The Middle of Things Page 27

  CHAPTER XXVII

  THE BACK WAY

  Viner was so sure that the sound which he had heard on Mrs. Killenhall'sretirement was that caused by the turning of a key or slipping of a lockin the door by which he had entered, that before speaking to Miss Wickhamhe instantly stepped back and tried it. To his astonishment it openedreadily, but the anteroom outside was empty; Mrs. Killenhall hadevidently walked straight through it and disappeared.

  "That's odd!" he said, turning to Miss Wickham. "I distinctly thoughtI heard something like the snap of a lock, or a bolt or something.Didn't you?"

  "I certainly heard a sound of that sort," admitted Miss Wickham."But--the door's open, isn't it?"

  "Yes--that is so," answered Viner, who was distinctly puzzled. "Yet--butthen, all this seems very odd. When did you come down here?"

  "About an hour ago," replied Miss Wickham, "in a hurry."

  "Do you know why?" asked Viner.

  "To see a Dr. Martincole, who is to tell us something about Mr. Ashton,"replied his fellow-sharer in these strange quarters. "Didn't Mrs.Killenhall ask you to come down for the same purpose, Mr. Viner?"

  Viner, before he replied, looked round the room. Considering the extremeshabbiness and squalour of the surrounding district, he was greatlysurprised to find that the apartment in which he and Miss Wickham waitedwas extremely well furnished, if in an old-fashioned and rather heavyway. The walls were panelled in dark, age-stained oak, to the height ofseveral feet; above the panelling were arranged good oil pictures, whichViner would have liked to examine at his leisure; here and there, incabinets, were many promising curiosities; there were old silver andbrass things, and a shelf or two of well-bound books--altogether theplace and its effects were certainly not what Viner had expected to findin such a quarter.

  "Yes," he said at last, turning to his companion, "that's what I wasbrought here for. Well--have you seen this doctor?"

  "No," answered Miss Wickham. "Not yet."

  "Know anything about him?" suggested Viner.

  "Nothing whatever! I have heard of him," said Miss Wickham with a glanceof surprise. "I suppose he--somehow--got into touch with MissKillenhall."

  "Queer!" remarked Viner. "And why doesn't he come in?"

  Then, resolved to know more, he walked into the anteroom, and after alook round it, tried the door by which Mrs. Killenhall had admitted himafter coming up the stairs from the street; a second later he went backto Miss Wickham and shook his head.

  "It's just as I supposed," he remarked quietly. "We're trapped! Anyway,the door of that anteroom is locked--and it's a strong lock. There'ssomething wrong."

  The girl started, and paled a little, but Viner saw at once that she wasnot likely to be seriously frightened, and presently she laughed.

  "How very queer!" she said. "But--perhaps Mrs. Killenhall turned the keyin the outer lock so that no--patients, or other callers,perhaps--should come in?"

  "Sorry, but that doesn't strike me as a good suggestion," replied Viner."I'm going to have a look at that window!"

  The one window of the room, a long, low one, was set high in the wall,above the panelling; Viner had to climb on a bookcase to get at it. Andwhen he had reached it, he found it to be securely fastened, and to havein front of it, at a distance of no more than a yard, a blank whitewashedwall which evidently rose from a passage between that and the next house.

  "I don't like the look of this at all!" he said as he got down from thebookcase. "It seems to me that we might be kept here for a long time."

  Miss Wickham showed more astonishment than fear.

  "But why should any one want to keep us here for any time?" she asked."What's it mean?"

  "I wish I knew!" exclaimed Viner. He pulled out his watch and made amental note of the time. "We're being kept much longer than we should bein any ordinary case," he remarked.

  "Of course!" admitted Miss Wickham. "Well past three o'clock, isn'tit? If we're delayed much longer, Mrs. Killenhall will be too latefor the bank."

  "What bank?" asked Viner.

  "My bank. I always give Mrs. Killenhall a check for the weekly billsevery Friday, and as we were coming through the City to get here, shesaid, just before we left home, that I might as well give her the checkand she could call and cash it as we drove back. And," concluded MissWickham, "the bank closes at four."

  Viner began to be suspicious.

