CHAPTER XXIV. TO INTRODUCE 719
Some moments of silence followed. Sounds of traffic from the Embankmentpenetrated dimly to the room of the Assistant Commissioner; ringingof tram bells and that vague sustained noise which is created by thewhirring of countless wheels along hard pavements. Finally:
"You have selected a curious moment to retire, Chief Inspector," saidthe Assistant Commissioner. "Your prospects were never better. No doubtyou have considered the question of your pension?"
"I know what I'm giving up, sir," replied Kerry.
The Assistant Commissioner slowly revolved in his chair and gazed sadlyat the speaker. Chief Inspector Kerry met his glance with that fearless,unflinching stare which lent him so formidable an appearance.
"You might care to favor me with some explanation which I can lay beforethe Chief Commissioner?"
Kerry snapped his white teeth together viciously.
"May I take it, sir, that you accept my resignation?"
"Certainly not. I will place it before the responsible authority. I cando no more."
"Without disrespect, sir, I want to speak to you as man to man. As aprivate citizen I could do it. As your subordinate I can't."
The Assistant Commissioner sighed, stroking his neatly brushed hair withone large hand.
"Equally without disrespect, Chief Inspector," he murmured, "it is newsfor me to learn that you have ever refrained from speaking your mindeither in my presence or in the presence of any man."
Kerry smiled, unable wholly to conceal a sense of gratified vanity.
"Well, sir," he said, "you have my resignation before you, and I'mprepared to abide by the consequences. What I want to say is this: I'm aman that has worked hard all his life to earn the respect and thetrust of his employers. I am supposed to be Chief Inspector of thisdepartment, and as Chief Inspector I'll kow-tow to nothing on two legsonce I've been put in charge of a case. I work right in the sunshine.There's no grafting about me. I draw my salary every week, and any manthat says I earn sixpence in the dark is at liberty to walk right inhere and deposit his funeral expenses. If I'm supposed to be under acloud--there's my reply. But I demand a public inquiry."
At ever increasing speed, succinctly, viciously he rapped out the words.His red face grew more red, and his steel-blue eyes more fierce. TheAssistant Commissioner exhibited bewilderment. As the high tones ceased:
"Really, Chief Inspector," he said, "you pain and surprise me. I do notprofess to be ignorant of the cause of your--annoyance. But perhaps if Iacquaint you with the facts of my own position in the matter you will beopen to reconsider your decision."
Kerry cleared his throat loudly.
"I won't work in the dark, sir," he declared truculently. "I'd rather bea pavement artist and my own master than Chief Inspector with an unknownspy following me about."
"Quite so--quite so." The Assistant Commissioner was wonderfullypatient. "Very well, Chief Inspector. It cannot enhance my personaldignity to admit the fact, but I'm nearly as much in the dark asyourself."
"What's that, sir?" Kerry sat bolt upright, staring at the speaker.
"At a late hour last night the Secretary of State communicated inperson with the Chief Commissioner--at the latter's town residence. Heinstructed him to offer every facility to a newly appointed agent of theHome office who was empowered to conduct an official inquiry into thedrug traffic. As a result Vine Street was advised that the Home officeinvestigator would proceed at once to Kazmah's premises, and from thencewherever available clues might lead him. For some reason which has notyet been explained to me, this investigator chooses to preserve a strictanonymity."
Traces of irritation became perceptible in the weary voice. Kerrystaring, in silence, the Assistant Commissioner continued:
"I have been advised that this nameless agent is in a position toestablish his bona fides at any time, as he bears a number of thesecards. You see, Chief Inspector, I am frank with you."
From a table drawer the Assistant Commissioner took a visiting-card,which he handed to Kerry. The latter stared at it as one stares ata rare specimen. It was the card of Lord Wrexborough, His Majesty'sPrincipal Secretary of State for the Home Department, and in the crampedcaligraphy of his lordship it bore a brief note, initialled, thus:
Lord Wrexborough Great Cumberland Place, V. 1 "To introduce 719. W."
Some moments of silence followed; then:
"Seven-one-nine," said Kerry in a high, strained voice. "Whyseven-one-nine? And why all this hocus-pocus? Am I to understand, sir,that not only myself but all the Criminal Investigation Department isunder a cloud?"
The Assistant Commissioner stroked his hair.
