XXIV
A MYSTERIOUS CLASP
"Hullo! Hullo!"
Waking with a start, Juve rushed to the telephone. It was already broaddaylight, but the detective had gone to bed very late and had beensleeping profoundly.
"Yes, it's I, Juve. The Surete? It's you, M. Havard? Yes, I am free. Oh!That's strange. No signs? I understand. Count on me. I'll go there andkeep you informed."
Juve dressed in haste, went down to the street and hailed a taxi.
"To Sevres, the foot of the hill at Bellevue, and look sharp about it!"
* * * * *
Juve left his taxi-cab, and mounted the slope on foot to the elegantvilla inhabited by Dixon. All was quiet, and if he had not had word, thedetective would have doubted that he was close to the scene of a crime,or at least of an attempted one.
Scarcely had he entered the grounds when a sergeant came toward him andsaluted. Juve inquired:
"What has happened?"
"M. Dixon is resting just now, and the doctor has forbidden the leastnoise."
"Is his condition serious?"
"I think not from what Doctor Plassin says."
"Now, Sergeant, tell me everything from the beginning."
The sergeant drew Juve to the arbour, where a policeman was seatedmaking out a report. Juve took the paper and read:
"We, the undersigned, Dubois, Sergeant in the second squad of foot-police, quartered at Sevres, together with Constable Verdier, received this morning, June 28th, at 6.35 from M. Olivetti, a business man, living in Bellevue, the following declaration:
"'Having left my home at 6.15 and being on the way to the State Railway to take the 6.42 train, by which I go every day to my work, I was passing the slopes of Bellevue, when, being level with Brimborion Park, a little short of the villa number 16, which I hear belongs to M. Dixon, an American pugilist, I heard a revolver shot followed by the noise of breaking glass, the pieces falling on to a hard ground, most likely stone.
"'Having halted for a moment through caution, I looked to see if anyone was hiding near by. I saw nothing but heard three more revolver shots in quick succession, seeming to come from Dixon's house. After some minutes I went near the house and ascertained that the panes of the window on the right side of the front were broken, and the pieces strewed the asphalt terrace in front of the house.
"'I made up my mind to ring, but no one opened the door. I then thought that some prowlers had amused themselves by making a shindy, and I was about to continue to the train when I thought I heard faint cries coming from the inside of the house. Then, fearing there was a mishap or a crime, I ran to the police station and made the above statement in presence of the sergeant.'"
Juve turned to the sergeant, who gave further details.
"Constable Verdier and I immediately hastened here. We reached theterrace of the house, but there we came to a closed door we could notbreak in. Having shouted loudly we were answered by groans and cries forhelp which came from the room on the first floor of which the windowswere broken. We then got a ladder and climbed up. I passed my handinside and worked the hasp of the window. We went in and found ourselvesin a bedroom in apple-pie order and in which nothing appeared to havebeen disarranged."
"And on a second inspection?" queried Juve.
"I went to the far end of the room and found stretched on the bed a manin undress, who seemed a prey to violent pains. I learned afterwardsthat this was M. Dixon, the tenant of the house. He could scarcely uttera word or move. His shoulders and arms were out of the clothes, and Icould discern that the skin of his chest and shoulders bore traces ofblood effusion. On a bracket to the right of the bed lay a revolver, thesix cartridges of which had been recently fired."
"Ah!" cried Juve. "And then?"
"I thought the first thing to do was to call in a doctor. M. Olivetticonsented to go and call Doctor Plassin, who lives near by. Five minuteslater the doctor came, and I took advantage of his presence to send myman to the Station."
"Have you been over the house?"
"Not yet, Inspector, but nothing will be easier, for in turning out thepockets of the victim's clothes we found his bunch of keys."
"To bring the doctor into the house, you must have opened the door tohim, and therefore had a glimpse of the other rooms in the house, thelobby, the staircase?"
The sergeant shook his head.
"No, Inspector. We went up the ladder. I tried to get out of the door ofM. Dixon's room, but found it was locked. This seemed strange, for theassailant presumably entered by the door."
"By the by, Sergeant, are there no servants here? The place seemsdeserted."
Constable Verdier put in his word:
"The American lives here alone except for an old charwoman who comes inbefore nine. She will probably be here in half an hour, for she can haveno idea of what has happened."
"Good," said Juve. "You will let me know as soon as she comes; wait forher in the garden. As for us," and he turned to the sergeant, "let usmake our way inside."
The two, armed with Dixon's keys, opened without difficulty the mainentrance door to the ground floor. There they found nothing out of theway, but on reaching the first floor, the marks of some one's passagewas clearly visible.
The door of a lumber room stood wide open, and on its floor sheets ofpaper, letters and documents lay scattered about. Juve took a candleand, after a brief investigation, exclaimed:
"They were after the strong box."
A large steel safe, built into the wall, had been burst open, and theworkman-like manner in which it had been done showed clearly the hand ofan expert. Juve carefully examined the floor, picked up two or threepapers that had evidently been trodden on, took some measurements whichhe jotted down in his note-book, and, without telling the sergeant hisconclusions, went downstairs again, paying no heed to the next room inwhich Dixon lay, watched over by Doctor Plassin.
Verdier, who was mounting guard before the house, came forward and said:
"Mr. Inspector, the doctor says M. Dixon is awake. Do you care to seehim?"
Juve at once had the ladder put to the first story window and made hisway into the pugilist's room. The men's description was correct. Nodisorder reigned in the chamber, at the far end of which, on a greatbrass bed, a sturdy individual, his face worn with suffering, laystretched.
