2022-02-08 19:53:48" Yes, I dare say," said Delbury snappishly; "but that won't bring us any nearer to getting our hands on the ghost, will it?"
"Ahhhr! leave the man alone. it's after doing you a good turn, he is" snorted Shaughnessy.
There was silence for a minute, and then Delbury declared his unbelief in the existence of this newcomer, Lyall.
"Who is he?" he demanded. "Eh? Who is he? Is he the new leader of this gang of ruffians, or Is he just one of the mob? I've searched every file in the records and there isn't a trace of a Lyall big enough to be in with the silver Arrows. The only one recorded at all isn't in the possibilities. He's doing a four years stretch in pentonville and won't be out till next year."
"I'm game to bet that there is a Lyall in that bunch when we get the handcuffs on 'em , anyway." said Shaughnessy grimly.
"thirty-four times the ghost has come through with the goods. and we've landed 'em every time. I'm game to bet on him thus time too."
"Well either Lyall is one of the underdogs of the game or he is something mighty big and unexpected," declared Delbury with angry conviction.
"sure, and its my idea he's one of the old lags running under another name."
"Old lags are always known by their old names among men I'm their own game," said Delbury bluntly. "And it's obvious that the Ghost gets his information right down there where they make it. No." he continued slowly, "if Lyall exists at all he is going to be one beautiful big surprise package when we come to find out all about him."
"I'll get him all right-----if he shows up," said Shaughnessy slowly.
Another little silence fell. it was broken by Delbury saying: "well, it's too late to do anything more tonight. Go home and go to bed. We will thrash out the rest of this business in the morning. I'll try to get a line on this man Lyall through the identification department. Give me over that telephone. I'll get through to them and have a search made right away.
They've probably got----"
Valmon Dain snatched away his contact key as though it had suddenly stung him. the mere mention if the word telephone seemed to put a jolt of electricity through him.
He pulled off his headphones and ran his fingers through his hair. In the green gloom his brow shone glassy with perspiration.
"Phew!"he muttered, and glanced at his watch. "Half past two. might just be able to catch the mail at the G.P.O."
He hurried out to the annexe and printed on a plain, undated post-card:
"Do not leave your house on Monday night if you value your life."
underneath, with a glint of a smile at the corner of his mouth, he dropped a pellet of warm, red wax and pressed the thumb of his right hand firmly into it. He addressed it in neat upstanding capitals to Willard Lyall, Greydene, Highgate and went out and posted it. By breakfast-time that post-card would be on Willard Lyall's plate.
Then, hailing a night prowling taxi, he drove out to his house at Hendon.
That house of his was a landmark in the neighborhood. Residents pointed it out to visitors , with pardonable process the above of the man who had created employment for thousands, who had conferred inestimable benefits upon the world, and who had his Name a thing of note in every corner of the empire. But of recent months the local inhabitants had not seen much of Dain, nor he of his house.
His servants were not expecting him when he arrived. His house was in darkness. thankful for privacy, he let himself in and crawled wearily to bed.
At seven o'clock next morning a purring alarm buzzer woke him up, it's quiet, insistent note drumming out from under his pillow. He dressed and motored to kingsway, telling his chauffeur to make all speed through the quiet Streets. Before eight o'clock was booming from Big Ben he was back again among his eerily whispering wires, plugging in his contact keys, interplaying his circuits , moving up and down the rows of polished dials with the methodical precision of a machine.
