The Joker by Edgar Wallace (books to read in your 20s .TXT) 📖
- Author: Edgar Wallace
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hand.
‘Good morning, Inspector,’ he said. ‘We do not get many visitors from
Scotland Yard. May I inquire your business?’
‘I am making inquiries regarding the death of a woman named Gibbins,’
said the visitor.
Mr Ellenbury was not startled. He bowed his head slowly. ‘She was the
woman taken out of the Regent’s Canal some weeks ago; I remember the
inquest,’ he said.
‘Her mother, Louise Gibbins, had been drawing a quarterly pension of
thirteen pounds, which, I understand, was sent by you?’
It was a bluff designed to startle the man into betraying himself but, to
Jim Carlton’s astonishment, Mr Ellenbury lowered his head again.
‘Yes,’ he said, ‘that is perfectly true. I knew her mother, a very
excellent old lady who was for some time in my employ. She was very good
to my dear wife, who is an invalid, and I have made her an allowance for
many years. I did not know she was dead until the case of the drowned
charwoman came into court and caused me to make inquiries.’
‘The allowance was stopped before these facts wire made public,’
challenged Jim Carlton, and again he was dumbfounded when the lawyer
agreed.
‘It was delayed—not stopped,’ he said, ‘and it was only by accident that
the money was not sent at the usual time. Fortunately or unfortunately, I
happened to be rather ill when the allowance should have been sent off.
The day I returned to the office and dispatched the money I learnt of Mrs
Gibbins’s death. It is clear that the woman, instead of informing me of
her mother’s death, suppressed the fact in order that she might benefit
financially. If she had lived and it had come to my notice, I should
naturally have prosecuted her for embezzlement.’
Carlton knew that his visit had been anticipated, and the story cut and
dried in advance. To press any further questions would be to make
Harlow’s suspicion a certainty. He could round off his inquiry plausibly
enough, and this he did.
‘I think that is my final question in the case,’ he said with a smile. ‘I
am sorry to have bothered you, Mr Ellenbury. You never met Miss Annie
Gibbins?’
‘Never,’ replied Ellenbury, with such emphasis that Jim knew he was
speaking the truth. ‘I assure you I had no idea of her existence.’
From one lawyer to another was a natural step: more natural since Mr
Stebbings’ office was in the vicinity, and this interview at least held
one pleasant possibility—he might see Aileen.
She was a little staggered when he entered her room.
‘Mr Stebbings!—why on earth—?’ And then penitently: ‘I’m so sorry! I am
not as inquisitive as I appear!’
Mr Stebbings, who was surprised at nothing, saw him at once and listened
without comment to the detective’s business.
‘I never saw Mr Marling except once,’ he said. ‘He was a wild, rather
erratic individual, and as far as I know, went to the Argentine and did
not return.’
‘You’re sure that he went abroad?’ asked Jim.
Mr Stebbings, being a lawyer, was too cautious a man to be sure of
anything. ‘He took his ticket and presumably sailed; his name was on the
passenger list. Miss Alice Harlow caused inquiries to be made; I think
she was most anxious that Marling’s association with Mr Harlow should be
definitely broken. That, I am afraid, is all I can tell you.’
‘What kind of man was Marling? Yes, I know he was wild and a little
erratic, but was he the type of man who could be dominated by Harlow?’
A very rare smile flitted across the massive face of the lawyer.
‘Is there anybody in the world who would not be dominated by Mr Harlow?’
he asked dryly. ‘I know very little of what is happening outside my own
profession, but from such knowledge as I have acquired I understand that
Mr Harlow is rather a tyrant. I use the word in its original and historic
sense,’ he hastened to add.
Jim made a gentle effort to hear more about Mr Harlow and his earlier
life. He was particularly interested in the will, a copy of which he had
evidently seen at Somerset House, but here the lawyer was adamant. He
hinted that, if the police procured an order from a judge in chambers, or
if they went through some obscure process of law, he would have no
alternative but to reveal all that he knew about his former client;
otherwise—
Aileen was not in her room when he passed through, and he lingered
awhile, hoping to see her, but apparently she was engaged (to her
annoyance, it must be confessed) with the junior partner; he left
Bloomsbury with a feeling that he had not extracted the completest
satisfaction from his visits.
At the corner of Bedford Place a blue Rolls was drawn up by the sidewalk,
and so deep was he in thought that lie would have passed, had not the man
who was sitting at the wheel removed the long cigar from his white teeth
and called him by name. Jim turned with a start. The last person he
expected to meet at this hour of the morning in the prosaic environment
of Theobald’s Road.
‘I thought it was you.’ Mr Harlow’s voice was cheerful, his manner a
pattern of geniality. ‘This is a fortunate meeting.’
‘For which of us?’ smiled Jim, leaning his elbow on the window opening
and looking into the face of the man.
‘For both, I hope. Come inside, and I’ll drive you anywhere you’re going.
I have an invitation to offer and a suggestion to make.’
