Detective and mystery stories; London (England) -- Fiction; Murder -- Investigation -- Fiction
In the first place, he noted that the absence of Louis from town on
that night was deposed to by Binjoy; in the same way Louis said that
Binjoy had not left Taxton-on-Thames for six weeks. Both these
statements had been made to Fanks by Vaud. It would then appear that
Louis and the doctor were in collusion to obtain the property of
Gregory by procuring his death at the hands of the negro. But even
this theory failed to discover, or point out, who was the man who had
called to leave the parcel at Half Moon Street. The constable had
asserted positively that no negro had gone up the stairs. If then the
messenger was not the negro, it was either Binjoy or Sir Louis. Mr.
Vaud said that the one was ill, the other in attendance. Thus the case
stood when Fanks left the office of Vaud and Vaud; and he felt utterly
unable to cope with the intricacies which met him on every hand. There
seemed no way in or out.
Yet in the face of the presumption that Renshaw was not the double of
Binjoy, the detective determined to follow up that clue. He did not
like the way in which the doctor had behaved, either in the chamber of
death, or at the inquest; he was suspicious of his apparent intimacy
with Mrs. Boazoph: therefore, for his own gratification, he went to
Great Auk Street to interview the man, and to see whether his
suspicions had any foundation in fact. On arriving at the house he was
unable to decide on his next action, but before he left it again he
had determined what to do.
A stupid-looking man-servant received Fanks, and took him into a dull
waiting room, while he went to inform Dr. Renshaw of the name of his
visitor. In a few moments he returned and conducted the detective to
the back of the house, where he found Renshaw waiting for him in the
company of another man. This latter was Dr. Turnor, for whom Renshaw
had been acting as "locum tenens;" a lean, little man with a ferret of
a face, and a sharp, jerky way of speaking which must have been
exceedingly irritating in a sickroom. Renshaw was more imposing in
looks than ever, and, with habitual restlessness, combed his long,
brown beard with his fingers; but in the badly-lighted room Fanks
could not find out if the beard was false. So closely did Renshaw
resemble Garth's description of Binjoy, that notwithstanding
Vaud's evidence, Fanks was on the alert to discover if--as he truly
believed--the two were one and the same. The ensuing conversation was
likely to prove interesting in more ways than one.
After being introduced to Fanks, and acknowledging the introduction
with a sour smile, Turnor arose to leave the room. He was stopped by
Renshaw, who evidently did not relish the idea of facing a difficult
interview by himself. Another proof, as Fanks considered, of his
uneasy conscience.
"Pray do not depart, Turnor," he said, in his usual pompous manner. "I
have no secrets from you. I trust, Mr. Fanks, that you see no
objection in my adopting this course?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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