  "Look here!" he said suddenly. "Don't think me inquisitive, but what wasthe amount of the check you gave her?"

  "There was no amount stated," replied Miss Wickham. "I always give her ablank check--signed, of course--and she fills in the amount herself. Itvaries according to what she wants."

  Without expressing any opinion on the wisdom of handing checks toother people on this plan, Viner turned to Miss Wickham with afurther question.

  "Do you know anything about Mrs. Killenhall's movements this morning?" heasked. "Did she go out anywhere?"

  "Yes," replied Miss Wickham. "She went to the police-court, to hear theproceedings against Mr. Hyde. She wanted me to go, but I wouldn't--Idislike that sort of thing. She was there all the morning."

  "So was I," said Viner. "I didn't see her. But the place was crowded."

  "And she was veiled," remarked Miss Wickham. "Naturally, she didn't wantpeople to see her in a place like that."

  "Do you know whether she went to the previous sitting? I mean when Hydewas brought up the first time?" inquired Viner. "I remember there weresome veiled ladies there--and at the coroner's inquest, too."

  "She was at the coroner's inquest, I know," replied Miss Wickham. "Idon't know about the other time."

  Viner made no remark, and Miss Wickham suddenly lowered her voice andbent nearer to him.

  "Why?" she asked. "Are you--suspecting Mrs. Killenhall of anything,Mr. Viner?"

  Viner gave her a quick glance.

  "Are you?" he said in low tones.

  Miss Wickham waved a hand towards the anteroom.

  "Well!" she whispered. "What's it look like? She brings me down herein a hurry, on a message which I myself never heard nor saw deliveredin any way; after I get here, you are fetched--and here we are!And--where is she?"

  "And--possibly a much more pertinent question," said Viner, "where isthis Dr. Martincole? Look here: this is a well-furnished room; thosepictures are good; there are many valuable things here; yet the man whopractises here is only in attendance for an hour or two in an afternoon,and once a week for rather longer in the evening. He can't earn muchhere; certainly an East End doctor could not afford to buy things likethis or that. Do you know what I think? I think this man is some West Endman, who for purposes of his own has this place down here--a man whoprobably lives a double life, and may possibly be mixed up in somenefarious practices. And so I propose, as we've waited long enough, toget out of it, and I'm going to smash that window and yell as loud as Ican--somebody will hear it!"

  Miss Wickham pointed to a door in the oak panelling, a door set in acorner of the room, across which hung a heavy curtain of red plush, onlyhalfdrawn.

  "There's a door there," she remarked, "but I suppose it's only acupboard."

  "Sure to be," said Viner. "However, we'll see." He went across, drew thecurtain aside, tried the door, looked within, and uttered an exclamation."I say!" he called back. "Stairs!"

  Miss Wickham came across and looked past his shoulder. There wascertainly the head of a staircase before him, and a few stairs to be seenbefore darkness swallowed up the rest--but the darkness was deep and theatmosphere that came up from below decidedly musty.

  "Are you going down there?" she asked. "I don't like it!"

  "It seems our only chance," answered Viner. He looked back into the room,and seeing some wax candles standing on a writing-table, seized one andlighted it. "Come along!" he said. "Let's get out of this altogether."

  Miss Wickham gathered up her skirts and followed down the stairs, Vinergoing cautiously in front, with the light held before him in such afashion that he could see every step.
At a turn in the stairway he cameacross a door, and opening it, saw that it stood at the end of a narrowpassage running through the house; at the farther end of the passage herecognized an oak cabinet which he had noticed when Mrs. Killenhallfirst admitted him.

  "I see how these people, whoever they are, manage matters," he remarkedover his shoulder as he led his companion forward. "This place has afront and a back entrance. If you don't want to be seen, you know, well,it's convenient. We're approaching the back--and here it is."

  The stairs came to an end deep down in the house, terminating in a doorwhich Viner, after leaving his silver-sticked candle, only blown out, onthe last step, carefully opened. There before him lay a narrowwhitewashed yard, at the end of which they could see a street, evidentlypretty much like the rest of the streets in that district. But in theyard a pale-cheeked, sharp-eyed urchin was feeding a couple of rabbits ina wire-faced soap-box, and him Viner immediately hailed.

