CHAPTER X. SIR LUCIEN'S STUDY WINDOW
Old Bond Street presented a gloomy and deserted prospect to ChiefInspector Kerry as he turned out of Piccadilly and swung along towardthe premises of Kazmah. He glanced at the names on some of the shopwindows as he passed, and wondered if the furriers, jewelers and othermerchants dealing in costly wares properly appreciated the services ofthe Metropolitan Police Force. He thought of the peacefully slumberingtradesmen in their suburban homes, the safety of their stocks whollydependent upon the vigilance of that Unsleeping Eye--for to anunsleeping eye he mentally compared the service of which he was amember.
A constable stood on duty before the door of the block. Red Kerry wasknown by sight and reputation to every member of the force, and theconstable saluted as the celebrated Chief Inspector appeared.
"Anything to report, constable?"
"Yes, sir."
"What?"
"The ambulance has been for the body, and another gentleman has been."
Kerry stared at the man.
"Another gentleman? Who the devil's the other gentleman?"
"I don't know, sir. He came with Inspector Whiteleaf, and was inside fornearly an hour."
"Inspector Whiteleaf is off duty. What time was this?"
"Twelve-thirty, sir."
Kerry chewed reflectively ere nodding to the man and passing on.
"Another gentleman!" he muttered, entering the hallway. "Why didn'tInspector Warley report this? Who the devil--" Deep in thought he walkedupstairs, finding his way by the light of the pocket torch which hecarried. A second constable was on duty at Kazmah's door. He saluted.
"Anything to report?" rapped Kerry.
"Yes, sir. The body has been removed, and the gentleman withInspector--"
"Damn that for a tale! Describe this gentleman."
"Rather tall, pale, dark, clean-shaven. Wore a fur-collared overcoat,collar turned up. He was accompanied by Inspector Whiteleaf."
"H'm. Anything else?"
"Yes. About an hour ago I heard a noise on the next floor--"
"Eh!" snapped Kerry, and shone the light suddenly into the man's face sothat he blinked furiously.
"Eh? What kind of noise?"
"Very slight. Like something moving."
"Like something! Like what thing? A cat or an elephant?"
"More like, say, a box or a piece of furniture."
"And you did--what?"
"I went up to the top landing and listened."
"What did you hear?"
"Nothing at all."
Chief Inspector Kerry chewed audibly.
"All quiet?" he snapped.
"Absolutely. But I'm certain I heard something all the same."
"How long had Inspector Whiteleaf and this dark horse in the fur coatbeen gone at the time you heard the noise?"
"About half an hour, sir."
"Do you think the noise came from the landing or from one of the officesabove?"
"An office I should say. It was very dim."
Chief Inspector Kerry pushed upon the broken door, and walked into therooms of Kazmah. Flashing the ray of his torch on the wall, he found theswitch and snapped up the lights. He removed his overall and tossed iton a divan with his cane. Then, tilting his bowler further forward, hethrust his hands into his reefer pockets, and stood staring toward thedoor, beyond which lay the room of the murder, in darkness.
"Who is he?" he muttered. "What's it mean?"
Taking up the torch, he walked through and turned on the lights inthe inner rooms. For a long time he stood staring at the little squarewindow low down behind the ebony chair, striving to imagine uses for itas his wife had urged him to do. The globular green lamp in the secondapartment was worked by three switches situated in the inside room,and he had discovered that in this way the visitor who came to consultKazmah was treated to the illusion of a gradually falling darkness.Then, the door in the first partition being opened, whoever sat in theebony chair would become visible by the gradual uncovering of a lightsituated above the chair. On this light being covered again the figurewould apparently fade away.
It was ingenious, and, so far, quite clear. But two things badly puzzledthe inquirer; the little window down behind the chair, and the fact thatall the arrangements for raising and lowering the lights were situatednot in the narrow chamber in which Kazmah's chair stood, and in whichSir Lucien had been found, but in the room behind it--the room withwhich the little window communicated.
The table upon which the telephone rested was set immediately under thismysterious window, the window was provided with a green blind, and theswitchboard controlling the complicated lighting scheme was also withinreach of anyone seated at the table.
Kerry rolled mint gum from side to side of his mouth, and absently triedthe handle of the door opening out from this interior room--evidentlythe office of the establishment--into the corridor. He knew it to belocked. Turning, he walked through the suite and out on to the landing,passing the constable and going upstairs to the top floor, torch inhand.
From the main landing he walked along the narrow corridor until he stoodat the head of the back stairs. The door nearest to him bore the name:"Cubanis Cigarette Company." He tried the handle. The door was locked,as he had anticipated. Kneeling down, he peered into the keyhole,holding the electric torch close beside his face and chewingindustriously.
