The Attic Murder Part 7

For three days the search was conducted throughout the country with the routine efficiency of the police, but without enlisting the aid of the press, or taking other steps to make Peter Entwistle's disappearance publicly known.

On the fourth morning, the Inspector, happening to meet Mr. Banks, admitted to him that the arrest had not yet been made. When he added that he had decided that the time had come when he must appeal to press and public to a.s.sist the search, the enquiry agent answered doubtfully: "Yes? You should know best about that. But it's the eleventh now, and I should say he'll be in court on the thirteenth, if he isn't scared before then. Might be worth waiting to see."

Inspector Combridge said that he would think it over, and having done so he decided that it was a hint worth taking. He knew the tendency that most criminals have to attend trials in which they are actually or potentially interested, and he saw that if Entwistle thought that his disappearance had not been remarked, and had probably therefore been a result of unfounded fear, he would be more likely to venture into Mr. Garrison's court than if he were advertised over England as a wanted man.

Anyway, it was no more than two days to wait. The ports were watched. He had ascertained that, if Entwistle had a pa.s.sport at all, which was improbable, it had not been taken out in his own name. He resolved to wait-

Chapter XXI.

FRANCIS HAMMERTON had by this time acquired a sufficient experience of the routines of the criminal courts to feel that the dock was a quite natural position in which to stand.

He entered it on this occasion with the comforting a.s.surance that the charges of murder and larceny were to be withdrawn, and with the further knowledge that Mr. Jellipot was moving either for a new trial, or for the quashing of his previous conviction.

Yet such is the perversity of human nature that he was conscious of a more clamant misery than when he had stood there a week before, and heard himself preposterously charged with the murder of a man whom he scarcely knew, and against whom he had no cause of quarrel. He had known then that, even if he were relieved of that monstrous suspicion, which his mind declined to accept as more than a pa.s.sing cloud, he was yet hopelessly condemned to a long term of confinement, with all the calculated degradations that the modern prison inflicts, and with the ultimate difficulty of resuming the life from which he would so strangely have disappeared.

He had been desperate before, but he was now tortured with doubtful hope; for Mr. Jellipot, conscious of the legal difficulties with which he was confronted, and anxious not to raise too confident antic.i.p.ation in his client's mind, had been so cautious in forecasting the results of the application that he was about to make, that he had done no more than raise a hope so faint as to be more torturing than despair.

He saw no one he knew. He met Mr. Garrison's eyes, keenly and yet distantly regarding him. He saw the row of legal gentlemen who had combined in disposing of his case so expeditiously the week before. He saw the uniformed policemen about the doors: the motley crowd of spectators who would have been more numerous had there not been a report circulated that the police would ask for a further remand, and that, on this occasion, there would be little to hear or see.

He saw Miss Jones in one of the foremost seats, looking her usual self-possessed self, but she showed no consciousness of his regard. He saw, indifferently, a very tall thin man, well though quietly dressed, who, having failed to obtain a seat, looked easily over the heads of others, as he stood in a gangway at the rear of the court... He became aware that Mr. Dunkover had risen, and was addressing the magistrate.

"My instructions are," he was saying, "that certain additional information has come into possession of the police during the last few days which has an important bearing upon the prisoner's position, and, in the result, they do not propose to proceed further with the present charges. I ask therefore that the prisoner may be discharged."

Mr. Garrison considered this. "I think, Mr. Dunkover," he said, "I ought to know rather more than that."

Mr. Dunkover was still sparing of words. "I have advised," he said, "that it is a case, as it now stands, on which no jury would convict."

Mr. Jellipot rose with an unusual agility. "I must protest," he said. "I ask for my client's release not because the case against him would be hard to prove, but because he is an absolutely innocent man."

Mr. Dunkover, after a whispered consultation with his instructing solicitors and Inspector Combridge, rose to say: "My friend is ent.i.tled to say that; which the prosecution does not dispute."

Mr. Garrison rubbed his chin. He saw that there was more here than he was intended to know, which he did not like. He preferred to have reason for what he did. But after that moment's silence, he said no more than: "Very well. The prisoner is discharged."

It meant no freedom for Francis, who was hurried back to the cells. Before he was removed from the dock, he had observed that Inspector Combridge had already risen, and left the court by a side-door.

The movement had no significance for him, nor for a man who was more directly concerned. But, a moment later, the Inspector re-entered at the back of the court. He approached Mr. Entwistle from behind. That gentleman had made no motion to leave. His gaze pa.s.sed over the court, now astir in the momentary interval before the next charge was called with the movements of those who had risen to leave, as though he were looking for someone who was not there.

