CHAPTER XI
THE CASE AGAINST FRANK MERRILL
Mr. Saul Arthur Mann stood by the window of his office and moodilywatched the traffic passing up and down this busy city street at whatwas the busiest hour of the day. He stood there such a long time thatthe girl who had sought his help thought he must have forgotten her.
May was pale, and her pallor was emphasized by the black dress she wore.The terrible happening of a week before had left its impression uponher. For her it had been a week of sleepless nights, a week's anguish ofmind unspeakable. Everybody had been most kind, and Jasper was as gentleas a woman. Such was the influence that he exercised over her that shedid not feel any sense of resentment against him, even though she knewthat he was the principal witness for the crown. He was so sincere, sohonest in his sympathy, she told herself.
He was so free from any bitterness against the man who he believed hadkilled his best friend and his most generous employer that she could notsustain the first feeling of resentment she had felt. Perhaps it wasbecause her great sorrow overshadowed all other emotions; yet she wasfree to analyze her friendship with the man who was working day andnight to send the man who loved her to a felon's doom. She could notunderstand herself; still less could she understand Jasper.
She looked up again at Mr. Mann as he stood by the window, his handsclasped behind him; and as she did so he turned slowly and came back towhere she sat. His usually jocund face was lugubrious and worried.
"I have given more thought to this matter than I've given to any otherproblem I have tackled," he said. "I believe Mr. Merrill to be falselyaccused, and I have one or two points to make to his counsel which, whenthey are brought forward in court, will prove beyond any doubt whateverthat he was innocent. I don't believe that matters are so black againsthim as you think. The other side will certainly bring forward theforgery and the doctored books to supply a motive for the murder.Inspector Nash is in charge of the case, and he promised to call here atfour o'clock."
He looked at his watch.
"It wants three minutes. Have you any suggestion to offer?"
She shook her head.
"I can floor the prosecution," Mr. Mann went on, "but what I cannot dois to find the murderer for certain. It is obviously one of three men.It is either Sergeant Crawley, alias Smith, about whose antecedents Mr.Minute made an inquiry, or Jasper Cole, the secretary, or--"
He shrugged his shoulders.
It was not necessary to say who was the third suspect.
There came a knock at the door, and the clerk announced Inspector Nash.That stout and stoical officer gave a noncommittal nod to Mr. Mann and asmiling recognition to the girl.
"Well, you know how matters stand, Inspector," said Mr. Mann briskly,"and I thought I'd ask you to come here to-day to straighten a fewthings out."
"It is rather irregular, Mr. Mann," said the inspector, "but as they'veno objection at headquarters, I don't mind telling you, within limits,all that I know; but I don't suppose I can tell you any more than youhave found out for yourself."
"Do you really think Mr. Merrill committed this crime?" asked the girl.
The inspector raised his eyebrows and pursed his lips.
"It looks uncommonly like it, miss," he said. "We have evidence that thebank has been robbed, and it is almost certainly proved that Merrill hadaccess to the books and was the only person in the bank who could havefaked the figures and transferred the money from one account to anotherwithout being found out. There are still one or two doubtful points tobe cleared up, but there is the motive, and when you've got the motiveyou are three parts on your way to finding the criminal. It isn't astraightforward case by any means," he confessed, "and the more I gointo it the more puzzled I am. I don't mind telling you this frankly: Ihave seen Constable Wiseman, who swears that at the moment the shotswere fired he saw a light flash in the upper window. We have thestatement of Mr. Cole that he was in his room, his employer havingrequested that he should make himself scarce when the nephew came, andhe tells us how somebody opened the door quietly and flashed an electrictorch upon him."
"What was Cole doing in the dark?" asked Mann quickly.
"He had a headache and was lying down," said the inspector. "When he sawthe light he jumped up and made for it, and was immediately slugged; thedoor closed upon him and was locked. Between his leaving the bed andreaching the door he heard Mr. Merrill's voice threatening his uncle,and the shots. Immediately afterward he was rendered insensible."
"A curious story," said Saul Arthur Mann dryly. "A very curious story!"
The girl felt an unaccountable and altogether amazing desire to defendJasper against the innuendo in the other's tone, and it was withdifficulty that she restrained herself.
"I don't think it is a good story," said the inspector frankly; "butthat is between ourselves. And then, of course," he went on, "we havethe remarkable behavior of Sergeant Smith."
"Where is he?" asked Mr. Mann.
The inspector shrugged his shoulders.
"Sergeant Smith has disappeared," he said, "though I dare say we shallfind him before long. He is only one; the most puzzling element of allis the fourth man concerned, the man who arrived in the motor car andwho was evidently Mr. Rex Holland. We have got a very full descriptionof him."
"I also have a very full description of him," said Mr. Mann quietly;"but I've been unable to identify him with any of the people in myrecords."
"Anyway, it was his car; there is no doubt about that."
