CHAPTER XX
"Hill has bolted!"
Rolfe flung the words at Inspector Chippenfield in a tone which he wasunable to divest entirely of satisfaction. "Fancy his being the guiltyparty after all," he added, with the tone of satisfaction still moreevident in his voice. "I often thought that he was our man, and that hewas playing with you--I mean with us."
Inspector Chippenfield had betrayed surprise at the news by dropping hispen on the official report he was preparing. But it was in his usual toneof cold official superiority that he replied:
"Do you mean that Hill, the principal witness in the Riversbrook murdertrial, has disappeared from London?"
"Disappeared from London? He's bolted clean out of the country by thistime, I tell you! Cleared out for good and left his unfortunate wife andchild to starve."
"How have you learnt this, Rolfe?"
"His wife told me herself. I went to the shop this afternoon to have afew words with Hill and see how he felt after the way Holymead had gonefor him at the trial. His wife burst out crying when she saw me, and shetold me that her husband had cleared out last night after he came homefrom court. The hardened scoundrel took with him the few pounds of hersavings which she kept in her bedroom, and had even emptied the contentsof the till of the few shillings and coppers it contained. All he leftwere the half-pennies in the child's money-box. He cleared out in themiddle of the night after his wife had gone to bed. He left her a notetelling her she must get along without him. I have the note here--hiswife gave it to me."
Rolfe took a dirty scrap of paper out of his pocket-book and laid itbefore Inspector Chippenfield. The paper was a half sheet torn from anexercise-book, and its contents were written in faint lead pencil.They read:
"Dear Mary:
"I have got to leave you. I have thought it out and this is the onlything to do. I am too frightened to stay after what took place in thecourt to-day. I'll make a fresh start in some place where I am not known,and as soon as I can send a little money I will send for you and Daphne.Keep your heart up and it will be all right.
"Keep on the shop.
"YOUR LOVING HUSBAND."
"The poor little woman is heartbroken," continued Rolfe, when hissuperior officer had finished reading the note. "She wants to know if wecannot get her husband back for her. She says the shop won't keep her andthe child. Unless she can find her husband she'll be turned into thestreets, because she's behind with the rent, and Hill's taken every pennyshe'd put by."
"Then she'd better go to the workhouse," retorted Inspector Chippenfieldbrutally. "We'd have something to do if Scotland Yard undertook to traceall the absconding husbands in London. We can do nothing in the matter,and you'd better tell her so."
Inspector Chippenfield handed back Hill's note as he spoke. Rolfe eyedhim in some surprise.
"But surely you're going to take out a warrant for Hill's arrest?" hesaid.
"Certainly not," responded Inspector Chippenfield impatiently. "I'vealready said that Scotland Yard has something more to do than traceabsconding husbands. There's nothing to prevent your giving a little ofyour private time to looking for him, Rolfe, if you feel sotender-hearted about the matter. But officially--no. I'm astonished atyour suggesting such a thing."
"It isn't that," replied Rolfe, flushing a little, and speaking withslight embarrassment. "But surely after Hill's flight you'll apply for awarrant for his arrest on--the other ground."
"On what other ground?" asked his chief coldly.
"Why, on a charge of murdering Sir Horace Fewbanks," Rolfe burst outindignantly. "Doesn't this flight point to his guilt?"
"Not in my opinion." Inspector Chippenfield's voice was purely official.
"Why, surely it does!" Rolfe's glance at his chief indicated that therewas such a thing as carrying official obstinacy too far. "This letter heleft behind suggests his guilt, clearly enough."
"I didn't notice that," replied Inspector Chippenfield impassively."Perhaps you'll point out the passage to me, Rolfe."
Rolfe hastily produced the note again.
"Look here!"--his finger indicated the place--"'I'm frightened to stayafter what took place in the court to-day,' Doesn't that mean, clearlyenough, that Hill realised the acquittal pointed to him as the murderer,and he determined to abscond before he could be arrested?"
"So that's your way of looking at it, eh, Rolfe?" said InspectorChippenfield quizzically.
"Certainly it is," responded Rolfe, not a little nettled by his chief'scontemptuous tone. "It's as plain as a pikestaff that the jury acquittedBirchill because they believed Hill was guilty. Holymead made out toostrong a case for them to get away from--Hill's lies about the plan andthe fact that the body was fully dressed when discovered."
"You're a young man, Rolfe," responded Inspector Chippenfield in atolerant tone, "but you'll have to shed this habit of jumping impulsivelyto conclusions--and generally wrong conclusions--if you want to succeedin Scotland Yard. This letter of Hill's only strengthens my previousopinion that a damned muddle-headed jury let a cold-blooded murdererloose on the world when they acquitted Fred Birchill of the charge ofshooting Sir Horace Fewbanks. Why, man alive, Holymead no more believesHill is guilty than I do. He set himself to bamboozle the jury and hesucceeded. If he had to defend Hill to-morrow he would show the jury thatHill couldn't have committed the murder and that it must have beencommitted by Birchill and no one else. He's a clever man, far clevererthan Walters, and that is why I lost the case."