In two words Juve introduced himself to the doctor; then expressed hissorrow for Dixon's plight.
"These are only contusions, M. Juve. Serious enough, but nothing more.By the by, M. Dixon may congratulate himself upon owning muscles ofexceptional vigour. Otherwise, from the grip he must have undergone,his body would be no more than a shapeless pulp."
Juve pricked up his ears. He had heard before of bones snapped andbroken under a strain that neither flesh nor muscle could resist. Themysterious death of Lady Beltham at once occurred to his memory.
"Mr. Dixon, you will tell me all the details of the tragic night youhave passed through. You probably dined in Paris last evening?"
The sick man replied in a fairly firm voice:
"No, sir, I dined at home alone."
"Is that your usual habit?"
"No, sir, but between five and seven I had been training hard for mymatch which was to have come off to-morrow with Joe Sans."
"Do you think your opponent would have been capable of trying to injureyou to keep you out of the ring?"
"No, Joe Sans is a good sportsman; besides, he lives at Brussels, andisn't due in Paris till to-morrow."
"And after dinner, what did you do?"
"I fastened the shutters and doors, came up here and undressed."
"Are you in the habit of bolting yourself into your room?"
"Yes, I lock my door every evening."
"What time was it when you went t
o bed?"
"Ten at latest."
"And then?"
"Then I went fast asleep, but in the middle of the night I was waked bya strange noise. It sounded like a scratching at my door. I gave a shoutand banged my fist on the partition."
"Why?" asked Juve, surprised.
The American explained:
"I thought the scratching came from rats, and I simply made a noise tofrighten them away. Then, the sound having ceased, I fell asleep again."
"And afterwards?"
"I was waked again by the sound of stealthy footsteps on the landing ofthe first floor."
"This time you went to see?"
"I meant to do so, I was about to get up. I had put out my arm to get mymatches and revolver, when suddenly I felt a weight on my bed and then Iwas corded, bound like a sausage, my arms tight to my body! For tenminutes I struggled with all the power of my muscles against a frightfuland mysterious grip which continually grew tighter."
"A lasso!" suggested Doctor Plassin in a low voice.
"Were you able to determine the nature of the thing that was grippingyou?" asked Juve.
"I don't know. I remember feeling at the touch of the thing a markedsensation of dampness and cold."
"A wetted lasso, exactly. A rope dipped in water tautens of itself,"remarked the doctor.
"You had to make a great effort to prevent being crushed or broken?"
"A more than human effort, Mr. Inspector, as the doctor has witnessed;if I had not muscles of steel and exceptional strength I should havebeen flattened."
"Good--good," applauded Juve. "That's exactly it!"
"Really! You think so?" queried the American with a touch of sarcasm.
Juve smilingly apologised. His approval meant no more than that thestatements of the victim coincided with the theories he had formed. Andindeed he saw clearly in the unsuccessful attempt on the American andthe achieved killing of Lady Beltham a common way of going to work, thesame process. Undoubtedly the American owed it to his robust physiquethat he got off but slightly scathed, whereas the hapless woman had beentotally crushed.
The similarity of the two crimes allowed Juve to make furtherinductions. He reckoned that it was not by chance that Dixon had metJosephine at the "Crocodile" two nights before, while the presence ofboth Chaleck and Loupart in that establishment was still lessaccidental. And already he felt pleased at the thought that he knewalmost to a certainty the villains to whom this fresh crime must beascribed. They had wanted to get rid of Dixon, that was sure, and by aprocess still unknown to Juve, but which he would soon discover. Theyhad rendered the pugilist helpless while they were robbing him.
"Had you a large sum of money in your safe?" he asked.
The American gave a violent start.
"They've burgled me! Tell me, sir, tell me quickly!"
Juve nodded in the affirmative. Dixon stammered feebly:
"Four thousand pounds! They've taken four thousand pounds from me! Ireceived the sum a few days ago!"
"Gently, gently!" observed the doctor. "You will make yourself feverishand I shall have to stop the interview."
Juve put in:
"I only want a few moments more, doctor. It is important." Then, turningto Dixon, he resumed: "How did your struggle with the mysteriouspressure end?"
"After about ten minutes I felt my bands relaxing. In a short while Iwas free; I heard no more, but suffered such great pain that I fell backin bed and either slept or fainted."
"Then you did not get up at all?"
"No."
"And the door of your room to the landing remained locked all night?"
"Yes, all night."
"How about this broken glass in your window? Those revolver shots at sixin the morning?"
"It was I, firing from my bed to make a noise and bring some one here."
"I thought as much," said Juve, as he went down on all fours andproceeded to examine the carpeting of the room between the bed and thedoor, a distance of some seven feet. The carpet, of very close fabric,afforded no trace, but on a white bearskin rug the detective noted inplaces tufts of hair glued together as if something moist and sticky hadpassed over it. He cut off one of these tufts and shut it carefully inhis pocketbook. He then went to the door which was hidden by a velvetcurtain. He could not suppress a cry of amazement. In the lower panel ofthe door a round hole had been made about six or eight inches indiameter. It was four inches above the floor, and might have been madefor a cat.
"Did you have that hole made in the door?" asked Juve.
"No. I don't know what it is," replied the American.
"Neither do I," rejoined Juve, "but I have an idea." Doctor Plassin wasjubilant.
"There you are!" he cried. "A lasso! And it was thrust in by that hole."
Through the window, Verdier called:
"M. Inspector, the charwoman is coming."
Juve looked at his watch.
"Half-past nine. I will see her in a minute."