In a reply to a question from French, Jeffrey explained the position regarding liability. As French would understand, if the ship had been lost through the action of Messrs Weaver Bannister, they would not have to pay. Under all other circumstances they would. It was on this point Sutton had been particularly engaged at the time of his disappearance.
‘Had he come to any conclusion upon it?’ French asked.
‘He thought everything connected with Weaver Bannister’s was straight.’ Jeffrey hesitated, then went on. ‘But he mentioned a rumour he had heard.’ And he went on to repeat Sutton’s story about the breaking up of the
Jane
Vosper
. ‘Of course,’ he added, ‘this was the merest hearsay.’
‘I haven’t gone into it, of course,’ French answered, ‘but I’ve always heard the Southern Ocean was a sound concern. Does it seem likely, on the face of it, that they’d put through a fraud like this? What’s your own view, Mr Jeffrey?’
Jeffrey shrugged. ‘I agree with you. I should say it was most unlikely. But precisely the same applies to all the companies concerned. So far as I can see, one of them must be guilty, for the ship didn’t sink by accident. The question is simply: Which one?’
‘Did you get the insurance figures of the other companies?’
‘Yes, they were all given in evidence at the enquiry.’ Jeffrey took a folder from a drawer and passed it across. ‘I had them noted and copied out.’
‘These certainly look all right – if they’re correct,’ French agreed when he had read the statement.
‘All except possibly that for the ship herself. If they intended to work the
Jane
Vosper
for a few years still, £20,000 would be reasonable enough. If, on the other hand, they were going to break her up after this voyage, it would be high.’
French nodded. ‘Sutton acted for other firms besides yours?’
‘Yes, with our approval. He was employed by us irregularly – when required.’
French’s further questions produced but little fresh information. As soon as he had satisfied himself that he had learnt everything possible, he rang up the Yard, detailed Sutton’s description, and asked that an advice be sent round that he was missing.
‘I shall probably be back to trouble you again shortly,’ he said to Jeffrey before leaving, ‘but I have enough information now to start looking for the man, and I should like to get that under way as soon as possible.’
The next item on his programme was to get Sutton’s photograph and to look through his papers. This meant a journey to the man’s home at East Croydon, and he and Carter took the first train from Victoria.
They arrived after Mrs Sutton, but in time to witness her bitter disappointment on finding that no message from her husband had been received during her absence. She handed French the photographs, and showed him Sutton’s desk. It was characteristic of her that while he was going through the papers it contained she insisted in making him and Carter a cup of tea.
The contents of the desk showed that Sutton was a tidy man with an orderly mind. The papers, carefully placed in folders, were neatly filed and cross-indexed. In spite of it they took some time to read through. French, however, read them all, on the principle that any one of them might contain a clue which would put him on the right track. Unhappily none of them did. While he learned a good deal about Sutton’s recent activities, he obtained no hint of his fate.
By the time he had finished at East Croydon it was too late to carry out further enquiries that night. Offices would be closed and staff have gone home. French therefore returned to the Yard, and, having corrected and enlarged his description of the missing man, he arranged for this and a photograph to appear in the next day’s issue of the
Police Gazette
.
Though he arrived home late for supper, French spent an hour before going to bed in thinking over what he had learnt and planning his work for the following day. He was despondent about the case. The whole circumstances looked bad. The evidence was convincing that if Sutton had been able to inform his wife of his whereabouts, he would have done so. As he had not done so, it followed that he had not been able. But, so far as French could see, if he were not able, it could only be because of one of two things: either he had met with an accident or he had been murdered. But if he had met with an accident someone would surely have found him and his name and address would have been discovered. As this would certainly have meant a communication with his home, it looked as if the other alternative must be the truth.
But if Sutton had been murdered, it must surely have been due to something connected with his work. In this case it might be necessary for French to go himself into the cases which the detective had been investigating.
Of course it was not certain that the man had been murdered, and therefore the need for tracing his steps in these cases had not yet arisen. All the same, French told himself that if by the morning there was no news, he might assume the worst.