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The man they couldn't Arrest A warning for Williard Lyall
Willard Lyall came down to breakfast and glanced at his mail. it was a fairly large pile, but nothing more than usual. Mercia often twitted him with the fact that he seemed to do most of his business by correspondence at home.He tossed one or two letters aside, matters of small moments, thrust one or two others into an inside pocket without opening them and then picked up a plain post-card. it was addressed to him in neat, upright capitals and note the London post-mark across the stamp. The date of posting was blurred and scarcely decipherable. He turned it over in curiously . on the reverse side also in black print letters, was a single sentence.A slow frown spread over his face as he read it. His hand shook and he dropped the card suddenly to the table. There was a sickly, unhealthy pallor crawling slowly over his skin, but the dark brows had come down over his eyes like a thunder cloud. He read the extraordinary thing again and a lo
The man they couldn't Arrest Suspected Squealers
Throughout breakfast Lyall was very quiet and uncommunicative. To cover his very unusual mealtime restraint he pretended a deep absorption in his morning papers. As soon as he had left the house, Mercia and her mother exchange meaning glances. "Dad seems very reserved this morning mum," said Mercia. "Probably worried about business affairs, my dear," said Mrs. Lyall. "You will come to know men in times as well as I do. And I think I know Willard very well. When a man is having a harassing time in the city, he resorts to silence." Mercia shrugged."I don't think it's mere worry," she said quietly. "I've seen dad when he has had worry before. I've seen him when he has been like a bear with a sore head. But I've never seen him like he was this morning when I came into the breakfast room. I know dad, and it seemed to me that he had received some awful shock."Mrs. Lyall looked very perturbed."A shock
The man they couldn't Arrest Unknown spy
"You see," continued Lyall ; "it means that somewhere in London there is an UNKNOWN SPY who knows as much about my movements as I do myself. It must be obvious to even the meanest intelligence that he is fully aware of my intentions regarding the Duchess of Renburgh's jewels. It is or ought to be equally obvious that he has already notified the police of my intentions or perhaps I ought to say our intentions. otherwise why should he warn me? And again, why has he warn me and not the others? But chiefly, who the devil is he?"The cold, chill note had gone out of Lyall's voice. His easy assumption of casual detachment fell away and he uttered the last words with a rasping asperity."I've been thinking matters over very closely this morning," he went on, "and I've come to the conclusion that here, I'm this warning is a clue to the biggest mystery we have ever known. here is a connecting link with something that has been gnawing at my thoughts for weeks." He br
The man they couldn't Arrest Another surprise Letter
Two miles away In an office high up among the roofs in kingsway, Valmon Dain removed a contact key from a red-lit dial and mopped his forehead."So!" he muttered, and dabbed at his forehead again. "murder, is it? eh? Well that is a word that is guaranteed to put a different colour on anything."He sat down gingerly on the edge of a chair and lost himself in a teeming intensity of thought.His mind had gone on ahead of the days and he too was standing in the black darkness of the area by the kingsland mews. He saw the dark figures slinking along from shadow to shadow, elusive as the ghost of flitting bats. saw them mustering in the silence and waiting, waiting for the man who would not be there.And then the sudden uprising of other shadows from the blackness avenging shadows which advanced with malignant swiftness from nowhere. the quick sharp scuffle, and then the fierce passionate denunciation of Willard Lyall, the traitor, the m
The man they couldn't Arrest Williard Lyall fainted and his gang busted
Mercia halfway through a rippling medley of sharps and naturals stopped with a jerk, her white fingers poised daintily above the keys."What was that?" she said in a puzzle voice to herself. What had seemed just like an unmistakable bump had just sounded in the next room. She thought something must have fallen over but one can never tell with a half a dozen servants busy about the house. They make such queer noises at times, shifting furniture about and doing the myriad things that only servants seem to find necessary to do."That you dad?" she called. And no answering hail came from the next room."Dad are you there?" she called again rising from her stool. And there was silence in the study.Mercia ran in. Her father was lying prone on the floor, his face buried in the thick pile of the carpet almost suffocating."mummy come quickly," she cried through the door."Dad has fainted quickly phone the doctor.
The man they couldn't Arrest Dain's identity discovered by Tansy
Dain read all about the affair while traveling to his office. He got back from his Brighton engagement some time after midday and went on from Victoria by tube. He slipped unobtrusively into an end seat and began to read. He wasn't at all elated, or even concerned about the test performance of his new gun sights he has already satisfied himself as to their complete perfection before even getting into communication with the Admiralty.And then a ghost of a smile played on the corners of his mouth as he took out his pocket-book. The train had stopped at a station and had filled up. There were strap-hangers pressing against his knees ; one succeeded in treading on his feet-- a man with a villainously dirty countenance and ghastly cast in his eye.Dain looked up in mild remonstrance."sorry guv," said the unwashed one and took a fresh grip on his strap.Dain smiled a frosty acknowledgement and resume his attention to his pocket-book.