Ere long he stood up, descended again, but by the back stair, and stoodstaring reflectively at the door communicating with Kazmah's inner room.Then walking along the corridor to where the man stood on, the landing,he went in again to the mysterious apartments, but only to get his caneand his overall and to turn out the lights.
Five minutes later he was ringing the late Sir Lucien's door-bell.
A constable admitted him, and he walked straight through into the studywhere Coombes, looking very tired but smiling undauntedly, sat at alittered table studying piles of documents.
"Anything to report?" rapped Kerry.
"The man, Mareno, has gone to bed, and the expert from the Home officehas been--"
Inspector Kerry brought his cane down with a crash upon the table,whereat Coombes started nervously.
"So that's it!" he shouted furiously, "an 'expert from the Home office'!So that's the dark horse in the fur coat. Coombes! I'm fed up to theback teeth with this gun from the Home office! If I'm not to have entirecharge of the case I'll throw it up. I'll stand for no blasted overseerchecking my work! Wait till I see the Assistant Commissioner! What thedevil has the job to do with the Home office!"
"Can't say," murmured Coombes. "But he's evidently a big bug from theway Whiteleaf treated him. He instructed me to stay in the kitchen andkeep an eye on Mareno while he prowled about in here."
"Instructed you!" cried Kerry, his teeth gleaming and his steel-blueeyes creating upon Coombes' mind an impression that they were emittingsparks. "Instructed you! I'll ask you a question, Detective-SergeantCoombes: Who is in charge of this case?"
"Well, I thought you were."
"You thought I was?"
"Well, you are."
"I am? Very well--you were saying--?"
"I was saying that I went into the kitchen--"
"Before that! Something about 'instructed.'"
Poor Coombes smiled pathetically.
"Look here," he said, bravely meeting the ferocious glare of hissuperior, "as man to man. What could I do?"
"You could stop smiling!" snapped Kerry. "Hell!" He paced several timesup and down the room. "Go ahead, Coombes."
"Well, there's nothing much to report. I stayed in the kitchen, and theman from the Home office was in here alone for about half an hour."
"Alone?"
"Inspector Whiteleaf stayed in the dining-room."
"Had he been 'instructed' too?"
"I expect so. I think he just came along as a sort of guide."
"Ah!" muttered Kerry savagely, "a sort of guide! Any idea what the bogeyman did in here?"
"He opened the window.
I heard him."
"That's funny. It's exactly what I'm going to do! This smart fromWhitehall hasn't got a corner in notions yet, Coombes."
The room was a large and lofty one, and had been used by a former tenantas a studio. The toplights had been roofed over by Sir Lucien, however,but the raised platform, approached by two steps, which had probablybeen used as a model's throne, was a permanent fixture of the apartment.It was backed now by bookcases, except where a blue plush curtain wasdraped before a French window.
Kerry drew the curtain back, and threw open the folding leaves of thewindow. He found himself looking out upon the leads of Albemarle Street.No stars and no moon showed through the grey clouds draping the wintrysky, but a dim and ghostly half-light nevertheless rendered the uglyexpanse visible from where he stood.
On one side loomed a huge tank, to the brink of which a rickety woodenladder invited the explorer to ascend. Beyond it were a series of irongangways and ladders forming part of the fire emergency arrangements ofthe neighboring institution. Straight ahead a section of building juttedup and revealed two small windows, which seemed to regard him likewatching eyes.
He walked out on to the roof, looking all about him. Beyond the tankopened a frowning gully--the Arcade connecting Albemarle Street withold Bond Street; on the other hand, the scheme of fire gangways wascontinued. He began to cross the leads, going in the direction of BondStreet. Coombes watched him from the study. When he came to the morenortherly of the two windows which had attracted his attention, he kneltdown and flashed the ray of his torch through the glass.
A kind of small warehouse was revealed, containing stacks of packages.Immediately inside the window was a rough wooden table, and onthis table lay a number of smaller packages, apparently containingcigarettes.
Kerry turned his attention to the fastening of the window. A glanceshowed him that it was unlocked. Resting the torch on the leads, hegrasped the sash and gently raised the window, noting that it openedalmost noiselessly. Then, taking up the torch again, he stooped andstepped in on to the table below.
It moved slightly beneath his weight. One of the legs was shorterthan its fellows. But he reached the floor as quietly as possible, andinstantly snapped off the light of the torch.
A heavy step sounded from outside--someone was mounting the stairs--anda disk of light suddenly appeared upon the ground-glass panel of thedoor.
Kerry stood quite still, chewing steadily.
"Who's there?" came the voice of the constable posted on Kazmah'slanding.
The inspector made no reply.
"Is there anyone here?" cried the man.
The disk of light disappeared, and the alert constable could be heardmoving along the corridor to inspect the other offices. But the ray hadshone upon the frosted glass long enough to enable Kerry to read thewords painted there in square black letters. They had appeared reversed,of course, and had read thus:
.OC ETTERAGIC SINABUC