"He led Hill into a trap about the plan of Riversbrook," said Rolfe."When I saw that Hill had been trapped on that point I felt we had lostthe jury."
"Only because the jury were a pack of fools who knew nothing aboutevidence. Granted that Hill lied about the plan--that he drew it upvoluntarily in his spare time to assist Birchill--it proves nothing. Itdoesn't prove that Hill committed the murder. It only proves that Hillwas going to share in the proceeds of the burglary; that he was a willingparty to it. The one big outstanding fact in all the evidence, the factthat towered over all the others, is that Birchill broke into the houseon the night Sir Horace Fewbanks was murdered. The defence made noattempt to get away from that fact because they could not do so. ButHolymead vamped up all sorts of surmises and suppositions for the purposeof befogging the jury and getting their minds away from the outstandingfeature of the case for the prosecution. We proved that Birchill was inthe house on a criminal errand. What more could they expect us to prove?They couldn't expect us to have a man looking through the window orhiding behind the door when the murder was committed. If we could getevidence of that kind we could do without juries. We could hang our manfirst and try him afterwards. I don't think a verdict of acquittal from abefogged jury would do so much harm in such a case."
"You are still convinced that Birchill did it?" said Rolfequestioningly.
"I have never wavered from that opinion," said his superior. "If I had,this note of Hill's would restore my conviction in Birchill's guilt."
"Why, how do you make out that?" replied Rolfe blankly.
"Hill says he's clearing out of the country because he's frightened.What's he frightened of? His own guilty conscience and the long arm ofthe law? Not a bit of it! Hill's an innocent man. If he had been guiltyhe'd never have stood the ordeal of the witness-box and thecross-examination. Hill's cleared out because he was frightened ofBirchill."
"Of Birchill?"
"Yes. Didn't Birchill tell Hill, just before he set out for Riversbrookon the night of the murder, that if Hill played him false he'd murderhim? Hill _did_ play him false, not then, but afterwards, when he madehis confession and Birchill was arrested for the murder in consequence.When Birchill was acquitted at the trial his first thought would be towreak vengeance on Hill. A man with one murder on his soul would not belikely to hesitate about committing another. Hill knew this, and fled tosave his life when Birchill was acquitted. That's the explanation of hisletter, Rolfe."
"So that's the way you look at it?" said Rolfe.
"O
f course I do! It's the only way Hill's flight can be looked at in thelight of all that's happened. The theory dovetails in every part. I'mmore used than you to putting these things together, Rolfe. Hill's asinnocent of the murder as you are."
"And where do you think Hill's gone to?"
"Certainly not out of London. He's too much of a Cockney for that.Besides, he's a man who is fond of his wife and child. He's hidingsomewhere close at hand, and I shouldn't wonder if the whole thing's aplant between him and his wife. Have you forgotten how she tried tohoodwink us before? I'll go to the shop to-morrow and see if I can'tfrighten the truth out of her. Meanwhile, you'd better put the CamdenTown police on to watching the shop. If he's hiding in London he's boundto visit his wife sooner or later, or she'll visit him, so we ought notto have much difficulty in getting on to his tracks again."
Rolfe departed, to do his chief's bidding, a little crestfallen. He wasat first inclined to think that he had made a bit of a fool of himself inhis desire to prove to Inspector Chippenfield that he had been hoodwinkedby Hill into arresting Birchill. But that night, as he sat in his bedroomsmoking a quiet pipe, and reviewing this latest phase of the puzzlingcase, the earlier doubts which had assailed him on first learning ofHill's flight recurred to him with increasing force. If Hill wereinnocent he would have been more likely to seek police protection beforeflight. Hill's flight was hardly the action of an innocent man. Itpointed more to a guilty fear of his own skin, now that the man he hadaccused of the murder was free to seek vengeance. Chippenfield's theoryseemed plausible enough at first sight, but Rolfe now recalled that heknew nothing of the missing letters and Hill's midnight visit toRiversbrook to recover them. Rolfe had concealed that episode from hissuperior officer because he lacked the courage to reveal to him how hehad been hoodwinked by Mrs. Holymead's fainting fit the morning he wasconducting his official inquiry at Riversbrook into the murder.
"It's an infernally baffling case," muttered Rolfe, refilling his pipefrom a tin of tobacco on the mantelpiece, and walking up and down thecheap lodging-house drugget with rapid strides. "If Birchill is not themurderer who is? Is it Hill?"
He lit his pipe, closed the window, opened his pocket-book and sat downto peruse the notes he had taken during his investigation of Sir HoraceFewbanks's murder. He read and re-read them, earnestly searching for afresh clue in the pencilled pages. After spending some time in thisoccupation he took a clean sheet of paper and a pencil, and copied afreshthe following entries from his notebook:
August 19. Went Riversbrook. Saw Sir H.F.'s body. Discovered fragment oflady's handkerchief clenched in right hand.