It appeared that he had no intention of going himself, for he was about to occupy a vacated seat when Inspector Combridge touched him upon the arm.

"May I have a word with you?" he asked.

Mr. Entwistle looked surprised. He said shortly: "Yes. What is it?"

The Inspector answered quietly: "If you will come with me -- - We can't talk here."

Mr. Entwistle frowned. He looked displeased and hesitant. But he controlled himself to say nothing. He rose and went out with the Inspector, whose hand rested lightly upon his arm, in a way which he would not appear to observe, though he did not like it.

When they were in a small adjoining room, with two uniformed constables at the door, Inspector Combridge said: "Peter Entwistle, it is my duty to arrest you for the wilful murder of William Rabone; and I have to warn you that anything you say may be used against you in evidence."

The accused man maintained his calmness of voice and manner, though he could not control the blood that had left his face.

"I can only say," he replied, "that the charge is an absolute surprise to me. I know nothing about the murder beyond what I have read. Why I never even -- - " He checked himself and added only: "I reply that I am not guilty. You should know well enough that -- - "

He checked himself in mid-sentence again. He had often imagined such a moment as this, though it had not been a charge of murder which he had then expected to hear. But he had not supposed that he would twice come near to saying such foolish things.

Later in the day, he was brought before the magistrate, and formally remanded for seven days, by which time it was understood that the police would be prepared to open their case.

Chapter XXII.

MR. JELLIPOT played a bold card. He briefed Rossiter to apply in Chambers for bail for Francis Hammerton (convicted in the name of Harold Vaughan) pending the hearing of his appeal.

Mr. Justice Fordyce heard the application with the patient immobility of expression due to an eminent counsel who was making the best of an impossible plea.

Even when he heard that Sir Reginald Crowe was prepared to provide bail to any amount which he might require, he did not allow any trace of the surprise he felt to appear.

He asked laconically: "Any amount, Mr. Rossiter?"

"Yes, my lord. Those are the instructions I have received. Sir Reginald will stand surety for any amount which you may require."

He conferred for a moment with Mr. Jellipot, and said again that there was no limit to the amount of bail which would be forthcoming.

For the first time a momentary doubt pa.s.sed through the Judge's mind as to what his decision was going to be. He remembered that the bank inspector of whose murder the convict had been accused had been in the employment of the London & Northern Bank, of which Sir Reginald was chairman, and he saw that there might be more here than the surface showed. "You say, Mr. Rossiter," he asked, and his tone revealed the doubt that had come into his mind, "that your client's liberty is essential to the preparation of his appeal?"

"It is of the utmost importance."

Mr. Justice Fordyce was silent for one pregnant moment, during which even Mr. Jellipot's cautious temperament felt that the battle was won, but after that he shook his head slightly.

"I am sorry," he said, "but I see no sufficient reason for granting the application which has been so ably and eloquently made. You can renew it on Friday, if you think it worth while to do so. Yes, Friday. Eleven-thirty."

Mr. Rossiter and Mr. Jellipot withdrew without further words, and the legal gentlemen whose application was next on the list entered the room.

"You may congratulate your client," Mr. Rossiter said, "on the fact that he will be able to spend the weekend in his own home."

"You mean that he will grant bail on Friday?"

"You may expect that with some confidence."

As Mr. Rossiter foretold, so it proved to be.

On Friday morning the application was formally renewed, and Mr. Justice Fordyce asked no questions at all. He said, in his toneless manner: "Bail will be granted on Hammerton's own recognizances, and one surety for two thousand pounds, whose name must be approved by the court. Sir Reginald Crowe? Yes, certainly. You can have the order drawn up at once."

Mr. Rossiter, who had heard no more than he had had good reason to expect, he having busied himself during those two intervening days in ways which are not recognized by the law, but by which the cause of justice is often served, said: "Thank you, my lord"; and Mr. Jellipot had cause, for a second time, to feel that he had won success in the unfamiliar branch of litigation in which he moved. But he knew that the most difficult fence -- the appeal itself -- lay ahead.

Still, he had won a battle, if not a campaign, and it had been one which many more experienced criminal lawyers might have hesitated to try; and by so doing he had gained the ground for future strategic movements which it was essential to have.

