The Daffodil Mystery Read online

  CHAPTER XXXVII

  LING CHU RETURNS

  Tarling dropped the telephone receiver on its hook and had sunk into achair with a groan. His face was white--whiter than the prisoner's whosat opposite him, and he seemed to have gone old all of a sudden.

  "What is it?" asked Whiteside quietly. "Who was the man?"

  "Stay," said Tarling. "Stay. He has Odette! It's awful, awful!"

  Whiteside, thoughtful, preoccupied; Milburgh, his face twitching withfear, watched the scene curiously.

  "I'm beaten," said Tarling--and at that moment the telephone bell rangagain.

  He lifted the receiver and bent over the table, and Whiteside saw hiseyes open in wide amazement. It was Odette's voice that greeted him.

  "It is I, Odette!"

  "Odette! Are you safe? Thank God for that!" he almost shouted. "Thank Godfor that! Where are you?"

  "I am at a tobacconist's shop in----" there was a pause while she wasevidently asking somebody the name of the street, and presently she cameback with the information.

  "But, this is wonderful!" said Tarling. "I'll be with you immediately.Whiteside, get a cab, will you? How did you get away?"

  "It's rather a long story," she said. "Your Chinese friend saved me. Thatdreadful man stopped the cab near a tobacconist's shop to telephone. LingChu appeared by magic. I think he must have been lying on top of the cab,because I heard him come down by the side. He helped me out and stood mein a dark doorway, taking my place. Please don't ask me any more. I am sotired."

  Half an hour later Tarling was with the girl and heard the story of theoutrage. Odette Rider had recovered something of her calm, and before thedetective had returned her to the nursing home she had told him the storyof her adventure.

  "I must have fainted," she said. "When I woke up I was lying at thebottom of the cab, which was moving at a tremendous rate. I thought ofgetting back to the seat, but it occurred to me that if I pretended to befaint I might have a chance of escape. When I heard the cab stop I triedto rise, but I hadn't sufficient strength. But help was near. I heard thescraping of shoes on the leather top of the car, and presently the dooropened and I saw a figure which I knew was not the cabman's. He lifted meout, and fortunately the cab had stopped opposite a private house with abig porch, and to this he led me.

  "'Wait,' he said. 'There is a place where you may telephone a little wayalong. Wait till we have gone."

  "Then he went back to the cab, closed the door noiselessly, andimmediately afterwards I saw Stay running along the path. In a fewseconds the cab had disappeared and I dragged myself to the shop--andthat's all."

  No news had been received of Ling Chu when Tarling returned to his flat.Whiteside was waiting; and told him that he had put Milburgh into thecells and that he would be charged the following day.

  "I can't understand what has happened to Ling Chu. He should be back bynow," said Tarling.

  It was half-past one in the morning, and a telephone inquiry to ScotlandYard had produced no information.

  "It is possible, of course," Tarling went on, "that Stay took the cab onto Hertford. The man has developed into a dangerous lunatic."

  "All criminals are more or less mad," said the philosophical Whiteside."I wonder what turned this fellow's brain."

  "Love!" said Tarling.

  The other looked at him in surprise.

  "Love?" he repeated incredulously, and Tarling: nodded.

  "Undoubtedly Sam Stay adored Lyne. It was the shock of his death whichdrove him mad."

  Whiteside drummed his fingers on the table, thoughtfully.

  "What do you think of Milburgh's story?" he asked, and Tarling shruggedhis shoulders.

  "It is most difficult to form a judgment," he said. "The man spoke asthough he were telling the truth, and something within me convinces methat he was not lying. And yet the whole thing is incredible."

  "Of course, Milburgh has had time to make up a pretty good story," warnedWhiteside. "He is a fairly shrewd man, this Milburgh, and it was hardlylikely that he would tell us a yarn which was beyond the range ofbelief."

  "That is true," agreed the other, "nevertheless, I am satisfied he toldalmost the whole of the truth."

  "Then, who killed Thornton Lyne?"

  Tarling rose with a gesture of despair.

  "You are apparently as far from the solution of that mystery as I am, andyet I have formed a theory which may sound fantastic----"

  There was a light step upon the stair and Tarling crossed the room andopened the door.

  Ling Chu came in, his calm, inscrutable self, and but for the fact thathis forehead and his right hand were heavily bandaged, carrying noevidence of his tragic experience.

  "Hello, Ling Chu," said Tarling in English, "you're hurt?"

  "Not badly," said Ling Chu. "Will the master be good enough to give me acigarette? I lost all mine in the struggle."

  "Where is Sam Stay?"

  Ling Chu lit the cigarette before he answered, blew out the match andplaced it carefully in the ash-tray on the centre of the table.

