The Rayner-Slade Amalgamation Part 14

Ambler Appleyard raised his head, slowly twisted in his revolving chair, and looked quietly at his employer. And Allerd.y.k.e, dropping into an easy-chair by the fireplace, over which hung a fine steel engraving of himself, flanked by photographs of the Bradford mills and the Bradford warehouse, looked at his London manager, secretly admiring the shrewdness and self-possession evidenced in the young man's face. Appleyard was certainly no beauty; his outstanding features were sandy-coloured hair, freckled cheeks, a snub nose, and a decidedly wide mouth; moreover, his ears, unusually large, stood out from the sides of his head in very prominent fas.h.i.+on, and gave a beholder the impression that they were perpetually stretched to attention. But he was the owner of a well-shaped forehead, a pair of steady and honest blue eyes, and a firmly cut square chin, and his entire atmosphere conveyed the idea of capacity, resource, and energy. It pleased Allerd.y.k.e, too, to see that the young man was attentive to his own personal appearance--his well-cut garments bore the undoubted stamp of the Savile Row tailor; the silk hat which covered his crop of sandy hair was the latest thing in Sackville Street headgear; from top to toe he was the smart man-about-town. And that was the sort of man Marshall Allerd.y.k.e liked to have about him, and to see as heads of his departments--not fops, nor dandies, but men who knew the commercial value of good appearance and smart finish.

"I didn't know you were in town, Mr. Allerd.y.k.e," said the London manager quietly. "Still, one never knows where you are these days."

"I've scarcely known that myself, my lad, these last seventy-two hours,"

replied Allerd.y.k.e. "You mightn't think it, but at this time yesterday I was going full tilt up to Edinburgh. I want to tell you about that, Ambler--I want some advice. But business first--aught new?"

"I've brought that South American contract off," replied Appleyard.

"Fixed it this morning."

"Good!" said Allerd.y.k.e. "What's it run to, like?"

"Seventy-five thousand," answered Appleyard. "Nice bit of profit on that, Mr. Allerd.y.k.e."

"Good--good!" repeated Allerd.y.k.e. "Aught else?"

"Naught--at present. Naught out of the usual, anyway," said the manager.

He took off his hat, laid aside the papers he had been busy with on Allerd.y.k.e's entrance, and twisted his chair round to the hearth. "This advice, then?" he asked quietly. "I'm free now."

"Aye!" said Allerd.y.k.e. He sat reflecting for a moment, and then turned to his manager with a sudden question.

"Have you heard all this about my cousin James?" he asked with sharp directness.

Appleyard lifted a couple of newspapers from his desk.

"No more than what's in these," he answered. "One tells of his sudden death at Hull; the other begins to hint that there was something queer about it."

"Queer!" exclaimed Allerd.y.k.e. "Aye, and more than queer, my lad. Our James was murdered! Now, then, Ambler, I've come here to tell you all the story--you must listen to every detail. I know your brains--keep 'em fixed on what I'm going to tell; hear it all; weigh it up, and then tell me what you make of it; for I'm d.a.m.ned if I can make either head or tail, back, side, or front of the whole thing--so far. Happen you can see a bit of light. Listen, now."

Allerd.y.k.e, from long training in business habits, was a good teller of a plain and straightforward tale: Appleyard, for the same reason, was a good listener. So one man talked, in low, earnest tones, checking off his points as he made them, taking care that he emphasized the princ.i.p.al items of his news and dwelt lightly on the connecting links, and the other listened in silence, keeping a concentrated attention and storing away the facts in his memory as they were duly marshalled before him.

For a good hour one brain gave out, and the other took in, and without waste of words.

It came to an end at last, and master looked at man.

"Well?" said Allerd.y.k.e, after a silence that was full of meaning--"well?"

"Take some thinking about," answered Appleyard tersely. "It's a big thing--a devilish clever thing, too. There's one fact strikes me at once, though. The news about the Nastirsevitch jewels leaked out somewhere, Mr.

Allerd.y.k.e. That's certain. Either here in London, or over there in Russia, it leaked out. Now until this Princess comes you've no means of knowing if the leakage was over yonder. But there's one thing you do know now--at this very minute. There were three people here in England who knew that the jewels were on the way from Russia, in Mr. James Allerd.y.k.e's charge. Those three were this man Fullaway, his lady secretary, and Delkin, the Chicago millionaire! Now, then, Mr.

Allerd.y.k.e--how much, or what, do you know about any one of 'em?"

CHAPTER XIV

FIFTY THOUSAND POUNDS REWARD

Allerd.y.k.e encountered this direct question with a long, fixed stare of growing comprehension; his silence showed that he was gradually taking in its significance.

"Aye, just so!" he said at last. "Just so! How much do I know of any of 'em? Well, of Fullaway no more than I've seen. Of his secretary no more than what I've seen and heard. Of Delkin no more than that such a man exists. Sum total--what!"

"Next to naught," said Appleyard. "In a case like this you ought to know more. Fullaway may be all right. Fullaway may be all wrong. His lady secretary may be as right as he is, or as wrong as he is. As to Delkin--he might be a creature of Fullaway's imagination. Put it all to yourself now, Mr. Allerd.y.k.e--on the face of what you've told me, these three people--two of 'em, at any rate, for a certainty--knew about these valuables coming over in Mr. James's charge. So far as you know, your cousin had 'em when he left Christiania and reached Hull. There they disappear. So far as you're aware, n.o.body but these people knew of their coming--no other people in England knew, at any rate, so far, I repeat, as your knowledge goes. I should want to know something about these three, if I were in your place, Mr. Allerd.y.k.e."

