The Riddle of the Mysterious Light

  CHAPTER XVII

  THE MYSTERY OF THE "ROSE OF FIRE"

  Some few days later, Mr. Narkom, breathing noisily and obviously hardpressed for time, pushed open the door of Cleek's apartment on PortmanSquare and carefully inserted his head into the room. His face lightedup and he drew a deep sigh of relief as he caught sight of Cleek,reclining in an easy-chair and apparently day-dreaming.

  He glanced up as the Superintendent entered.

  "Well, for once you have caught me napping, Mr. Narkom," he said. "I wasso deep in thought, I never heard a sound. But sit down, old friend. Youlook worried."

  "I am," admitted the Superintendent. "I was on pins and needles for fearthis gorgeous day might have drawn you up the river, and I didn't dareuse the public telephone."

  "Which tells me very plainly that you have not come directly from theYard. So I may assume it is a case of some importance that has broughtyou here in post haste," said Cleek.

  "It is indeed," said Narkom, "and it is a case connected with jewels.

  "You remember that young American chap I pointed out in a motor lastweek--the fellow who came over about the Panama Canal, intending to goback, but wound up by getting engaged to an English girl and settlingdown here...?"

  "Anthony Winton, do you mean? Yes, of course I do. If my memory holdsright, he is the son of a California millionaire, and with a prettytaste in jewels. Made a hobby of outlandish settings, photographs werein the _Connoisseur_. The woman who marries him will never go short ofunique jewels. Wasn't he to have been married to-day, by the way,according to the papers?"

  "'Was' is the correct word, Cleek," said Narkom in a hushed tone. "Therewill be no wedding for him, poor chap. The man has been murdered----"

  "Murdered!" Cleek interrupted, sitting up suddenly. "Winton murdered!How? When?"

  "Last night," said Narkom. "Robbery is supposed to have been the motive,and suspicion points in half-a-dozen directions."

  "What has been stolen, something from his collection?"

  "Yes. As you yourself said, he had a mania for queer jewels, and the onethat is missing is the queerest of the lot--rubies mounted on a stem. ABurmese thing, known as the 'Rose of Fire,' made of pricelesspigeon-blood rubies, and supposed to have been stolen from the temple ofBuddha in Mandalay.

  "I was told it was a rose with ruby petals and emerald stem and worththousands."

  "Of course; everyone knows of it. Thousands won't replace it," saidCleek. "Its historical value alone makes it priceless. It is supposed tohave belonged to Buddha himself. But to come back to Winton. How was hekilled? Stabbed? Shot?"

  "I can't say for certain," said Narkom, "save that he was certainly notshot or stabbed. There is no mark or blemish on the body at all. Allthat is positive, according to the doctor, who did not arrive untilafter his death, is that he had been asphyxiated by some unknown fumes.He was found by his servant, who says he heard him struggling with anassailant, but when he forced the door in, the room was empty, thewindows shut, and he was only just in time to reach his master and hearhim say with his last gasp 'Death's Head!' Then he fell back, dead asthe skeleton to which he pointed."

  "'Death's Head'," repeated Cleek, knitting his brows. "Does anybody knowwhat he meant?"

  "Not unless he was still thinking of his words with Miss Parradine, thebride-to-be."

  "What had she to do with it?" asked Cleek.

  "A great deal, I should say. As you know, Winton had queer taste injewels and it seems that he had had some of his finest diamonds mountedin skull-and-crossbones brooches as his present to the bride and asbridesmaid gifts. He was obsessed with breaking superstitions--insistedon sitting down thirteen at table when possible, had the knives crossed,had skull and crossbones on his notepaper and cutlery. He defied, infact, every legend and superstition known, even to having a skeletonpresent at the table."

  "H'm, cheerful companion! Every man has some whim, but for a young manall this was peculiar, to say the least of it. I suppose he wanted hisfuture wife to indulge in the same tricks, eh?"

  "Yes, that's just it, Cleek, and evidently she resisted. Anyhow, withthe exception of Calvert, the valet, she was the last person to see himalive last night. She arrived unexpectedly during the evening, and wasshown in to him. It seems that they were not entirely on the best ofterms. Both have, or had I suppose I must say, strong wills, and MissParradine was obviously in a furious temper, for Calvert declared thathe heard her voice raised high and shrill more than once. He even goesfurther than that, for he swears that as he was passing the door, justbefore she flung herself out, flushed with rage and mortification, heheard her say distinctly: 'I won't have it. I'd sooner see you a skulland crossbones yourself than ask such a thing'."

  "Humph," commented Cleek. "I wonder if Calvert is to be trusted. Sure hewasn't making the words fit those of the dying man? Possibly MissParradine was angry at the gift and carried away by temper. Vanityplays a great part with women at the best of times, and a wedding, afterall, is a trying experience."