  "The man is sleeping on the Terrace of Night," said Ling Chu simply.

  "Dead?" said the startled Tarling.

  The Chinaman nodded.

  "Did you kill him?"

  Again Ling Chu paused and puffed a cloud of cigarette smoke into the air.

  "He was dying for many days, so the doctor at the big hospital told me. Ihit his head once or twice, but not very hard. He cut me a little witha knife, but it was nothing."

  "Sam Stay is dead, eh?" said Tarling thoughtfully. "Well, that removes asource of danger to Miss Rider, Ling Chu."

  The Chinaman smiled.

  "It removes many things, master, because before this man died, his headbecame good."

  "You mean he was sane?"

  "He was sane, master," said Ling Chu, "and he wished to speak to paper.So the big doctor at the hospital sent for a judge, or one who sits injudgment."

  "A magistrate?"

  "Yes, a magistrate," said Ling Chu, nodding, "a little old man who livesvery near the hospital, and he came, complaining because it was so latean hour. Also there came a man who wrote very rapidly in a book, and whenthe man had died, he wrote more rapidly on a machine and gave me thesepapers to bring to you, detaining others for himself and for the judgewho spoke to the man."

  He fumbled in his blouse and brought out a roll of paper covered withtypewriting.

  Tarling took the documents and saw that it consisted of several pages.Then he looked up at Ling Chu.

  "First tell me, Ling Chu," he said, "what happened? You may sit."

  Ling Chu with a jerky little bow pulled a chair from the wall and sat ata respectful distance from the table, and Tarling, noting the rapidconsumption of his cigarette, passed him the box.

  "You must know, master, that against your wish and knowledge, I took thelarge-faced man and put him to the question. These things are not done inthis country, but I thought it best that the truth should be told.Therefore, I prepared to give him the torture when he told me that thesmall-small girl was in danger. So I left him, not thinking that yourexcellency would return until the morning, and I went to the big housewhere the small-small girl was kept, and as I came to the corner of thestreet I saw her get into a quick-quick car.

  "It was moving off long before I came to it, and I had to run; it wasvery fast. But I held on behind, and presently when it stopped at thisstreet to cross, I scrambled up the back and lay flat upon the top of thecab. I think people saw me do this and shouted to the driver, but he didnot hear. Thus I lay for a long time and the car drove out into thecountry and after a while came back, but before it came back it stoppedand I saw the man talking to the small-small woman in angry tones. Ithought he was going to hurt her and I waited ready to jump upon him, butthe lady went into the realms of sleep and he lifted her back into thecar.

  "Then he came back to the town and again he stopped to go into a shop.I think it was to telephone, for there was one of those blue signs whichy
ou can see outside a shop where the telephone may be used by the commonpeople. Whilst he had gone in I got down and lifted the small-small womanout, taking the straps from her hands and placing her in a doorway. ThenI took her place. We drove for a long time till he stopped by a highwall, and then, master, there was a fight," said Ling Chu simply.

  "It took me a long time to overcome him and then I had to carry him. Wecame to a policeman who took us in another car to a hospital where mywounds were dressed. Then they came to me and told me the man was dyingand wished to see somebody because he had that in his heart for whichhe desired ease.

  "So he talked, master, and the man wrote for an hour, and then he passedto his fathers, that little white-faced man."

  He finished abruptly as was his custom. Tarling took the papers up andopened them, glanced through page after page, Whiteside sitting patientlyby without interrupting.

  When Tarling had finished the documents, he looked across the table.

  "Thornton Lyne was killed by Sam Stay," he said, and Whiteside stared athim.

  "But----" he began.

  "I have suspected it for some time, but there were one or two links inthe evidence which were missing and which I was unable to supply. Let meread you the statement of Sam Stay."

  CHAPTER THE LAST

  THE STATEMENT OF SAM STAY

  "My name is Sam Stay. I was born at Maidstone in the County of Kent. Myage is twenty-nine years. I left school at the age of eleven and gotmixed up with a bad set, and at the age of thirteen I was convicted forstealing from a shop, and was sent to Borstal Institute for four years.

  "On my release from Borstal I went to London, and a year later wasconvicted of house-breaking, receiving a sentence of twelve months'imprisonment with hard labour. On my release from prison I was taken upby a society who taught me motor-driving, and I secured a licence inanother name as a taxicab driver and for twelve months drove a cab onthe streets. At the end of that period I was convicted for stealingpassengers' baggage and was sent to prison for eighteen months.

  "It was after my release from this term of imprisonment that I first metMr. Thornton Lyne. I met him in the following manner. I had been given aletter from the Prisoners' Aid Society and went to Mr. Thornton Lyne toget a job. He took a great interest in me and from the very first was thebest friend I had ever had. His kindness was wonderful and I think therenever was a man in the world with such a beautiful nature as his.