Jim opened the door and stepped in. Harlow was a skilful driver. He
slipped in and out of the traffic into Bedford Square, and then: ‘Do you
mind if I drive you to my house? Perhaps you can spare the time?’
Jim nodded, wondering what was the proposition. But throughout the drive
Mr Harlow kept up a flow of unimportant small talk, and he said nothing
important until he showed his visitor into the beautiful library. Mr
Harlow threw his heavy coat and cap on to one of the red settees, twisted
a chair round, so that it revolved like a teetotum, and set it down near
his visitor.
‘Somebody followed you here,’ he said. ‘I saw him out of the tail of my
eye. A Scotland Yard man! My dear man, you are very precious to the law.’
He chuckled at this. ‘But I bear you no malice that you do not trust me!
My theory is that it is much better for a dozen innocent men to come
under police surveillance than for a guilty man to escape detection. Only
it is sometimes a little unnerving, the knowledge that I am being
watched. I could stop it at once, of course. The Courier is in the
market—I could buy a newspaper and make your lives very unpleasant
indeed. I could raise a dozen men up in Parliament to ask what the devil
you meant by it. In fact, my dear Carlton, there are so many ways of
breaking you and your immediate superior that I cannot carry them in my
head!’
And Jim had an uncomfortable feeling that this was no vain boast.
‘I really don’t mind,’ Harlow went on; ‘it annoys me a little, but amuses
me more. I am almost above the law! How stupid that sounds!’ He slapped
his knee and his rich laughter filled the room. ‘Of course I am; you know
that! Unless I do something very stupid and so trivial that even the
police can understand that I am breaking the law, you can never touch
me!’
He waited for some comment here, but Jim was content to let his host do
most of the talking. A footman came in at that moment pushing a basket
trolley, and, to Jim’s surprise, it contained a silver tea-service, in
addition to a bottle of whisky, siphon and glasses.
‘I never drink,’ explained Harlow. ‘When I say “never,” it would be
better if I said “rarely.” Tea-drinking is a pernicious habit which I
acquired in my early youth.’ He lifted the bottle. ‘For you—?’
‘Tea also,’ said Jim, and Mr Harlow inclined his head.
‘I thought that was possible,’ he said; and when the servant had gone he
carried his tea back to the writing-table and sat down.
‘You’re a very clever young man,’ he said abruptly, and Jim showed his
teeth in a sceptical smile. ‘I could almost wish you would admit your
genius. I hate that form of modesty which is expressed in
self-depreciation. You’re clever. I have watched your career and have
interested myself in your beginning. If you were an ordinary police
officer I should not bother with you; but you are something different.’
Again he paused, as though he expected a protest, but neither by word nor
gesture did Jim Carlton approve or deny his right to this distinction.
‘As for me, I am a rich man,’ Harlow went on. ‘Yet I need the very help
you can give to me. You are not well off, Mr Carlton? I believe you have
an income of four hundred a year or thereabouts, apart from your salary,
and that is very little for one who sooner or later must feel the need of
a home of his own, a wife and a family—’
Again he paused suggestively, and this time Jim spoke.
‘What do you suggest to remedy this state of affairs? he asked.
Mr Harlow smiled.
‘You are being sarcastic. There is sarcasm in your voice! You feel that
you are superior to the question of money. You can afford to laugh at it.
But, my friend, money is a very serious thing. I offer you five thousand
pounds a year.’
He rose to his feet the better to emphasize the offer, Jim thought.
‘And my duties?’ he said quietly.
Harlow shrugged his big shoulders; and put his hands deep into his
trousers pockets.
‘To watch my interests.’ He almost snapped the words. ‘To employ that
clever brain of yours in furthering my cause, in protecting me when I
go—joking! I love a joke—a practical joke. To see the right man
squirming makes me laugh. Five thousand a year, and all your expenses
paid to the utmost limit. You like play-going? I’ll show you a play that
will set you rolling with joy! What do you say?’
‘No,’ said Jim simply; ‘I’m not keen on jokes.’
‘You’re not?’ Harlow made a little grimace. ‘What a pity! There might be
a million in it for you. I am not trying to induce you to do something
against your principles, but it is a pity.’ It seemed to Jim’s sensitive
ear that there was genuine regret in Harlow’s tone, but he went on
quickly: ‘I appreciate your standpoint. You have no desire to enter my
service. You are, let us say, antipathetic towards me?’
‘I prefer my own work,’ said Jim.
Harlow’s smile was broad and benevolent. ‘There remains only one
suggestion: I want you to come to the dinner and reception I am giving to
the Middle East delegates next Thursday. Regard that as an olive branch!’
Jim smiled. ‘I will gladly accept your invitation, Mr Harlow,’ he said
and then, with scarcely a pause: ‘Where can I find Marling?’
The words were hardly out of his lips before he cursed himself for his
folly. He had not the slightest intention of asking such a fool question,
and he could have kicked himself for the stupid impulse
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