The man they couldn't Arrest Plotting the murder of Valmon Dain
"What are you looking so peeved about?" he inquired truculently. "He can't do us no good while he stays alive, cab he?""Not that I'm aware of," said Lyall. "But at the same time, you'll admit there are difficulties. I don't even know that this is the man we're looking for."well, perish my bones!" snorted Tansy. "I saw him with my own eyes, didn't I? saw him pull out his book and write the names down. saw him turn over the pages with 'eaps of other cases wrote down on 'em ; saw him take the names out of the paper and stick 'em down under the silver Arrow. And blimey!----- I saw the writing' , too! You can't get away from that!""Y-yes, I know," said Lyall defensively. "But you also said his name was Dent, and that he has an office in kingsway. That, I know for a positive fact, is untrue.""Is it? Well, maybe you know more about him than I do."There was something more than a note of grievance in Tansy's voice. there w
The man they couldn't Arrest Dain awaiting Williard Lyall's arrival
It was not until nearly ten o'clock that evening that Valmon Dain completed his preparation for the reception of Willard Lyall.He had been working steadily through the afternoon in his workshop out at Hendon. It was a fairly large room, high and airy and was built on to the main building as a sort of an annexe with wide benches on three sides. The bench at the top end was fitted out essentially as a chemical laboratory. Back at the other end, against the door were his writing desk and technical library for Valmon Dain recorded the results of each tiny phase of an experiment as he arrived at it. There were ten great shelves of monumentally scientific times, each a standard work of reference on some aspect of Dain's own activities. In front of them was his desk----a roll top.Dain was sitting at it, writing ; the clock hands neared the hour of ten. His pen jotted neatly over the letter-card. "TO THE CHIEF COMMISSIONER,
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Landring Dent
Lazard deftly charged the weapon with three small needles, which he took from a little gold ornament on his watch-fob. The needles were extremely thin, and about three-quarters of an inch long. They were wet when he lifted them from the little trinket, and he exercised scrupulous care in the way he handled them. He did not touch them with his fingers, but fed them into the tube with a pair of tweezers. Then he fitted a rubber shield over the trigger and slipped it back into his pocket. The cab was already half-way up Kingsway. He carefully wiped the gold trinket on a piece of cotton-wool, and burned the wool on the floor of the cab. It burned with a bright blue flame that flared up instantly, burned fiercely for a second, and as quickly died. He tapped the window, and the cab pulled in to the kerb. "I don't exactly know where Denburh House is, sir," said the driver apologetically. "All right; you've passed it. I'll walk back," said the Count, and paid him off
Delbury's voice
Dain rested for a few minutes from the pressing grip of his headphones, and then plugged in on a combination he knew by heart. He had got the pitch in on a combination he knew by heart. He had got the pitch of his instrument so perfectly attuned to that particular room that he got a first-class result without further experiment. In a moment there were voices in his headphones-three of them, talking rapidly. He recognized them all. They were Delbury, Shaughnessy, and the Chief. Dain pulled a notebook over and took a verbatim note of all that he required. "I'm asking for a warrant right now, chief." The voice was Delbury's vibrant with conviction. "You're satisfied about Dain?" "Absolutely. I wasn't at first, but I am now. I'm certain that as soon as we've arrested Dain we shall begin to get a start on the solution to the mystery of the Ghost. It's all wrapped up in this plain as a
A man like Valmon Dain is too hot for me.