Having won this success, he did not fail to take the full advantage which it allowed. He knew that time was the vital factor of the position, and he acted with such prompt.i.tude that, with Sir Reginald's equal diligence, it became possible, while the afternoon was still young, to open the prison doors, and Francis found himself leaning back in the comfort of Sir Reginald's private car, as it bore him smoothly, and at the best pace that the London traffic allowed, in the direction of Mr. Jellipot's office.

His sense of recovered freedom during this journey might have been more absolute had not Inspector Combridge been his sole companion. He was too ignorant of such procedures to do more than make a mistaken guess as to why the Inspector should be still at his side, or of what limited amount of freedom would now be his. At the best, he supposed that the Inspector was now beside him as one who would make formal delivery of his body at the lawyer's office. He wondered what would happen if he should ask the chauffeur to pull up, saying that he had decided to get out and go to his home by a different way.

Inspector Combridge, unaware of these thoughts, was making some honest efforts toward a friendly understanding. He commenced upon several indifferent topics of conversation, without gaining more than monosyllabic answers. The fact was that he still doubted the degree of that innocence about which Mr. Jellipot protested so strongly, and this uncertainty, of which Francis had an instinctive perception, was a bar to any real cordiality, even had he not embodied, to his companion's mind, the hated shadow of hostile law.

Yet it is bare justice to the Inspector to observe that he was not unwilling to be convinced, and he was as sincerely anxious to know the truth as he was genuinely endeavouring to establish friendly relations with his silent companion; for the point might be of vital importance to the soundness of the plan of campaign which was now to be discussed in Mr. Jellipot's office.

Chapter XXIII.

FRANCIS found that the Inspector did not take his departure when he had (as he conceived the position) delivered his body to Mr. Jellipot.

Instead of that, he took a seat in the lawyer's office, without waiting for the formality of an invitation, while Mr. Jellipot, not appearing to observe this familiarity, was introducing Francis to another gentleman who had been seated on the farther side of his desk.

"This, Sir Reginald," he said, "is Francis Hammerton... Mr. Hammerton, this is Sir Reginald Crowe, through whose kindness I have been able to procure your release."

Francis saw a man who looked young to be the chairman and actively controlling head of a great bank. His expression was of a dynamic energy, suggesting that his financial operations would be conducted with enterprise rather than caution as their dominant characteristic; as had, indeed, been the case since Lombard Street had been staidly stirred by the news that he had obtained control of a majority of London & Northern shares, and intended to use the voting power thus acquired to place himself in charge of the operations of the bank.

Sir Reginald looked at the young man who was thanking him rather shyly for the generosity which had procured his freedom. Accustomed to judge of the characters of those he met with a quick glance, which had rarely failed to guide him aright, he thought: "Jellipot right as usual. Jury must have been fools. Nothing strange in that." He said aloud: "You needn't thank me too much. It's cost me nothing. I know you won't run away... Besides, I'm wanting something from you; so the boot may soon be on the other leg... Tell him, Jellipot. You'll explain better than I should."

He leaned back in the low leather chair he occupied, leaving Mr. Jellipot to take the stage.

The lawyer began in his hesitant precise manner, but with a clarity of statement which made listening easy.

"We wish you to appreciate, Mr. Hammerton, the exact position in which you stand, and the conditions on which your permanent release, and the vindication of your reputation depend.

"The Court of Appeal will have your case before them in a fortnight's time from today. We have fourteen days. During that time we must obtain further evidence, such as they will consent to hear, or I am bound to advise you that the appeal will almost certainly fail.

"The powers of the Court of Appeal, as it interprets them for its own guidance, are extremely limited.

"It will not reverse a jury's decision on points of fact, unless it should be of a most obvious perversity, even though it may recognize that a different verdict would have been more consonant with its own conclusions. It will not consider evidence, however relevant, which the defendant deliberately, negligently, or perhaps by some miscalculating duplicity, withheld from the lower court.

"It will interfere only on points of law, or on mis-directions of the Judge, or irregularities on the part of the prosecution, by which a fair trial was denied to the accused.

"In such cases, it may even quash the conviction, in the interests of abstract justice, though it be an obvious consequence that the guilty will go free.

"Finally, it may consent to hear evidence which has come into possession of the defence since the date on which the trial was held, and which reasonable diligence on their part could not have obtained at that time.

"In this last is our best, and, in my judgement, our only hope.

"We cannot antic.i.p.ate to succeed by submitting facts which you deliberately withheld, whatever motive you may have had: neither can we hope to argue convincingly that the jury, on the evidence which was before them, had no reasonable ground for the conclusion to which they came.

