Elk 01 The Fellowship of the Frog (9 page)

Dick, who did not even know that his friend had a family was startled.

“I’m sorry to hear that, Elk,” he said sympathetically. Elk sighed.

“It’s hard on me,” he said, “but I feel I ought to tell you, if you’ll excuse me, Miss Bennett?”

Dick rose and followed the detective to the gate, and then Elk spoke in a low tone.

“Lord Farmley’s house was burgled at one o’clock this morning, and the Frogs have got away with the draft treaty!”

Watching the two furtively, the girl saw nothing in Dick Gordon’s demeanour to indicate that he had received any news which was of consequence to himself. He came slowly back to the table.

“I am afraid I must go,” he said. “Elk’s trouble is sufficiently important to take me back to town.”

He saw the regret in Ella’s eyes and was satisfied. The leave-taking was short, for it was very necessary that he should get back to town as quickly as his car could carry him.

On the journey Elk told all that he knew. Lord Farmley had spent the week-end in his town house. He was working on two new clauses which had been inserted on the private representation of the American ambassador, who, as usual, held a watching brief in the matter, but managed (also as usual) to secure the amendment of a clause dealing with transhipments that, had it remained unamended, would have proved detrimental to his country. All this Dick learnt later. He was unaware at the time that the embassy knew of the treaty’s existence.

Lord Farmley had replaced the document in the safe, which was a “Cham” of the latest make, and built into the wall of his study, locked and double-locked the steel doors, switched on the burglar alarm, and went to bed.

He had no occasion to go to the safe until after lunch. To all appearances, the safe-doors had not been touched. After lunch, intending to work again on the treaty, he put his key in the lock, to discover that, when it turned, the wards met no resistance. He pulled at the handle. It came away in his hand. The safe was open in the sense that it was not locked, and the treaty, together with his notes and amendments, had gone.

“How did they get in?” asked Dick as the car whizzed furiously along the country road.

“Pantry window—butlers’ pantries were invented by a burglar-architect,” said Elk. “It’s a real job—the finest bit of work I’ve seen in twenty years, and there are only two men in the world who could have done it. No fingerprints, no ugly holes blown into the safe, everything neat and beautifully done. It’s a pleasure to see.”

“I hope Lord Farmley has got as much satisfaction out of the workmanship as you have,” said Dick grimly, and Elk sniffed.

“He wasn’t laughing,” he said, “at least, not when I came away.”

His lordship was not laughing when Elk returned.

“This is terrible, Gordon—terrible! We’re holding a Cabinet on the matter this evening; the Prime Minister has returned to town. This means political ruin for me.”

“You think the Frogs are responsible?”

Lord Farmley’s answer was to pull open the door of the safe. On the inside panel was a white imprint, an exact replica of that which Elk had seen on the door of Mr. Broad’s flat. It was almost impossible for the non-expert to discover how the safe had been opened. It was Elk who showed the fine work that had extracted the handle and had enabled the thieves to shatter the lock by some powerful explosive which nobody in the house had heard.

“They used a silencer,” said Elk. “It’s just as easy to prevent gases escaping too quickly from a lock as it is from a gun barrel. I tell you, there are only two men who could have done this.”

“Who are they?”

“Young Harry Lyme is one—he’s been dead for years. And Saul Morris is the other—and Saul’s dead too.”

“As the work is obviously not that of two dead men, you would be well advised to think of a third,” said his lordship, pardonably annoyed.

Elk shook his head slowly.

“There must be a third, and he’s the cleverest of the lot,” he said, speaking his thoughts aloud. “I know the lot—Wal Cormon, George the Rat, Billy Harp, Ike Velleco, Pheeny Moore—and I’ll take an oath that it wasn’t any of them. This is master work, my lord. It’s the work of a great artist such as we seldom meet nowadays. And I fancy I know who he is.”

Lord Farmley, who had listened as patiently as he could to this rhapsody, stalked from the library soon after, leaving the men alone.

“Captain,” said Elk, walking after the peer and closing the door, “do you happen to know where old Bennett was last night?”