The only break in the chain of silence was when, in a few seconds, the clear treble of the telephone girl's voice came on at the exchange with her businesslike "Number please?" Lazard pulled the instrument nearer to him. "This is the Count Lazard speaking," he said suavely. "I'm sorry to trouble you, miss, but I think there must be something wrong with my telephone. Has anyone been trying to ring me up?" "I couldn't remember offhand, sir, but I don't think so," replied the girl politely. "Nobody has called me and failed to get through?" "No, sir; not during the last hour, at least." "Just one more question, miss. Could you tell me if there is a crossed wire on your switchboard-one which throws a connection across to my line from another exchange?" "Just a moment, s
Count Lazard
Dain tried a new series. At his tenth attempt he fell headlong into it. His hands were as near to trembling with excitement as ever they had been in his life as he reached out for his headphones. There was not the faintest doubt about the identity of that wheezy guttural voice. It was Tansy's. And he was talking half-earnestly, half-awakely, to another voice, a voice which was remarkable for its cold, inscrutable imperturbability. Dain glanced up at his dails to see into whose house the connection was made. He gasped with unbelief, and then came the realization that he knew that quiet voice, that voice with it's timbre of utter aloofness from emotion or excitement. It had a personality of it's own. It seemed to give out the impression that nothing could shake its serene imperturbability. If all London collapsed in the night, if the stars burst or the heavens fell, that voice would be heard discussing the matter with the cold detachment of an histori
Dain's single weakness
Valmon Dain waited until the sound of Delbury's voice ceased in the study. All that came to him after that was the sound of quiet weeping, heart broken sobs that came gently over the whispering wires. And he knew that Delbury had gone. He glanced at his watch. "Time for a morsel of lunch," he muttered. "Delbury will be twenty minutes at the very least before he gets back to the Yard-probably half an hour before he's through to the chief." He opened a glass of tongue and ate with his headphones still on. He had fixed up a little electric-cooker in a corner above one of the purring dynamos, not a very elaborate contraption but quite sufficient for the simple needs of a man who was condemning himself to solitary companionship for the next few weeks. He made a mental note to take out a suitcase with him and lay in a safe supply of provisions. The ante-room outside he was already rearrangi
The Cryptic message for Williard Lyall
Mercia turned the scale in their own favour by substantiating her mother's declaration. "Surely you have told us horrors enough to know that we shouldn't be squeamish about hearing the rest?" she said bravely. "That a mystery exists and a very sinister one is obvious to even the meanest intelligence. If you won't tell us, Mr. Delbury, you leave us no other alternative than to make personal application to Scotland Yard itself, a recourse which would be extremely unpleasant for me to take, but one which I should not have the slightest hesitation in doing." "Delbury sighed and brushed his fingers through his hair."Very well, ladies," he said, in a tone of regretful resignation. "But whatever I tell you, I insist, is told you with the underlying proviso that it may not be true."Mrs. Lyall inclined her head the merest fraction."perhaps you could help me in the matter," said Delbury, running swiftly over his notes. "can you remember with
How does he know that I'm here???
"Give me that telephone," said Mercia quietly."You're going to play the game straight---- by me?" Asked Delbury, with a searching look into her eyes."I am going to play straight--- by my father," replied Mercia, in a voice so faint that the detective barely heard it.He surrendered the telephone in silence."is that you, Mr. Dain? Mercia speaking. You wanted to speak to me," she said, striving to master the quiver in her voice."Yes, this is Valmon Dain, here," The voice at the other end was unemotional, almost coldly precise. Mercia felt an inward shudder at the cold austerity of it. Dain, even in the midst of tragedy, with the black shadow of the law looming great and omnipotent above him, was still the man of frosty restraint, the man with his thoughts and feelings under icy control. "I cannot talk to you personally," he went on steadily. "Something has happened which, were I to show myse
Daddy! Murdered?
"Daddy? murdered?" Mrs. Lyall scarcely breathed the words. A mist of utter incredulity had clouded her brain. she could not bring herself even to associate the two words, much less to believe them. The detective had made a ghastly mistake. something was ludicrously, shockingly wrong. "But- but, Mercia," she gasped. "In God's name, tell me what he told you. Daddy murdered- why, the very idea of it is imbecilic. who on earth would want to murder him? Why it's absurd; the man's mad." And all the time she spoke the devil's of doubt were gnawing at her very heart. The whole mass of that doubt were nights mysteries were piling up their forces in her brain to convince her that something very dreadful had happened. "I---- I believe it, mumsy." Mercia spoke dully, her eyes still looking fixedly ahead at the opposite wall. "I think I believed it the moment I opened my eyes this morning. There seemed to be something in the in the air. I couldn't sleep. I d
Becoming more complicated
"why not?""well, I knew that he had gone out to Hendon, you see.""oh!" Delbury looked his surprise. "And how did you know that?" he asked. "A man rang up---- somebody I've never seen or heard of before rang up and asked me if dad had got home yet from Hendon. That was the first I knew that he had not gone to bed all night.""What?" Delbury jumped. "A man rang up?" he snapped."Who was it?""I don't know. I'd tell you if I did. A coarsely spoken man; he referred himself as the gent from Notting hill." "Good Lord! Tansy," breathed Delbury. "so that's where he got the wire from. miss Lyall, do you know that by answering that telephone you have let one of the worst criminals in London slip through our fingers?""I wasn't aware of it, but I couldn't help it even if I did. But in what way does all this concern my father? I think I have answered quite enough of your questions. And really I cannot tax my anx