Next morning there was no news. Nothing had come in to the Yard, and when he rang up Mrs Sutton she said she had heard nothing, either.
French thereupon got busy. First he sent a man to Lloyd’s to find out just who Peter Murphy was, and then to arrange for an interview with him that evening. A second officer he sent to the Marine Department of the Board of Trade, to ask for any information which might be available about the sinking of the
Jane
Vosper
, including, if possible, any conclusions which might have been come to as a result of the enquiry. If these were not yet available, the officer was to try to make an appointment for French with someone in authority who had studied the case.
French had decided that he himself would visit the Weaver Bannister works, where Sutton was last seen. When, therefore, he had completed his routine business at the Yard, he set off with Carter for Watford.
The Weaver Bannister Engineering Company turned out to be a larger and more important concern than French had somehow anticipated. It was housed in some fine modern buildings in Foxley Road, white concrete structures whose sides seemed almost entirely glass. The surrounding space, so often in large works a dump for rubbish, was here turned into a sort of park, with well-kept grass, shrub borders, winding paths and a neat railing.
At the entrance to the office block was a porter in a blue uniform. To him French gave his official card and asked if he might see Mr Bannister.
The senior partner was engaged, but after a short wait the two officers were shown into his room. French at once felt the man’s personal charm just as had Jeffrey. He listened courteously while French briefly apologized for his intrusion and explained his business. Sutton had disappeared, and as his last known call had been at the works, he, French, must necessarily make the works the starting-point of his enquiries.
Bannister said he had been sorry to hear of the disappearance, though he had only met Sutton a couple of times. He had, however, told Mr Jeffrey of the Land and Sea Company all that he knew about him. Had the chief-inspector not seen Mr Jeffrey?
French admitted that he had heard Jeffrey’s report, but explained that he wanted to get his facts at first hand. He would probably have to go into the business on which the missing man was engaged, so if Mr Bannister would tell him anything he could about that, as well as about Sutton himself, he would be grateful. ‘If you could see your way to do this now, sir,’ he added, ‘it might save my troubling you again.’
‘Oh, yes, I’ll tell you,’ Bannister answered; ‘not that there’s a great deal to tell. It happens that we make a rather large type of petrol-electric set for the lighting of isolated buildings. It is similar to the Petter and other sets on the British market, but larger than most of these, and designed to light a larger area. It was developed to meet certain special requirements in foreign countries, notably the Argentine. There one of our sets will light the whole group of buildings of the ordinary hacienda or ranch.
‘We have for some time been trying to push our South American trade in these sets, and recently we sent a special representative from home to meet the foreign dealers. As a result we got a fairly good order. 50 sets for Pernambuco, 100 for Rio, 50 for Montevideo, and 150 for Buenos Aires; 350 sets altogether, with the prospect of a large demand if these gave satisfaction. The sets were completed and forwarded by the steamer
Jane
Vosper
, which, as I suppose you know, was lost near Madeira. You probably know all about our insuring with the Land and Sea people, and our present claim. That, of course, was what Sutton was enquiring into.’
‘Yes, I’ve heard about that part of it. I’m obliged to you, sir. I think that’s all I want from you at the moment. But I should like, if I may, to see the gentleman who interviewed Sutton when he called on Wednesday.’
‘Mr Hislop. He’s the second in command in our export department.’ As Bannister spoke he touched a bell, and when a clerk answered he told him to conduct the callers to Mr Dornford. ‘Mr Dornford is the head of the department,’ he explained. ‘He will put you in touch with Mr Hislop.’
Dornford was a frail-looking old man with a rather weak face, though his eyes were sharp and intelligent. He greeted French civilly, heard his business and said he had not personally seen Sutton on the Wednesday, but that his assistant had done so, and he would send for him. Presently a good-looking man in the late thirties entered and was introduced as Mr Hislop.
A glance at the newcomer’s face showed that here was the real head of the department. Energy, decision, competence and aggression were printed there. And the suggestion was confirmed by the deference with which the older man spoke to him.
