III
INSPECTOR DUNBAR TAKES CHARGE
Detective-Inspector Dunbar was admitted by Dr. Cumberly. He was a man ofnotable height, large-boned, and built gauntly and squarely. His clothesfitted him ill, and through them one seemed to perceive the massivescaffolding of his frame. He had gray hair retiring above a highbrow, but worn long and untidily at the back; a wire-like straight-cutmustache, also streaked with gray, which served to accentuate thegrimness of his mouth and slightly undershot jaw. A massive head, withtawny, leonine eyes; indeed, altogether a leonine face, and a frameindicative of tremendous nervous energy.
In the entrance lobby he stood for a moment.
"My name is Cumberly," said the doctor, glancing at the card which theScotland Yard man had proffered. "I occupy the flat above."
"Glad to know you, Dr. Cumberly," replied the detective in a light andnot unpleasant voice--and the fierce eyes momentarily grew kindly.
"This--" continued Cumberly, drawing Dunbar forward into the study, "ismy friend, Leroux--Henry Leroux, whose name you will know?"
"I have not that pleasure," replied Dunbar.
"Well," added Cumberly, "he is a famous novelist, and his flat,unfortunately, has been made the scene of a crime. This isDetective-Inspector Dunbar, who has come to solve our difficulties,Leroux." He turned to where Exel stood upon the hearth-rug--toying withhis monocle. "Mr. John Exel, M. P."
"Glad to know you, gentlemen," said Dunbar.
Leroux rose from the armchair in which he had been sitting and stared,drearily, at the newcomer. Exel screwed the monocle into his right eye,and likewise surveyed the detective. Cumberly, taking a tumbler from thebureau, said:--
"A scotch-and-soda, Inspector?"
"It is a suggestion," said Dunbar, "that, coming from a medical man,appeals."
Whilst the doctor poured out the whisky and squirted the soda into theglass, Inspector Dunbar, standing squarely in the middle of theroom, fixed his eyes upon the still form lying in the shadow of thewriting-table.
"You will have been called in, doctor," he said, taking the profferedtumbler, "at the time of the crime?"
"Exactly!" replied Cumberly. "Mr. Leroux ran up to my flat and summonedme to see the woman."
"What time would that be?"
"Big Ben had just struck the final stroke of twelve when I came out onto the landing."
"Mr. Leroux would be waiting there for you?"
"He stood in my entrance-lobby whilst I slipped on my dressing-gown, andwe came down together."
"I was entering from the street," interrupted Exel, "as they weredescending from above"...
"You can enter from the street, sir, in a moment," said Dunbar, holdingup his hand. "One witness at a time, if you please."
Exel shrugged his shoulders and turned slightly, leaning his elbow uponthe mantelpiece and flicking off the ash from his cigar.
"I take it you were in bed?" questioned Dunbar, turning again to thedoctor.
"I had been in bed about a quarter of an hour when I was aroused by theringing of the door-bell. This ringing struck me as so urgent that Iran out in my pajamas, and found there Mr. Leroux, in a very disturbedstate--"
"What did he say? Give his own words as nearly as you remember them."
Leroux, who had been standing, sank slowly back into the armchair, withhis eyes upon Dr. Cumberly as the latter replied:--
"He said 'Cumberly! Cumberly! For God's sake, come down at once; thereis a strange woman in my flat, apparently in a dying condition!'"
"What did you do?"
"I ran into my bedroom and slipped on my dressing-gown, leaving Mr.Leroux in the entrance-hall. Then, with the clock chiming the laststroke of midnight, we came out together and I closed my door behind me.There was no light on the stair; but our conversation--Mr. Leroux wasspeaking in a very high-pitched voice"...
"What was he saying?"
"He was explaining to me how some woman, unknown to him, had interruptedhis work a few minutes before by ringing his door-bell."...
Inspector Dunbar held up his hand.
"I won't ask you to repeat what he said, doctor; Mr. Leroux, presently,can give me his own words."