Elk’s tone was careless, but Dick Gordon felt the underlying significance of the question, and for a moment, realizing all that lay behind the question, all that it meant to the girl, who was dearer to him than he had guessed, his breath came more quickly.

“He was out most of the night,” he said. “Miss Bennett told me that he went away on Friday and did not return until this morning at daybreak. Why?”

Elk took a paper from his pocket, unfolded it slowly and adjusted his glasses.

“I’ve had a man keeping tag of Bennett’s absences from home,” he said slowly. “It was easy, because the woman who goes every morning to clean his house has a wonderful memory. He has been away fifteen times this past year, and every time he has gone there’s been a first-class burglary committed somewhere!”

Dick drew a long breath.

“What are you suggesting?” he asked.

“I’m suggesting,” replied Elk deliberately, “that if Bennett can’t account for his movements on Saturday night, I’m going to pull him in. Saul Morris I’ve never met, nor young Wal Cormon either—they were before I did big work. But if my idea is right, Saul Morris isn’t as dead as he ought to be. I’m going down to see Brother Bennett, and I think perhaps I’ll be doing a bit of resurrecting!”

John Bennett was working in his garden in the early morning when Elk called, and the inspector came straight to the point.

“There was a burglary committed at the residence of Lord Farmley on Saturday night and Sunday morning. Probably between midnight and three o’clock. The safe was blown and important documents stolen. I’m asking you to account for your movements on Saturday night and Sunday morning.”

Bennett looked the detective straight in the eyes.

“I was on the London road—I walked from town. At two o’clock I was speaking with a policeman in Dorking. At midnight I was in Kingbridge, and again I spoke to a policeman. Both these men know me because I frequently walk to Dorking and Kingbridge. The man at Dorking is an amateur photographer like myself.”

Elk considered.

“I’ve a car here; suppose you come along and see these policemen?” he suggested, and to his surprise Bennett agreed at once.

At Dorking they discovered their man; he was just going off duty.

“Yes, Inspector, I remember Mr. Bennett speaking to me. We were discussing animal photography.”

“You’re sure of the time?”

“Absolutely. At two o’clock the patrol sergeant visits me, and he came up whilst we were talking.”

The patrol sergeant, wakened from his morning sleep, confirmed this statement. The result of the Kingbridge inquiries produced the same results.

Elk ordered the driver of his car to return to Horsham.

“I’m not going to apologize to you, Bennett,” he said, “and you know enough about my work to appreciate my position.”

“I’m not complaining,” said Bennett gruffly. “Duty is duty. But I’m entitled to know why you suspect me of all men in the world.”

Elk tapped the window of the car and it stopped.

“Walk along the road: I can talk better,” he said.

They got out and went some distance without speaking.

“Bennett, you’re under suspicion for two reasons. You’re a mystery man in the sense that nobody knows how you get a living. You haven’t an income of your own. You haven’t an occupation, and at odd intervals you disappear from home and nobody knows where you go. If you were a younger man I’d suspect a double life in the usual sense. But you’re not that kind. That is suspicious circumstance Number One. Here is Number Two. Every time you disappear there’s a big burglary somewhere. And I’ve an idea it’s a Frog steal. I’ll give you my theory. These Frogs are mostly dirt. There isn’t enough brain in the whole outfit to fill an average nut—I’m talking about the mass of ‘em. There are clever men higher up, I grant. But they don’t include the regular fellows who make a living from crime. These boys haven’t any time for such nonsense. They plan a job and pull it off, or they get pinched. If they make a getaway, they divide up the stuff and sit around in cafes with girls till all the stuff is gone, and then they go out for some more. But the Frogs are willing to pay good men who are outside the organization for extra work.”

“And you suggest that I may be one of the ‘good men’?” said Bennett.

“That’s just what I am suggesting. This Frog job at Lord Farmley’s was done by an expert—it looks like Saul Morris.”

His keen eyes were focused upon Bennett’s face, but not by so much as a flicker of an eyelash did he betray his thoughts.

“I remember Saul Morris,” said Bennett slowly. “I’ve never seen him, but I’ve heard of his work. Was he—anything like me?”

