CHAPTER XVII
Sir Angus Kinross, Chief Commissioner of Police, stood gazing down, witha look of frowning perplexity, at the sheet of typewritten paper he heldin his hand.
For what seemed a very long time to the other three people now presentin the big light room overlooking the Embankment, he remained silent.But at last he exclaimed, "I think it very probable that this is ahoax--a stupid, cruel hoax!" And, as no one spoke, he added slowly,"Whether it be so or not can soon be ascertained."
He saw a look of almost convulsive relief flash over Laura Pavely'sface. It was Laura who attracted Sir Angus in the little group of peoplewhich now stood before him. He knew that it was this beautiful,tragic-looking young woman who had insisted, against his stronglyexpressed wish and judgment, on offering the reward which had alreadybrought a swarm of semi-lunatics and adventurers into the case. As forthe other woman there, he only looked upon her as a friend of Mrs.Pavely.
Ladies in the painful position of Mrs. Pavely generally bring a sister,or a close female friend, with them to Scotland Yard.
Sir Angus was keenly interested in this business of the country banker'sdisappearance, more interested than he had been in any other matter ofthe kind for a long time. He had all the threads of the affair veryclearly set out in his shrewd, powerful mind, and only that morning hehad learnt something which he believed none of the three people nowstanding before him--Mrs. Pavely, Mrs. Winslow, and Lord St.Amant--knew, or were likely ever to know, except, of course, if certaineventualities made the fact important.
Sir Angus had just learnt that Godfrey Pavely had spent some hours of aday he had passed at York in the company of a woman, and both he and thevery able man he had put in charge of the case, had made up their mindsthat here, at last, was the real clue to the banker's disappearance.Godfrey Pavely, so they argued at "The Yard," was certainly alive, andeither on the Continent, or hidden snugly in some English or Scottishcountry town--not alone.
As so often happens, the fact that Mr. Pavely had been in York with alady had come to light in a very simple way. When the fact of thewell-known country banker's disappearance had been announced in thePress, the manager of the Yorkshire branch of a London bank had writtento Scotland Yard, and stated that on a certain afternoon about afortnight ago--he could not remember the exact day, unfortunately--hehad seen Mr. Godfrey Pavely, of Pewsbury, in the company of a lady whomhe, the bank manager, had naturally supposed to be Mrs. Pavely. He hadlooked at the banker with a good deal of interest, owing to the factthat he and Mr. Pavely had for a while worked in the same bank in Parisabout fifteen years ago.
He had not met the couple face to face, he had seen them pass by fromthe window of his private room at the bank. He could swear to Mr.Pavely, but he had not paid any special attention to the lady--for onething, she had had her veil down, and he, feeling sure that she was Mrs.Pavely, had not troubled to observe her very particularly.
Sir Angus had sent some one down to York to see this gentleman, butnothing of further value had been elicited, excepting, yes, that thelady had struck him as being young and attractive.
So it was that the extraordinary typewritten letter received by Mrs.Pavely that morning very much upset the calculations and the theories ofSir Angus and of his staff.
With frowning brow he sat down at his table and touched the electricbell which lay concealed close to his hand.
"Ask Mr. Dowden to come to me," and a minute later Mr. Dowden came in.
"I want to know anything you can tell me about Duke House, if indeedthere is such a place as Duke House in Piccadilly. I can't remember thename."
But at once the other answered: "It's that big new building they'veerected on the site of St. Andrews House. It fell in to the Crown on thedeath of the Duke of St. Andrews, and an American syndicate bought thesite. Duke House, as they call it, was only opened last October. Thelower storeys are big bachelor flats, and the top half of the buildingcontains offices. Mr. Biddle, the American millionaire, has taken thefirst floor, but he hasn't settled in yet, and I don't think any of theoffices have been let at all. They are asking very big rents, and theyare justified, as it's one of the finest sites in the West End."
"I want you to get through to the porter of Duke House. Find out for mewhether they have got an office let to a man--a Portuguese merchant Itake him to be, of the name of Fernando Apra." He spelt out the name."If you have any difficulty in getting the information, just go up thereyourself in a taxi, and find out. But I'd like you to go back into yourown rooms and try by telephone first."
There followed a long, painful ten minutes, during which Sir Angus,though as a rule he was a man of few words, tried to while away the timeby explaining to the three people who were there why he thought itunlikely that the letter was genuine.