  "In this case vanity, or rather wealth, plays the chief part, I fear,Cleek, for to all accounts the lady only consented to the marriagebecause of the pressure brought to bear upon her by her family, andsecondly because of her own love of precious stones. According to themarriage settlements, on his death all jewels go to her."

  "Oho!" said Cleek in two different inflections.

  "The lady herself," continued Mr. Narkom, "was really engaged to aneighbouring land-owner, Robert Bristol, but she had to give him up.Probably Winton had a financial hold over her father. Anyhow, themarriage was hastened, and Winton had decided to take his bride back toAmerica before settling down here."

  "And where did the murder take place--in London?" queried Cleek, divingfor his cigarette-case.

  "No, in Essex, in the village of Grays, where Winton had leased a veryold solidly built manor house, and had had his jewel collection, whichhe made while travelling from place to place, transferred to the bigpicture gallery there. This collection included the famous 'Rose ofFire'."

  "H'm. I see. And considering that the Burmese priests will never resttill they regain that holy relic, it was positively asking for trouble.The Death's Head, sign of the skull and crossbones, is an emblem of oneof their rites, I believe, and if one of them were in the neighbourhood,might Winton not have recognized the instigator of his death? Thehypothesis is rather far-fetched, I admit, but still----Well, continuewith the story, please. How long had the lady left before Calvert beganto suspect trouble?"

  "About ten minutes. As a matter of fact, she let herself out,apparently. Calvert was called away by the telephone down anotherpassage, and when he came back she was gone. He took the 'phone messageto Mr. Winton and found the door locked. According to him, he called,and at last broke in the door on hearing a funny scuffling noise inside,but getting no answer to his knocks found his master dying, and laterdiscovered the loss of the 'Rose of Fire' from his table. That is as faras I can get."

  "How was it that Miss Parradine was able to make such an inopportunecall? Does she live in Grays, too?"

  "Yes, she does. She is, as you doubtless are aware, the daughter ofColonel Parradine, late of the Bengal Lancers, and----"

  "Stop a moment," cut in Cleek, sharply. "It isn't often my memory failsme. Wasn't it about '74 when the Bengal Lancers were stationed atMandalay? I seem to remember some yarns about ragging. If I am notwrong, I expect it must have been that same Colonel, or CaptainParradine as he then was, who nearly got cashiered. Is he still up tohigh jinks?"

  "Well, he acts pretty queerly," said Narkom, "according to Winton'sbutler, Wills. It was he, by the way, who went flying off for the doctorwhen they found that the telephone was out of order at the same time asthe lights."

  "What's that? The lights wrong?"

  "Yes, he said, and Calvert, too, that every light in the place went outjust as Calvert got into the room. Then they flashed on again, andthat's how he looked for the jewels, directly he saw his master wasdead, in order to find whether the
y had been stolen."

  "Very thoughtful of him," put in Cleek, pinching up his chin. "Very!"

  "Yes, and that's not the only funny thing. Nothing else but the 'Rose'was missing, although other stones of the collection were there. Wintonhad evidently been polishing or looking at them. You would have thoughtthe thief would have cleared the lot."

  "Possibly! And yet, too, he might have banked on one single jewel notbeing missed immediately and let him get a good start away."

  "But to come back to Colonel Parradine," said Narkom. "Wills tells me hemet him half-way down the lane as he was going for the doctor eithervery ill and shaken or much the worse for drink. His clothes were dustyand awry as if he had had a fall, and that's how he accounted for hiscondition. He said he had been knocked down by a motor on his way fromthe station. But there were scratches on his face and hands which gavehim the appearance of having dropped from a high window rather than ofhaving been in a motor accident. As Winton's gallery is a sheer drop ofthirty feet from the ground, you can imagine it looks strange. Anyhow,Wills told him what had happened and left the Colonel to come on to theManor Lodge as best he could."

  "Looks bad, I must say. Still, if he had had any hand in it, he wouldhardly have been hanging about the lane near the scene of the murder.But you never know. Anyhow, it's easy to round up someone who saw orheard of that accident. It remains to be seen what the Colonel has tosay. Any possibility of his secreting the jewel himself?"

  "Hardly," said Narkom. "Considering that he drew my attention to itsloss. Besides, to make things worse, I phoned through to headquarters onmy way up and learned that some loose rubies were pawned in London atnine o'clock this morning by a woman who answers vaguely a descriptionof Miss Parradine herself."

  "That looks worst of all," said Cleek. "Give me five minutes to jumpinto another suit, Mr. Narkom, and we'll see what Mr. George Headlandcan do."