"Aye--aye!" replied Allerd.y.k.e. "I see your point. Well, I've been in Fullaway's company now for two days--there's no denying he's a smart chap, a clever chap, and he seems to be doing good business. Moreover, Ambler, my lad, James knew him and James wasn't the sort to take up with wrong 'uns. As to the secretary, I can't say. Besides, Fullaway said this afternoon that he hadn't told her all about it yet."

"All about the Hull affair and the Lennard affair, I took that to mean from your account," remarked Appleyard. "If she's his confidential secretary, with access to his papers and business, she'd know all about the Princess transaction. Now, of course, an inquiry or two of the usual sort would satisfy you about Fullaway--I mean as a business man. An inquiry or two would tell you all about Delkin. But you can't get to know all about Mrs. Marlow from any inquiry. And you can't find out all about Fullaway from any inquiry. He may be the straightest business man in all London--and yet have a finger in this pie, and his secretary with him.

Two hundred and fifty thousand pounds' worth of jewels, Mr. Allerd.y.k.e, is--a temptation! And--these folks knew the jewels were on the way.

What's more, they'd time to intercept their bearer--Mr. James."

Allerd.y.k.e rubbed his chin and knitted his brows in obvious bewilderment.

"There must ha' been more than them in at it," he said musingly. "A regular gang of 'em, judging by results."

"Every gang has its ganger," replied Appleyard, with a knowing smile.

"There's no doubt this is a big thing--but there must be a central point, a head, a controlling authority in it. We come back, you see, after all, to where we started--these people were the only people in England who knew about these jewels, so far as we know."

"Aye, but only so far as we know," said Allerd.y.k.e. "There may have been others. There may have been folks who got to know about them over there in Russia and who communicated their knowledge to some folks here. And there's always this to be borne in mind--the affair, the plot, may have been originated there, and worked from there. Remember that!"

"Quite so--and you can't decide on anything relating to that until this Princess comes," agreed Appleyard. "It'll have to rest till you've heard all she has to say, and then you'll know where you are. But in the meantime you can find out a bit about Fullaway and this millionaire man--I can find out for you, if you like, in a few hours."

"Do, my lad!" said Allerd.y.k.e. "It's always well to know who you're dealing with. Aye--make an inquiry or two."

"But remember that all I can inquire about will be in the ordinary business way," continued Appleyard. "I can ascertain if there is a Delkin in town, who's a Chicago millionaire, and if Fullaway's a reputable business man--but that'll be all. As to the secretary, I can't do anything."

"I'll keep an eye on her myself," said Allerd.y.k.e. "Well, do this, then, and let me know the results. I've put up at the Waldorf, and there I shall stop while all this is being investigated here in London, but I shall pop in and out here, of course. And now I'll go back there and find out if there's any fresh news from the police or from Hull. I reckon there'll be some fine reading in the newspapers in a day or two, Ambler--it'll all have to come out now."

In this supposition Allerd.y.k.e was right. The police authorities, finding that the affair had a.s.sumed dimensions of an astonis.h.i.+ng magnitude, decided to seek the aid of the Press, and to publish the entire story in the fullest possible fas.h.i.+on. And Allerd.y.k.e and all London woke next morning to find the newspapers alive with a new sensation, and every other man asking his neighbour what it all meant. Three mysterious murders--two big thefts--together--the newspaper world had known nothing like it for years, and the only regrets in Fleet Street were those of the men who would have sacrificed their very noses to have got the story exclusively to themselves. But the police authorities had exercised a wise generosity, and no one newspaper knew more than another at that stage--they all, as Fullaway said to Allerd.y.k.e at breakfast, got a fair start, and from that one could run their own race.

"We shall be to these Pressmen as a pot of honey to flies," he observed.

"Take my advice, Allerd.y.k.e--see none of them, and if you should--as you will--get b.u.t.tonholed and held up, refuse to say a word."

"You can leave that to me," answered Allerd.y.k.e, with a twitch of his determined jaw. "It 'ud be a clever newspaper chap that would get aught out of me. I've other fish to fry than to talk to these gentry. And what good will all this newspaper stuff do?"

"Lots!" replied Fullaway. "It will draw attention. There'll already be a few thousand amateur detectives looking out for the man who left the French maid dead in Eastbourne Terrace, and a few hundred amateur criminologists racking their brains for a plausible theory of the whole thing. Oh, yes, it's a good thing to arouse public interest, Allerd.y.k.e.

All that's wanted now is a rousing reward. Have you thought of that?"

"Didn't I mention it to the man at Scotland Yard yesterday?" said Allerd.y.k.e. "I'm game to find aught reasonable in the way of bra.s.s. But,"

he added, with a touch of true Yorks.h.i.+re caution, "I've been thinking that over during the night, and it seems to me that there are two other parties who ought to come in at it, with me, of course. Miss Lennard and the Princess, d'ye see? If they're willing, I am."

"You mean a joint reward for the detection of the murderer and the recovery of the jewels?" suggested Fullaway.

"Well, you can be pretty certain, by now, that the murders and the thefts are all the work of one gang," replied Allerd.y.k.e. "So it's long as it's short. These two women want their pearls and their diamonds back--I want to know who killed my cousin James. We're all three in the same boat, really; so if we make up a good, substantial purse between us--what?"

"Good!" agreed Fullaway. "We'll hear what the Princess says when she arrives to-night. I guess we shall all know better where we exactly are when we've heard what she has to say."

"If she's like most women that's lost aught in the way of finery,"

remarked Allerd.y.k.e drily, "she'll have plenty to say."

That night he had abundant opportunity of hearing the Princess Nastirsevitch's views on the situation, freely expressed. He himself fetched Celia Lennard to the conference at New Scotland Yard; they found Fullaway and the Princess already there, in full blast of debate.