my career,” he said, “I have followed one practice when I come to a strange land — I acquire the local legends. Meister is a legend. To me he is the most interesting man in Deptford, and I’m looking forward to meeting him.”
“But why should Johnny Lenley’s friendship with Meister—” began Alan, and stopped. He knew full well the sinister importance of that friendship.
Maurice Meister was something more than a legend: he was a sinister fact. His acquaintance with the criminal law was complete. The loopholes which exist in the best drawn statutes were so familiar to him that not once, but half a dozen times, he had cleared his clients of serious charges. There were suspicious people who wondered how the poor thieves who employed him raised the money to pay his fees. There were ill-natured persons who suggested that Meister paid himself out of the proceeds of the robbery and utilised the opportunities he had as a lawyer to obtain from his clients the exact location of the property they had stolen. Many a jewel thief on the run had paused in his flight to visit the house in Flanders Lane, and had gone on his way, leaving in the lawyer’s hands the evidence which would have incriminated him. He acted as a sort of banker to the larger fry, and exacted his tribute from the smaller.
“Let me see your anonymous letter,” said the doctor.
He carried the paper to the light and examined the typewritten characters carefully.
“Written by an amateur,” he said. “You can always tell amateur typists, they forget to put the spaces between the words; but, more important, they vary the spaces between the lines.”
He pursed his lips as though he were about to whistle.
“Hum!” he said at last. “Do you rule out the possibility that this letter was written by Meister himself?”
“By Meister?” That idea had not occurred to Alan Wembury. “But why? He’s a good friend of Johnny’s. Suppose he were in this robbery, do you imagine he would trust John Lenley with the pearls and draw attention to the fact that a friend of his was a thief?”
The doctor was still frowning down at the paper.
“Is there any reason why Meister should want John Lenley out of the way?” he asked.
Alan shook his head.
“I can’t imagine any,” he said, and then, with a laugh: “You’re taking rather a melodramatic view, doctor. Probably this note was written by some enemy of Lenley’s — he makes enemies quicker than any man I know.”
“Meister,” murmured the doctor, and held the paper up to the light to examine the watermark. “Maybe one day you’ll have an opportunity, inspector, of getting a little of Mr. Meister’s typewriting paper and a specimen of lettering.”
“But why on earth should he want Johnny Lenley out of the way?” insisted Alan. “There’s no reason why he should. He’s an old friend of the family, and although it’s possible that Johnny has insulted him, that’s one of Johnny’s unpleasant little habits. That’s no excuse for a civilised man wanting to send another to penal servitude—”
“He wishes Mr. John Lenley out of the way” — Lomond nodded emphatically. “That is my eccentric view. Inspector Wembury, and if I am an eccentric, I am also a fairly accurate man!”
After the doctor left, Alan puzzled the matter over without getting nearer to the solution. Yet he had already discovered that Dr. Lomond’s conclusions were not lightly to be dismissed. The old man was as shrewd as he was brilliant. Alan had read a portion of his book, and although twenty years old, this treatise on the criminal might have been written a few weeks before.
He was in a state of indecision when the telephone bell in his room shrilled. He took up the instrument and heard the voice of Colonel Walford.
“Is that you, Wembury? Do you think you can come up to the Yard? I have further information about the gentleman we discussed last week.”
For the moment Alan had forgotten the existence of The Ringer. He saw now only an opportunity of taking counsel with a man who had not only proved a sympathetic superior, but a very real friend.
Half an hour later he knocked at the door of Colonel Walford’s room, and that moment was one of tragic significance for Mary Lenley.
Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.
Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».
Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.
Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.
