Criminals -- England -- Fiction; Detective and mystery stories
“Faith is a wonderful thing,” murmured Elk, and Dick turned on him
sharply.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean what I say. I have got faith in Miss Bennett,” he said
soothingly; “and, after all, she’s only another little bit of the jigsaw
puzzle that will fall into place when we fix the piece that’s shaped
like a Frog. And John Bennett’s another,” he said after a moment’s
thought.
From where they stood they could see, looking toward Shoreham, the
opening of the narrow Elsham Wood road.
“The thing that puzzles me,” Elk was saying, “is why she should go into
that wood in the middle of the night——” He stopped, lowering his head.
There came to them the soft purr of a motor-car. “Where is that?” he
asked.
The question was answered instantly. Slowly there came into view from
the wood road the bonnet of a car, followed immediately by the remainder
of a large limousine, which turned toward them, gathering speed as it
came. A moment later it flashed past them, and they saw the solitary
occupant.
“Well, I’m damned!” said Elk, who very infrequently indulged in
profanity, but Dick felt that on this occasion at least he was
justified. For the man in the limousine was the bearded Ezra Maitland;
and he knew that it was to see Maitland that the girl had gone to Elsham
Wood.
CHAPTER XX
HAGN
A MINUTE later Ella came to the door to call them.
“Was that a car went past?” she asked, and they detected a note of
anxiety in her tone.
“Yes,” said Elk, “it was a big car. Didn’t see who was in it, but it was
a big car.”
Dick heard her sigh of relief.
“Will you come in, please?” she said. “Breakfast is waiting for you.”
They left half an hour later, and each man was so busy with his own
thoughts that Dick did not speak until they were passing the villas
where the body of Genter had been found. It was near Horsham that Genter
was killed, he remembered with a little shudder. Outside of Horsham he
himself had seen the dead man’s feet extended beyond the back of a
motor-van. Hagn should die for that; whether he was Frog or not, he was
party to that murder. As if reading his thoughts, Elk turned to him and
said:
“Do you think your evidence is strong enough to hang Hagn?”
“I was wondering,” said Dick. “There is no supporting evidence,
unfortunately, but the car which you have under lock and key, and the
fact that the garage keeper may be able to identify him.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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