Elk pursed his lips, his chin went nearer to his chest, and his gaze became more and more intensified.

“If you know anything about Saul Morris,” he said slowly, “you also know that he was never in the hands of the police, that nobody except his own gang ever saw him, so as to be able to recognize him again.”

Another silence.

“I wasn’t aware of that,” said Bennett.

On the way back to the car, Bennett spoke again.

“I bear no malice. My movements are suspicious, but there is a good reason. As to the burglaries—I know nothing about them. I should say that in any case, whether I knew or not. I ask you not to mention this matter to my daughter, because—well, you don’t want me to tell you why.”

Ella was standing at the garden gate when the car came up, and at the sight of Elk the smile left her face. Elk knew instinctively that the thought of her brother, and the possibility of his being in trouble, were the causes of her apprehension.

“Mr. Elk came down to ask me a few questions about the attack on Mr. Gordon,” said her father briefly.

Whatever else he was, thought Elk, he was a poor and unconvincing liar. That the girl was not convinced, he was sure. When they were alone she asked:

“Is anything wrong, Mr. Elk?”

“Nothing, miss. Just come down to refresh my memory—which was never a good one, especially in the matter of dates. The only date I really remember is the landing of William the Conqueror-1140 or thereabouts. Brother gone back to town?”

“He went last night,” she said, and then, almost defiantly: “He is in a good position now, Mr. Elk.”

“So they tell me,” said Elk. “I wish he wasn’t working in the same shop as the bunch who are with him. I’m not letting him out of my sight, Miss Bennett,” he said in a kinder tone. “Perhaps I’ll be able to slip in the right word one of these days. He wouldn’t listen now if I said ‘get!’—he’s naturally in the condition of mind when he’s making up press cuttings about himself. And in a way he’s right. If you don’t know it all at twenty-one you never will. What’s that word that begins with a ‘z’?—‘zenith,’ that’s it. He’s at the zenith of his sure-and-certainness. From now on he’ll start unloading his cargo of dreams an’ take in ballast. But he’ll hate to hear the derricks at work.”

“You talk like a sailor,” she smiled in spite of her trouble.

“I was that once,” said Elk, “the same as old man Maitland—though I’ve never sailed with him—I guess he left the sea years before I was born. Like him?”

“Mr. Maitland? No!” she shivered. “I think he is a terrible man.”

Elk did not disagree.

To Dick Gordon that morning he confessed his error.

“I don’t know why I jumped at Bennett,” he said. “I’m getting young! I see the evening newspapers have got the burglary.”

“But they do not know what was stolen,” said Dick in a low voice. “That must be kept secret.”

They were in the inner bureau, which Dick occupied temporarily. Two men were at work in his larger office replacing a panel which had been shattered by the bullet which had been fired at him on the morning Elk came into the case, and it was symptomatic of the effect that the Frogs had had upon headquarters that both men had almost mechanically scrutinized the left arms of the workmen. The sight of the damaged panel switched Elk’s thoughts to a matter which he had intended raising before—the identity of the tramp Carlo. In spite of the precautions Gordon had taken, and although the man was under observation, Carlo had vanished, and the combined efforts of headquarters and the country offices had failed to locate him. It was a sore point with Gordon, as Elk had reason to know.

For Carlo was the reputable “Number Seven,” the most important man in the organization after the Frog himself.

“I’d like to see this Carlo,” he said thoughtfully. “There’s not much use in putting another man out on the road to follow up Genter’s work. That system doesn’t work twice. I wonder how much Lola knows?”

“Of the Frogs? They wouldn’t trust a woman,” said Dick. “She may work for them, but, as you said, it is likely they bring in outsiders for special jobs and pay them well.”

Elk did not carry the matter any further, and spent the rest of the day in making fruitless inquiries. Returning to his room at headquarters that night, he sat for along time hunched up in his chair, his hands thrust into his trousers pockets, staring down at the blotting-pad. Then he pressed a bell, and his clerk, Balder, came.

“Go to Records, get me all that is known about every safe-breaker known in this country. You needn’t worry about the German and French, but there’s a Swede or two who are mighty clever with the lamp, and of course there are the Americans.”