  "You're a smart-looking lad," he said. "Would you like five shillings?Well, have you seen Dr. Martincole this afternoon? You know, the doctorwho comes to the house behind us?"

  "See him go out abaht an hour ago, guv'nor--wiv anuvver gent," said thelad eagerly, his bright eyes wavering between Viner's face and the handwhich he had thrust in his pocket. He pointed to the distant entrance ofthe yard. "Went aht that way, they did."

  "Ah! And what was the other gentleman like?" asked Viner.

  "Swell!" answered the informant. "Proper swell, he was!"

  "And Dr. Martincole?" Viner continued. "You've seen him many a time, ofcourse. Now what's he like!"

  "He's a tall gentleman," said the boy, after some evidentlypainful thought.

  "Yes, but what else--has he got a beard?" asked Viner.

  "Couldn't tell you that, guv'nor, d'yer see," said the lad, "'cause he'sone o' them gents what allus wears a white silk handkercher abaht hisface--up to his eyes. But he's a big man--wears black clothes."

  Viner gave the boy his promised reward, and was passing on when MissWickham touched his arm.

  "Ask if he's seen a lady go out this way," she said. "That's equallyimportant."

  The boy, duly questioned nodded his head.

  "I see Mrs. Killerby go out not so long since," he answered. "Her whatused to live here one time. Know her well enough."

  "Come along!" muttered Viner. "We've hit it! Mrs. Killerby--who is Mrs.Killenhall--used to live here at one time! Good--which means very bad,considering that without doubt the doctor who wears a white silkhandkerchief about his face is the muffled man of Lonsdale Passage. MissWickham, something has alarmed these birds and they've flown."

  "But why were we brought here?" asked Miss Wickham.

  "I've an idea as to why you were," said Viner, "and I propose to find outat once if I'm right. Let's get away, find a taxicab, and go toyour--but, good heavens!" he went on, breaking off as two men came intothe yard. "Here's one of Carless' clerks, and Perkwite thebarrister.--What are you doing here?" he demanded, as Millwaters andPerkwite hurried up. "Are you after anybody along there--in thathouse--the one at the end?"

  "We're after a good many things and people in Dr. Martincole's place, Mr.Viner," answered Millwaters. "Mr. Perkwite and I traced Mr. Cave hereearly in the afternoon; he went in, but he's never come out; we saw youenter--here you are. We saw Miss Wickham and Mrs. Killenhall--there'sMiss Wickham, but where's the other lady? And where--"

  Viner stopped the clerk's questions with a glance, and he laughed alittle as he gave him his answer.

  "My dear fellow," he said, "you should have posted somebody at the backhere. Why, we don't quite know yet, but Miss Wickham and myself weretrapped in there. As for Cave, he must be the man who went away withMartincole. As for Mrs. Killenhall, she too has gone. That boy down theresaw all three go, some time ago, while we were locked up. But--what madeyou watch these people?"

  "We followed Cave," said Perkwite, "because Millwaters had been orderedto do so, and because I considered his conduct mysterious. Then, whenwe saw what was going on here,--your arrival following on that of MissWickham and Mrs. Killenhall,--we telephoned for Mr. Carless and morehelp. Carless and Lord Ellingham, and a couple of detectives, are atthe front now. Millwaters and I heard from a denizen of these unlovelyparts that there was a back entrance. We'd tried in vain for admittanceat the front--"

  "But they've got in now, Mr. Perkwite!" exclaimed Millwaters suddenly."See, there's Mr. Carless at a back window, waving to us to come in. Isuppose we can get in by the back, Mr. Viner?"

  "Yes--if you like to take the risk of entering people's houses withoutpermission!" said Viner sardonically. "I don't think you'll find anybodyor anything there. As for Miss Wickham and myself, we've an engagementelsewhere."

  He hurried his companion away, through the street on which they emergedfrom the whitewashed yard, and out into the Whitechapel Road; he hurriedher, too, into the first taxicab which came along empty.

  "Now," he said, as they stepped in, "tell this man the name of your bank,and let him go there, quick!"