The Crimson Cryptogram: A Detective Story — David Hume — John Shaqi
The Crimson Cryptogram: A Detective Story
David Hume · en
The bookcase was of white-painted wood, of no great size, and with
three shelves. French novels in yellow and green paper covers
predominated and Ellis tumbled these ruthlessly on to the floor.
To all appearance the taste of the late Mr. Moxton had not been
over-refined, for the majority of the novels were by the most sensual
Parisian authors. But mingled with these decadent works were a number
of old-fashioned books, mostly educational, with here and there a slim
old-fashioned volume of travels. For the first ten minutes of his
search Ellis paid no attention to these, but looked for the will at
the back of the shelves. It was not to be found in any one of them,
but he came across an amazing number of music-hall programmes, headed:
"The Merryman, Viper Street, Soho." Evidently someone had been an
assiduous attendant at this place of amusement, if the programmes were
to be taken as evidence.
"Moxton!" said Ellis to himself, when this idea occurred to him. "So
this is where he went night after night." He examined the dates of the
programmes. "Yes! all within the last three months, one night after
another. H'm! Mrs. Moxton said that she did not know where her husband
went, yet these programmes must have informed her even if he held his
tongue. Extraordinary woman! I can't understand her actions or
denials."
Failing to find the will on the shelves, Ellis examined the books. One
of these, a fat little brown volume, entitled, _The Universal
Informer_, was inscribed on the flyleaf, "Janet Gordon, from her
father, Thomas Gordon, Edinburgh," both of which names were unknown to
Ellis. The book opened of itself at a turned-down page, on which was
set forth a list of the towns and cities of the world. Now, what
struck Ellis as strange was the fact that the turned-down page was
towards the end of the list, and contained the towns beginning with
"Z." This was one of the letters concealed in the blood signs, and to
say the least it is not a letter generally used. Wondering if he was
on the track of a discovery, Ellis glanced down the page. His eye
caught the word "lizard," and he eagerly read the paragraph in which
it was contained. Four lines informed him that "Zirknitz is a town in
Austria, and that in its environs is found a peculiar species of
lizard." Ellis reflected. "On the arm was the letter 'Z' concealed in
a sign, and the representation of a lizard. This book, which opens of
itself at this particular page, mentions an Austrian town called
Zirknitz and a peculiar lizard. There must be some connection between
the murder and this paragraph, but I can't see it myself. What can an
Austrian town have to do with the crime in Jubilee Road?"
Finding no answer to this question he pursued his search. The
old-fashioned books seemed to belong to Thomas Gordon, of Edinburgh,
but in one or two he had inscribed their presentation to his "daughter
Janet," or to his "daughter Laura."