There was silence, both men evidently absorbed in their thoughts. Marradine was the first to speak. “Fratten was murdered in a very curious way, Sir Hunter,” he said. “You probably read the story which came out at the Inquest about the accident on the Duke of York’s Steps?” Sir Hunter nodded. “That was evidently a plant of some kind—I don’t quite follow it. He was actually murdered a few minutes later. He was shot by somebody out of a car as he crossed the Mall—he was shot by a heavy rubber bullet fired from something in the nature of a cross-bow.” “Cross-bow?” Sir Hunter sat bolt upright. “Why, why that’s what Wraile used to use in ’15—when he was my Brigade Major—for throwing grenades and things at the Huns!” CHAPTER XXII Miss Saverel A few minutes after Sir Hunter Lorne left the offices of the Victory Finance Company, Inspector Poole presented himself at the door and asked the junior clerk who answered his ring to take a note in to the manager. A minute later he was himself shown into the Board Room, where Mr. Blagge, a look of mingled dignity and anxiety on his face, was awaiting him. “No trouble I hope, Inspector?” he asked. “Sir Hunter Lorne, our Chairman, has just gone out—you have only just missed him.” “Thank you, Mr. Blagge,” replied Poole, “it’s you I want to see—in the first instance. As a matter of fact, Sir Hunter is himself at Scotland Yard now, giving certain information to the Assistant-Commissioner—oh, no,” he added with a smile, as he saw the look of horror on the manager’s face, “Sir Hunter himself is not in trouble. The matter, however, is a serious one, as serious as could well be.” (Poole knew when to be ponderous.) “It is concerned with the death of Sir Garth Fratten, who, you are doubtless aware, was on the point of becoming a member of your Board when he died—a sudden and violent death.” Mr. Blagge’s reaction was exemplary—pale face, enlarged pupils, twittering fingers. “Now, Mr. Blagge,” continued Poole, “it is in your power to help the police in the execution of their duty; I need hardly add that should you attempt to hinder them you will render yourself liable to arrest as an accessory after the fact.” The manager was now ripe for exploitation. “You have as active members of your Board, in addition to your Chairman, a Mr. Travers Lessingham and a Captain James Wraile?” Mr. Blagge assented with a gulp. “Now, I want you to tell me in the first place, anything that you know about the whereabouts of Captain Wraile and Mr. Lessingham on the late afternoon of Thursday, October 24th—the afternoon on which Sir Garth Fratten met his end.” (Poole groaned in spirit at the expression, but he felt sure that it would be unction to the soul of Mr. Blagge.)