  "He assisted me many times, and although I went back to prison, he neverdeserted me, but helped me as a friend and was never disgusted when I gotinto trouble.

  "I was released from gaol in the spring of this year and was met at theprison gates by Mr. Thornton Lyne in a beautiful motor-car. He treatedme as though I were a prince and took me home to his grand house and gaveme food and beautiful wine.

  "He told me that he had been very much upset by a young lady whom he hadlooked after. This young lady worked for him and he had given her workwhen she was starving. He said that she had been spreading lies about himand that she was a bad girl. I had never seen this person, whose name wasOdette Rider, but I felt full of hatred towards her, and the more hespoke about the girl the more determined I was to have revenge on her.

  "When he told me that she was very beautiful, I remembered in the samegang as me at Wandsworth Gaol there had been a man named Selser. That isthe name as far as I can remember. He was serving a lagging [a term ofpenal servitude] for throwing vitriol in the face of his girl. She hadlet him down and had married another man while he was serving a term ofimprisonment. I believe she was very beautiful. When Selser got out helaid wait for her and threw vitriol in her face, and he has often told methat he didn't regret it.

  "So that when Mr. Lyne told me that the girl was beautiful, this ideastruck me that I would have revenge upon her. I was living in Lambeth atthe house of an old lag, who practically took nobody but crooks aslodgers. It cost more than ordinary lodging but it was worth it, becauseif the police made any inquiries the landlord or his wife would alwaysgive wrong information. I went to this place because I intendedcommitting a burglary at Muswell Hill with a man who was released fromgaol two or three days before me, who knew the crib and asked me, when wewere at work one day, if I would go in with him on the job. I thoughtthere might be a chance of getting away with the stuff, if I could getsomebody to swear that I hadn't left the house that night.

  "I told the landlord I had a job on the 14th and gave him L1. I saw Mr.Lyne on the 14th at his house and put the idea up to him. I showed himthe vitriol which I had bought in the Waterloo Road and he said he wouldnot hear of my doing it. I thought he only said that because he did notwant to be mixed up in the case. He asked me to leave the girl to him andhe would settle with her.

  "I left his house about nine o'clock at night, telling him I was goingback to my lodgings. But really I went to the block of flats in theEdgware Road where this girl Rider lived. I knew the flat because I hadbeen there the night before at Mr. Lyne's suggestion to plant somejewellery which had been taken from the store. His idea was that hewould pinch her for theft. I had not been able to get into the house,owing to the presence there of a detective named Tarling, but I had hada very good look round and I knew the way in, without coming through thefront door, where a porter was always on duty.

  "I had no difficulty either in getting into the building or into theflat. I thought it best to go in early because the girl might be out atthe theatre and I should have a chance of concealing myself before herreturn. When I got into the flat I found it was in darkness. This suitedmy purpose very well. I went from one room to another. At last I came tothe bedroom. I made an inspection of the room, looking about for a likelyplace where I could hide.

  "At the foot of the bed was an alcove covered by a curtain where severaldresses and a dressing-gown were hanging, and I found that I could easilyget in there behind the clothes and nobody would be the wiser. There weretwo clothes-hooks projecting outside the curtain just inside the alcove.I mention these because of something which happened later.

  "Whilst I was prying around I heard a key turn in the lock and switchedoff the lights. I had just time to get into the alcove when the dooropened and a man named Milburgh appeared. He turned on the lights as hecame into the room and shut the door after him. He looked around asthough he was thinking about something and then, taking off his coat, hehung it on one of the hooks near the alcove. I held my breath fearingthat he would look inside, but he did not.

  "He walked about the room as though he was looking for something, andagain I was afraid that I should be discovered after all, but by and byhe went out and came back with a small suit-case. It was after he hadgone that I saw poking out of the pocket of the overcoat which had beenhung on the hook, the butt of a pistol. I didn't quite know what to makeof it, but thinking that it was better in my pocket than in his if I werediscovered, I lifted it out of the pocket and slipped it into my own.

  "After a while he came back as I say and started packing the bag on thebed. Presently he looked at his watch and said something to himself,turned out the lights and hurried out. I waited and waited for him tocome back but nothing happened, and knowing that I would have plenty oftime if he came back again, I had a look at the pistol I had. It was anautomatic and it was loaded. I had never worked with a gun in my life,but I thought I might as well take this as I intended committing a crimewhich might land me in jug for the term of my natural life. I thought Imight as well be hung as go to penal servitude.

