Part 26 (2/2)
”We obtained both from the Eastern Exchange,” interrupted Inspector Dunbar. ”The instrument, number 18642 East, is installed in an office in Globe Road. The office, which is situated in a converted private dwelling, bears a bra.s.s plate simply inscribed, 'I. Gianapolis, London and Smyrna.'”
”What is the man's reputed business?” jerked c.u.mberly.
”We have not quite got to the bottom of that, yet,” replied Sowerby; ”but he is an agent of some kind, and evidently in a large way of business, as he runs a very fine car, and seems to live princ.i.p.ally in different hotels. I am told that he is an importer of Turkish cigarettes and”...
”He is an importer and exporter of has.h.i.+s.h.!.+” snapped Dunbar irritably. ”If I could clap my eyes upon him I should know him at once! I tell you, Sowerby, he is the man who was convicted last year of exporting has.h.i.+sh to Egypt in faked packing cases which contained pottery ware, ostensibly, but had false bottoms filled with cakes of has.h.i.+sh”...
”But,” began Dr. c.u.mberly...
”But because he came before a silly bench,” snapped Dunbar, his eyes flas.h.i.+ng angrily, ”he got off with a fine-a heavy one, certainly, but he could well afford to pay it. It is that kind of judicial folly which ties the hands of Scotland Yard!”
”What makes you so confident that this is the man?” asked the physician.
”He was convicted under the name of G. Ionagis,” replied the detective; ”which I believe to be either his real name or his real name transposed. Do you follow me? I. Gianapolis is Ionagis Gianapolis, and G. Ionagis is Gianapolis Ionagis. I was not a.s.sociated with the has.h.i.+sh case; he stored the stuff in a china warehouse within the city precincts, and at that time he did not come within my sphere. But I looked into it privately, and I could see that the prosecution was merely skimming the surface; we are only beginning to get down to the depths NOW.”
Dr. c.u.mberly raised his hand to his head in a distracted manner.
”Surely,” he said, and he was evidently exercising a great restraint upon himself-”surely we're wasting time. The office in Globe Road should be raided without delay. No stone should be left unturned to effect the immediate arrest of this man Gianapolis or Ionagis. Why, G.o.d almighty! while we are talking here, my daughter”...
”Morbleu! who talks of arresting Gianapolis?” inquired the voice of a man who silently had entered the room.
All turned their heads; and there in the doorway stood M. Gaston Max.
”Thank G.o.d you've come!” said Dunbar with sincerity. He dropped back into his chair, a strong man exhausted. ”This case is getting beyond me!”
Denise Ryland was staring at the Frenchman as if fascinated. He, for his part, having glanced around the room, seemed called upon to give her some explanation of his presence.
”Madame,” he said, bowing in his courtly way, ”only because of very great interests did I dare to conceal my true ident.i.ty. My name is Gaston, that is true, but only so far as it goes. My real name is Gaston Max, and you who live in Paris will perhaps have heard it.”
”Gaston Max!” cried Denise Ryland, springing upright as though galvanized; ”you are M. Gaston Max! But you are not the least bit in the world like”...
”Myself?” said the Frenchman, smiling. ”Madame, it is only a man fortunate enough to possess no enemies who can dare to be like himself.”
He bowed to her in an oddly conclusive manner, and turned again to Inspector Dunbar.
”I am summoned in haste,” he said; ”tell me quickly of this new development.”
Sowerby s.n.a.t.c.hed his hat from the vacant chair, and politely placed the chair for M. Max to sit upon. The Frenchman, always courteous, gently forced Sergeant Sowerby himself to occupy the chair, silencing his muttered protests with upraised hand. The matter settled, he lowered his hand, and, resting it fraternally upon the sergeant's shoulder, listened to Inspector Dunbar's account of what had occurred that night. No one interrupted the Inspector until he was come to the end of his narrative.
”Mille tonnerres!” then exclaimed M. Max; and, holding a finger of his glove between his teeth, he tugged so sharply that a long rent appeared in the suede.
His eyes were on fire; the whole man quivered with electric force.
In silence that group watched the celebrated Frenchman; instinctively they looked to him for aid. It is at such times that personality proclaims itself. Here was the last court of appeal, to which came Dr. c.u.mberly and Inspector Dunbar alike; whose p.r.o.nouncement they awaited, not questioning that it would be final.
”To-morrow night,” began Max, speaking in a very low voice, ”we raid the headquarters of Ho-Pin. This disappearance of your daughter, Dr. c.u.mberly, is frightful; it could not have been foreseen or it should have been prevented. But the least mistake now, and”-he looked at Dr. c.u.mberly as if apologizing for his barbed words-”she may never return!”
”My G.o.d!” groaned the physician, and momentarily dropped his face into his hands.
