CHAPTER XI
A TERRIBLE DISCOVERY
Meanwhile Dollops, obedient to Cleek's behest, had been patrolling roundCheyne Court, and was getting exceedingly tired of that proceeding.
He had been two or three times round the building when he saw the figureof Constable Roberts travelling swiftly away from the house, butreceiving no signal, like the faithful watchdog he was, he remained athis post, facing the back of the house. Five minutes passed, and therewas no sound of any kind save the rustling of the branches swayed by thewind, and the soft drip of moisture from the trees. Still he stoodthere, watchful, keen, with every nerve alert for sight or sound.
Five minutes became ten--fifteen--twenty, then, of a sudden, Dollops'nerves gave a sort of jump and a swift prickle flashed down through thesoft down of hair upon his neck. For a sound had come at last, a quick,grating sound as of a window being opened. He stood on tiptoe andflashed the light of his latest and most treasured possession, apowerful electric torch, all round him.
As the light streamed forth and he flung a shifting circle before him,there moved across it the figure of a woman, clad in scarlet, her hairfloating over her shoulders and over the intervening space there stole astrange sweet smell of jasmine.
A woman here, at this hour, and under such strange circumstances! Thething was so startling that it was little wonder Dollops stood as ifturned to stone. She was gone so soon, just glimmering across the circleof light and then vanishing into the darkness as suddenly as she hadappeared, that for a brief second he lost his nerve, believing that hehad seen the apparition said by the superstitious villagers to haunt thegrounds. Indeed, as if to make this illusion even more real, there camean unearthly wailing moan from the earth beneath his feet, a sound thatwould have chilled even stronger nerves than Dollops', tired with thestrain of waiting.
With a yell the lad turned and fled down the lane in pursuit of thespeeding figure.
At the end of the path, however, winded and spent, he stopped short, andas his eyes pierced the gloom in search of his prey, for the second timethat night, his limbs shook beneath him. Looking in all directions hehad turned back and had caught a glimpse of the windows of CheyneCourt. Here he saw a sight that caused his strained nerves to tremblelike live wires. Something was happening in the old house at last! Overthe low-lying porch half covered with ivy was a great landing window,one of those which had been kept religiously closed, but was now wideopen, and on the sill of it there appeared the startlingly clear figureof a woman. She was young, fair-haired, and clad in white with a goldlace scarf round her head. Lightly and cautiously she balanced herselfon the sill and as lightly let herself down till she reached the ground.
But the terrible sound of a few minutes before had startled othersbesides poor Dollops. Mr. Narkom, unable to find him, had returned toCleek, whereupon Constable Roberts, who had found the house empty asregards any human being, had been duly dispatched to the village in theopposite direction to find Dr. Verrall.
Left to themselves once more, Cleek and Mr. Narkom proceeded toinvestigate. The Constable had been gone about ten minutes or so whenthe sound of that unearthly wail caused both men to falter in theirwork.
"What, in Heaven's name, is it? Supernatural or human?" exclaimed theSuperintendent.
"Neither," rapped out Cleek. "I'll look into that next, but at presentI----" he threw up his head and sniffed violently at the air. "Yes, it'sas I thought. That woman's been here again."
Switching on his heel, he walked over to the dead woman, made a thoroughexamination, and the queer little smile fluttered for a moment up hischeek. Suddenly he bent down and sniffed at her dress, the lace ruffleson her sleeves, even the dead fingertips, all of which he subjected alsoto the closest scrutiny.
Suddenly, too, he rose to his feet, and stood looking down, first at thebody itself, and then at a little shining object that lay near by.
"Hmn," he said musingly, "as I thought, two people at least and one ofthem a woman at that----"
"Cleek, my dear fellow!" murmured Mr. Narkom, who had at last succeededin lighting a couple of lamps and some wax candles which made the room alittle less gloomy.
"The scent first," flung back that gentleman quickly. "The place reeksof _Huile de jasmin_, while this," he pointed to the silent figure, "isa speaking witness, even though dead." A grim smile flickered over hismobile features as he stood, his lower lip sucked in, his chin pinchedhard between his finger and thumb. "If there isn't a very great surprisein store for the good people of Hampton shortly I'll miss my guess."
"Cleek!" Mr. Narkom was in a very tremour of excitement. "You havediscovered something. Tell me; what is it?"
"All in good time, my dear friend, remember the old proverb 'set a thiefto catch a thief'! We'll see what our good friend Dr. Verrall has tosay, and if I am not mistaken, here he comes."
And come he did, for a sound of voices and hurried footsteps introducedhim to their presence.
"What is this?" said Dr. Verrall to the Superintendent, whose identityhad evidently been impressed on him by Roberts who hovered obsequiouslyin the background. Of Cleek he took no notice, having apparently takenan unaccountable dislike to the man who had tried so hard to pump him,on the excuse of a servant's fit of indigestion but a night or two ago.
"What is this the man tells me? Miss Cheyne, the Honourable MissCheyne," he corrected himself as if the dead lady herself had reprovedhim for thus forgetting her title, "has been murdered. It isimpossible!"
