After a busy and sleepless night he came down to report to theChief Commissioner the next morning. The evening newspaper billswere filled with the "Chelsea Sensation" but the information givenwas of a meagre character.
Since Fisher had disappeared, many of the details which could havebeen secured by the enterprising pressmen were missing. There wasno reference to the visit of Mr. Gathercole and in self-defencethe press had fallen back upon a statement, which at an earlierperiod had crept into the newspapers in one of those chattyparagraphs which begin "I saw my friend Kara at Giros" and endwith a brief but inaccurate summary of his hobbies. The paragraphhad been to the effect that Mr. Kara had been in fear of his lifefor some time, as a result of a blood feud which existed betweenhimself and another Albanian family. Small wonder, therefore, themurder was everywhere referred to as "the political crime of thecentury.""So far," reported T. X. to his superior, "I have been unable totrace either Gathercole or the valet. The only thing we knowabout Gathercole is that he sent his article to The Times with hiscard. The servants of his Club are very vague as to hiswhereabouts. He is a very eccentric man, who only comes inoccasionally, and the steward whom I interviewed says that itfrequently happened that Gathercole arrived and departed withoutanybody being aware of the fact. We have been to his old lodgingsin Lincoln's Inn, but apparently he sold up there before he wentaway to the wilds of Patagonia and relinquished his tenancy.
"The only clue I have is that a man answering to some extent tohis description left by the eleven o'clock train for Paris lastnight.""You have seen the secretary of course," said the Chief.
It was a question which T. X. had been dreading.
"Gone too," he answered shortly; "in fact she has not been seensince 5:30 yesterday evening."Sir George leant back in his chair and rumpled his thick greyhair.
"The only person who seems to have remained," he said with heavysarcasm, "was Kara himself. Would you like me to put somebodyelse on this case - it isn't exactly your job - or will you carryit on?""I prefer to carry it on, sir," said T. X. firmly.
"Have you found out anything more about Kara?"T. X. nodded.
"All that I have discovered about him is eminently discreditable,"he said. "He seems to have had an ambition to occupy a veryimportant position in Albania. To this end he had bribed andsubsidized the Turkish and Albanian officials and had a fairlylarge following in that country. Bartholomew tells me that Karahad already sounded him as to the possibility of the BritishGovernment recognising a fait accompli in Albania and had beeninducing him to use his influence with the Cabinet to recognizethe consequence of any revolution. There is no doubt whateverthat Kara has engineered all the political assassinations whichhave been such a feature in the news from Albania during this pastyear. We also found in the house very large sums of money anddocuments which we have handed over to the Foreign Office fordecoding."Sir George thought for a long time.
Then he said, "I have an idea that if you find your secretary youwill be half way to solving the mystery."T. X. went out from the office in anything but a joyous mood. Hewas on his way to lunch when he remembered his promise to callupon John Lexman.
Could Lexman supply a key which would unravel this tragic tangle?
He leant out of his taxi-cab and redirected the driver. Ithappened that the cab drove up to the door of the Great MidlandHotel as John Lexman was coming out.
"Come and lunch with me," said T. X. "I suppose you've heard allthe news.""I read about Kara being killed, if that's what you mean," saidthe other. "It was rather a coincidence that I should have beendiscussing the matter last night at the very moment when histelephone bell rang - I wish to heaven you hadn't been in this,"he said fretfully.
"Why?" asked the astonished Assistant Commissioner, "and what doyou mean by 'in it'?""In the concrete sense I wish you had not been present when Ireturned," said the other moodily, "I wanted to be finished withthe whole sordid business without in any way involving myfriends.""I think you are too sensitive," laughed the other, clapping himon the shoulder. "I want you to unburden yourself to me, my dearchap, and tell me anything you can that will help me to clear upthis mystery."John Lexman looked straight ahead with a worried frown.
"I would do almost anything for you, T. X.," he said quietly, "themore so since I know how good you were to Grace, but I can't helpyou in this matter. I hated Kara living, I hate him dead," hecried, and there was a passion in his voice which wasunmistakable; "he was the vilest thing that ever drew the breathof life. There was no villainy too despicable, no cruelty sohorrid but that he gloried in it. If ever the devil wereincarnate on earth he took the shape and the form of RemingtonKara. He died too merciful a death by all accounts. But if thereis a God, this man will suffer for his crimes in hell through alleternity."T. X. looked at him in astonishment. The hate in the man's facetook his breath away. Never before had he experienced orwitnessed such a vehemence of loathing.
"What did Kara do to you?" he demanded.
The other looked out of the window.
"I am sorry," he said in a milder tone; "that is my weakness.
Some day I will tell you the whole story but for the moment itwere better that it were not told. I will tell you this," heturned round and faced the detective squarely, "Kara tortured andkilled my wife."T. X. said no more.
Half way through lunch he returned indirectly to the subject.
"Do you know Gathercole?" he asked.
T. X. nodded.
"I think you asked me that question once before, or perhaps it wassomebody else. Yes, I know him, rather an eccentric man with anartificial arm.""That's the cove," said T. X. with a little sigh; "he's one of thefew men I want to meet just now.""Why?""Because he was apparently the last man to see Kara alive."John Lexman looked at the other with an impatient jerk of hisshoulders.
"You don't suspect Gathercole, do you?" he asked.
"Hardly," said the other drily; "in the first place the man thatcommitted this murder had two hands and needed them both. No, Ionly want to ask that gentleman the subject of his conversation.
I also want to know who was in the room with Kara when Gathercolewent in.""H'm," said John Lexman.
"Even if I found who the third person was, I am still puzzled asto how they got out and fastened the heavy latch behind them. Nowin the old days, Lexman," he said good humouredly, "you would havemade a fine mystery story out of this. How would you have madeyour man escape?"Lexman thought for a while.
"Have you examined the safe!" he asked.
"Yes," said the other.
"Was there very much in it?"T. X. looked at him in astonishment.
"Just the ordinary books and things. Why do you ask?""Suppose there were two doors to that safe, one on the outside ofthe room and one on the inside, would it be possible to passthrough the safe and go down the wall?""I have thought of that," said T. X.
"Of course," said Lexman, leaning back and toying with asalt-spoon, "in writing a story where one hasn't got to deal withthe absolute possibilities, one could always have made Kara have asafe of that character in order to make his escape in the event ofdanger. He might keep a rope ladder stored inside, open the backdoor, throw out his ladder to a friend and by some trickarrangement could detach the ladder and allow the door to swing toagain.""A very ingenious idea," said T. X., "but unfortunately it doesn'twork in this case. I have seen the makers of the safe and thereis nothing very eccentric about it except the fact that it ismounted as it is. Can you offer another suggestion?"John Lexman thought again.
"I will not suggest trap doors, or secret panels or anything sobanal," he said, "nor mysterious springs in the wall which, whentouched, reveal secret staircases."He smiled slightly.
"In my early days, I must confess I, was rather keen upon thatsort of thing, but age has brought experience and I havediscovered the impossibility of bringing an architect to one's wayof thinking even in so commonplace a matter as the position of ascullery. It would be much more difficult to induce him toconstruct a house with double walls and secret chambers."T. X. waited patiently.
"There is a possibility, of course," said Lexman slowly, "that thesteel latch may have been raised by somebody outside by someingenious magnetic arrangement and lowered in a similar manner.""I have thought about it," said T. X. ............