"You'd be amazed," he said, "to know the number of letters we receivepurporting to contain important information which turn out to be falsein every particular. There must be a whole breed of individuals whospend their time in writing annoying, futile letters, which, even ifsigned, are very seldom signed by the writer's real name. Some of thosepeople are actuated by vulgar, stupid spite; others are hypnotised bythe thought of a reward. And then, again, such letters are often writtenby people who have a grudge against the police, or, even more often, bysome one who has a grudge against some ordinary person who has, maybe,done them a bad turn, or to whom they have done a bad turn! In the lastfew days we've had innumerable letters, from all over the kingdom,concerning Mr. Pavely's disappearance. It is just possible that thisman"--he looked down again at the sheet of typewritten paper--"has anoffice in Duke House, but I think it very unlikely that Mr. GodfreyPavely was even acquainted with him----"
The door opened.
"Yes, sir, the party in question has got an office there right enough,but he hasn't been at Duke House for some time--some three weeks, theporter said. He took the office late in October, and for a time he wasthere, on and off, a good deal. The porter don't quite know what hisbusiness is, but as far as he knows he gives him a good character. Hisoffice is right at the very top of the house, the only one let on thatfloor."
An unpleasant little trickle of doubt came over Sir Angus's mind. Whenhe had first read the typewritten letter, he had doubted very much ifthere was such a building in existence as Duke House, Piccadilly. Then,after he had heard that the place was there, after, as a matter of fact,it had been recalled to his memory by his subordinate, he had fallenback on the belief that there would be no person of the name of FernandoApra to be found in Duke House.
He now fell back on a third position. Doubtless this extraordinaryletter had been written by some enemy of the man Apra who wished tocause him the unpleasantness of a visit from the police.
After a few moments' thought Sir Angus Kinross proposed something whichnone of the three people there knew to be a most surprising departurefrom his usual rule.
"What would you say, Lord St. Amant, if you and I were to go up therenow, to Duke House--accompanied, of course, by two of my men? That, atany rate, would put an end to Mrs. Pavely's suspense. If she doesn'tmind doing so, Mrs. Pavely and her friend can wait here, in my privateroom."
To Lord St. Amant the proposal seemed a most natural one. "I thinkthat's a very good idea!" he exclaimed, and then he saw Katty's eyesfixed imploringly on his face.
Why, of course----!
He beckoned to Sir Angus, and the two men walked over to the big windowoverlooking the Embankment. "If it would not be greatly out of order,"he muttered, "I think it might be a good thing if Mrs. Winslow--that isMrs. Pavely's friend--were to go with us to Duke House. She might beuseful--she has known Mr. Godfrey Pavely all her life."
Sir Angus looked very much surprised. "Of course she could come," hesaid hesitatingly. "Mrs. Winslow? I didn't realise that this lady isMrs. Winslow. Didn't I see a letter written to her by Mr. GodfreyPavely? She has some odd Christian name--if it's the person I have in mymind."
"Her Christian name is Katty," said Lord St. Amant quickly.
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"Yes, that was it--'My dear Katty.' I remember now. It was a letterabout an investment, written on the 30th of December, if I'm notmistaken. Certainly she can come with us. I have my car downstairs--shecould drive in my car, and wait in it while we make the investigation."
The two came back to where the ladies were sitting, silently waiting.
"I have suggested to Sir Angus that it might be useful if Mrs. Winslowcame with us--and you too, my dear Laura, if you desire to do so, ofcourse."
But Laura shook her head, and an expression of horror came into herface. "Oh no," she exclaimed. "I would much rather stay here!"
Katty had already got up, and was drawing on the gloves she had takenoff. She felt strung up, fearfully excited--and very, very grateful toLord St. Amant.
She was quite unaware that for the first time the Commissioner of Policewas looking at her with attention.
* * * * *
There were two entrances to Duke House, the one giving access to thefour spacious flats, of which so far only one had been let, while theother simply consisted of a porter's lodge and a lift shooting straightup to the offices which were above the flats.
And now, within ten minutes of their leaving Scotland Yard, they wereall standing just within the second door, filling up the small space infront of the lift, for Mrs. Winslow at the last moment had begged to beallowed to get out of the car. "I don't feel as if I _could_ sitthere--waiting," she had exclaimed, and after a moment's hesitation SirAngus allowed the plea.
Lord St. Amant noticed with interest that the Police Commissioner tookno part in the preliminary proceedings. He left everything to the elderof the two men he had brought with him. Still, he lent a very attentiveear to what his subordinate was saying to the porter, and to theporter's answers.