"Not so impossible," interposed Cleek smoothly, his eyes narrowing downto mere slits as he noted the doctor's white face and unconsciouslytrembling fingers, "as not to be the actual fact, Doctor." He mademental comment of the doctor's agitation. It was strange to find theman so upset over the death of an eccentric stranger even if she hadbeen a patient of his. And how was it he was so quickly on the spot?Aloud, however, he continued blandly: "She has been murdered some time,too, Doctor----"
With a little cry of horror, Dr. Verrall passed to the body and bentover it for a minute. "Humm," he said, meditatingly. "Dead, but within acouple of hours, I should say."
But Mr. Narkom struck in upon him.
"Impossible," said he, involuntarily, looking over at Cleek, "why, weheard the shot--you and I, not half an hour ago."
"The doctor is quite right, Mr. Narkom," Cleek replied, an undercurrentof mockery in his voice. "The corpse----" Dr. Verrall started a little.
"This is the Honourable Miss Cheyne, sir," he said with a quick look ofcontempt at the policeman.
"Pardon me, Doctor," was the smooth reply. "The Honourable Miss Cheynehas been dead nearly a month. I said she had been dead a long time._This_," he flung out his foot in scorn, "well, don't you think you hadbetter remove the wig first?"
"What do you mean?" gasped the Superintendent. Then, without waiting fora reply, he bent down and touched almost fearfully the mass of goldenhair. It moved under his fingers and with one twitch came away in hisshaking hand, revealing the sleek, close-cropped head of a man, of whichthe particularly noticeable feature was a narrow, sloping forehead.
A sudden smile looped up the corner of Cleek's mouth as he turned to theastonished group about him with a little theatrical gesture. There was asort of triumph in his eyes.
"As I thought," he said. He turned suddenly round on the horrifiedconstable, his voice and features those of the young Lieutenant Deland."It was not such a wild-goose chase that night a month ago, after all,eh?" he said briskly. "Lieutenant Deland, you know, Constable. MissCheyne was lying dead in that room, and this rascal took her clothes andher place. Heaven help that poor girl!" he added gravely, while both Mr.Narkom and the constable gazed from him to the grotesque figure, almostdazed by the sudden turn of events.
Almost as startled as his companions, the doctor tore away the clothes,revealing the slim body of a man about forty years of age, revealing,too, something that caused Mr. Narkom to lay a shaking hand upon Cleek'sarm.
"You see what that is, don't you?" he gasped. "Lo
ok at his arm. It bearsthe sign of the pentacle. He's a member of the gang, at any rate."
Cleek stood still a moment, thinking.
"Yes," Cleek replied in a low voice. "The Purple Emperor has much toanswer for."
"There is something clenched in his hand," said the doctor, who hadproceeded with his task. "Bring the light nearer, please."
As the stiff-ringed fingers were bent back, a little glittering fragmentwas displayed.
Cleek grasped it, and twitching back his head sniffed violently two orthree times.
The doctor started in amazement.
"Good Lord, man," said he testily, "you can't tell who it belongs to bysmelling it."
"I'm not so sure of that," responded Cleek smiling. "At any rate, findme the person who scents himself or herself with _Huile de Jasmin_, andyou will be on the right road."
"_Huile de Jasmin!_" interjected the doctor suddenly. "_Huile deJas_--no, no, it is not possible. I will not believe that." He had risento his feet and was gazing across at Cleek, his face drawn and white.
"You know some one who uses that scent?" said Cleek quietly. "Come,Doctor, in her interests, clear the ground first of all; do not delaymatters. There may be nothing in it, but----" His tones were fraughtwith significance, and the other man realized their value.
"I have known Miss Jennifer Wynne to use it. She is very fond of thescent," he said, grudgingly. "But that does not mean she had anything todo with _this_," he pointed to the floor. "It is rarely that a womanfires a revolver, and as this wound has clearly been caused by thisweapon here the first thing we have to do is to find the owner of it."
"True," said Cleek, quietly, bending as he spoke and pulling the deadman's lips down.
"Unfortunately for that theory, my dear Doctor, though the man hasundoubtedly been shot, he was dead before ever that bullet reached him:killed with prussic acid. See. Here are the remnants of a little pellet,and I rather fancy if you have it analyzed, you will find it consists ofnearly pure solidified prussic acid. Then again, look at the neck, thereare the marks of long, slender fingers, showing that someone must havegrasped the man by the neck, and forced the pellet into his mouth. Doyou see?"
The doctor did see, and stood frowning heavily at these signs so easilyread by this stranger.
Bending down again, he picked up the revolver which lay at the side. Itbore an initial, that of the letter B.
"Brenton," muttered Mr. Narkom almost involuntarily, seeing one morelink in the chain of fatal evidence against Sir Edgar. "Good lud,_Brenton_!"
Cleek apparently took no heed either of the remark or the revolver.
"Come," he said suddenly. "We have had enough of this gruesome spot, andthere is nothing to be learned from it. Let us lock it up and have alook at some of those interesting footprints outside."
They had almost reached the outer gate when the silence was broken by ababble of angry voices, mingled with the sound of a scuffle, and thererang out the shrill tones of Dollops.
"No, you don't, my beauty! I've copped yer, and I'm going to keep youtill my guv'nor's seen you. None of your larks, now! None of yourlarks!"