuel's honesty--rather natural, perhaps, in thecircumstances. That terrifies him more than ever, and leads to hisfrantic appeals to me when I throw the case up. Come, there's my guessat the facts of the case, and I'll back it with twopence and a bit more.Eh, Plummer?"
"I don't take your bet," answered Plummer. "The thing's plain enough;except the murder. There's something deeper there."
Hewitt became grave. "That's true," he said, "and something I can seeno way into, as yet. But come--you take this parcel of diamonds, asrepresenting the law. And here comes one of your men, I think."
We had been approaching the front door during this talk, and now apolice constable appeared, and saluted Plummer. "Samuel's just beenbrought in, sir," he reported. "He's half dead with fright, and he'ssent a message to Lady H---- in P---- Square; and he says he wants Mr.Martin Hewitt to come and speak for him."
"Poor Samuel!" Hewitt commented. "Come, we'll go and make him happy.Here are the diamonds, and, those safely accounted for, there's noevidence to co
nnect him with the murder. We'll get him out of the messas soon as possible."
And so they did. Hewitt's reading of the case was correct to a tittle,as it turned out, and with very little delay Samuel was released. Butwith the message from the police station, the fat was in the fire asregarded Lady H----. Her husband necessarily became acquainted witheverything, and there was serious domestic trouble.
Samuel was glad enough to get quit of the business with no worse than abad fright, as may well be supposed. He showed himself most grateful toHewitt in after times, giving him excellent confidential advice andinformation more than once in matters connected with the diamond trade.He is still in business, I believe, in a much larger way, and I have nodoubt he is the wiser for his experience, and for the lesson whichHewitt did not forget to rub well in: that it is useless and worse toplace a confidential matter in the hands of a man of Hewitt'sprofession, and at the same time withhold particulars of the case,however unessential they may appear to be.
* * * * *
But meantime, on the way to Vine Street I asked Hewitt what led him tosuppose that the new key on Denson's bunch fitted a lock in thatparticular office building.
"Call it a lucky guess, if you like," Hewitt answered; "but as a matterof fact it was prompted by pure common sense. Plummer showed me thethings found on the body, and I saw at once that the keys offered theonly chance of immediate information. I went through them one by one.There was his latchkey--the key with which he had gone into his lodgingsto fetch away the disguise. There was another largish key, equallyold--probably the key of his office door. There were other smaller keys,also old--plainly belonging to bags and trunks and drawers and so forth.And then there was the large, perfectly new key. What was that? It wasnot the key of any bag or drawer, clearly--it was the key of a door--adoor with a lever lock. What door? Had Denson some other office? Perhapshe had, but first it was best to begin by trying it on places we werealready acquainted with. At once I thought of Denson's disappearanceunobserved by the housekeeper. Could this be the key of some privateexit from the office building? I resolved to test that conjecture first,and it turned out to be the right one. Being successful so far, ofcourse I turned to the other new key and tried that, as you saw."
"But what of that triangular mark on the man's forehead?"
Martin Hewitt became deeply thoughtful. "That," he said, "is a matterwholly beyond me at present, as indeed is the whole business of themurder. Whether we shall ever know more I can't guess, but the matter isdeep--deep and difficult and dark. As to the mark itself, that seems tohave been impressed from an engraved stamp of some sort. It is a plainequilateral triangle in red outline, measuring about an inch on eachside. It is in a greasy, sticky sort of red ink, which may be smeared,but is very difficult, if not impossible, to rub away. What it means Ican't at present conjecture. I have told you my reasons for not thinkingit the sign of any gang of criminals. But whose sign is it? Surely notthat of some self-constituted punisher of crime? For such a person, withno risk to himself, could have handed Denson over to the police, if heknew of his offence. Can he have been murdered by an accomplice? But heused no accomplice; if one thing is plain in all that story of thestolen diamonds it is that Denson did the thing wholly by himself.Besides, an accomplice would have taken the keys and have gone andsecured the diamonds for himself; else why the murder at all? But nokeys were taken--nothing was taken, as far as we can tell. And why wasthe body placed in that conspicuous position? It is pretty certain thatthe crime cannot have happened where the body was found--somebody musthave heard or seen a struggle in such a place as that. As it is, Ishould say, the body was probably brought quietly to the spot in a cab,or some such conveyance.
"But mystery envelops this crime everywhere. So far as I can see, thereis no clue whatever beyond the Red Triangle, which, as yet, I cannotunderstand. The strangling points to the murder being committed by apowerful man, certainly, and it is a form of crime that may have beenperpetrated silently. But beyond that I can see nothing. The apparentmotivelessness of the thing makes the mystery all the darker, and thecircumstances we are acquainted with, instead of helping us, seem tocomplicate the puzzle.
"What was it that Denson feared when he left those diamonds behind him,when he might have carried them away? And why should he fear it indaytime and not at night, since it would seem plain that he meant tohave returned for the stones at night? Where did he go to disguisehimself yesterday--we know it was not in his lodgings--and where has heleft the clothes he discarded?"
All these doubts and mysteries were destined to be cleared up, in moreor less degree; but it was not till Hewitt and I had witnessed othersingular adventures that the answer came to the problem, the realmeaning of the Red Triangle was made apparent, and its connection withthe theft of Samuel's diamonds grew clear. For indeed the connectionproved in the end to be very intimate indeed. Once, a little later, wewere allowed to see a shade farther into the mystery, as I shall tell inthe proper place; but even then the real secret remained hidden from ustill the appointed end.
So ended the case of Samuel's diamonds, so far as concerned Samuelhimself and the owner; but the case of the Red Triangle had only begun.
THE CASE OF MR. JACOB MASON