The Milliner's Hat Mystery by Basil Thomson Read Free Book Online

yes.”
    â€œHad they ever been here before?”
    â€œOh yes; often.”
    â€œWhat were their names?”
    â€œMr Blake and Mr Lewis.”
    â€œCan you describe them?”
    â€œMr Blake he was very big and heavy, and Mr Lewis he was tall, too, but thin, and he looked older than Mr Blake.”
    â€œNow, Anton, I want to see every room in the house. We must see that there is a key to every room and we must put a label on each key.”
    â€œI have no labels, sir.”
    â€œNo, but this officer has them. He will go with you round the rooms, lock them up, label the key and bring it down to this room. As you are all anxious about your wages, I advise you to apply to the Home Office tomorrow morning and there you will find that I have reported your case, too. They will tell you what to do.”
    When all the rooms were locked and the keys stowed in Sergeant Walker’s bag, Vincent gave Anton his final instructions.
    â€œYou quite understand, you must admit no one before I come here tomorrow morning. They can wait if they please until I come, but they must not move beyond the hall. If you have any trouble with one of them, ring up the number I have given you and ask for me—Chief Inspector Vincent.”

Chapter Four
    V INCENT and Walker arrived at the house in Hampstead at nine o’clock the next morning. Anton admitted them. He had the appearance of a man who had slept ill.
    â€œYou look at if you’d spent a disturbed night,” said Vincent.
    â€œSir, I have no sleep at all. These journalists they are terrible. They keep me up answering the telephone till after two this morning and then because I will tell them no more than your communiqué, they come round and ring the bell. When I tell them to go to Scotland Yard they become angry.”
    â€œIn your case I should not answer the bell or the telephone.”
    â€œThen, sir, they start knocking and keep on knocking. No one can sleep when that knocker is going rat-tat-tat…”
    Walker produced his bag of keys and the officers began their search in the library. Not a single letter or paper of any kind was found in the desk or in the drawers. Vincent rang the bell and Anton appeared.
    â€œGo and bring me the man whose duty it is to clean this room, and stay here with us to act as interpreter.”
    â€œYes sir, but that man speaks English very well.”
    â€œBring him in then.”
    Anton returned with an upstanding young man with an open face. He was a Serbian and a fluent linguist.
    â€œYou clean this room every morning?”
    â€œYes sir.”
    â€œBefore your master left the house on Saturday did you find burnt papers in the grate?”
    â€œYes sir, for many days last week the grate was full of burnt paper.”
    â€œJust letters or bigger documents?”
    â€œBoth, sir, but mostly letters.”
    â€œDid you notice anything else remarkable in the room when you cleaned it on Saturday morning?”
    â€œOnly that I think my master had been studying late on Friday night. There were books everywhere—on the table, on the chairs and even on the floor. Some were open, some closed.”
    â€œAnd you put them all back tidily in their shelves? Can you remember which books they were?”
    â€œSome of them, sir. I will show you some that I remember.”
    He brought down from the shelf three or four books which Vincent examined with curiosity. They were all in quarto size, but they varied greatly in their subjects—history, biography, travel and science. In one respect they were alike, there was a note in figures on the flyleaf—a pencilled note such as (to quote the first three) 797, 1325, 410.
    Having dismissed the manservant, Vincent turned to Walker. “What do you make of these figures? They must mean something.”
    â€œA code, do you think?”
    Vincent shook his head. “I remember hearing in France that when a certain statesman died and his effects