"We had descended to this floor, then," resumed Cumberly, "when Mr.Exel, entering below, called up to us, asking if anything was thematter. Leroux replied, 'Matter, Exel! There's a devil of a business!For mercy's sake, come up!'"
"Well?"
"Mr. Exel thereupon joined us at the door of this flat."
"Was it open?"
"Yes. Mr. Leroux had rushed up to me, leaving the door open behind him.The light was out, both in the lobby and in the study, a fact upon whichI commented at the time. It was all the more curious as Mr. Leroux hadleft both lights on!"...
"Did he say so?"
"He did. The circumstances surprised him to a marked degree. We came inand I turned up the light in the lobby. Then Leroux, entering thestudy, turned up the light there, too. I entered next, followed by Mr.Exel--and we saw the body lying where you see it now."
"Who saw it first?"
"Mr. Leroux; he drew my attention to it, saying that he had left herlying on the chesterfield and NOT upon the floor."
"You examined her?"
"I did. She was dead, but still warm. She exhibited signs of recentillness, and of being addicted to some drug habit; probably morphine.This, beyond doubt, contributed to her death, but the direct cause wasasphyxiation. She had been strangled!"
"My God!" groaned Leroux, dropping his face into his hands.
"You found marks on her throat?"
"The marks were very slight. No great pressure was required in her weakcondition."
"You did not move the body?"
"Certainly not; a more complete examination must be made, of course. ButI extracted a piece of torn paper from her clenched right hand."
Inspector Dunbar lowered his tufted brows.
"I'm not glad to know you did that," he said. "It should have beenleft."
"It was done on the spur of the moment, but without altering theposition of the hand or arm. The paper lies upon the table, yonder."
Inspector Dunbar took a long drink. Thus far he had made no attemptto examine the victim. Pulling out a bulging note-case from the insidepocket of his blue serge coat, he unscrewed a fountain-pen, carefullytested the nib upon his thumb nail, and made three or four briefentries. Then, stretching out one long arm, he laid the wallet andthe pen beside his glass upon the top of a bookcase, without otherwisechanging his position, and glancing aside at Exel, said:--
"Now, Mr. Exel, what help can you give us?"
"I have little to add to Dr. Cumberly's account," answered Exel,offhandedly. "The whole thing seemed to me"...
"What it seemed," interrupted Dunbar, "does not interest Scotland Yard,Mr. Exel, and won't interest the jury."
Leroux glanced up for a moment, then set his teeth hard, so that his jawmuscles stood out prominently under the pallid skin.
"What do you want to know, then?" asked Exel.
"I will be wanting to know," said Dunbar, "where you were coming from,to-night?"
"From the House of Commons."
"You came direct?"
"I left Sir Brian Malpas at the corner of Victoria Street at fourminutes to twelve by Big Ben, and walked straight home, actuallyentering here, from the street, as the clock was chiming the last strokeof midnight."
"Then you would have walked up the street from an easterly direction?"
"Certainly."
"Did you meet any one or anything?"
"A taxi-cab, empty--for the hood was lowered--passed me as I turned thecorner. There was no other vehicle in the street, and no person."
"You don't know from which door the cab came?"
"As I turned the corner," replied Exel, "I heard the man starting hisengine, although when I actually saw the cab, it was in motion; butjudging by the sound to which I refer, the cab had been stationary,if not at the door of Palace Mansions, certainly at that of the nextb
lock--St. Andrew's Mansions."
"Did you hear, or see anything else?"
"I saw nothing whatever. But just as I approached the street door, Iheard a peculiar whistle, apparently proceeding from the gardens in thecenter of the square. I attached no importance to it at the time."
"What kind of whistle?"
"I have forgotten the actual notes, but the effect was very odd in someway."
"In what way?"
"An impression of this sort is not entirely reliable, Inspector; but itstruck me as Oriental."
"Ah!" said Dunbar, and reached out the long arm for his notebook.
"Can I be of any further assistance?" said Exel, glancing at his watch.