"And he was the murderer," said Mr. Mann. "I've no doubt about that, norhave you."
"I have doubts about everything," replied the inspector diplomatically.
"What was in the car?" asked the little man brightly. He was rapidlyrecovering his good humor.
"That I am afraid I cannot tell you," smiled the detective.
"Then I'll tell you," said Saul Arthur Mann, and, stepping up to hisdesk, took a memorandum from a drawer. "There were two motor rugs, twoholland coats, one white, one brown. There were two sets of motorgoggles. There was a package of revolver cartridges, from which six hadbeen extracted, a leather revolver holster, a small garden trowel, andone or two other little things."
Inspector Nash swore softly under his breath.
"I'm blessed if I know how you found all that out," he said, with alittle asperity in his voice. "The car was not touched or searched untilwe came on the scene, and, beyond myself and Sergeant Mannering of mydepartment, nobody knows what the car contained."
Saul Arthur Mann smiled, and it was a very happy and triumphant smile.
"You see, I know!" he purred. "That is one point in Merrill's favor."
"Yes," agreed the detective, and smiled.
"Why do you smile, Mr. Nash?" asked the little man suspiciously.
"I was thinking of a county policeman who seems to have someextraordinary theories on the subject."
"Oh, you mean Wiseman," said Mann, with a grin. "I've interviewed thatgentleman. There is a great detective lost in him, Inspector."
"It is lost, all right," said the detective laconically. "Wiseman isvery certain that Merrill committed the crime, and I think you are goingto have a difficulty in persuading a jury that he didn't. You seeMerrill's story is that he came and saw his uncle, that they had a fewminutes' chat together, that his uncle suddenly had an attack offaintness, and that he went out of the room into the dining room to geta glass of water. While Merrill was in the dining room he heard theshots, and came running back, still with the glass in his hand, and sawhis uncle lying on the ground. I saw the glass, which was half filled.
"I was also there in time to examine the dining room and see that Mr.Merrill had spilled some of the water when he was taking it from thecarafe. All that part of the story is circumstantially sound. What wecannot understand, and what a jury will never understand, is how, in thevery short space of time, the murderer could have got into the room andmade his escape again."
"The French windows were open," said Mr. Mann. "All the
evidence that wehave is to this effect, including the evidence of P. C. Wiseman."
"In those circumstances, how comes it that the constable, who, when heheard the shot, made straight for the room, did not meet the murdererescaping? He saw nobody in the grounds--"
"Except Sergeant Smith, or Crawley," interspersed Saul Arthur Mannreadily. "I have reason to believe, and, indeed, reason to know, thatSergeant Smith, or Crawley, had a motive for being in the house. Isupplied Mr. Minute, who was a client of mine, with certain documents,and those documents were in a safe in his bedroom. What is more likelythan that this Crawley, to whom it was vitally necessary that thedocuments in question should be recovered, should have entered the housein search of those documents? I don't mind telling you that theyrelated to a fraud of which he was the author, and they were inthemselves all the proof which the police would require to obtain aconviction against him. He was obviously the man who struck down Mr.Cole, and whose light the constable saw flashing in the upper window."
"In that case he cannot have been the murderer," said the detectivequickly, "because the shots were fired while he was still in the room.They were almost simultaneous with the appearance of the flash at theupper window."
"H'm!" said Saul Arthur Mann, for the moment nonplussed.
"The more you go into this matter, the more complicated does it become,"said the police officer, with a shake of his head, "and to my mind theclearer is the case against Merrill."
"With this reservation," interrupted the other, "that you have toaccount for the movements of Mr. Rex Holland, who comes on the scene tenminutes after Frank Merrill arrives and who leaves his car. He leaveshis car for a very excellent reason," he went on. "Sergeant Smith, whoruns away to get assistance, meets two men of the Sussex constabulary,hurrying in response to Wiseman's whistle. One of them stands by thecar, and the other comes into the house. It was, therefore, impossiblefor the murderer to make use of the car. Here is another point I wouldhave you explain."
He had hoisted himself on the edge of his desk, and sat, an amusinglittle figure, his legs swinging a foot from the ground.
"The revolver used was a big Webley, not an easy thing to carry orconceal about your person, and undoubtedly brought to the scene of thecrime by the man in the car. You will say that Merrill, who wore anovercoat, might have easily brought it in his pocket; but the absoluteproof that that could not have been the case is that on his arrival bytrain from London, Mr. Merrill lost his ticket and very carefullysearched himself, a railway inspector assisting, to discover the bit ofpasteboard. He turned out everything he had in his pocket in theinspector's presence, and his overcoat--the only place where he couldhave concealed such a heavy weapon--was searched by the inspectorhimself."
The detective nodded.
