The House on the Fens

CHAPTER I.--THE WAYS OF DEATH-4

"But Sir George says Mr. Larose did not accuse him of cheating."

"Not exactly! But Mr. Larose spoke very sharply to him, and, certainly, as if there were some grounds for suspicion." Gauntry frowned uneasily. "You see, the unfortunate thing was Major Sampon had been having unusually good hands every time he had been the dealer, and if Mr. Larose hadn't noticed the odd card upon the ground, he would have picked up more than another 12 then."

There was a knock upon the door and the police photographer entered. He handed a piece of paper to the inspector upon which was written, "No traces of any fingermarks upon the handle of the hammer." The inspector nodded and the man left the room.

"Thank you, Mr. Gauntry," said the inspector. "That will do. Now, will you please ask Mr. Travers to come in next?" he asked. "And I leave it to your good sense not to discuss the questions I have asked you with the others."

The inspector was now quite satisfied that Larose was the guilty party and, leaving him until the last, his subsequent questioning of all the others was very brief. He was disappointed that none of them had heard the voices upon the balcony.

When at last Larose came in, he eyed him frowningly. "Of course you realise," he said sharply, "that I shall have to treat you just as an ordinary person. It will make no difference to me that you have yourself been attached to the Criminal Investigation Department."

"And it shouldn't," nodded Larose imperturbably. "It would be a gross neglect of duty on your part if it did." He spoke as sharply as the inspector himself had done. "Now it will save a lot of questioning if I tell you my story first and then you can ask any----"

The inspector held up his hand. "If you please," he said coldly, "I would prefer to deal with everything in my own way." He spoke with a trace of sarcasm. "My methods may be entirely different from yours."

Larose smiled. "Then go ahead," he said. "I'm all ready."

The inspector took a good grip of himself. A man of quick decisions, he had made up his mind what he would do. "See here, Mr. Larose," he said sharply, "I'm not going to beat about the bush. With the evidence already before me, in my opinion it would be sheer waste of time asking you any questions now, but"--he rose to his feet--"I consider it my duty to----"

But he heard a voice outside in the lounge and suddenly stopped speaking. It was a loud and booming voice that he knew well and his eyebrows came together in a heavy frown.

The door opened quickly to admit a big, stout man, just beyond middle years, with a fatherly and happy-looking face. He was Chief Inspector Stone, considered to be one of the shrewdest men in the Criminal Investigation Department.

He nodded to Inspector Flower and made a half smile in the direction of Larose, but gave no explanation to account for his sudden arrival.

"I'm sorry I'm late," he said to the inspector, "but my taxi had a blow-out." He pulled a chair up close and asked, "Now, how far have you got?"

Larose breathed a sign of intense relief. He realised quite well that the inspector had been intending to order his arrest, and with all his bold and confident demeanour he, Larose, had felt sick at heart at the very thought of being detained upon a charge of murder.

But if Larose was happy, the inspector was certainly not, and he muttered an imprecation under his breath. It was a damnable piece of misfortune the coming of this chief inspector, for it meant the taking of the whole case out of his hands. Now he would lose all the credit of being the one to have arrested the well-known Gilbert Larose upon a charge of murder, and he had lost it only by a few seconds, too. But he dissembled his disgust under a stolid policeman-like expression.

"I had practically finished," he said, regarding Larose very sternly, "and was just about to----"

But Stone interrupted sharply. "I'll have the notes read over, please," he said. He turned to Larose, "And you had better go outside until we want you again."

"But he's not to leave the house," said the inspector quickly. "He's to----"

"Of course, he won't leave," said Stone testily. "He knows better than to take himself off before everyone's allowed to go."

Larose left the room, suppressing a delighted grin. The mortification of the inspector was so apparent. Then the latter at once proceeded to give a quick and businesslike review of everything which had taken place. He gave it well, too, and Stone soon had a good grasp of the whole case. Then the notes of the plain-clothes man were read through.

A short silence followed, with Stone looking very thoughtful.

The inspector spoke emphatically. "Of course, Mr. Stone, it is most regrettable to have to come to the conclusion," he said, "but unhappily, everything points to Gilbert Larose being the party who killed the man. There was the provocation at the card-table, the quarrel was renewed out on the balcony, as evidenced by the raised voices heard by Mr. Gauntry, and the major was found dead an hour afterwards. No one but Larose had left the house during the evening, and no stranger had entered the grounds." He nodded. "Everything appears quite clear and, pending further enquiries, we are fully justified in arresting Larose at once."

Stone frowned. "You haven't spoken to the night-watchman yourself?" he asked.

"No, Sir George had questioned him before we arrived, and the man was most emphatic no one had entered the drive."

Stone looked sceptical. "But whether his statement is worth anything," he said, "depends entirely upon the character of the man himself." He shook his head. "Generally speaking, I have no high opinion of the intelligence of night-watchmen. They wouldn't be night-watchmen if they had any brains. We must go out and question him ourselves, but, first, we'll have Mr. Larose in again."

