The Red Room

vain. I was wondering what action was being takenby my sinister-faced neighbour who lived in Whitehall Court underanother name, and who seemed to possess a dual personality.

  At last the hour came when again I turned the car into Scotland Yard,and once more was ushered upstairs into that bare waiting-room whereinso many stories of crime are related.

  Presently, after a lengthy wait, the two officers entered together andgreeted me.

  "Well," commenced the elder of the pair with some slight hesitation,"we've placed your statement before the Commissioner, Mr. Holford, andhe has very carefully considered it. He has, however, decided that itis not a matter for our department."

  "What?" I gasped. "A man can be foully done to death here in London,and yet the police refuse to believe the story of an honest man--a manwho is a witness!"

  "We do not doubt you in the least degree, Mr. Holford," the otherassured me, speaking very quietly.

  "But you do!" I exclaimed in quick anger. "I've told you that a crimehas been perpetrated."

  "My dear sir," said the officer, "we get many startling stories toldhere almost hourly, and if we inquired into the truth of them all, why,we'd require a department as big as the whole of Whitehall."

  "What I told you yesterday is so strange and extraordinary that youbelieve I'm a madman," I said. "I see it in your faces."

  "Excuse me, but that is not the point," he protested. "We are onlyofficers, Mr. Holford. We are not the commander. The chief has givenhis decision, and we are compelled to obey, however much we may regretour inaction."

  "So you refuse your aid in assisting me to find my wife?"

  "No. If we can help you to discover Mrs. Holford, we willingly will.Perhaps you'll kindly give us her description, and we'll at oncecirculate it through all our channels, both here and abroad. But,"added the man, "I must first tell you that we can hold out very littlehope. The number of missing wives reported to us, both here atheadquarters and at the various local stations in the metropolitan area,is sometimes dozens in a day. Most of the ladies have, we find oninquiry, gone away of their own accord."

  "But this case is different. My wife has not!" I asserted. "She hasbeen enticed away by a telegram purporting to come from me."

  "And that's really nothing unusual. We have heard of ladies arrangingwith other people to send urgent messages in the names of theirhusbands. It is an easy way of escape sometimes." And he smiled rathergrimly.

  "Then, to put it plainly, I've nothing to hope for from you?" Isnapped.

  "Very little, I fear, sir."

  "And this is our police system which was only recently so highlycommended by the Royal Commission of Inquiry!" I blurted forth. "It'sa scandal!"

  "It is not for us to make any comment, my dear Mr. Holford," said theelder of the two officers. "The Commissioner himself decides whataction we take upon information we may receive. I dare say," he added,"our decision in this case does appear to you somewhat strange, but--well, I may as well point out that there is a special feature in itwhich does not appear to you--an outsider."

  "What special feature can there be, pray? A well-known man has beenassassinated. Surely, therefore, it is the duty of the police to stirthemselves and make every inquiry!"

  "We have only your statement for that. As far as we or the public areaware, Professor Greer is travelling somewhere on the Continent."

  "But, if you disbelieve me, go to Kershaw Kirk, in Whitehall Court, orto the Professor's daughter down at Broadstairs, or to Pietro Merli, whokeeps a newsagent's in the Euston Road. Each of these persons knows thetruth, and would speak--if compelled."

  "The Commissioner has had all those names before him, but in face ofthat he has decided not to enter into this matter. His decision," saidthe officer, "is irrevocable."

  "Then our police system is a perfect farce!" I cried. "No wonder,indeed, we have in London a host of undiscovered crimes! The man Kirklaughed at you here as blunderers!" I added.

  But the pair only exchanged glances and grinned, causing me increasedanger.

  "In any other city but London the police would, upon my information, atonce institute inquiry!" I declared. "I'm a tax-payer, and am entitledto assistance and protection."

  "We have already offered to assist you to discover the whereabouts ofMrs. Holford," the elder man pointed out politely.

  "Then inquire of this man Kirk, or Seymour, as he calls himself, inWhitehall Court," I said. "He can tell you where she is--if hechooses."

  "You suspect him of having a hand in her disappearance? Why?" inquiredthe other detective officer.

  I related clearly and succinctly the facts upon which my belief wasbased and of the description given of my wife's companion by thehotel-manager in Florence.

  The officer slowly shook his head.

  "That's scarcely conclusive, is it? The description is but a vague one,after all."

  "Well," I said bitterly as I rose, "if you refuse to assist me, I must,I suppose, seek redress elsewhere. May I see the Commissioner myself?"

  "You can make formal application, if you like. But I don't expect hewill see you. He has already fully considered the matter." And thatwas all the satisfaction accorded me.

  "Then I'll do something!" I cried. "I'll get a question asked in theHouse. It's a scandal that, with Professor Greer killed in his ownhome, you refuse to bestir yourselves. After all, it seems quite true,as has been recently alleged, that the police are nowadays so fullyoccupied in regulating the speed of motor-cars that they have no timefor the investigation of crime."

  I noticed that at my threat to have a question asked in the House, oneof the officers pulled a rather wry face. The Metropolitan Police werenot fond, I knew, of questions being put about them. I chanced to knowrather intimately a member for a country division, though to get thequestion put would necessitate my explaining the whole affair.

  Yet was not Mabel's liberty--nay, perhaps her very life--at stake?

  "You've told us very little regarding this friend of yours, Mr. KershawKirk, whom you appear to suspect so strongly," the younger of the twomen remarked at last. "Who is he?"

  "An adventurer," I replied quickly. "I have no doubt whatever upon thatpoint."

  The man pursed his lips dubiously.

  "May it not be that you are somewhat prejudiced against him?" heventured to suggest.

  "No. He was in the house at the time when the Professor's body wascremated in his own furnace. If you went to Sussex Place you wouldprobably discover some remains among the ashes."

  "Do you allege, then, that you were an actual witness of the cremation?"asked the officer.

  "No; I found him in the house."

  "And, later on, you discovered the furnace alight, eh?"

  "Yes."

  "Then it is only a surmise on your part, after all, my dear sir,"remarked the detective, twisting a pen between his fingers as his darkeyes were fixed upon mine. "The actual evidence is really _nil_. Thatis just the view taken by the Commissioner."

  "But my wife is in the hands of the assassins," I cried. "You can'tdeny that!"

  "Is there any actual, evidence of it? None, as far as we can see," hedeclared. "Would it not be natural for your wife, on failing to findyou in Florence, either to wire to her sister at home or to return homeat once? She did neither, which only goes far to prove that she did notdesire to return to London."

  "You suggest that she has purposely left me?" I cried, staring at theman in a frenzy of angry resentment.

  "I suggest nothing, Mr. Holford. Pray don't misunderstand me. I merelyput before you the facts in order to obtain a logical conclusion. Onlyone can be arrived at--she had some motive for not returning to herhome. If she had, then how are we to find her? She would, no doubt,purposely cover her tracks."

  "But she was with that man, the man who--"

  "And that just bears out my argument," interrupted the detective.

  "But may she not have been prevented from sending any message hom
e?" Isuggested, though that very point he had made had, I confess, been theone which had continually obsessed me.

  Both the detectives shook their heads.

  "No," replied the elder of the two. "We are both agreed, as theCommissioner also believes, that your wife would not be held a prisoner.Criminals do not hold women prisoners nowadays, except in works offiction. No," he added, "depend upon it, Mr. Holford, when you discoverthe truth, you will find that your wife was acquainted