"It is a very difficult case," he agreed, "and one in which I've nogreat heart; for, to be absolutely honest, my views are that while itmight have been Merrill, the balance of proof is that it was not. Thatis, of course, my unofficial view, and I shall work pretty hard tosecure a conviction."
"I am sure you will," said Mr. Mann heartily.
"Must the case go into the court?" asked the girl anxiously.
"There is no other way for it," replied the officer. "You see, we havearrested him, and unless something turns up the magistrate must commithim for trial on the evidence we have secured."
"Poor Frank!" she said softly.
"It is rough on him, if he is innocent," agreed Nash, "but it is luckyfor him if he's guilty. My experience of crime and criminals is that itis generally the obvious man who commits that crime; only once in fiftyyears is he innocent, whether he is acquitted or whether he is foundguilty."
He offered his hand to Mr. Mann.
"I'll be getting along now, sir," he said. "The commissioner asked me togive you all the assistance I possibly could, and I hope I have doneso."
"What are you doing in the case of Jasper Cole?" asked Mann quickly.
The detective smiled.
"You ought to know, sir," he said, and was amused at his own littlejoke.
"Well, young lady," said Mann, turning to the girl, after the detectivehad gone, "I think you know how matters stand. Nash suspects Cole."
"Jasper!" she said, in shocked surprise.
"Jasper," he repeated.
"But that is impossible! He was locked in his room."
"That doesn't make it impossible. I know of fourteen distinct cases ofmen who committed crimes and were able to lock themselves in theirrooms, leaving the key outside. There was a case of Henry Burton,coiner; there was William Francis Rector, who killed a warder while inprison and locked the cell upon himself from the inside. There was--Butthere; why should I bother you with instances? That kind of trick iscommon enough. No," he said, "it is the motive that we have to find. Doyou still want me to go with you to-morrow, Miss Nuttall?" he asked.
"I should be very glad if you would," she said earnestly. "Poor, dearuncle! I didn't think I could ever enter the house again."
"I can relieve your mind about that," he said. "The will is not to beread in the house. Mr. Minute's lawyers have arranged for the reading attheir offices in Lincoln's Inn Fields. I have the address heresomewhere."
He fumbled in his pocket and took out a card.
"Power, Commons & Co.," he read, "194 Lincoln's Inn Fields. I will meetyou there at three o'clock."
He rumpled his untidy hair with an embarrassed laugh.
"I seem to have drifted into the position of guardian to you, younglady," he said. "I can't say that it is an unpleasant task, although itis a great responsibility."
"You have been splendid, Mr. Mann," she said warmly, "and I shall neverforget all you have done for me. Somehow I feel that Frank will get off;and I hope--I pray that it will not be at Jasper's expense."
He looked at her in surprise and disappointment.
"I thought--" he stopped.
"You thought I was engaged to Frank, and so I am," she said, withheightened color. "But Jasper is--I hardly know how to put it."
"I see," said Mr. Mann, though, if the truth be told, he saw nothingwhich enlightened him.
Punctually at three o'clock the next afternoon, they walked up the stepsof the lawyers' office together. Jasper Cole was already there, and toMr. Mann's surprise so also was Inspector Nash, who explained hispresence in a few words.
"There may be something in the will which will open a new viewpoint," hesaid.
Mr. Power, the solicitor, an elderly man, inclined to rotundity, wasintroduced, and, taking his position before the fireplace, opened theproceedings with an expression of regret as to the circumstances whichhad brought them together.
"The will of my late client," he said, "was not drawn up by me. It iswritten in Mr. Minute's handwriting, and revokes the only other will,one which was prepared some four years ago and which made provisionsrather different to those in the present instrument. This will"--hetook a single sheet of paper out of an envelope--"was made last year andwas witnessed by Thomas Wellington Crawley"--he adjusted his pince-nezand examined the signature--"late trooper of the Matabeleland mountedpolice, and by George Warrell, who was Mr. Minute's butler at the time.Warrell died in the Eastbourne hospital in the spring of this year."
There was a deep silence. Saul Arthur Mann's face was eagerly thrustforward, his head turned slightly to one side. Inspector Nash showed anunusual amount of interest. Both men had the same thought--a new will,witnessed by two people, one of whom was dead, and the other a fugitivefrom justice; what did this will contain?
It was the briefest of documents. To his ward he left the sum of twohundred thousand pounds, "a provision which was also made in theprevious will, I might add," said the lawyer, and to this he added allhis shares in the Gwelo Deep.
"To his nephew, Francis Merrill, he left twenty thousand pounds."
The lawyer paused and looked round the little circle, and thencontinued:
"The residue of my property, movable and immovable, all my furniture,leases, shar
es, cash at bankers, and all interests whatsoever, Ibequeath to Jasper Cole, so-called, who is at present my secretary andconfidential agent."
The detective and Saul Arthur Mann exchanged glances, and Nash's lipsmoved.
"How is that for a 'motive'?" he whispered.