‘Better take the chief-inspector to your office, Hislop,’ he ended up. ‘Then he can ask you what he wants to know.’
French repeated the little introduction he had made to Bannister, and then asked Hislop if he would tell him what passed at his interview with Sutton on the Wednesday.
Though French had not taken either to the assistant’s appearance or manner, he had to admit that no fault could be found with his response to the request. Hislop gave a full account of what had happened, adding that if there was anything else the chief-inspector wanted he had only to ask for it.
It appeared that after lunch on that Wednesday Sutton had rung him up, saying he wanted a little further information about the South American sets, and would Hislop be there if he came out immediately. Hislop had replied that he was going down into the City, but that if Sutton came at once he would wait for him. Sutton had agreed to this, and had duly arrived.
He had previously been given very full details of the sets and of their dispatch, and Hislop had been somewhat at a loss to know what more he could require. However, it appeared that what he wanted was the numbers of the railway wagons in which the sets had been loaded.
‘I didn’t know they had gone by rail,’ French said. ‘That seems strange to me, because, if my recollection is correct, there’s no siding into the London Docks.’
‘You are correct in that,’ Hislop replied. ‘However, it was a matter of £ s d. We found that it would cost us less to send the stuff by rail than by road. You may imagine we went into it carefully enough.’
‘I’m sure you did,’ French admitted. ‘What was the route used?’
‘That I can’t tell you. We have a siding into the works, an LMS siding. The sets were loaded in the works and were run – I don’t know how – to the LMS Haydon Square Goods Station. If you don’t know it, it’s close behind the Minories, just beside the docks. From there they were, of course, carted down. It’s quite convenient.’
‘I know the place,’ French agreed. ‘And Sutton came to get the wagon numbers that were used?’
‘Yes. He said that as a matter of form he was going to trace their journey to make sure that the cases were not tampered with
en route.
I got him the numbers from our loading department.’
‘And was that all he wanted?’
‘Yes, that and the time the wagons had left our yard.’
‘I understand. Then I think you told Mr Jeffrey that you and Sutton left the works together?’
‘Yes. I had, as I had told him when he rang up, an appointment down at St Katherine’s Docks. We went together as far as Baker Street. There our ways divided.’
‘You travelled Metropolitan?’
‘Yes, the Metropolitan station’s the nearest to the works.’ ‘Quite. Did Sutton mention where he was going?’ ‘To Waterloo Station. He changed to the Bakerloo Tube, while I carried on Metropolitan to Mark Lane.’
‘Quite. Did he say what he was going to Waterloo for?’ ‘No, gave me no idea.’
‘What sort of mood did he seem in, Mr Hislop?’
‘A perfectly ordinary mood. I noticed nothing in any way out of the common. But, of course, you understand that I had only seen him twice before, so I couldn’t be sure of his normal manner.’
‘I understand. Now, Mr Hislop, I want you please to think carefully. Did Sutton make any remark, or otherwise, which gave you any hint of what was in his mind? I mean as to his plans or what he thought about his enquiry – anything at all, no matter how vague, which might help me in tracing him?’
Hislop hadn’t noticed anything. ‘To tell you the truth,’ he admitted in a burst of confidence, ‘I didn’t worry myself overmuch about the affair. I was rather fed up with all the questions. Of course, I didn’t blame either Sutton or his company; they were bound to satisfy themselves as to the bona fides of our claim. But I knew it was all right, and going over what could only have one result rather bored me. Besides, I had my own business. I was making arrangements about sending some refrigerating machinery to Stockholm, and my mind was partly engaged with the interview I was about to have.’
French realized that while this was probably true, it was also a hint, and as he saw that he had obtained all the information he could hope for, he tactfully brought the interview to a close by thanking Hislop for his patience and courtesy. Five minutes later he and Carter had left the works on their return to Town.
When French reached the Yard he found that two reports had come in, one each from the men he had sent to Lloyd’s and the Board of Trade.