________________________________________________
_ It was Mansus who found the second candle, a stouter affair. It
lay underneath the bed. The telephone, which stood on a fairly
large-sized table by the side of the bed, was overturned and the
receiver was on the floor. By its side were two books, one being
the "Balkan Question," by Villari, and the other "Travels and
Politics in the Near East," by Miller. With them was a long,
ivory paper-knife.
There was nothing else on the bedside-table save a silver
cigarette box. T. X. drew on a pair of gloves and examined the
bright surface for finger-prints, but a superficial view revealed
no such clue.
"Open the window," said T. X., "the heat here is intolerable. Be
very careful, Mansus. By the way, is the window fastened?"
"Very well fastened," said the superintendent after a careful
scrutiny.
He pushed back the fastenings, lifted the window and as he did, a
harsh bell rang in the basement.
"That is the burglar alarm, I suppose," said T. X.; "go down and
stop that bell."
He addressed Fisher, who stood with a troubled face at the door.
When he had disappeared T. X. gave a significant glance to one of
the waiting officers and the man sauntered after the valet.
Fisher stopped the bell and came back to the hall and stood before
the hall fire, a very troubled man. Near the fire was a big,
oaken writing table and on this there lay a small envelope which
he did not remember having seen before, though it might have been
there for some time, for he had spent a greater portion of the
evening in the kitchen with the cook.
He picked up the envelope, and, with a start, recognised that it
was addressed to himself. He opened it and took out a card.
There were only a few words written upon it, but they were
sufficient to banish all the colour from his face and set his
hands shaking. He took the envelope and card and flung them into
the fire.
It so happened that, at that moment, Mansus had called from
upstairs, and the officer, who had been told off to keep the valet
under observation, ran up in answer to the summons. For a moment
Fisher hesitated, then hatless and coatless as he was, he crept to
the door, opened it, leaving it ajar behind him and darting down
the steps, ran like a hare from the house.
The doctor, who came a little later, was cautious as to the hour
of death.
"If you got your telephone message at 10.25, as you say, that was
probably the hour he was killed," he said. "I could not tell
within half an hour. Obviously the man who killed him gripped his
throat with his left hand - there are the bruises on his neck -
and stabbed him with the right."
It was at this time that the disappearance of Fisher was noticed,
but the cross-examination of the terrified Mrs. Beale removed any
doubt that T. X. had as to the man's guilt.
"You had better send out an 'All Stations' message and pull him
in," said T. X. "He was with the cook from the moment the visitor
left until a few minutes before we rang. Besides which it is
obviously impossible for anybody to have got into this room or out
again. Have you searched the dead man?"
Mansus produced a tray on which Kara's belongings had been
disposed. The ordinary keys Mrs. Beale was able to identify.
There were one or two which were beyond her. T. X. recognised one
of these as the key of the safe, but two smaller keys baffled him
not a little, and Mrs. Beale was at first unable to assist him.
"The only thing I can think of, sir," she said, "is the wine
cellar."
"The wine cellar?" said T. X. slowly. "That must be - " he
stopped.
The greater tragedy of the evening, with all its mystifying
aspects had not banished from his mind the thought of the girl -
that Belinda Mary, who had called upon him in her hour of danger
as he divined. Perhaps - he descended into the kitchen and was
brought face to face with the unpainted door.
"It looks more like a prison than a wine cellar," he said.
"That's what I've always thought, sir," said Mrs. Beale, "and
sometimes I've had a horrible feeling of fear."
He cut short her loquacity by inserting one of the keys in the
lock - it did not turn, but he had more success with the second.
The lock snapped back easily and he pulled the door back. He
found the inner door bolted top and bottom. The bolts slipped
back in their well-oiled sockets without any effort. Evidently
Kara used this place pretty frequently, thought T. X.
He pushed the door open and stopped with an exclamation of
surprise. The cellar apartment was brilliantly lit - but it was
unoccupied.
"This beats the band," said T. X.
He saw something on the table and lifted it up. It was a pair of
long-bladed scissors and about the handle was wound a
handkerchief. It was not this fact which startled him, but that
the scissors' blades were dappled with blood and blood, too, was
on the handkerchief. He unwound the flimsy piece of cambric and
stared at the monogram "B. M. B."
He looked around. Nobody had seen the weapon and he dropped it in
his overcoat pocket, and walked from the cellar to the kitchen
where Mrs. Beale and Mansus awaited him.
"There is a lower cellar, is there not!" he asked in a strained
voice.
"That was bricked up when Mr. Kara took the house," explained the
woman.
"There is nothing more to look for here," he said.
He walked slowly up the stairs to the library, his mind in a
whirl. That he, an accredited officer of police, sworn to the
business of criminal detection, should attempt to screen one who
was conceivably a criminal was inexplicable. But if the girl had
committed this crime, how had she reached Kara's room and why had
she returned to the locked cellar!
He sent for Mrs. Beale to interrogate her. She had heard nothing
and she had been in the kitchen all the evening. One fact she did
reveal, however, that Fisher had gone from the kitchen and had
been absent a quarter of an hour and had returned a little
agitated.
"Stay here," said T. X., and went down again to the cellar to make
a further search.
"Probably there is some way out of this subterranean jail," he
thought and a diligent search of the room soon revealed it.
He found the iron trap, pulled it open, and slipped down the
stairs. He, too, was puzzled by the luxurious character of the
vault. He passed from room to room and finally came to the inner
chamber where a light was burning.
The light, as he discovered, proceeded from a small reading lamp
which stood by the side of a small brass bedstead. The bed had
recently been slept in, but there was no sign of any occupant. T.
X. conducted a very careful search and had no difficulty in
finding the bricked up door. Other exits there were none.
The floor was of wood block laid on concrete, the ventilation was
excellent and in one of the recesses which had evidently held at
so time or other, a large wine bin, there was a prefect electrical
cooking plant. In a small larder were a number of baskets,
bearing the name of a well-known caterer, one of them containing
an excellent assortment of cold and potted meats, preserves, etc.
T. X. went back to the bedroom and took the little lamp from the
table by the side of the bed and began a more careful examination.
Presently he found traces of blood, and followed an irregular
trail to the outer room. He 1ost it suddenly at the foot of
stairs leading down from the upper cellar. Then he struck it
again. He had reached the end of his electric cord and was now
depending upon an electric torch he hid taken from his pocket.
There were indications of something heavy having been dragged
across the room and he saw that it led to a small bathroom. He
had made a cursory examination of this well-appointed apartment,
and now he proceeded to make a close investigation and was well
rewarded.
The bathroom was the only apartment which possess anything
resembling a door - a two-fold screen and - as he pressed this
back, he felt some thing which prevented its wider extension. He
slipped into the room and flashed his lamp in the space behind the
screen. There stiff in death with glazed eyes and lolling tongue
lay a great gaunt dog, his yellow fangs exposed in a last grimace.
About the neck was a collar and attached to that, a few links of
broken chain. T. X. mounted the steps thoughtfully and passed out
to the kitchen.
Did Belinda Mary stab Kara or kill the dog? That she killed one
hound or the other was certain. That she killed both was
possible. _
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