The sea mystery : $b An Inspector French detective storyCrofts, Freeman Wills
General
The sea mystery : $b An Inspector French detective story
Crofts, Freeman Wills
Detective and mystery stories; French, Joseph (Fictitious character) -- Fiction; Police -- Great Britain -- Fiction
This view speedily proved correct. He had visited only three offices
when a constable arrived with a message. News of the crate had been
obtained at the Morriston Road Goods Station.
Fifteen minutes later French reached the place. He was met at the gate
by Sergeant Jefferies, who had made the discovery.
“I asked in the goods office first, sir,” the sergeant explained, “but
they didn’t remember anything there. Then I came out to the yard and
began enquiring from the porters. At the fifth shot I found a man who
remembered loading the crate. I didn’t question him further, but sent
you word.”
“That was right, Sergeant. We shall soon get what we want. This the
man?”
“Yes, sir.”
French turned to a thick set man in the uniform of a goods porter, who
was standing expectantly by.
“Good day,” he said, pleasantly. “I want to know what you can tell me
about that crate that was loaded upon a crane lorry about six weeks
ago.”
“I can’t tell you nothing about it except that I helped for to get it
loaded up,” the porter answered. “I was trucking here when Mr. Evans
came up; he’s one o’ the clerks, you understand. Well, he came up and
handed me a waybill and sez: ‘Get out that crate,’ he sez, ‘an’ get it
loaded up on this lorry,’ he sez. So I calls two or three o’ the boys
to give me a hand and we gets it loaded up. An’ that’s all I knows
about it.”
“That’s all right. Now just take me along to Mr. Evans, will you?”
The man led the way across the yard to the office. Mr. Evans was only
a junior, but this fact did not prevent French from treating him with
his usual courtesy. He explained that the youth had it in his power to
give him valuable help for which he would be very grateful. The result
was that Evans instantly became his eager ally, willing to take any
trouble to find out what was required.
The youth remembered the details of the case. It appeared that shortly
after four o’clock one afternoon some five or six weeks previously a
man called for a crate. He was of rather above medium height and
build, with reddish hair and a high colour and wore glasses. He
sounded to Evans like a Londoner. At all events, he was not a native.
Evans had looked up the waybills and had found that a package had been
invoiced to some one of the name given. The crate answered the man’s
description, and was carriage paid and addressed, “To be called for.”
Evans had, therefore, no hesitation in letting him have it.
Unfortunately, he could not remember the stranger’s name, but he would
search for it through the old waybills.
He vanished for a few minutes, then returned with a bulky volume which
he set down triumphantly before French.
“There you are,” he exclaimed, pointing to an item. “‘Mr. James S.
Stephenson, Great Western Railway Goods Station, Morriston Road,
Swansea. To be called for.’ ‘Stephenson’ was the name. I remember it
now.”
This was good enough as far as it went, but Evans’s next answer was
the one that really mattered.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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