The Essential Edgar Wallace Collection. Edgar Wallace

night Bulford was murdered?"

      "When Miss Jean Briggerland had recovered from her horror, she went upstairs and aroused her father, who, despite the early hour, was in bed and asleep. When the police came, or rather, when the detective in charge of the case arrived, which must have been some time after the policeman on point duty put in an appearance, Mr. Briggerland was discovered in a picturesque dressing gown and, I presume, no less picturesque pyjamas."

      "Horrified, too, I suppose," said Rennett dryly.

      Jack was silent for a long time. Then: "Rennett," he said, "do you know I am more rattled about this girl than I am about any consequences to ourselves."

      "Which girl are you talking about?"

      "About Mrs. Meredith. Whilst poor Meredith was alive she was in no particular danger. But do you realise that what were advantages from our point of view, namely, the fact that she had no relations in the world, are to-day a source of considerable peril to this unfortunate lady?"

      "I had forgotten that," said Rennett thoughtfully. "What makes matters a little more complicated, is the will which Meredith made this morning before he was married."

      Jack whistled.

      "Did he make a will?" he said in surprise.

      His partner nodded.

      "You remember he was here with me for half an hour. Well, he insisted upon writing out a will and my wife and Bolton, the butler, witnessed it."

      "And he has left his money----?"

      "To his wife absolutely," replied the other. "The poor old chap was so frantically keen on keeping the money out of the Briggerland exchequer, that he was prepared to entrust the whole of his money to a girl he had not seen."

      Jack was serious now.

      "And the Briggerlands are her heirs? Do you realise that, Rennett--there's going to be hell!"

      Mr. Rennett nodded.

      "I thought that too," he said quietly.

      Jack sank down in a seat, his face screwed up into a hideous frown, and the elder man did not interrupt his thoughts. Suddenly Jack's face cleared and he smiled.

      "Jaggs!" he said softly.

      "Jaggs?" repeated his puzzled partner.

      "Jaggs," said Jack, nodding, "he's the fellow. We've got to meet strategy with strategy, Rennett, and Jaggs is the boy to do it."

      Mr. Rennett looked at him helplessly.

      "Could Jaggs get us out of our trouble too?" he asked sarcastically.

      "He could even do that," replied Jack.

      "Then bring him along, for I have an idea he'll have the time of his life."

      Chapter VII

      Miss Jean Briggerland reached her home in Berkeley Street soon after nine o'clock. She did not ring, but let herself in with a key and went straight to the dining-room, where her father sat eating his breakfast, with a newspaper propped up before him.

      He was the dark-skinned man whom Lydia had seen at the theatre, and he looked up over his gold-rimmed spectacles as the girl came in.

      "You have been out very early," he said.

      She did not reply, but slowly divesting herself of her sable coat she threw it on to a chair, took off the toque that graced her shapely head, and flung it after the coat. Then she drew out a chair, and sat down at the table, her chin on her palms, her blue eyes fixed upon her parent.

      Nature had so favoured her that her face needed no artificial embellishment--the skin was clear and fine of texture, and the cold morning had brought only a faint pink to the beautiful face.

      "Well, my dear," Mr. Briggerland looked up and beamed through his glasses, "so poor Meredith has committed suicide?"

      She did not speak, keeping her eyes fixed on him.

      "Very sad, very sad," Mr. Briggerland shook his head.

      "How did it happen?" she asked quietly.

      Mr. Briggerland shrugged his shoulders.

      "I suppose at the sight of you he bolted back to his hiding place where--er--had been located by--er--interested persons during the night, then seeing me by the shed--he committed the rash and fatal act. Somehow I thought he would run back to his dug-out."

      "And you were prepared for him?" she said.

      He smiled.

      "A clear case of suicide, my dear," he said.

      "Shot through the left temple, and the pistol was found in his right hand," said the girl.

      Mr. Briggerland started.

      "Damn it," he said. "Who noticed that?"

      "That good-looking young lawyer, Glover."

      "Did the police notice?"

      "I suppose they did when Glover called their attention to the fact," said the girl.

      Mr. Briggerland took off his glasses and wiped them.

      "It was done in such a hurry--I had to get back through the garden gate to join the police. When I got there, I found they'd been attracted by the shot and had entered the house. Still, nobody would know I was in the garden, and anyway my association with the capture of an escaped convict would not get into the newspapers."

      "But a case of suicide would," said the girl. "Though I don't suppose the police will give away the person who informed them that James Meredith would be at Dulwich Grange."

      Mr. Briggerland sat back in his chair, his thick lips pursed, and he was not a beautiful sight.

      "One can't remember everything," he grumbled.

      He rose from his chair, went to the door, and locked it. Then he crossed to a bureau, pulled open a drawer and took out a small revolver. He threw out the cylinder, glanced along the barrel and the chambers to make sure it was not loaded, then clicked it back in position, and standing before a glass, he endeavoured, the pistol in his right hand, to bring the muzzle to bear on his left temple. He found this impossible, and signified his annoyance with a grunt. Then he tried the pistol with his thumb on the trigger and his hand clasping the back of the butt. Here he was more successful.

      "That's it," he said with satisfaction. "It could have been done that way."

      She did not shudder at the dreadful sight, but watched him with the keenest interest, her chin still in the palm of her hand. He might have been explaining a new way of serving a tennis ball, for all the emotion he evoked.

      Mr. Briggerland came back to the table, toyed with a piece of toast and buttered it leisurely.

      "Everybody is going to Cannes this year," he said, "but I think I shall stick to Monte Carlo. There is a quiet about Monte Carlo which is very restful, especially if one can get a villa on the hill away from the railway. I told Morden yesterday to take the new car across and meet us at Boulogne. He says that the new body is exquisite. There is a micraphonic attachment for telephoning to the driver, the electrical heating apparatus is splendid and----"

      "Meredith was married."

      If she had thrown a bomb at him she could not have produced a more tremendous sensation. He gaped at her, and pushed himself back from the table.

      "Married?" His voice was a squeak.

      She nodded.

      "It's a lie," he roared.