Aaron Rodd, DivinerOppenheim, E. Phillips (Edward Phillips)
General
Aaron Rodd, Diviner
Oppenheim, E. Phillips (Edward Phillips)
Detective and mystery stories, English; English fiction -- 20th century
"Get on with it, then," the lady urged. "He may come in at any moment."
"Can you tell me in which direction his sympathies lie with regard to
the war?"
Miss Pamela Keane was for a moment serious. Then she shrugged her
shoulders.
"Well, you know," she said, "there are a good many of us Americans who
think that Great Britain's been asking for trouble for some years back.
A little too much of the Lord Almighty, you know. I shouldn't say that
Jack was overmuch in sympathy with you Britishers."
"That helps," Aaron Rodd admitted. "In two or three days at the most I
think I can let you have a report. So far as I can see at present," he
added, "I think that it will be satisfactory to you."
"Say, you're smarter than you look, Mr. Rodd," she declared, as she
turned away with a little nod. "Come round and see me any time."
The two men finished their luncheon and walked round to Scotland Yard.
Inspector Ditchwater, for whom they enquired, received them with some
surprise.
"Gentlemen," he said, "this is a most unexpected pleasure."
"We have come," Aaron Rodd began, "to lay certain information before
you which has come to me professionally, and to ask for your aid. The
facts are these. A certain Mrs. Abrahams, who is a German woman by
birth, married to an anglicised German Jew, who was naturalised fifteen
years ago, is in the habit of receiving a little circle of friends
every afternoon. These friends are every one of them of more or less
German sympathies, although they some of them occupy public posts in
this country. One of them, I have reason to know, is receiving money
continually from Mrs. Abrahams. I have no proof of anything, and I am
not in a position to proceed far enough in the matter to secure it.
The authority of the law is needed. My friend here, Mr. Cresswell, has
been to the Home Office and has interviewed Sir Lionel Rastall. He,
however, declines to intervene in the matter because Mrs. Abrahams, who
is a woman of a great deal of superficial culture and many
acquaintances, is a friend of several Cabinet Ministers."
"If Sir Lionel declines to interfere," the inspector pointed out, "what
can we do?"
"Get on to the track and find some proof," Aaron Rodd suggested.
"There isn't any one can stop you then from behaving in a commonsense
manner."
"And lose our promotion and get snubbed for our pains," the detective
remarked. "I don't care much about the job, Mr. Rodd, thanking you all
the same. I don't mind telling you that Mrs. Abrahams was on the list
of suspected persons kept here, and has been crossed off at the special
instructions of a highly-placed personage. It isn't my business to
interfere with her or her doings."
The two visitors withdrew, a little perplexed. The poet, however, was
undaunted.
"My friend," he said, "this was to be my adventure and I tell you I've
a trump card left yet. Come along."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account