The Loss of the Jane Vosper Read online

  French’s first consideration on receiving notification of a possible crime was to decide whom he should send to make the preliminary enquiries. But in this case with its personal reflex he quickly determined to go himself. If necessary as the matter developed he could put someone else in charge. But he felt he would like to hear the circumstances at first hand.

  He went along the corridor to Sir Mortimer Ellison’s room, reported the call, and obtained the Assistant Commissioner’s approval of his plan. Then calling Sergeant Carter, he set off. They took the District Railway to Mark Lane and walked to the Land and Sea Company’s offices in Mincing Lane. There French asked for Jeffrey, and was immediately shown into his office. Jeffrey was alone.

  ‘I asked Mrs Sutton to wait for you,’ Jeffrey said when greetings had passed. ‘Perhaps you would like to see her first?’

  ‘Yes,’ French answered. ‘I won’t be very long with her, and then she can go home. Then, sir, I should like a word with you, if convenient.’

  ‘I shall be here,’ Jeffrey agreed, ringing for his pretty secretary to take the visitors to the waiting-room.

  Mrs Sutton jumped up as they entered and came forward with hands outstretched. ‘Oh, Mr French,’ she exclaimed, ‘I’m so glad to see you. I’m in such trouble. Have they told you?’

  ‘They’ve told me that Sutton didn’t turn up last night and that you’re anxious about him. But, my dear lady, you mustn’t be upset. A thousand things may have prevented him getting home.’

  ‘Oh, no, it’s something serious,’ she declared. ‘I know it! I feel it! He was so good that way. He never stayed away without letting me know. Something dreadful has happened.’

  ‘Now, now,’ said French cheerily, ‘that won’t do at all. You mustn’t meet trouble halfway. Tell me all about it and we’ll see what can be done.’

  ‘There’s nothing to tell: that’s just the difficulty. Nothing except the one thing – that he didn’t come home last night, and that there’s been no news from him.’

  ‘Don’t you worry, we’ll soon find him for you. But I shall have to ask you a lot of questions, just as I would do in any other case.’

  ‘Anything! Anything I can do! And I’m so grateful to you for coming so quickly and undertaking the search.’

  ‘We’ll do our best for you. You may be sure of that. Well, now, let’s begin at the beginning. When did you see Sutton last?’

  ‘At breakfast yesterday morning. He left at his usual time: everything just as usual. He never comes in for lunch, and he was due for supper at seven. But he never came.’

  Soon French had the whole story; and he had then to admit that Mrs Sutton was right: it contained only the one outstanding fact – that the man was missing. French took notes of what he was told – the normality of everything in the immediate past, the fact that Sutton had intended to be in punctually to supper on account of his debating society’s meeting, his unfailing habit of ringing up when detained, his practice of keeping his name, address and telephone number in his pocketbook, the serge suit he was wearing of grey with a tiny check pattern. Then French began to ask more general questions.

  ‘What cases has he on hand at present, Mrs Sutton?’

  ‘He was acting for this company on that steamer case, the Jane Vosper. You may have seen about it in the papers?’

  French had read of it, but had not followed it closely.

  ‘It was sunk, the steamer,’ Mrs Sutton went on. ‘Explosions took place on board, and they thought they were done on purpose. The Land and Sea had insured part of the cargo, and John was trying to find out if there was foul play, so that perhaps the Land and Sea wouldn’t have to pay.’

  ‘That all?’

  ‘No, he was on a fire case for the Land and Sea as well. Also a case for Appleby’s of Henrietta Street. You know them: another insurance company. A fire, too. He didn’t think anything was wrong there. And there was a personal injury case for Johns and Wilcox. I think those were all.’

  French noted the names. ‘Any recent letters, or phone messages, or callers?’

  ‘You can look through his desk. There was nothing that he made any remark about. And I don’t think there were any phone messages. But Mr Murphy was in the night before last.’

  ‘Mr Murphy?’

  ‘Mr Peter Murphy. He’s in the same line of business as John: an insurance detective. He acts for Lloyd’s, I think, though I’m not very sure. He’s an Irishman, and a very nice man. He and John were good friends.’

  ‘That the only recent caller?’ said French, noting Murphy’s name.

  ‘The only one.’

  ‘Very good. I think that’s all I want at present. You go home now and I’ll follow you and have a look through his desk. You haven’t a photograph of him, I suppose?’

  ‘Not here, I haven’t. But there are some at home.’

  ‘Then I’ll get one when I call. Well, Mrs Sutton, that’s all we can do here. I hope we’ll soon have some good news for you.’

  ‘I’m so grateful,’ she said as she got up. ‘It is an ease to my mind, your knowing about it.’

  ‘Doesn’t look well to me,’ French said to Carter when the woman had left. ‘I read about that Jane Vosper case, and it’s a big case. If a bunch of crooks are willing to sink a ship in mid-Atlantic and run the risk of drowning thirty or forty men, they wouldn’t hesitate long to put an insurance detective out of the way if he got to know too much.’

  ‘ ’Fraid I didn’t read about it, sir. It was when I was on my holidays.’

  ‘Better employed, I suppose. Well, we’ll go and hear what this Jeffrey has to say while we’re here.’

  Jeffrey was very willing to tell them all he could, and not only because Sutton was his employee, though he was sincerely concerned about him. But he felt that any information Scotland Yard could obtain about the missing man might also be information about the loss of the Jane Vosper. By all means this chief-inspector must be helped in every possible way.

  Accordingly he gave French all particulars about the case so far as he knew them. He described the negotiations which had led to his company’s insuring the sets. The Weaver Bannister people had first written, mentioning the consignment they were sending to South America, and asking for a quotation for its cover en route. The Land and Sea Company had replied, asking for a description of the goods and a declaration of their value. This had been given, and a rate had been quoted, accepted and paid. His company was now facing the question of liability.

  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.r />
  ‘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-inspect
or 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?’