Larose was brought in and Stone at once started to question him. "Was Major Sampon a friend of yours?" he asked.

"No, I had never met him until to-night," replied Larose.

"And he was very rude to you at the card-table?"

"Yes, very insulting."

"And naturally you were very angry?"

"Yes, at the time."

"You say at the time! Then you were not angry when you went out to speak to him on the balcony?"

"No, or I shouldn't have gone out."

"Was it your own idea to go out and make it up with him?"

"No, Mr. Gauntry suggested it first and then Lady Almaine, too, asked me to go."

"And you went almost immediately after you had all been listening to that ghost-story on the radio? That would make it just after twenty minutes past eleven, when the ghost story was scheduled to finish."

"Yes, almost immediately after, within a couple of minutes or so."

"Did you go straight on to the verandah when you went out?"

"Yes, through the lounge and then by the french window of the dining-room which was open."

"Who told you the major was then upon the verandah?"

Larose hesitated. "Well, no one. But he had told the ladies earlier in the evening that he was going there to have a smoke and, as it was surmised from his hat and coat being still in the hall that he had not gone home, it was naturally supposed by us all that he would be still there."

"At any rate the verandah would have been the most likely place where you would have expected to find him, would it not?" asked Stone.

"Yes, certainly. It was the only place outside where there were any seats comfortable enough to sit on for the long time he had been outside. You remember it rained heavily yesterday afternoon, and so all the cushioned chairs had been brought there."

Stone considered for a few moments. Then he asked, "And if, when you went out at twenty-two minutes past eleven, the body had been where it was found later--you would have seen it, would you not?"

"No, I never looked in the shadows under the balustrade," replied Larose. "I just gave a quick glance over the verandah and, seeing he was not either upon one of the chairs or walking about, went straight into the garden to look for him."

"Then, when the body was subsequently found, did it strike you you might have over-looked it?"

"Yes, it did."

A moment's silence followed and then Inspector Flower said, with his face expressing surprise, "But we are told that when Mr. Travers and Mr. Gauntry went on the verandah later, they saw the body at once."

"No, they didn't," snapped Larose. "They walked much farther up the verandah, too, than I had gone before they saw anything. Then, at first, they mistook the body for the masons' tool bags. We all knew the verandah was being repaired because we had been out on it before dinner."

With Stone still silent, the inspector went on. "Now, Mr. Larose," he said sternly, "there is no getting away from the fact that you were the only person known to have left the house after that quarrel with Major Sampon. No one else could have gone out without it being noticed, and therefore----"

"Oh, but couldn't they?" interrupted Larose. He spoke scornfully. "Why, any of us could have gone out without being noticed and have stayed out for a quarter of an hour, too, when the ghost-story was on."

"When what?" cried the inspector explosively.

"When the ghost-story was on," repeated Larose. "Hasn't anybody told you that, at the suggestion of the announcer, we listened to it in complete darkness. All the lights were switched off, and the curtains drawn." He shrugged his shoulders. "So anyone could have left the room and returned without being seen."

"Gad," exclaimed Stone with his eyes as wide as saucers, "then that brings everybody in!"

"Yes," nodded Larose, "if it were certain one of us or Sir George or Lady Almaine committed the murder."

Stone drew in a deep breath. "And the police-surgeon said at 12.36 that the major had been killed between an hour and an hour and a half previously." He emphasized the point with one big, fat forefinger. "Then that would make his death occur some time during the time when the lights were switched off!"

"Or just after they had been switched on again," scowled the inspector, "when Mr. Larose went out to look for him." He sprang to his feet and opened the study door. "Sir George," he called out, "please come here. We want you," and Stone gave Larose a big wink.

Sir George appeared at once and the inspector, waving him into the room, closed the door behind him.

"Why didn't you tell me," he asked with obvious anger in his tones, "that the drawing-room was in darkness for twenty minutes when you were listening to the radio?"

The baronet evidently did not like the way in which he was being spoken to, and his face flushed.

"Why should I have told you?" he asked coldly. "I mentioned the things which were important."

"Only the things which were important!" exclaimed the inspector, raising his voice. "Why, man----"

But Stone interrupted sharply. "One moment, if you please, Inspector." He turned to Sir George. "You see, sir, that putting the room in darkness may be very vital to what happened for it was possible for any of you to have left the room, committed the murder, and returned unnoticed by everyone."

Sir George's face fell. "Good God," he exclaimed, "I never thought of that!" His voice shook. "But surely you don't think any of us did it?"

"We don't know what to think," said Stone gravely. "Until we heard of this turning out of the lights, it was only of Mr. Larose we could have any suspicion, but now every one of you comes into the picture." He nodded. "We don't know who may not have been holding a secret hatred of Major Sampon and taken that opportunity to injure him."