“Mahomet and the mountain, eh?” smiled Anthony.
“Something like it,” answered the Inspector.
“But will he come?” demanded Sir Charles. “It appears to me to be extremely doubtful. Would any criminal walk into an obvious trap like that?... You’re expecting too much, Baddeley.”
“I don’t think so, Sir Charles, if you’ll allow me to say so. If, as I think and I fancy as Mr. Bathurst here, thinks, the murder of Mr. Prescott is a complete surprise to the ‘Spider,’ then it’s given him a pretty nasty shock ... he’s wondering, gentlemen, wondering very considerably. And he will see in the late editions of the London papers this evening that the Police are completely in the dark ... so he won’t be dreaming any bad dreams himself ... yet awhile ... but he’ll still go on wondering. Now, I think, gentlemen, that my idea will bring him along quite comfortably. I’m going to telegraph to him like this. ‘Come—same place—same time—urgent!’”
“Whom from?” interposed Anthony. “Who’s the sender?”
“That I admit, Mr. Bathurst, is its weakness. If I get hold of his wife’s Christian name, it’s just possible I might use the wrong form or the wrong abbreviation ... familiar names are awkward things to take chances with in messages—a man calls his wife by a nickname, perhaps—still ...” he paused and drummed with his hands on the table, reflecting. “How about putting Marshall?”
None of us answered. I think we were all engaged in weighing up the advisability.
Baddeley went on. “If it’s unusual for her to send to him under that name, he may think she has a special reason in light of what’s happened after the burglary. Whereas, if, for instance, her name’s ‘Kate’ and I put ‘Katie’ when the ‘Spider’ always knows her as ‘Kitty’—it’s bound to create doubt and suspicion.”
Anthony sat thinking. “I’m disposed to agree with you, Inspector,” he said.
“You think it’s worth trying, Mr. Bathurst?” asked Sir Charles.