August 22. Made inquiries handkerchief. Unable find where purchased.
September 8. Found Hill at Riversbrook searching Sir H.F.'s papers. Toldme about bundle of lady's letters tied up with pink ribbon which had beentaken from secret drawer. Says they disappeared morning after murder wheninvestigation was taking place. C.'s visitors that day: Dr. Slingsby /Seldon to arrange inquest / newspaper men / undertaker's representatives/ Crewe. C. saw one visitor alone, Hill says. Mrs. H----, who fainted. C.fetched glass of water, leaving her alone in room. Hill suggests herletters indicate friendly relations between her and Sir H.F. Sir H.F.expected visit, probably from lady, night of murder. Hurried Hill offwhen he returned from Scotland. Mem: Inadvisable disclose this to C.
Underneath his entries of the case Rolfe had written finally:
Points to be remembered:
(1) Crewe said before the trial that Birchill was not the murderer and would be acquitted. Birchill was acquitted.
(2) Crewe suggested we had not got the whole truth out of Hill. Hill disappears the night after the trial. Is Hill the murderer?
(3) The handkerchief and the letters point to a woman in the case, although this was not brought out at the trial. Is it possible that woman is Mrs. H.?
Rolfe realised that the chief pieces of the puzzle were before him, butthe difficulty was to put them together. He felt sure there was aconnection between these facts, which, if brought to light, would solvethe Riversbrook mystery. Without knowing it, he had been so influenced byCrewe's analysis of the case that he had practically given up the ideathat Birchill had anything to do with the murder. His real reason forgoing to Hill's shop that morning was to try and extract something fromHill which might put him on the track of the actual murderer. He believedHill knew more than he had divulged. Hill, before his disappearance, hadplaced in his hands an important clue, if he only knew how to follow itup. That incident of the missing letters must have some bearing on thecase, if he could only elucidate it.
Should he disclose to Chippenfield Hill's story of the missing letters?Rolfe dismissed the idea as soon as it crossed his mind. He knew hissuperior officer sufficiently well to understand that he would be veryangry to learn that he had been deceived by Mrs. Holymead, and, as shewas outside the range of his anger, he would bear a grudge against hisjunior officer for discovering the deception which had been practised onhim, and do all he could to block his promotion in Scotland Yard inconsequence. Apart from that, he could offer Chippenfield no excuse fornot having told him before.
Should he consult Crewe?
Rolfe dismissed that thought also, but more reluctantly. Hang it all, itwas too humiliating for an accredited officer of Scotland Yard to consulta private detective! Rolfe had acquired an unwilling respect for Crewe'sabilities during the course of the investigations into the Riversbrookcase, but he retained all the intolerance which regular members of thedetective force feel for the private detectives who poach on theirpreserves. Rolfe's professional jealousy was intensified in Crewe's casebecause of the brilliant successes Crewe had achieved during his careerat the expense of the reputation of Scotland Yard. Rolfe had aninstinctive feeling that Crewe's mind was of finer quality than his own,and would see light where he only groped in darkness. If Crewe had beenhis superior officer in Scotland Yard, Rolfe would have gone to himunhesitatingly and profited by his keener vision, but he could not do soin their existing relative positions. He ransacked his brain for someother course.
After long consideration, Rolfe decided to go and see Mrs. Holymead andquestion her about the packet of letters which Hill declared she hadremoved from Riversbrook after the murder. He realised that this wasrather a risky course to pursue, for Mrs. Holymead was highly placed andcould do him much harm if she got her husband to use his influence at theHome Office, for then he would have to admit that he had gone to herwithout the knowledge of his superior officer, on the statement of adiscredited servant who had arranged a burglary in his master's house thenight he was murdered. Nevertheless, Rolfe decided to take the risk. Thechance of getting somewhere nearer the solution of the Riversbrookmystery was worth it, and what a feather in his cap it would be if hesolved the mystery! He was convinced that Chippenfield had shut outimportant light on the mystery by doggedly insisting, in order tobuttress up his case against Birchill, that the piece of handkerchiefwhich had been found in the dead man's hand was a portion of ahandkerchief which had belonged to the girl Fanning, and had been broughtby Birchill from the Westminster flat on the night of the murder. It wasmore likely, in view of Hill's story of the letters, that thehandkerchief belonged to Mrs. Holymead. Rolfe had not made up his mindthat Mrs. Holymead had committed the murder, but he was convinced thatshe and her letters had some connection with the baffling crime, and hedetermined to try and pierce the mystery by questioning her. Havingarrived at this decision, he replaced his notebook in his coat pocket,knocked the ashes out of his pipe, and went to bed.
The Hampstead Mystery Page 20