"You are to understand, Chief Inspector, that for the first timethroughout my period of office I find myself out of touch with the ChiefCommissioner. It is not departmental for me to say so, but I believethe Chief Commissioner finds himself similarly out of touch with theSecretary of State. Apparently very powerful influences are at work, andthe line of conduct taken up by the Home office suggests to my mind thatcollusion between the receivers and distributors of drugs and the policeis suspected by someone. That being so, possibly out of a sense offairness to all officially concerned, the committee which I understandhas been appointed to inquire into the traffic has decided to treatus all alike, from myself down to the rawest constable. It's highlyirritating and preposterous, of course, but I cannot disguise from youor from myself that we are on trial, Chief Inspector!"
Kerry stood up and slowly moved his square shoulders in the manner ofan athlete about to attempt a feat of weight-lifting. From theAssistant Commissioner's table he took the envelope which contained hisresignation, and tore it into several portions. These he deposited in awaste-paper basket.
"That's that!" he said. "I am very deeply indebted to you, sir. I knownow what to tell the Press."
The Assistant Commissioner glanced up.
"Not a word about 719," he said, "of course, you understand this?"
"If we don't exist as far as 719 is concerned, sir," said Kerry in hismost snappy tones, "719 means nothing to me!"
"Quite so--quite so. Of course, I may be wrong in the motives whichI ascribe to this Whitehall agent, but misunderstanding is certain toarise out of a system of such deliberate mystification, which can onlybe compared to that employed by the Russian police under the Tsars."
Half an hour later Chief Inspector Kerry came out of New Scotland Yard,and, walking down on to the Embankment, boarded a Norwood tramcar.The weather remained damp and gloomy, but upon the red face of ChiefInspector Kerry, as he mounted to the upper deck of the car, rested anexpression which might have been described as one of cheery truculence.Where other passengers, coat collars upturned, gazed gloomily from thewindows at the yellow murk overhanging the river, Kerry looked brisklyabout him, smiling pleasurably.
He was homeward bound, and when he presently alighted and went swingingalong Spenser Road towards his house, he was still smiling. He regardedthe case as having developed into a competition between himself andthe man appointed by Whitehall. And it was just such a position,disconcerting to one of less aggressive temperament, which stimulatedChief Inspector Kerry and put him in high good humor.
Mrs. Kerry, arrayed in a serviceable rain-coat, and wearing a plain felthat, was standing by the dining-room door as Kerry entered. She had abasket on her arm. "I was waiting for ye, Dan," she said simply.
He kissed her affectionately, put his arm about her waist, and the twoentered the cosy little room. By no ordinary human means was it possiblethat Mary Kerry should have known that her husband would come home atthat time, but he was so used to her prescience in this respect that heoffered no comment. She "kenned" his approach always, and at timeswhen his life had been in danger--and these were not of infrequentoccurrence--Mary Kerry, if sleeping, had awakened, trembling, though thescene of peril were a hundred miles away, and if awake had blanched andknown a deadly sudden fear.
"Ye'll be goin' to bed?" she asked.
/> "For three hours, Mary. Don't fail to rouse me if I oversleep."
"Is it clear to ye yet?"
"Nearly clear. The dark thing you saw behind it all, Mary, was dope!Kazmah's is a secret drug-syndicate. They've appointed a Home officeagent, and he's working independently of us, but..."
His teeth came together with a snap.
"Oh, Dan," said his wife, "it's a race? Drugs? A Home office agent? Dan,they think the Force is in it?"
"They do!" rapped Kerry. "I'm for Leman Street in three hours. Ifthere's double-dealing behind it, then the mugs are in the East End,and it's folly, not knavery, I'm looking for. It's a race, Mary, and thecredit of the Service is at stake! No, my dear, I'll have a snack when Iwake. You're going shopping?"
"I am, Dan. I'd ha' started, but I wanted to see ye when ye came hame.If ye've only three hours go straight up the now. I'll ha' something hota' ready when ye waken."
Ten minutes later Kerry was in bed, his short clay pipe between histeeth, and The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius in his hand. Such was hiscustomary sleeping-draught, and it had never been known to fail. Halfa pipe of Irish twist and three pages of the sad imperial authorinvariably plunged Chief Inspector Kerry into healthy slumber.