"You had entered the hall-way and were about to enter your own flat whenthe voices of Dr. Cumberly and Mr. Leroux attracted your attention?"
"I actually had the key in my hand," replied Exel.
"Did you actually have the key in the lock?"
"Let me think," mused Exel, and he took out a bunch of keys and dangledthem, reflectively, before his eyes. "No! I was fumbling for the rightkey when I heard the voices above me."
"But were you facing your door?"
"No," averred Exel, perceiving the drift of the inspector's inquiries;"I was facing the stairway the whole time, and although it was indarkness, there is a street lamp immediately outside on the pavement,and I can swear, positively, that no one descended; that there was noone in the hall nor on the stair, except Mr. Leroux and Dr. Cumberly."
"Ah!" said Dunbar again, and made further entries in his book. "I neednot trouble you further, sir. Good night!"
Exel, despite his earlier attitude of boredom, now ignored this officialdismissal, and, tossing the stump of his cigar into the grate, lighted acigarette, and with both hands thrust deep in his pockets, stood leaningback against the mantelpiece. The detective turned to Leroux.
"Have a brandy-and-soda?" suggested Dr. Cumberly, his eyes turned uponthe pathetic face of the novelist.
But Leroux shook his head, wearily.
"Go ahead, Inspector!" he said. "I am anxious to tell you all I know.God knows I am anxious to tell you."
A sound was heard of a key being inserted in the lock of a door.
Four pairs of curious eyes were turned toward the entrance lobby, whenthe door opened, and a sleek man of medium height, clean shaven, butwith his hair cut low upon the cheek bones, so as to give the impressionof short side-whiskers, entered in a manner at once furtive and servile.
He wore a black overcoat and a bowler hat. Reclosing the door, heturned, perceived the group in the study, and fell back as thoughsomeone had struck him a fierce blow.
Abject terror was written upon his features, and, for a moment, the ideaof flight appeared to suggest itself urgently to him; but finally, hetook a step forward toward the study.
"Who's this?" snapped Dunbar, without removing his leonine eyes from thenewcomer.
"It is Soames," came the weary voice of Leroux.
"Butler?"
"Yes."
"Where's he been?"
"I don't know. He remained out without my permission."
"He did, eh?"
Inspector Dunbar thrust forth a long finger at the shrinking form in thedoorway.
"Mr. Soames," he said, "you will be going to your own room and waitingthere until I ring for you."
"Yes, sir," said Soames, holding his hat in both bands, and speakinghuskily. "Yes, sir: certainly, sir."
He crossed the lobby and disappeared.
"There is no other way out, is there?" inquired the detective, glancingat Dr. Cumberly.
"There is no other way," was the reply; "but surely you don'tsuspect"...
"I would suspect the Archbishop of Westminster," snapped Dunbar, "ifhe came in like that! Now, sir,"--he turned to Leroux--"you were alone,here, to-night?"
"Quite alone, Inspector. The truth is, I fear, that my servants takeliberties in the absence of my wife."
"In the absence of your wife? Where is your wife?"
"She is in Paris."
"Is she a Frenchwoman?"
"No! oh, no! But my wife is a painter, you understand, and--er--I mether in Paris--er--... Must you insist upon these--domestic particulars,Inspector?"
"If Mr. Exel is anxious to turn in," replied the inspector, "after hisno doubt exhausting duties at the House, and if Dr. Cumberly--"
"I have no secrets from Cumberly!" interjected Leroux. "The doctorhas known me almost from boyhood, but--er--" turning to thepolitician--"don't you know, Exel--no offense, no offense"...
"My dear Leroux," responded Exel hastily, "I am the offender! Permit meto wish you all good night."
He crossed the study, and, at the door, paused and turned.
"Rely upon me, Leroux," he said, "to help in any way within my power."
He crossed the lobby, opened the outer door, and departed.
"Now, Mr. Leroux," resumed Dunbar, "about this matter of your wife'sabsence."