  "Then I put out the lights and sat down by the window, waiting for MissRider's return. I lit a cigarette, and opened the window to let out thesmell of the smoke. I took out the bottle of vitriol, removed the corkand placed it on a stool near by.

  "I don't know how long I waited in the dark, but about eleven o'clock, asfar as I can judge, I heard the outer door click very gently and a softfoot in the hall. I knew it wasn't Milburgh because he was a heavy man.This person moved like a cat. In fact, I did not hear the door of thebedroom open. I waite
d with the vitriol on the stool by my side, for thelight to be switched on, but nothing happened. I don't know what made medo it but I walked towards the person who had come into the room.

  "Then, before I knew what had happened, somebody had gripped me. I washalf-strangled by an arm which had been thrown round my neck and Ithought it was Milburgh who had detected me the first time and had comeback to pinch me. I tried to push him away, but he struck me on the jaw.

  "I was getting frightened for I thought the noise would rouse the peopleand the police would come, and I must have lost my head. Before I knewwhat had happened I had pulled the gun out of my pocket and firedpoint-blank. I heard a sound like a thud of the body falling. The pistolwas still in my hand, and my first act was to get rid of it. I felt abasket by my legs in the darkness. It was full of cotton and wool andstuff and I pushed the pistol down to the bottom and then groped acrossthe room and switched on the lights.

  "As I did so, I heard the key turn in the lock again. I gave one glanceat the body which had fallen on its face and then I dived for the alcove.

  "The man who came in was Milburgh. His back was to me. As he turned thebody over I could not see its face. I saw him take something out of thedrawer and bind it round the chest and I saw him strip off the coat andvest, but not until he had gone out and I came from the recess, did Irealise that the man I had killed was dear Mr. Lyne.

  "I think I must have gone raving mad with grief. I don't know what I did.All I thought of was that there must be some chance and he wasn't dead atall and he must be got away to a hospital. We had discussed the plan ofgoing into the flat and he had told me how he would bring his car to theback. I rushed out of the flat, going through the back way. Sure enoughthere was the car waiting and nobody was about.

  "I came back to the bedroom and lifted him in my arms and carried himback to the car, propping him up in the seat. Then I went back and gothis coat and vest and threw them on to the seat by him. I found his bootswere also in the car and then for the first time I noticed that he hadslippers on his feet.

  "I have been a taxi-driver so I know how to handle a car and in a fewminutes I was going along the Edgware Road, on my way to St. George'sHospital. I turned in through the park because I didn't want people tosee me, and it was when I had got into a part where nobody was about thatI stopped the car to have another look at him. I realised that he wasquite dead.

  "I sat in that car with him for the best part of two hours, crying as Inever have cried, then after a while I roused myself and carried him outand laid him on the sidewalk, some distance from the car. I had enoughsense to know that if he were found dead in my company it would go verybadly with me, but I hated leaving him and after I had folded his arms Isat by him for another hour or two.

  "He seemed so cold and lonely that it made my heart bleed to leave him atall. In the early light of morning I saw a bed of daffodils growing closeby and I plucked a few and laid them on his breast because I loved him."

  Tarling finished reading and looked at his assistant.

  "That is the end of the Daffodil Mystery," he said. "A fairly simpleexplanation, Whiteside. Incidentally, it acquits our friend Milburgh, wholooks like escaping conviction altogether."

  * * * * *

  A week later two people were walking slowly along the downs overlookingthe sea. They had walked for a mile in complete silence, then suddenlyOdette Rider said:

  "I get very easily tired. Let us sit down."

  Tarling obediently sunk down by her side.

  "I read in the newspapers this morning, Mr. Tarling," she said, "that youhave sold Lyne's Store."

  "That's true," said Tarling. "There are very many reasons why I do notwant to go into the business, or stay in London."

  She did not look at him, but played with the blades of grass she hadplucked.

  "Are you going abroad?" she asked.

  "We are," said Tarling.

  "We?" she looked at him in surprise. "Who are we?"

  "I am referring to myself and a girl to whom I made violent love atHertford," said Tarling, and she dropped her eyes.

  "I think you were sorry for me," she said, "and you were rather led intoyour wild declaration of--of----"

  "Love?" suggested Tarling.

  "That's the word," she replied with a little smile. "You were led to saywhat you did because of my hopeless plight."

  "I was led to say what I did," said Tarling, "because I loved you."

  "Where are you--we--going?" she asked awkwardly.

  "To South America," said Tarling, "for a few months. Then afterwards tomy well-beloved China for the cool season."

  "Why to South America?" asked the girl.

  "Because," said Tarling, "I was reading an article on horticulture inthis morning's papers and I learnt that daffodils do not grow in theArgentine."

  * * * * *

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