But almost immediately he recovered himself and with his mouth drawn into a grim straight line, looked again at M. Max, who continued: ”I do not think that this abduction was planned by the group; I think it was an accident and that they were forced, in self-protection, to detain your daughter, who unwisely-morbleu! how unwisely!-forced herself into their secrets. To arrest Gianapolis (even if that were possible) would be to close their doors to us permanently; and as we do not even know the situation of those doors, that would be to ruin everything. Whether Miss c.u.mberly is confined in the establishment of Ho-Pin or somewhere else, I cannot say; whether she is a captive of Gianapolis or of Mr. King, I do not know. But I know that the usual conduct of the establishment is not being interrupted at present; for only half-an-hour ago I telephoned to Mr. Gianapolis!”
”At Globe Road?” snapped Dunbar, with a flash of the tawny eyes.
”At Globe Road-yes (oh! they would not detain her there!). Mr. Gianapolis was present to speak to me. He met me very agreeably in the matter of occupying my old room in the delightful Chinese hotel of Mr. Ho-Pin. Therefore”-he swept his left hand around forensically, as if to include the whole of the company-”to-morrow night at eleven o'clock I shall be meeting Mr. Gianapolis at Piccadilly Circus, and later we shall join the limousine and be driven to the establishment of Ho-Pin.” He turned to Inspector Dunbar. ”Your arrangements for watching all the approaches to the suspected area are no doubt complete?”
”Not a stray cat,” said Dunbar with emphasis, ”can approach Limehouse Causeway or Pennyfields, or any of the environs of the place, to-morrow night after ten o'clock, without the fact being reported to me! You will know at the moment that you step from the limousine that a cyclist scout, carefully concealed, is close at your heels with a whole troup to follow; and if, as you suspect, the den adjoins the river bank, a police cutter will be lying at the nearest available point.”
”Eh bien!” said M. Max; then, turning to Denise Ryland and Dr. c.u.mberly, and shrugging his shoulders: ”you see, frightful as your suspense must be, to make any foolish arrests to-night, to move in this matter at all to-night-would be a case of more haste and less speed”...
”But,” groaned c.u.mberly, ”is Helen to lie in that foul, unspeakable den until the small hours of to-morrow morning? Good G.o.d! they may”...
”There is one little point,” interrupted M. Max with upraised hand, ”which makes it impossible that we should move to-night-quite apart from the advisability of such a movement. We do not know exactly where this place is situated. What can we do?”
He shrugged his shoulders, and, with raised eyebrows, stared at Dr. c.u.mberly.
”It is fairly evident,” replied the other slowly, and with a repet.i.tion of the weary upraising of his hand to his head, ”it is fairly evident that the garage used by the man Gianapolis must be very near to-most probably adjoining-the entrance to this place of which you speak.”
”Quite true,” agreed the Frenchman. ”But these are clever, these people of Mr. King. They are Chinese, remember, and the Chinese-ah, I know it!-are the most mysterious and most cunning people in the world. The entrance to the cave of black and gold will not be as wide as a cathedral door. A thousand men might search this garage, which, as Detective Sowerby” (he clapped the latter on the shoulder) ”informed me this afternoon, is situated in Wharf-End Lane-all day and all night, and become none the wiser. To-morrow evening”-he lowered his voice-”I myself, shall be not outside, but inside that secret place; I shall be the concierge for one night-Eh bien, that concierge will admit the policeman!”
A groan issued from Dr. c.u.mberly's lips; and M. Max, with ready sympathy, crossed the room and placed his hands upon the physician's shoulders, looking steadfastly into his eyes.
”I understand, Dr. c.u.mberly,” he said, and his voice was caressing as a woman's. ”Pardieu! I understand. To wait is agony; but you, who are a physician, know that to wait sometimes is necessary. Have courage, my friend, have courage!”
x.x.xVII
THE WHISTLE
Luke Soames, b.u.t.toning up his black coat, stood in the darkness, listening.
His const.i.tutional distaste for leaping blindfolded had been over-ridden by circ.u.mstance. He felt himself to be a puppet of Fate, and he drifted with the tide because he lacked the strength to swim against it. That will-o'-the-wisp sense of security which had cheered him when first he had realized how much he owed to the protective wings of Mr. King had been rudely extinguished upon the very day of its birth; he had learnt that Mr. King was a sinister protector; and almost hourly he lived again through the events of that night when, all unwittingly, he had become a witness of strange happenings in the catacombs.
Soames had counted himself a lost man that night; the only point which he had considered debatable was whether he should be strangled or poisoned. That his employers were determined upon his death, he was a.s.sured; yet he had lived through the night, had learnt from his watch that the morning was arrived... and had seen the flecks at the roots of his dyed hair, blanched by the terrors of that vigil-of that watching, from moment to moment, for the second coming of Ho-Pin.
Yes, the morning had dawned, and with it a faint courage. He had shaved and prepared himself for his singular duties, and Said had brought him his breakfast as usual. The day had pa.s.sed uneventfully, and once, meeting Ho-Pin, he had found himself greeted with the same mirthless smile but with no menace. Perhaps they had believed his story, or had disbelieved it but realized that he was too closely bound to them to be dangerous.
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