"What I feel that we require, and what I am therefore about to ask you to use your best efforts to obtain, is some fresh evidence -- some new witness, if possible -- whom you could not previously have called.

"It may not be easy -- it may not be possible -- but it is not a case of choosing between conflicting alternatives. It is the sole chance that your own indiscretion, if I may say so without offence, has left.

"To give you the greatest possible freedom of action, we have gone to some trouble to ensure that there will be no allusion in the daily press to the bail which has been granted to you. In looking up any of the acquaintances who were in any way responsible for your present position, or who would know you by your adopted name, you will be able to use the advantage of surprise; or you will be able to leave them in ignorance of your recovered liberty, if, in any case, you should desire to do so.

"There is a question which Inspector Combridge has raised, to which I am unable, from anything you have told me, to supply the answer, and concerning which even you yourself may have no certain opinion; but its importance is obvious.

"You were convicted as Tony Welch's a.s.sociate. Tony Welch has, I understand, been known to the police for many years as a prominent member of an international gang of card-sharpers, confidence-tricksters, and negotiators of forged bonds, and other financial paper of illicit descriptions. You consorted with several members of this gang, whose true characters we are satisfied that you did not know.

"The question is, did they regard you as one of themselves, or as Tony Welch's dupe? If you go back to them, will they regard you as a fellow-criminal, endeavouring to avoid the punishment due to your guilt, or will they suppose that you were an innocent dupe, who will now have learnt, by a very bitter experience, to know them for what they are, and who is probably seeking both vindication for himself and their own exposure? I ask you to consider carefully before you reply, for you will see that the course of action which it may be prudent for you to take -- even your personal safety -- may depend upon the accuracy of your judgement upon this issue."

Mr. Jellipot paused upon this lengthy and lucid statement, the substance of which Sir Reginald or the Inspector might have put into a question of twenty words, and Francis, though it had allowed him ample time for consideration, was not ready in his reply. The question was not new to his mind. He had considered it in the ample leisure which is allowed to imprisoned men, but the answer was hard to find.

He said: "August Garten knew. I think she tried to warn me once, but I wouldn't see. She couldn't have said much more than she did, without giving her own people away. But I thought she was trying to put me off for other reasons from going with her that night, and I took it all in the wrong way."

Inspector Combridge interposed sharply: "You could swear to that?"

"Yes... I mean it's true, or I shouldn't have said it. Why do you ask that?"

"Because it confirms what we were nearly sure of before. We actually had a warrant made out at one time for that woman's arrest, and then decided that the evidence wasn't quite sufficient to get us home. We know how strong a case has to be against a girl with her looks. But if you could swear to that, it would show that she was aware what was on foot, and it might just be enough, with what we've got, to put her where she belongs."

Francis looked troubled. He said: "I shouldn't like to do that. It wouldn't be very decent, when she was trying to keep me clear of the mess."

Mr. Jellipot, observing a side-issue which might not be helpful, interposed before the Inspector was ready with his reply.

"Shall we keep to the present point? You think August Garten understood your position, but, beyond that, you're not sure?"

"No. I should say some may have thought one thing, and some another. Those who were about with us most must have had some warning not to talk before me. At any rate, I never heard anything to lead me to think what they really were."

"That," Mr. Jellipot said, "seems to answer the question." He turned to the Inspector to ask: "How does it look to you?"

"If you ask me," Inspector Combridge replied, "I shouldn't say it goes far. The type of gangster with whom Hammerton got mixed up doesn't open his mouth to put his foot into it, even when he thinks he's among those of his own colour. I've been told by a man we had among them for over two years before they guessed what his business was, that even when they're planning a kill they won't say anything to each other that mightn't pa.s.s between respectable people, and they always talk as though the pretences they make to their victims are the solid truth they profess them to be to him. I suppose it makes the illusion easier to sustain, besides avoiding the risk of anything going into the wrong ears.

"Even if one of them had said something dangerous, and Mr. Hammerton had given him a blank stare in reply, he wouldn't have thought that he wasn't being understood. He would have thought that he was having a plain hint to keep his mouth shut by someone more discreet than himself."

"I think," Francis interposed, with more certainty than he had spoken before, "that some at least of them would take for granted that I was guilty, especially after the jury had come to the same conclusion. I don't think that even Moss & Middleton thought that I was really ignorant of what had been going on, though they defended me on those lines."