"I expect that it was you who answered the telephone message I sent halfan hour ago, eh?"
"Yes, of course I did--you mean about Mr. Apra here? Well, I told youthen everything there is to say about him. He's a foreigner, ofcourse--but a very pleasant-mannered gentleman. He took an office on thesecond day we was open. For a while he was here a good bit most days,and quite a number of people came to see him on business. Then he wentabroad, I fancy I heard him say, and his office was shut up. He wouldn'tlet any one go in, not even to clean it, unless he was there. Heexplained as how his business was very secret--something to do with aConcession. He was nervous lest other folk should get hold of the idea."
"When was he here last?"
"Well, it's difficult for me to remember such a thing as that--I can'tbe sure that I could say he was here within the last fortnight, orperhaps ten days ago. Two or three people have called to see him. Onegentleman came by appointment--I do remember that, because he'd beenseveral times, and mostly this Mr. Apra was in to see him. But I don'tsee what call you have to ask me all these questions?"
The Scotland Yard man bent forward and said something in a low voice,and the porter exclaimed, with an air of astonishment, "What? You don'tmean to say the gentleman's 'wanted'?"
Then the detective said something else in a joking way, and the portershook his head. "I haven't got a key! He had another lock put on. Lotsof business gentlemen do that." And then he asked anxiously, "D'you seeany objection to my telephoning to Messrs. Drew & Co.--they're theagents, you know? 'Twould make me more comfortable in my own mind,because then I shouldn't get blamed--whatever happened. They'd sendsome one along in about five minutes--they've got a West End office."
The Scotland Yard official looked round for instructions from Sir Angus,and the latter imperceptibly nodded.
"All right--we'll wait five minutes. I've brought some tools along."
"Tools?" The porter stared at him.
"Sometimes, you know, we do find it necessary to burst open a door!"
The five minutes--it was barely more--seemed the longest time Katty hadever spent in waiting.
Lord St. Amant took pity on her obvious unease and anxiety. He walkedout with her to the street, and they paced quickly up and down in thecold, wintry air.
"Do you think we shall find anything?" she murmured at last.
He answered gravely, "I confess that the whole thing looks very queer tome. I haven't lived to my time of life without becoming aware thatamazing, astounding things _do_ happen. Perhaps I am over-influenced bythe fact that years and years ago, when I was a boy, a school-fellow ofmine, of whom I was very fond, did shoot himself accidentally with apistol. He was staying with us, and he had gone on in front of me intothe gun-room--and I--I went in and found him lying on the ground--dead."
"How horrible!" murmured Katty. "How very horrible!" and her faceblanched.
As they turned yet once more, a taxi drove quickly up to the door ofDuke Mansion, and a young, clean-shaven man jumped out.
Instinctively he addressed himself to Sir Angus Kinross: "About thistenant of ours--Mr. Fernando Apra? To the best of my belief he is aperfectly respectable man. He gave a very good reference, that of a bigParis banker, and with us, at any rate, he was quite frank about hisbusiness. He has obtained a gambling concession from this new PortugueseGovernment, and he came to London to try and raise money for thebuilding of a Casino, and so on. He's an optimistic chap, and his notionis to create a kind of Portuguese Monte Carlo. He told us quite franklythat he didn't intend to keep the office going here for more than sixmonths, or possibly a year, and we arranged that he should be able tosurrender his three years' lease--we don't let these rooms under a threeyears' agreement--on the payment of a rather substantial fine. I thinkthe porter is sure to have a key which will admit you into his room--Iunderstand you want to get into his office?"
And then, at last, Sir Angus answered, rather drily, "The porter cannotadmit us to the office, for this Mr. Fernando Apra has had a second lockfitted. It seems he never allowed any one access to the room--unless hehappened to be there himself."
"Well, he had plans there--plans of this Concession, and he was verysecretive, as are so many foreigners. Still, he impressed both me and myfather more favourably than do most foreigners we come across. As amatter of fact, we twice lunched with him at the Berkeley. He is a manwith a tremendous flow of good spirits--speaking English very well,though of course with a foreign accent. Has he got into any trouble?" helooked curiously at the gentleman standing before him. He was not awareof Sir Angus Kinross's identity, but he knew that he was from ScotlandYard.
"We shall know more about that when we have forced open the door of hisoffice. I presume you would like to be present?"
And the young man nodded. A grave, uneasy expression came over his face;he wondered if he had said too much of his pleasant client, and thatclient's private affairs."